Yingkarta

Last updated

The Yingkarta or Yingarda people, also written Inggarda and Ingarda, are an Aboriginal Australian people of the Gascoyne region of Western Australia.

Contents

Language

Yinggarda was a Kartu language spoken from the coastal area around Carnarvon through the Gascoyne River to the junction and southwards to the Wooramel River. The earliest record of the languages dates back from material collected by and anonymous source and forwarded by Lord Gifford to Edward Curr who published a list of basic words in 1886. [1] [2]

There were two dialects, a northern and southern variety, with marked lexical differences. [3] [4] Down to the end of the 20th century, it was reported that the Carnavon community had a wide knowledge of Yingarda words, but that their use was somewhat restricted. Given the movement of Wadjarri into this area, a people with whom the Yinggarda maintained strong links, the young mix the two vocabularies. [5]

Country

The Yingkarta's lands, lying between the Gascoyne and River Wooramel rivers in a wedge of land separating those of the Tedei to their south, and of their northern neighbours the Mandi. Their inland extension, from the northern area of Shark Bay, [6] ran as far east as the vicinity of Red Hill and Gascoyne Junction. Alan Dench also lists among their northern neighbours the Baiyungu, Maia, Tharrkari and Warriyangga, while stating the Malgana lay to their south, and the Wadjarri to their east. [6]

According to Norman Tindale's estimation, this territory covered about 4,200 square miles (11,000 km2). [7] }

History of contact

White colonial occupation of Yingkarta lands began in 1877 when the indigenous population was estimated to number some 2,000 people. Small-pox (moonnangno)was common among them. [8]

Social organisation and rites

It is not known whether or not the Yinggarda had a section system. A. R. Radcliffe-Brown, writing in 1930, stated of them that:

In the case of the Ingarda tribe to the south of the Gascoyne River it was impossible to determine if they really had or had not a section system. They knew the names of the sections of the Maia and Warienga [Warriyangka] tribes and every man claimed membership of a particular section. ... They might once have had such a system which had broken down or they might merely be trying to adapt themselves as well as possible to the social organisation of the neighbouring tribes. [9] When the data was collected in 1911, little was remembered of their marriage systems and Alan Dench thinks it probable, unlike many neighbouring tribes to their north, they did not have a moieties. [10]

The Yingkarta were said by some early explorers to have practised circumcision. [lower-alpha 1] However, they lie to the west of the circumcision line, [11] was denied by a colonial observer in 1886 who was familiar with their language, [12] and has been contested by modern descendants and scholars, who state that this was a practice of the Watjarri to their west. [lower-alpha 2] Since the Inggarda social bands contiguous with the Watjarri were known under the distinct hordal name of Kurudandi (perhaps surviving in the contemporary station toponym Coordewandy, Tindale suggested that while the Inggarda to the east had not adopted this rite, the western clans might have at some time taken up the practice as current among the Watjarri. [7]

The Nanda on the southern end of Shark Bay were much in fear of the Inggarda whom they regarded as highly proficient in the art of sorcery (boollia), which included the power to conjure up rain at will. [13]

Alternative names

Some words

Notes

  1. "Among the Angaardies, circumcision is performed by of a sharp flint, and after the consummation of the rite, the youth is forbidden to look on a woman for the space of two years, consequently he cannot associate with the rest of the tribe, except with the men when hunting, the women then being about their own business. When this time of probation past, he comes near the general camping-place, makes a good fire, and all his friends go to see him, felicitating him on the termination of his solitary mode of life, and if there be any female whom he has legal claims, she is at once surrendered." (Oldfield 1865, p. 252)
  2. "The fact that they did not circumcise also suggests that they would have interacted more closely with their northern and southern neighbours in ritual practice than they did with the Wajarri to the east, despite the indications that their relations with the Wajarri were better than for most coastal groups." (Dench 1998, p. 9)
  3. The latter, transcribed in Gifford as koonda, was glossed by that source as bearing three distinct if related meanings: 'breasts, water, rain'. (Gifford 1886, p. 303)
  4. Recorded as bibijura in Gifford [16] where however the -jura is a suffix attached to kinship terms to denote possession. (Dench 1998, p. 29)
  5. Gifford supplied woora for a dog, tame or wild (Gifford 1886, p. 304)

Citations

  1. 1 2 Dench 1998, p. 10.
  2. Gifford 1886, pp. 302–305.
  3. Dench 1998, p. 6.
  4. Austin 1988.
  5. Dench 1998, pp. 9–10.
  6. 1 2 Dench 1998, p. 7.
  7. 1 2 3 4 Tindale 1974, p. 242.
  8. Gifford 1886, p. 302.
  9. Radcliffe-Brown 1930, p. 213.
  10. Dench 1998, p. 8.
  11. Dench 1998, p. 9.
  12. Gifford 1886, p. 303.
  13. Oldfield 1865, pp. 242, 283.
  14. Barlee 1886, p. 306.
  15. Dench 1998, p. 63.
  16. 1 2 Gifford 1886, p. 304.
  17. Dench 1998, pp. 15, 27, 30, 37, 39.
  18. Dench 1998, pp. 14, 32.

Sources

Related Research Articles

The Yinggarda language is an Australian Aboriginal language. It is an endangered language, but efforts at language revival are being made.

The Mirning, also known as the Ngandatha, are an Aboriginal Australian people whose traditional lands lay on the coastal region of the Great Australian Bight extending from Western Australia into south-west South Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ballardong</span>

Ballardong are an indigenous Noongar people of the south western area of Western Australia.

The Amangu are an indigenous Yamatji people of the mid-western region of Western Australia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wiilman</span> Indigenous people in Western Australia

Wiilman are an indigenous Noongar people from the Wheatbelt, Great Southern and South West regions of Western Australia. Variant spellings of the name include Wilman, Wirlomin, Wilmen and Wheelman. Wiilman is the endonym.

The Bibulman (Pibelmen) are an Aboriginal Australian people of the southwestern region of Western Australia, a subgroup of the Noongar.

The Maia were an indigenous Australian tribe of Western Australia.

The Mandi, otherwise known as Manthi, were an Aboriginal Australian people of Western Australia.

The Tedei, otherwise known as the Thirrily, are an Aboriginal Australian people of Western Australia. They are a branch of the Yingkarta.

The Wariangga, also written Warriyangka, are an Aboriginal Australian people of the Gascoyne region in Western Australia.

The Baiyungu are an Aboriginal Australian people of the Gascoyne region of Western Australia.

The Nhanda people, also spelt Nanda, Nhunda, Nhanta, and other variants, are an Aboriginal Australian people who live in the Mid West region of Western Australia around the mouth of the Murchison River.

The Malgana, also known as the Malkana, are an Aboriginal Australian people of Western Australia.

The Pilatapa were an Indigenous people of South Australia, now extinct.

The Ngameni are an indigenous Australian people of South Australia who once spoke the Ngameni language.

The Bidjara people, also spelt Bitjara or Bithara, are an Aboriginal Australian people of south-western Queensland. They spoke a dialect of the Ngura language. They are not to be confused with the Warrego River Pitjara or the Badjiri of the Paroo River, both of whose traditional lands are further to the east of the state.

The Pitapita or Pitta Pitta are an Aboriginal Australian people of the state of Queensland.

The Ringaringa (Ringu-Ringu) were an indigenous Australian people of the state of Queensland.

The Yanda were an indigenous Australian people of the state of Queensland.

The Yilba, also written Ilba and Jilba, are or were an Aboriginal Australian people of the present-day state of Queensland.