Goulburn Islands

Last updated

The Goulburn Islands are a group of small islands and islets in the Arafura Sea off the coast of Arnhem Land in Northern Territory of Australia. The largest islands are North Goulburn Island and South Goulburn Island, where the climate is slightly cooler than in Darwin. [1] The Maung people people are the traditional owners of the Goulburn Islands.

The majority of the population reside on South Goulburn Island, in the community of Warruwi and surrounding outstations, where the population was 389 in the 2016 census. [2] The islands are notable for the large number of Indigenous Australian languages spoken there. In particular, the Warruwi community on South Goulburn Island - where at least nine different languages are spoken within a population of only 450 people [3] [4] - has been noted as an example of receptive multilingualism. [5]

Mondalmi is one of the most well-known women from the area, as she worked with anthropologist Catherine Berndt to enable study of Aboriginal cultures there. [6]

The islands and their Indigenous inhabitants were featured in the 2015 David Grubin directed PBS documentary Language Matters with Bob Holman , written and narrated by Bob Holman, which focused on the loss, due to globalisation, of many of the planets' languages, such as those spoken on the Goulburn Islands. [7]

Related Research Articles

Torres Strait Islanders Ethnic group

Torres Strait Islanders are the Indigenous peoples of the Torres Strait Islands, which are part of the state of Queensland, Australia. Ethnically distinct from the Aboriginal people of the rest of Australia, they are often grouped with them as Indigenous Australians. Today there are many more Torres Strait Islander people living in mainland Australia than on the Islands.

Arnhem Land Region in the Northern Territory, Australia

Arnhem Land is a historical region of the Northern Territory of Australia. It is located in the north-eastern corner of the territory and is around 500 km (310 mi) from the territory capital, Darwin. In 1623, Dutch East India Company captain Willem Joosten van Colster sailed into the Gulf of Carpentaria and Cape Arnhem is named after his ship, the Arnhem, which itself was named after the city of Arnhem in the Netherlands.

Australian Aboriginal English (AAE) is a dialect of Australian English used by a large section of the Indigenous Australian population. It is made up of a number of varieties which developed differently in different parts of Australia. These varieties are generally said to fit along a continuum ranging from light forms, close to Standard Australian English, to heavy forms, closer to Kriol. There are generally distinctive features of accent, grammar, words and meanings, as well as language use. AAE is not to be confused with Kriol, which is a separate language from English spoken by over 30,000 people in Australia. Speakers have been noted to tend to change between different forms of AAE depending on whom they are speaking to, e.g. striving to speak more like Australian English when speaking to a non-Indigenous English-speaking person.

Iwaidjan languages

The Iwaidjan or Yiwaidjan languages are a small family of non-Pama–Nyungan Australian Aboriginal languages spoken in the Cobourg Peninsula region of Western Arnhem Land.

Ngarrindjeri, also written Narrinyeri, Ngarinyeri and other variants, is the language of the Ngarrindjeri and related peoples of southern South Australia. Five dialects have been distinguished by a 2002 study: Warki, Tanganekald, Ramindjeri, Portaulun and Yaraldi.

Amurdak, also rendered Amurdag, Amurdak, Amurag, Amarag and Wureidbug, is an Aboriginal Australian language historically spoken in an area around the eastern coast of Van Diemen Gulf, in the Northern Territory of Australia. It is an endangered language, with only one recorded fluent speaker left as of 2021.

Catherine Berndt Australian anthropologist

Catherine Helen Berndt, néeWebb, born in Auckland, was an Australian anthropologist known for her research in Australia and Papua New Guinea. She was awarded in 1950 the Percy Smith Medal from the University of Otago, New Zealand and in 1980 she received a children's book award and medal for her book, Land of the Rainbow Snake, a collection of stories from Western Arnhem Land.

Berndt Museum of Anthropology

The Berndt Museum of Anthropology is an anthropological museum in Perth, Western Australia, founded in 1976 by Ronald Berndt and Catherine Berndt. The Berndt Museum is currently located with the Lawrence Wilson Art Gallery on the western side of the University of Western Australia's Crawley campus.

Gurr-goni, also spelled Guragone, Gorogone, Gun-Guragone, Gunagoragone, Gungorogone, Gurrogone, Gutjertabia, is an Australian Aboriginal language spoken in Arnhem Land. There were about 60 speakers in 2011, all trilingual in Burarra or Kuninjku.

The Ndjébbana language, also spelt Djeebbana and Ndjebanna and also known as Kunibidji, is a Burarran language spoken by the Gunavidji (Ndjebbana) people of North-central Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia.

Gunwinggu

The Gunwinggu (Kunwinjku) people are an Australian Aboriginal people, one of several groups within the Bininj people, who live around West Arnhem Land to the east of Darwin, Northern Territory. Kunwinjku people generally refer to themselves as "Bininj" in much the same way that Yolŋu people refer to themselves as "Yolŋu".

The Burarra language is an Australian Aboriginal language spoken by the Burarra people of Arnhem Land. It has several dialects.

Gunbarlang, or Kunbarlang, is an Australian Aboriginal language in northern Australia with multiple dialects. Other names are Gungalang and Warlang. Speakers are multilingual in Kunwinjku and Mawng. Most of the Gunbarlang people now speak Kunwinjku.

Language Matters with Bob Holman is a 2015 documentary that focuses upon the rapid extinction of many of planet Earth's human languages and the multifarious struggles and efforts to save and preserve them. Holman states that "There are between 6,000 and 7,000 languages spoken in the world today. Languages have always come and gone but what is happening today is "a global crisis of massive proportions "... The feature is directed by David Grubin and narrated and hosted by Holman

The Maung people, or Warruwi, are an Aboriginal Australian people living on the Goulburn Islands, in the Arafura sea off the coast of the Northern Territory.

The Bininj are an Aboriginal Australian people of Western Arnhem land in the Northern Territory. The sub-groups of Bininj are sometimes referred to by the various language dialects spoken in the region, that is, the group of dialects known as Bininj Gun-Wok; so the people may be named Gunwinggu, the Kuninjku, Kundjeyhmi (Gundjeihmi), Manyallaluk Mayali, Kundedjnjenghmi and Kune groups. In addition, there are clan groups such as the Mirrar who are prominent in matters relating to looking after the traditional lands.

Warruwi, Northern Territory Town in the Northern Territory, Australia

Warruwi is a mostly Aboriginal community located on South Goulburn Island, off Arnhem Land, in the West Arnhem Region of the Northern Territory of Australia. It is 290 km (180 mi) north-east of Darwin and 100 km (62 mi) north-east of Jabiru.

The Ngardok were an indigenous Australian people of the Northern Territory. Nothing is known of the language, which has been extinct since about WW2.

Mondalmi

Mondalmi was an Aboriginal activist and cultural informant from Australia.

Wellington Range is an escarpment whose western extension forms part of a sandstone plateau, situated in western Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia. It lies approximately 100 km (62 mi) north-north-east of Jabiru. The nearest settlement accessible by road is Gunbalanya (Oenpelli), about 80 km (50 mi) away.

References

  1. Goulburn Islands. About Australia. Retrieved on 2 May 2015
  2. Australian Bureau of Statistics (27 June 2017). "Warruwi (State Suburb)". 2016 Census QuickStats. Retrieved 5 October 2020. OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
  3. Bøyum, Malene. "Multilingualism at Warruwi Community". UiO: Center for Multilingualism in Society across the Lifespan. Retrieved 19 June 2019.
  4. "Warruwi". West Arnhem Regional Council. Retrieved 5 October 2020.
  5. Erard, Michael. "The Small Island Where 500 People Speak Nine Different Languages". The Atlantic. Retrieved 19 June 2019.
  6. Berndt, Catherine, "Mondalmi (1910–1969)", Australian Dictionary of Biography, National Centre of Biography, Australian National University, retrieved 29 February 2020
  7. "Language Matters with Bob Holman: A film by David Grubin". Language Matters. Retrieved 5 October 2020.

Coordinates: 11°38′S133°22′E / 11.633°S 133.367°E / -11.633; 133.367