The Barungguan are an

Aboriginal Australian Aboriginal Australians are the various Indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, such as Tasmania, Fraser Island, Hinchinbrook Island, the Tiwi Islands, and Groote Eylandt, but excluding the Torres Strait Islands ...

people of the

Cape York Peninsula Cape York Peninsula is a large peninsula located in Far North Queensland, Australia. It is the largest unspoiled wilderness in northern Australia.Mittermeier, R.E. et al. (2002). Wilderness: Earth’s last wild places. Mexico City: Agrupación ...

Northern Queensland North Queensland or the Northern Region is the northern part of the Australian state of Queensland that lies just south of Far North Queensland. Queensland is a massive state, larger than many countries, and its tropical northern part has been ...

. The name is associated with three languages: Ganganda,

Umpithamu The Umpithamu, also once known to ethnographers as the Koko Ompindamo, are a contemporary Aboriginal Australian people of the eastern Cape York Peninsula in northern Queensland. Norman Tindale, transcribing their ethnonym Umpithamu as Umbindhamu, ...

and Morrobolam.

Name

The anthropologist

Donald Thomson Donald Finlay Fergusson Thomson, OBE (26 June 1901 – 12 May 1970) was an Australian anthropologist and ornithologist who was largely responsible for turning the Caledon Bay crisis into a "decisive moment in the history of Aboriginal-Europea ...

classified them (speaking of them as the ''Yintjinga'') as one of what he called the

Kawadji The Uutaalnganu people, also known as Night Island Kawadji, are an Aboriginal Australian group of Cape York Peninsula in northern Queensland. The name is also used collectively for several peoples in this area, such as the Pontunj / Jangkonj (Y ...

peoples.

Country

According to

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 ...

, writing in 1974, the Barungguan had about of tribal land, on the western side of

Princess Charlotte Bay Princess Charlotte Bay is a large bay on the east coast of Far North Queensland at the base of Cape York Peninsula, 350 km north northwest of Cairns. Princess Charlotte Bay is a part of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park and it is a habit ...

and extending northwards towar
Cape Sidmouth
Their furthest northern limit appears to have been around the Rocky River, beyond which they rarely ventured.

Social organisation

The Barungguan were organized into

clans A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, clans may claim descent from founding member or apical ancestor. Clans, in indigenous societies, tend to be endogamous, meaning ...

the names of at least two of which are known: * ''Umbuigamu'' * ''Umbindhamu'' As with the neighbouring Walmbaria,

tooth avulsion Dental avulsion is the complete displacement of a tooth from its socket in alveolar bone owing to trauma. Normally, a tooth is connected to the socket by the periodontal ligament. When a tooth is knocked out, the ligament is torn. Avulsed perman ...

was practiced on all members of either sex among the Barungguan, with either the right or left upper incisor extracted for ritual purposes.

Alternative names

* ''Baka.'' ( Kaantju

exonym An endonym (from Greek: , 'inner' + , 'name'; also known as autonym) is a common, ''native'' name for a geographical place, group of people, individual person, language or dialect, meaning that it is used inside that particular place, group, ...

) * ''Banjigam.'' (

Bakanambia The Bakanambia, also known as the Wanbara, are an Aboriginal group of Australia. Traditionally, the Bakanambia lived in the vicinity of Princess Charlotte Bay in the state of Queensland. One of the ethnonyms applied to them was Lama Lama, which ...

exonym) * ''Barunguan.'' (typo) * ''Ganganda'' * ''Jintjingga.'' (native

toponym Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of '' toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage and types. Toponym is the general term for a proper name of ...

for a site at the mouth of the Stewart River) * ''Njindingga'' * ''Umbindhamu'' * ''Umbuigamu'' * ''Yintjingga'' Source:

Notes

Citations

Sources

* * * * * * * * {{Authority control Aboriginal peoples of Queensland Far North Queensland