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Aboriginal cultures of Western Australia

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Before the arrival of Europeans, the land now known as Western Australia was home to a diverse range of traditional Australian Aboriginal cultures, spread across numerous language groups, many of which remain today.[1] The border delimiting Western Australia from South Australia and the Northern Territory was drawn by the British colonists, at the 129th meridian east,[2] without regard to the boundaries of existing Aboriginal groups. Consequently Aboriginal cultural groupings are not limited by it; some "Western Australian" Aboriginal groups extend across the border into other states.

Culture groups

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Grouping the various peoples of Western Australia, the largest of these groups being called "culture blocs", is a subjective endeavor often done by anthropologists.[3]: 40 [4]: 290–293  Groupings have been made that do not reflect how the Aboriginal peoples included in the groupings saw themselves, one example being the "aggregation of clan groups in north-east Arnhem Land who lack a single name for themselves", but whom Warner collectively labels the "Murngin".[4]: 293 

In Western Australia, some large cultural blocs that are well attested are: Noongar, Western Desert cultural bloc, Kimberley peoples and Yamatji.[5]: 7 [6][7] Of these, Noongar and Yamatji are (at least post-colonisation) often self-identified, with the former being a cultural system that has existed prior to colonisation. Western Desert cultural bloc refers to a dialect continuum which contains many communities that before colonisation recognised "their own dialectical affiliations, and [had] no overall term for themselves".[5]: 7 [8]: 204–208  The Kimberley peoples are a collection of smaller cultural blocs in the region.[7]: 3 

Kimberley region

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The Kimberley region is linguistically complex, containing around 27 languages in five language groups. It is also one of the major rock art regions of Australia, as well as being a trading focus of pearl shell, shields, myths, rituals and body paint patterns.[9]: 548 

Due to the region's rugged terrain and distance from coloniser population centres, it was one of the last areas to be colonised; graziers began moving in in the 1880s. Colonisation was resisted in "drawn-out guerilla warfare" but many massacres still occurred. It was only in the 1920s, after the Forrest River massacre, that public outcry resulted in Aboriginal people being treated in a "less brutal" manner.[9]: 548 

Aboriginal divers were often central to the region's pearling industry in the 19th century, this being a "major platform for black-white relations".[9]: 548 [10]: 85, 88 

Ecoregions and culture blocs

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There is some correspondence between the traditional boundaries of language groups and Australia's bioregions.[11]: 42  Australia's major drainage basins have been found to correspond with the main culture blocs. This is explained as a result of the basins' margins being poor in plant, animal and water resources; consequently there is less cultural exchange on their margins than in their interiors.[12]: 78 

Kinship groups found in Western Australia

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This section gives an overview of Australian Aboriginal kinship groupings within Western Australia, with boundaries based on Norman Tindale's 1974 map, as published in Western Australia: An Atlas of Human Endeavour (1979) by the Government of Western Australia.[13][better source needed]

  • Perth type: Matrilineal moieties and totemic clans. Patrilineal local descent groups. Includes Amangu, Yued, Whadjuk, Binjareb, Wardandi, Ganeang and Wiilman.
  • Nyakinyaki type: Alternate generational levels similar to Western Desert type, with patrilineal local descent groups. Includes Ballardong and Nyakinyaki.
  • Bibelmen type: Patrilineal moieties and patrilineal local descent groups. Includes Bibulman and Mineng.
  • Wudjari type: similar to Nyakinyaki except they have named patrilineal totemic local descent groups.
  • Nyunga type: similar to Wangai with two endogamous named divisions (Bee-eater and King fisher), in which marriage took place within one's own division but children were in the opposite, modified from the Western Desert system. Includes Nyunga.
  • Nganda type: Patrilineal totemic local descent groups, no moieties or sections. Includes Nganda and Nandu.
  • Inggadi-Badimaia gtype: Sections not well defined, Patrilineal totemic local clans grouped into larger divisions. Includes Inggada, Dadei, Malgada, Ngugan, Widi, Badimaia, Wadjari, and Goara.
  • Djalenji-Maia type: Sections correlated with kin terms, Matrilineal descent groups. Includes Noala, Djalenji, Yinigudira, Baiyungu, Maia, Malgaru, Dargari, Buduna, Guwari, Warianga, Djiwali, Djururu, Nyanu, Bandjima, Inawongga, Gurama, Binigura and Guwari.
  • Nyangamada type: Sections with indirect matrilineal descent, with patrilineal local descent groups. Includes Bailgu, Indjibandji, Mardudunera, Yaburara, Ngaluma, Gareira, Nyamal, Ngala, and Nyangamada.
  • Galamaia-Gelago type: Like Nyunga, but practising circumcision. Includes Galamaia, Ngurlu, Maduwongga, and Gelago.
  • Mirning type: Patrilineal local totemic descent groups, No moieties or sections. Similar to the Western Desert type. Includes Ngadjunmaia, Mirning.
  • Kimberley peoples - in the Kimberley region - speaking a variety of languages and affected from the 1870s onwards, represented today by the Kimberley Land Council.
  • Garadjeri type: As for Nyangamada. Includes Garadjeri, Mangala, Yaoro, Djungun, Ngombal, Djaberadjabera, and Nyulnyul.
  • Bardi type. Patrilineal local descent groups, no moieties or sections. Includes Warwar, Nimanburu, Ongarang, Djaul Djaui.
  • Ungarinyin type: Patrilineal. Includes Umedi, Wungemi, Worora, Wunumbul
  • Ngaanyatjarra - occupying the Central Desert region - and being much less affected than the other Aboriginal groups of Western Australia.

Impact of colonisation

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Main articles: Australian frontier wars § Western Australia, and History of Indigenous Australians § 1770–1850s: impact of British colonisation

Aboriginal traditional cultures have been greatly impacted since the colonisation of Australia began. During the late 19th and early 20th century it was assumed that Aboriginal Australians were a dying race and would eventually disappear.[14]

While Aboriginal populations in Western Australia did decline until the 1930s, they have since increased.[citation needed] Today, all Aboriginal cultures have been impacted by degrees of marginalisation and exclusion from participation in the dominant culture of Australia. This has resulted in higher than average rates of infant mortality, and lower life expectancy, education and rates of employment.[citation needed]

191 Aboriginal languages have been documented in WA,[1] but as of 2018 only 31 were spoken.[15]

See also

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Notes

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References

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  1. ^ a b "AustLang". AIATSIS Collection. Retrieved 5 January 2024.
  2. ^ Porter, John (1990). Longitude 129 Degrees East, and Why it is not the Longest, Straight Line in the World (PDF). Canberra, A.C.T.: Australian Surveyors Congress (32nd). Retrieved 5 January 2024.
  3. ^ Memmott, Paul; Long, Stephen (1 March 2002). "Place Theory and Place Maintenance in Indigenous Australia". Urban Policy and Research. 20: 39–56. doi:10.1080/08111140220131591.
  4. ^ a b Redmond, Anthony (1 November 2011). "Identifying the Relevant Level of a Society in Australian Native Title Claims". Anthropological Forum. 21 (3): 287–305. doi:10.1080/00664677.2011.617714.
  5. ^ a b Berndt, Ronald M.; Berndt, Catherine H. (1980). Aborigines of the West: their past and their present (2nd rev. ed.). Perth: University of Western Australia Press. ISBN 0855641894.
  6. ^ "Connection to Country". Kaartdijin Noongar. Retrieved 25 April 2025.
  7. ^ a b Kimberley Aboriginal Caring for Culture Initial Consultation Report (PDF). 2019. Retrieved 25 April 2025.
  8. ^ Palmer, Kingsley (2016). Noongar people, Noongar land: the resilience of Aboriginal culture in the South West of Western Australia. Canberra, ACT: Aboriginal Studies Press. ISBN 9781922102478.
  9. ^ a b c Horton, David. The Encyclopaedia of Aboriginal Australia: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history, society and culture. Vol. 1. ISBN 0855752491.
  10. ^ Nayton, Gaye (2011). The archaeology of market capitalism: a Western Australian perspective. New York: Springer. ISBN 978-1-4419-8318-3.
  11. ^ Fourmile, Henrieta (May 1996). MAKING THINGS WORK: ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER INVOLVEMENT IN BIOREGIONAL PLANNING CONSULTANT'S REPORT. Canberra: Biodiversity Unit, Department of the Environment, Sport and Territories. Retrieved 5 January 2024.
  12. ^ Mulvaney, John; Kamminga, Johan (2 September 2020). Prehistory of Australia (1 ed.). Routledge. doi:10.4324/9781003136941. ISBN 1864489502.
  13. ^ N.T. Jarvis (Ed) Western Australia: An Altlas of Human Endeavour 1829-1979. Education Committee, WAY 79. Education Department of Western Australia. 1979: Page 32.
  14. ^ McGregor, Russell (1997). Imagined destinies : aboriginal australians and the doomed race theory, 1880-1939. Carlton, Vic: Melbourne University Press. ISBN 0522847625.
  15. ^ "Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and languages are strong, supported and flourishing". Australian Government Productivity Commission. 14 June 2023. Retrieved 5 January 2024.

Further reading

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