The Amangu are an indigenous
Yamatji
Yamatji (or Yamaji) is a Wajarri word that has at least three different meanings:
* a member of the Watjarri people
* any Aboriginal Australian person from the Murchison region of Western Australia
* any group made up of members of different I ...
people of the
mid-western region of
Western Australia
Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...
.
Language
Two early glossaries of some words from the Champion Bay Amangu were collected. One, by R. J. Foley, was published in a work by
Augustus Oldfield
Augustus Frederick Oldfield (1821–1887) was an English botanist and zoologist who made large collections of plant specimens in Australia.
Oldfield was born on 12 January 1821 in London, England. He made botanical collections in Tasmania, the coa ...
in 1865, and the other was gathered by the
Colonial Secretary of Western Australia
The Colonial Secretary of Western Australia was one of the most important and powerful public offices in Western Australia, in the time when Western Australia was a British colony. The Colonial Secretary was the representative of the British Colo ...
Roger Goldsworthy
Sir Roger Tuckfield Goldsworthy (1839 – 6 May 1900) was a British colonial administrator.
Roger Goldsworthy was born in Marylebone, Middlesex in 1839, and educated at Sandhurst, the younger brother of Major-General Walter Tuckfield Golds ...
, and published by
E. M. Curr two decades later.
Country
The Amangu's territory stretched over some , centering on the area of
Champion Bay
Champion Bay is a coastal feature north of Geraldton, Western Australia, facing the port and city between Point Moore and Bluff Point.
Champion Bay was named by Lieutenant John Lort Stokes of , who surveyed the area in April 1840. He named it ...
, and the
Chapman River
Chapman River is a river in the Mid West region of Western Australia.
Course
The river arises on the Victoria Plateau east of Northampton. It flows in a southerly direction, passing through the town of Nabawa in the Shire of Chapman Valley, ...
. The northern boundary lay near
Geraldton
Geraldton (Wajarri: ''Jambinu'', Wilunyu: ''Jambinbirri'') is a coastal city in the Mid West region of the Australian state of Western Australia, north of the state capital, Perth.
At June 2018, Geraldton had an urban population of 37,648. ...
and the
Hill River. The inland extension was from the coast as far as the vicinity of
Mullewa,
Morawa and
Carnamah. The southern frontier is not clear, but is believed to have run down to the vicinity just north of
Moora.
History
Excavation as ''Yellabidde Cave'' near Leeman indicate that the Amangu territory was occupied as early as 23,000 BP, putting back the accepted date for habitation of the Perth-Geraldton coast by some 15,000 years.
Some words
* ''agootha'' (mother)
* ''ammatha'' (father)
* ''kilire'', ''kullali'' (emu)
* ''mini'' (whiteman)
* ''yellabidde'' (emu)
Notes
Citations
Sources
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
{{Aboriginal peoples of Western Australia
Noongar