Mutumui

TheMutumuiwere an indigenous Australian people of northern Queensland.

Language

The name of theMutumui language,now extinct, wasEibole,of which a dialect called Ongwara ('northern talk') was spoken to their north.

Country

The Mutumui's traditional territory spread out over an estimated 1,000 square miles (2,600 km²), covering the area ofBathurst BayandCape Melvillesouthwards, at Barrow Point and the vicinity of theStarckeandJeannie Rivers.

Social organization and people

The Mutumui were divided into severalhordes/bands,each speaking a distinct dialect version of Mutumui,and of which the probable names of two are known:

• Karbungga,the band at the Jeannie River
• Mbambylmu,atJack River
• Ithu?

Though tooth avulsion was practised in the area, among the Mutumui is reported to have formed part of the initiatory ceremony itself.

The Mutumui were essentially shore dwellers, mainly in the area around Murdoch Point and Bathurst Bay. They would make forays into the sandstone hinterland on occasion in pursuit of honey, and to hunt opossums androck wallabies.

History

ThePalmer River gold rushfollowing from its discovery in the area 1873 led to a large influx of people seeking topanfor quick riches during the decade of the 1870s, and this surge led to conflict and massacres during the subsequent occupation of the general region just south of the Mutumui. The Aboriginal sacred sites atClack Islandwere ransacked for objects from the indigenous cultural patrimony, which included sacred bark paintings, when the physician and naturalist Richard Coppinger on board the British Royal Navy sloop,HMSAlert.Punitive expeditionsin the area were carried out following the discovery ofMary Watson'sremains in 1882. She had been onLizard Islandand after clashes with local Aboriginal people, which led to the spearing of speared her Chinese cook, led to punitive expeditions against the natives through this area in the early 1880s. Reports of this would have reached the Mutumui andIthunearby.

Alternative names and spellings

• Mutumi
• Baulam(Bakanambiaexonym)
• Karbungga
• Eibole
• Ongwara
• Jugaiwatha
• Mbambylmu

Sources

• "AIATSIS map of Indigenous Australia".AIATSIS.14 May 2024.
• Hale, H. M.;Tindale, N.B.(1933)."Aborigines of Princess Charlotte Bay, North Queensland".Records of the South Australian Museum.5(1). Adelaide: 64–116.
• Rigsby, Bruce;Allen, Lindy; Hafner, Diane (December 2015). Roberts, Amy; McCaul, Kim (eds.)."The Legacy of Norman B. Tindale at Princess Charlotte Bay in 1927: Lamalama Engagement with Museum Collections"(PDF).Journal of the Anthropological Society of South Australia.39(Special Edition: Norman B. Tindale's Research Legacy and the Cultural Heritage of Indigenous Australians): 1–25.ISSN1034-4438.
• Sharp, R. Lauriston(March 1939). "Tribes and Totemism in North-East Australia".Oceania.9(3): 254–275.doi:10.1002/j.1834-4461.1939.tb00232.x.JSTOR40327744.
• Sutton, Peter(2016)."The Flinders Islands and Cape Melville people in history".In Verstraete, Jean-Christophe; Hafner, Diane (eds.).Land and Language in Cape York Peninsula and the Gulf Country.John Benjamins Publishing Company.pp. 85–103.ISBN978-9-027-26760-3.
• Tindale, Norman Barnett(1974)."Mutumui (QLD)".Aboriginal Tribes of Australia: Their Terrain, Environmental Controls, Distribution, Limits, and Proper Names.Australian National University.