Kungadidji
TheKungadutjiwere anindigenous Australianpeople of the state ofQueensland.
Country
[edit]An early settler in the area, J. Heagney described Kundagutji land in the following terms:
The Kungarditchi country is about twenty miles square, and is bounded on the south by the Kiabara Creek, and on the west by the Koongerri country.[1]
Norman Tindale's estimate of Kungadutji tribal lands assigns them something in the range of 2,800 sq- miles. They were one of theChannel Countrypeoples associated with theCooper Creekriver system, and lay to the north ofDurham Downs.Their eastern limits were around Mount Howitt and Kyabra Creek. Their northwesterly frontiers lay in proximity ofLake Yamma Yamma.[2]Neighbouring tribes were theKuungkari,BidiaandKulumali.
History of contact
[edit]White settlers began to occupy Kungadutji lands between 1874 and 1878, together with those of the neighbouring Kuungkari and Bidia. The combined population of these three groups in the period of first contacts was estimated to be around 1,200 people. Within a decade, by 1883, women greatly outnumbered the male population, large numbers of the latter being shot down during the process of occupying their country. The women contractedsyphilisfrom the newcomers, whose effects further ravaged the tribes.[3][a]
Alternative names
[edit]Some words
[edit]- dethee/conatha(wild dog)
- copunya/moonaroo(father)
- ominya(mother)[6]
Notes
[edit]Citations
[edit]- ^Heagney 1886,p. 375.
- ^abTindale 1974,p. 178.
- ^Heagney 1886,pp. 375–376.
- ^Heagney 1886,p. 376.
- ^Heagney 1886,p. 374.
- ^Heagney 1886,p. 380.
Sources
[edit]- "AIATSIS map of Indigenous Australia".AIATSIS.14 May 2024.
- Heagney, J. (1886)."The Junction of the Thomson and Barcoo Rivers, also the Whitula Creek"(PDF).InCurr, Edward Micklethwaite(ed.).The Australian race: its origin, languages, customs, place of landing in Australia and the routes by which it spread itself over the continent.Vol. 2. Melbourne: J. Ferres. pp. 374–381.
- Tindale, Norman Barnett(1974)."Kungadutji (QLD)".Aboriginal Tribes of Australia: Their Terrain, Environmental Controls, Distribution, Limits, and Proper Names.Australian National University.ISBN978-0-708-10741-6.