The Darumbal people, also spelt Darambal and Dharumbal, are the Aboriginal Australian people who have traditionally occupied Central Queensland, speaking dialects of the Darumbal language. Darumbal people of the Keppel Islands and surrounding regions are sometimes also known as Woppaburra or Ganumi, [1] [2] and the terms are sometimes used interchangeably. [3]
Traditional Darumbal land is considered to encompass an estimated 4,000 square miles (10,000 km2) around most of coastal Central Queensland, running from Arthur Point at Shoalwater Bay to Yeppoon, and taking in the mouth of Fitzroy River and Keppel Islands. From Keppel Bay they extended inland to Boomer Range, and Marlborough, Yaamba, Rockhampton, and Gracemere. [4]
With the arrival of European settlers in the region, some Darumbal people were tolerated as part of fringe communities of the new settlements, but most were systematically killed to make way for pastoral development. [5] According to some estimates, "between 1865 and 1902 the population of the Keppel Islands suffered a substantial reduction of 75 to 80 per cent". [1] In one incident alone on July 1865 alone, native troopers ambushed a Darumbal ceremonial gathering outside Rockhampton, near Samuel Birkbeck's Glenmore Station and shot dead 18 Aboriginal people, after nearby settlers expressed worries about the presence of natives in their area. After the massacre, they then set fire to the corpses. [6] [7]
Ethnologue classifies the Darumbal language as "extinct". [8] Technically, Bayali was quite distinct from Darumbal, sharing, according to Dixon's analysis, no more than 21% of its basic word stock with Darumbal. [9]
Gudamulli is a Darumbal greeting, meaning 'hello'. [10]
Some Darumbal words live on in place names in Central Queensland. The town of Coowonga is named after a Darumbal man famous for saving the life of politician King O'Malley in the late 19th century. [11] The Rockhampton suburb of Nerimbera is named for a Darumbal word meaning 'where the mountains meet the river'. [12]
According to ethnologist Norman Tindale, the Darumbal comprised some 13 groups or band societies, though one of these was described as belonging to the Ningebal people. One extinct branch of the group, the Warabal, may have dwelt around the foot of the Boomer Range. [4]
Darumbal native title claims and land use issues were lodged in the 21st century. In 2001, a claim was made to the National Native Title Tribunal, [13] and in 2007, 137 ha (340 acres) at Mount Wheeler were handed over to the Darumbal people. [14] Darumbal people have been granted limited access to the Shoalwater Bay Military Training Area. [15]
There have been several controversies regarding fisheries licensing and conservation.[ further explanation needed ] [16] [17]
Native title [18] of the land was granted in 2016, and in May 2022 the Darumbal people were officially recognised as the traditional custodians of an expanse of ocean covering 36,606 km2 (14,134 sq mi) off the Central Queensland Coast, making it the largest Traditional Use of Marine Resources Agreement (TUMRA) on the Great Barrier Reef. The occasion was marked by a ceremony on the beach at Emu Park. [19]
Recognised Ancestral Groups
Under the Darumbal Nation Native Title Claim, descendants of the following family groups are recognised: [20]
Kitty Mulway and Pompey of Stannage; Yorky – [Sunflower/Meredith]
Kate Reid and James Hector – [Garret/Hector]
Jack Naylor (Jnr); Brothers John McPherson and Harry Bauman – [Hatfield/McPherson/Naylor/Bauman (Bowman)]
Clara Wallace – [Mann/Wallace/Williams/Hector/Edmunds]
Clara McKenzie – [Rutherford/Hayden]
Maggie (Mitchell); Mary Jones; Maria McKenzie; Mundabel – [Ross/Landers/Roma/Adams/Wylie/Fitzgerald]
The Capricorn Coast is a stretch of coastline in Central Queensland, Australia and is part of the Shire of Livingstone.
Great Keppel Island lies 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) from the coast off Yeppoon in the Shire of Livingstone, Queensland, Australia. It is part of the Capricorn Coast of Central Queensland. The island's traditional owners are the Woppaburra people. As the largest of the eighteen islands in the Keppel Group, Wop-Pa covers an area of 1308 hectares. It is within the local government area of Shire of Livingstone.
Gai-i is a small mountain situated between Rockhampton and Yeppoon in the state of Queensland, Australia. It is one of several igneous volcanic plug formations that feature on the landscape near the Capricorn Coast. The mountain is situated on a site known as Gawula, which is administered by the Gawula Aboriginal Land Trust. Traditionally home to a group of Aboriginal Australians known as the Darumbal people, it was returned to them in 2007 under the Aboriginal Land Act.
Shoalwater Bay is a large bay on the Capricorn Coast of Central Queensland, Australia 100 km north of the coastal town of Yeppoon and 628 km north-north-west of the state capital, Brisbane. Since 1966, the land surrounding Shoalwater Bay has been under the ownership of the Australian Defence Force, for the purpose of military training exercises. Shoalwater Bay is also a noted dugong habitat and is part of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park. The bay is bounded by the Torilla Peninsula to the west and the Warginburra Peninsula and Leicester and Townshend islands to the east.
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Coowonga is a rural locality in the Shire of Livingstone, Central Queensland, Australia. In the 2021 census, Coowonga had a population of 255 people.
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Darumbal, also spelt Dharambal, is an Australian Aboriginal language of Queensland in Australia declared extinct. It was spoken in the Rockhampton area of Queensland, as well as on the Capricorn Coast, Southern Great Keppel Island and Yeppoon islands. Dialects were Guwinmal, Karunbara, Rakiwara, and Wapabura. It is classified with Bayali as a Kingkel language, but the two are not close, with a low 21% shared vocabulary. Indeed, Angela Terrill states that "there is no evidence on which to base a claim of a low-level genetic group including Dharumbal with any other language".
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