Regions with significant populations | |
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Languages | |
Djargurd Wurrung, English | |
Religion | |
Australian Aboriginal mythology | |
Related ethnic groups | |
Gulidjan, Girai wurrung, Djab wurrung and Wada wurrung see List of Aboriginal Australian group names |
The Djargurd Wurrung (also spelt Djargurd Wurrong) are Aboriginal Australian people of the Western district of the State of Victoria, and traditionally occupied the territory between Mount Emu Creek and Lake Corangamite. [1]
The Djargurd Wurrung people spoke the Djargurd Wurrung dialect of the Kuurn Kopan Noot language.
The classification of the Groups on this territory has been subject to controversy. Norman Tindale, referring to the same area, and clans, called them the Kirrae, whose lands he stated comprised in his estimate around 1,900 square miles (4,900 km2) of territory from Warrnambool and the Hopkins River down to the coast at Princetown with the northerly reaches at Lake Bolac and Darlington, and extending easterly beyond Camperdown. [2] The historian Ian Clark states that Tindale "failed to acknowledge the existence" of the Djargurd wurrung, while locating them in the same area. [1] The Djagurd wurrung territory was bordered by the Wada wurrung in the north, the Dhauwurd wurrung to the west, the Girai wurrung to their south, and the Gulidjan in the east. [3]
The traditional lands of the Djargurd Wurrung and Gulidjan, including the Western District Lakes, now a Ramsar site, [4] have been used by the indigenous peoples for thousands of years. There are many archaeological sites registered that include fish traps, surface scatters, middens and burial sites.
At the time of European settlement in the 1830s and 1840s the Djargurd suffered from massacres by European settlers in the Australian frontier wars, and also from attacks by the neighbouring Wada wurrung tribe. Dispossession from their land led to starvation and their theft of sheep resulted in murderous reprisals. In 1839 one clan, the Tarnbeere gundidj, was massacred by Frederick Taylor and others in a site that came to be known as Murdering Gully. [5]
When the Aboriginal reserve was established in 1865 at Framlingham, near Warrnambool, many of the surviving members of the Djargurd wurrung were forcibly relocated. However, a number of elders refused to abandon their traditional country and stayed eking out a meagre living on the edge of towns like Camperdown. They were assisted by people such as James Dawson, a Scotsman, who acted as guardian and supported them with his own money.[ citation needed ]
In 1883 Wombeetch Puuyuun (also known as Camperdown George) died at the age of 43 and was buried in a bog outside the bounds of Camperdown Cemetery. On Dawson's return from a trip to Scotland he was shocked at where his friend had been buried and personally reburied Wombeetch in Camperdown Cemetery. He appealed for money to raise a monument, but with little public support, primarily funded the monument himself. The 7-metre (23 ft) obelisk was erected as a memorial to Wombeetch Puuyuun and the Aboriginal people of the district, [6] and has been described as still inspiring today. [7]
The Djargurd wurrung people had 12 clans under a matrilineal system with a descent system based on the Gabadj (black cockatoo) and Grugidj (white cockatoo) moieties. The clans intermarried with Gulidjan, Girai wurring, Djab wurrung and Wada wurrung peoples. The twelve clans are as follows:-
No | Clan name | Approximate location |
---|---|---|
1 | Barumbidj gundidj | Lake Purrumbete |
2 | Djargurd balug | unknown |
3 | Koenghegulluc | Lake Colongulac and east to Mount Myrtoon |
4 | Korrungow werroke gundidj | unknown |
5 | Leehoorah gundidj | Mount Leura and Lakes Bullen-merri and Gnotuk |
6 | Mullungkil gundidj | south of Lake Purrumbete, including Mount Porndon |
7 | Netcunde | Cobrico Swamp |
8 | Tarnbeere gundidj | eastern bank of Mount Emu Creek |
9 | Teerinyillum gundidj | Mount Elephant |
10 | Uropine gundidj | Darlington |
11 | Wane gundidj colac | near Lake Elingamite |
12 | Worong gundidj | east of Lake Elingamite |
Camperdown is a historically significant rural town in southwestern Victoria, Australia, 190 kilometres (120 mi) west of the state capital, Melbourne. At the 2016 census, Camperdown had a population of 3,369.
Framlingham is a rural township located by the Hopkins River in the Western District of Victoria, Australia, about 20 kilometres (12 mi) north-east of the coastal city of Warrnambool. In the 2016 census, the township had a population of 158.
James Dawson was a prominent champion of Aboriginal interests. He was born at Bonnytoun, Linlithgow, Scotland, the son of a whisky distiller. He arrived in Hobsons Bay, Port Phillip, Australia on 2 May 1840 with his wife Joan Anderson Park, niece of Mungo Park. He tried dairy farming in the Yarra valley for a time but moved to broader pastures in the Port Fairy district in 1844. For the next 22 years Dawson was in partnership in a cattle and sheep station, "Cox's Heifer Station" later named Kangatong, some 10 miles east of Macarthur.
The Dhauwurd Wurrung, also known as the Gunditjmara or Gunditjamara, are an Aboriginal Australian people of southwestern Victoria. They are the traditional owners of the areas now encompassing Warrnambool, Port Fairy, Woolsthorpe and Portland. Their land includes much of the Budj Bim heritage areas.
Djadjawurrung or Dja Dja Wurrung, also known as the Jaara or Jajowrong people and Loddon River tribe, is an Aboriginal Australian people whose traditional lands include the watersheds of the Loddon and Avoca rivers in the Bendigo region of central Victoria, Australia. They are part of the Kulin alliance of Aboriginal Victorian peoples. There are 16 clans, which adhere to a patrilineal system. Like other Kulin peoples, there are two moieties: Bunjil the eagle and Waa the crow.
The Jardwadjali (Yartwatjali), also known as the Jaadwa, are an Aboriginal Australian people of the state of Victoria, whose traditional lands occupy the lands in the upper Wimmera River watershed east to Gariwerd (Grampians) and west to Lake Bringalbert.
The Djab wurrung, also spelt Djabwurrung, Tjapwurrung, Tjap Wurrung, or Djapwarrung, people are Aboriginal Australians whose country is the volcanic plains of central Victoria from the Mount William Range of Gariwerd in the west to the Pyrenees range in the east encompassing the Wimmera River flowing north and the headwaters of the Hopkins River flowing south. The towns of Ararat, Stawell and Hamilton are within their territory. The Djab Wurrung Heritage Protection Embassy is located on a proposed highway duplication on the Western Highway south of Ararat. There were 41 Djab wurrung clans who formed an alliance with the neighbouring Jardwadjali people through intermarriage, shared culture, trade and moiety system before colonisation. Their lands were never ceded.
Murdering Gully, formerly known as Puuroyup to the Djargurd Wurrung people, is the site of an 1839 massacre of 35–40 people of the Tarnbeere Gundidj clan of the Djargurd Wurrung in the Camperdown district of Victoria, Australia. It is a gully on Mount Emu Creek, where a small stream adjoins from Merida Station.
The Gadubanud (Katubanut) also known as the Pallidurgbarran or Yarro waetch, were an Aboriginal Australian people of the state of Victoria. Their territory encompassed the rainforest plateau and rugged coastline of Cape Otway. They are thought to have become extinct quickly following the onset of white colonisation, and little is known of them. Some may have found refuge at the Wesleyan mission station at Birregurra and later the Framlingham mission station, and some people still trace their descent from such a remnant. Today, by the principle of succession, the Gunditjmara are considered the traditional custodians of Gadubanud lands.
The Gulidjan, also known as the Kolakngat, perhaps originally Kolidjon, or Colac tribe are an Aboriginal Australian tribe whose traditional lands cover the Lake Colac region of Victoria, Australia. They occupied the grasslands, woodlands, volcanic plains and lakes region east of Lake Corangamite, west of the Barwon River and north of the Otway Ranges. Their territory bordered the Wathaurong to the north, Djargurd Wurrung to the west, Girai Wurrung to the south-west, and Gadubanud to the south-east.
The Girai wurrung, also spelt Kirrae Wuurong and Kirrae Whurrung, are an Aboriginal Australian people who traditionally occupied the territory between Mount Emu Creek and the Hopkins River up to Mount Hamilton, and the Western Otways from the Gellibrand River to the Hopkins River. The historian Ian D. Clark has reclassified much of the material regarding them in Norman Tindale's compendium under the Djargurd Wurrung, a term reflecting the assumed pre-eminence of one of their clans, the Jacoort/Djargurd.
Kuurn Kopan Noot, or the Warrnambool language, is an extinct Aboriginal Australian language of Victoria (Australia). It had a number of dialects, including Kuurn Kopan Noot proper. Some of these were Dhauwurd wurrung, Gunditjmara, Bigwurrung, Gai Wurrung, Giraiwurrung, Keerray Woorroong, Wirngilgnad dhalinanong, Wulluwurrung. The dialects were spoken by the Gunditjmara, Girai wurrung, Girai wurrung and Djargurd Wurrung peoples.
Aboriginal Victorians, the Aboriginal Australians of Victoria, Australia, occupied the land for tens of thousands of years prior to European settlement. Aboriginal people have lived a semi-nomadic existence of fishing, hunting and gathering, and farming eels in Victoria for at least 40,000 years.
The Bungandidj people are an Aboriginal Australian people from the Mount Gambier region in south-eastern South Australia, and also in western Victoria. Bungandidj was historically frequently rendered as Boandik or Booandik.
The Garrwa people, also spelt Karawa and Garawa, are an Aboriginal Australian people living in the Northern Territory, whose traditional lands extended from east of the McArthur River at Borroloola to Doomadgee and the Nicholson River in Queensland.
The Mutumui were an indigenous Australian people of northern Queensland.
The Walmbaria are an indigenous Australian people of Cape York Peninsula in northern Queensland.
The Bilinarra, also spelt Bilingara and Bilinara, are an Aboriginal Australian people of the Northern Territory.
The Thangkaali (Danggali) are an indigenous Australian people of the state of South Australia.
The Pallanganmiddang, otherwise known as the Waywurru, were an Indigenous Australian people of North-eastern Victoria, in the state of Victoria, Australia. Recent scholarship has suggested that In Norman Tindale's classic study his references to a Djilamatang tribe and their language arguably refer in good part to the Pallanganmiddang