The Bundjalung people, also spelt Bunjalung, Badjalang and Bandjalang, are

Aboriginal Australians 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 ...

who are the original custodians of the northern coastal area of

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, Australia, located approximately northeast of

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

, an area that includes the

Bundjalung National Park The Bundjalung National Park is a national park located on the north coast of New South Wales, Australia, north-east of Sydney. It protects an area of coastal plain, heathland and solitary beaches between the towns of Iluka and Evans Hea ...

. Bundjalung people all share descent from ancestors who once spoke as their first, preferred language one or more of the dialects of the Lower-Richmond branch of the Yugambeh-

Bundjalung language Bundjalung may refer to: * Bundjalung people, an Aboriginal-Australian group * Western Bundjalung people The Western Bundjalung or Bundjalung people are an aggregation of tribes of Australian Aboriginal people who inhabit north-east NSW along the ...

family. The Arakwal of

Byron Bay Byron Bay ( Minjungbal: ''Cavvanbah)'' is a beachside town located in the far-northeastern corner of the state of New South Wales, Australia on Bundjalung Country. It is located north of Sydney and south of Brisbane. Cape Byron, a hea ...

count themselves as one of the Bundjalung peoples.

Language

Bundjalung is a Pama-Nyungan language. It has two unusual features: certain syllables are strongly stressed while others are "slurred", and it classifies

gender Gender is the range of characteristics pertaining to femininity and masculinity and differentiating between them. Depending on the context, this may include sex-based social structures (i.e. gender roles) and gender identity. Most cultures u ...

into four classes: (a) masculine (b) feminine (c)

arboreal Arboreal locomotion is the Animal locomotion, locomotion of animals in trees. In habitats in which trees are present, animals have evolved to move in them. Some animals may scale trees only occasionally, but others are exclusively arboreal. Th ...

and (d) neuter.

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 ...

, Bundjalung tribal lands encompassed roughly , from the northern side of the Clarence River to the

Richmond River The Richmond River is a river situated in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales, Australia. Course and features The river rises at the northern end of the Richmond Range, near its junction with the McPherson Range, on the Queensla ...

, including Ballina with their inland extension running to

Tabulam Tabulam is a rural village in the far north-east of New South Wales, Australia, 800 kilometres from the state capital, Sydney. Tabulam is located on the Bruxner Highway (Highway 44) between Tenterfield and Casino and on the Clarence River. Acco ...

and Baryugil. The coastal Widje

clan 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 ...

ventured no further than Rappville.

Alternative names

According to

, various spellings and other names were used for the Bundjalung people: * ''Badjelang'' (''paidjal/badjal'' means "man") * ''Bandjalang, Bandjalong'' * ''Budulung'' * ''Buggul'' * ''Bundela, Bundel'' * ''Bunjellung'' * ''Paikalyung, Paikalyug'' * ''Watchee'' * ''Widje'' (clan or clans at Evans Head) * ''Woomargou''

Culture

Initiation ceremony

According to R. H. Mathews, the Bundjalung rite of transition into manhood began with a cleared space called a ''walloonggurra'' some distance from the main camp. On the evening the novices are taken from their mothers around dusk, the men sing their way to this bora ground where a small

bullroarer The bullroarer, ''rhombus'', or ''turndun'', is an ancient ritual musical instrument and a device historically used for communicating over great distances. It consists of a piece of wood attached to a string, which when swung in a large circle ...

(''dhalguñgwn'') is whirled.

Musical instruments

The Bundjalung used a variety of instruments, including blowing on a

eucalyptus ''Eucalyptus'' () is a genus of over seven hundred species of flowering trees, shrubs or mallees in the myrtle family, Myrtaceae. Along with several other genera in the tribe Eucalypteae, including '' Corymbia'', they are commonly known as euca ...

leaf, creating a bird-like sound.

Clapsticks Clapsticks, also spelt clap sticks and also known as bilma, bimli, clappers, musicstick or just stick, are a traditional Australian Aboriginal instrument. They serve to maintain rhythm in voice chants, often as part of an Aboriginal ceremony ...

were used to establish a drumbeat rhythm on ceremonial dancing occasions. Emu callers (short

didgeridoo The didgeridoo (; also spelt didjeridu, among other variants) is a wind instrument, played with vibrating lips to produce a continuous drone while using a special breathing technique called circular breathing. The didgeridoo was developed by ...

s about long) were traditionally used by the Bundjalung when hunting ( Eastern Australia Coastal Emus). When striking the emu-caller at one end with the open palm it sounds like an

emu The emu () (''Dromaius novaehollandiae'') is the second-tallest living bird after its ratite relative the ostrich. It is endemic to Australia where it is the largest native bird and the only extant member of the genus ''Dromaius''. The emu' ...

. This decoy attracts the bird out of the bush making it an easy prey.

Native title

In late April 2021, the

Federal Court of Australia The Federal Court of Australia is an Australian superior court of record which has jurisdiction to deal with most civil disputes governed by federal law (with the exception of family law matters), along with some summary (less serious) and indic ...

convened at Evans Head, where a

native title Aboriginal title is a common law doctrine that the land rights of indigenous peoples to customary tenure persist after the assumption of sovereignty under settler colonialism. The requirements of proof for the recognition of aboriginal title, ...

determination was made over of land, consisting of 52 separate areas of land. The application had been launched in 1996, and the first determination made in 2013. Included in the land is a

bora ring Bora is an initiation ceremony of the Aboriginal people of Eastern Australia. The word "bora" also refers to the site on which the initiation is performed. At such a site, boys, having reached puberty, achieve the status of men. The initiation c ...

of great cultural significance near

Coraki Coraki is a small town that sits on the confluence of the Richmond and Wilson Rivers in northern New South Wales, Australia in Richmond Valley Shire. At the 2016 census, Coraki had a population of 1,277 people. Material was copied from this ...

Notable people

Troy Cassar-Daley Troy Cassar-Daley (born 18 May 1969) is an Australian country music songwriter and entertainer. Cassar-Daley has released thirteen studio albums, two live albums and five compilation albums over 30 years, including the platinum-selling ''The G ...

, country singer, winner of

ARIA In music, an aria (Italian: ; plural: ''arie'' , or ''arias'' in common usage, diminutive form arietta , plural ariette, or in English simply air) is a self-contained piece for one voice, with or without instrumental or orchestral accompanime ...

and Deadly awards, among others *

Melissa Lucashenko Melissa Lucashenko is an Indigenous Australian writer of adult literary fiction and literary non-fiction, who has also written novels for teenagers. In 2013 at The Walkley Awards, she won the "Feature Writing Long (over 4000 words) Award" for ...

, author, winner of 2013 Walkley Award for non-fiction and 2019

Miles Franklin Award The Miles Franklin Literary Award is an annual literary prize awarded to "a novel which is of the highest literary merit and presents Australian life in any of its phases". The award was set up according to the will of Miles Franklin (1879–195 ...

* Madeleine and

Miah Madden Miah Grace Madden is an Australian actress and presenter. Early life and education Miah Grace Madden is from Rose Bay, a suburb east of Sydney. She is the daughter of Lee Madden, who was a Gadigal man with some Bundjalung heritage, and Bel ...

, actresses, half-sisters with Bundjalung heritage through their father *

Lambert McBride Lambert McBride (1918–2002) was an Indigenous Australian and activist for Aboriginal citizenship rights during the 1960s. Early life Lambert George McBride, also known as Lambie or Stan McBride was born April 3, 1918, at Grady's Creek, near ...

, activist for Aboriginal citizenship rights during the 1960s *

Digby Moran Albert Digby Moran (1948-2020) was an Australian Aboriginal artist. His work derived inspiration from his Bundjalung ancestors in the north of New South Wales, Australia, where he remains one of the Northern Rivers' most recognised artists. ...

, artist *

Nikita Ridgeway Nikita Ridgeway (born 1986) is a Bundjalung/Biripi tattoo artist and graphic designer from Australia, who was awarded the a BBC 100 Women Award in 2015 in recognition of her entrepreneurial work and advocacy for Aboriginal graphic design. Biogr ...

, tattoo artist and graphic designer * Tamala Shelton, actress *

Rhoda Roberts Rhoda Ann Roberts (born 1959) is an Australian actress, director and arts executive. Born in Canterbury Hospital in Sydney in 1959, Bundjalung woman Roberts grew up and completed Year 10 in Lismore, then moved back to Sydney where she qua ...

, journalist, arts advisor and artistic director *

Anthony Mundine Anthony Mundine Jr. (born 21 May 1975) is an Australian former professional boxer and rugby league footballer. In boxing he competed from 2000 to 2021, and held the WBA super-middleweight title twice between 2003 and 2008. He also held the I ...

, former boxer, rugby league star *

Evelyn Araluen Evelyn Araluen is an Australian poet and literary editor. She won the 2022 Stella Prize with her first book, ''Dropbear''. Career Araluen is a descendent of the Bundjalung people and was born on Dharug land. Her poetry has been published i ...

, poet, researcher, co-editor

Notes

Citations

Sources

* * * * * * * citing ''Yamba Yesterday'', Howland and Lee, Yamba Centenary Committee. * * * * * * * * * * * * *

External links

Bundjalung of Byron Bay Aboriginal Corporation
representing the Bundjalung and Arakwal people, land and waters
Bibliography of Bundjalung language and people resources
at the

Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies The Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS), established as the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies (AIAS) in 1964, is an independent Australian Government statutory authority. It is a collecting, ...

"Australia's Sacred Sites Part 5 - Byron Bay"
ABC Radio's ''Spirit of Things'' (October 2002; Retrieved 21 May 2008

ABC Radio (December 2004) Retrieved 21 May 2008
"Badjalang"
AusAnthrop Australian Aboriginal tribal database. Retrieved 20 May 2008
Bunjalung of Byron Bay (Arakwal) Indigenous Land Use Agreement (ILUA)
Retrieved 21 May 2008

Retrieved 21 May 2008 {{DEFAULTSORT:Bundjalung People