The Wik peoples are an Indigenous Australian group of people from an extensive zone on western Cape York Peninsula in northern Queensland, speaking several different languages. They are from the coastal flood plains bounding the Gulf of Carpentaria lying between Pormpuraaw (Edward River) and Weipa, and inland the forested country drained by the Archer, Kendall and Holroyd rivers. The first ethnographic study of the Wik people was undertaken by the Queensland born anthropologist Ursula McConnel. Her fieldwork focused on groups gathered into the Archer River Mission at what is now known as Aurukun. [1]
The Wik peoples inhabited the western coastal area of the Cape York Peninsula between the Winduwinda to the north and the Taior to the south, with the Wik-Mungkan on the eastern flank. [lower-alpha 1]
McConnel's overall mapping was succinctly summarized by Sir James Frazer as follows:
[They] occupy a stretch of country along the Gulf of Carpentaria, thirty to fifty miles wide through which flow the Watson, Archer, Kendall, Holroyd and Edward Rivers. The territory of thed Wik-Munkan begins below the junction of the Coen and Archer and the Pretender and Holroyd, and extends to the mouth of the Archer and the junction of the Kendall and Holroyd. It touches the Watson River in the north and the Edward in the south, and covers and area, roughly speaking, of three thousand square miles. The Wik-Munkan do not come in contact with the sea, for a strip of land along the coast varying in parts from two to ten miles wide is inhabited by kindred coastal tribes. Of these the Wik-Natera or Wik-Kalkan occupy the coast for sixty or seventy miles south of the Archer River, concentrating chiefly on two inland arms of the sea called Yoinka and Arimanka; the Wiki-Natanya or bush-rat people inhabit the corner of the coast between Arimanka and the Kendall - a distance of ten miles, and the Wik-Nantjara occupy the coastal country between the Kendall-Holroyd and the Edward. [2]
McConnel's classification (1930) outlined the following groups
All of these tribes were covered by Norman Tindale in his 1974 classification. [8] Writing in 1997, Neva Collings stated that the group then comprised the peoples of Wik-Ompom, Wik-Paacha, Wik-Thinta, Wik-Ngathara, Wik-Epa, Wik-Me'anha, Wik-Ngathara, Wik-Nganychara, and Wik-Iiyanh. [9]
Under early colonization and settlement in northern Queensland it was widely thought that the indigenous peoples were "less than worthless, vermin which should be exterminated", [10] and, according to Neva Collings, the Wik were regarded in these terms. [9]
The Wik Peoples won a landmark court case, which resulted in the formal recognition of their native title rights. [11] The High Court of Australia later found that native title could coexist with a pastoral lease.
Wik Peoples v The State of Queensland is a decision of the High Court of Australia delivered on 23 December 1996 on whether statutory leases extinguish native title rights. The court found that the statutory pastoral leases under consideration by the court did not bestow rights of exclusive possession on the leaseholder. As a result, native title rights could co-exist depending on the terms and nature of the particular pastoral lease. Where there was a conflict of rights, the rights under the pastoral lease would extinguish the remaining native title rights.
The Bakanambia, also known as the Wanbara, are an Aboriginal group of Australia. Traditionally, the Bakanambia lived in the vicinity of Princess Charlotte Bay in the state of Queensland. One of the ethnonyms applied to them was Lama Lama, which is now used of a larger aggregation of remnants of several tribes.
The Yirrganydji (Irrukandji) people are an Indigenous Australian people of Queensland who trace their descent from the Irukandji and, as such, are the original custodians of a narrow coastal strip within Djabugay country that runs northwards from Cairns, Queensland to Port Douglas. Their traditional lifestyle was that of fishers along this coastal strip and around the river mouths, islands and seas between the Barron River and Port Douglas
Ursula Hope McConnel (1888–1957) was a Queensland anthropologist and ethnographer best remembered for her work with, and the records she made of, the Wik Mungkan people of Cape York Peninsula.
The Kendall River is a river located in Far North Queensland, Australia.
The Wik-Mungkan people were the largest branch of the Wik people, an Aboriginal Australian group of peoples, speaking several different languages, who traditionally ranged over an extensive area of the western Cape York Peninsula in northern Queensland.
The Kaantyu are an Indigenous Australian people of the Cape York Peninsula. They live in the area around the present day town of Coen. Most of their traditional tribal land has been taken over for cattle stations. Kaantju refers to the hook of the yuli, their word for woomera.
The Ayapathu people, otherwise known as the Ayabadhu or Aiyaboto, were an Indigenous Australian group, living on the western side of the Cape York Peninsula in northern Queensland.
The Kugu Nganhcara, also Wikngenchera, Wik-Ngandjara (Ngandjara) are an Australian group of peoples living in the middle western part of the Cape York Peninsula, Queensland in Australia. Today they are primarily concentrated at Aurukan and the Edward river settlement.
The Ajabakan were an indigenous Australian people of the Cape York Peninsula of Queensland.
The Wikianji were an indigenous Australian tribe of the Cape York Peninsula of northern Queensland.
The Wikampama were an indigenous Australian people of Cape York Peninsula in northern Queensland.
The Mimungkum were an indigenous Australian people of Cape York Peninsula in northern Queensland.
The Winduwinda were an indigenous Australian people of Queensland.
The Wiknatanja were an indigenous Australian people, one of the Wik tribes of the Cape York Peninsula of northern Queensland.
The Wikmean were an indigenous Australian people, one of the Wik tribes of the Cape York Peninsula of northern Queensland.
The Wikepa are an indigenous Australian people, one of the Wik tribes of the Cape York Peninsula of northern Queensland.
The Wik Paach or Wikapatja were an indigenous Australian people of the Cape York Peninsula of northern Queensland.
The Wikatinda were an indigenous Australian people of the Cape York Peninsula of northern Queensland. They were one of the Wik peoples, but their language is unattested.
The Wik Elken (Wik-Kalkan), or Wik-Ngatharr, were an indigenous Australian people, one of the Wik tribes of the Cape York Peninsula of the state of Queensland.
