The Arnga are an
indigenous Australian
Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...
people of the northern
Kimberley region
The Kimberley is the northernmost of the nine regions of Western Australia. It is bordered on the west by the Indian Ocean, on the north by the Timor Sea, on the south by the Great Sandy Desert, Great Sandy and Tanami Desert, Tanami deserts ...
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 ...
.
Name
The Arnga, like the
Yeidji/Gwini and
Miwa lack a self-defining tribal
ethnonym
An ethnonym () is a name applied to a given ethnic group. Ethnonyms can be divided into two categories: exonyms (whose name of the ethnic group has been created by another group of people) and autonyms, or endonyms (whose name is created and used ...
, and for that reason have generally been called the Forrest River people.
The name 'Arnga' means 'unintelligible person'.
Country
Arnga country in
Norman Tindale
Norman Barnett Tindale AO (12 October 1900 – 19 November 1993) was an Australian anthropologist, archaeologist, entomologist and ethnologist.
Life
Tindale was born in Perth, Western Australia in 1900. His family moved to Tokyo and lived ther ...
's estimation covered some of the land south of the
Forrest River
The Forrest River is a river in the Kimberley region of Western Australia.
The river rises just east of Pseudomys Hill in the Drysdale River National Park and flows in an easterly direction until discharging into the western arm of the Cambri ...
. It included areas along the
King
King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king.
*In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...
and
Pentecost
Pentecost (also called Whit Sunday, Whitsunday or Whitsun) is a Christianity, Christian holiday which takes place on the 50th day (the seventh Sunday) after Easter Sunday. It commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles in the Ne ...
rivers, running west of the
Wyndham Gulf to the
Durack River
Durack River is a river in the Kimberley region of Western Australia.
The river rises below the Durack Range then flows north, discharging into the west arm of Cambridge Gulf.
There are 14 tributaries of the Durack, including Chapman River, ...
, Their inland extension was not deep, going only as far as the river gorges.
Alternative names
* ''Arawari''
* ''Arawodi''
* ''Guluwarin''
* ''Kolaia''
* ''Kuluwara, Kuluwaran''
* ''Molyamidi''
* ''Woljamidi, Woljamiri''
* ''?Yamandil''
Source:
Notes
Citations
Sources
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{{authority control
Aboriginal peoples of Western Australia