The Diyari (), alternatively transcribed as Dieri (), is 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 ...
group of the
South Australia
South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...
n desert originating in and around the delta of
Cooper Creek
The Cooper Creek (formerly Cooper's Creek) is a river in the Australian states of Queensland and South Australia. It was the site of the death of the explorers Burke and Wills in 1861. It is sometimes known as the Barcoo River from one of its t ...
to the east of
Lake Eyre
Lake Eyre ( ), officially known as Kati Thanda–Lake Eyre, is an endorheic lake in east-central Far North South Australia, some north of Adelaide. The shallow lake is the depocentre of the vast endorheic Lake Eyre basin, and contains the ...
.
Language
Diyari
The Diyari (), alternatively transcribed as Dieri (), is an Indigenous Australian group of the South Australian desert originating in and around the delta of Cooper Creek to the east of Lake Eyre.
Language
Diyari is classified as one of the K ...
is classified as one of the
Karnic languages
The Karnic languages are a group of languages of the Pama–Nyungan family. According to Dixon (2002), these are three separate families, but Bowern (2001) establishes regular paradigmatic connections among many of the languages, demonstrating ...
. Though earlier described in ''
Ethnologue
''Ethnologue: Languages of the World'' (stylized as ''Ethnoloɠue'') is an annual reference publication in print and online that provides statistics and other information on the living languages of the world. It is the world's most comprehensiv ...
'' as extinct, and later "nearly extinct",
Peter Austin has attested that the language still has fluent native speakers and hundreds of Diyari who retain some knowledge of it. Lutheran missionaries developed an orthography to transcribe the language, together with a German-Diyari dictionary, as early as 1893 and, as later modified by
Johann Flierl
Johann Flierl (16 April 1858 – 30 September 1947) was a pioneer Lutheran missionary in New Guinea. He established mission schools and organised the construction of roads and communication between otherwise remote interior locations. Under his l ...
, this was taught to many Diyari-speakers, who corresponded in the language from the 1880s down to the 1960s. Diyari was the first Aboriginal language for which a complete translation of the New Testament was made.
The Diyari also had a highly developed
sign language
Sign languages (also known as signed languages) are languages that use the visual-manual modality to convey meaning, instead of spoken words. Sign languages are expressed through manual articulation in combination with non-manual markers. Sign l ...
, which was first noticed by
Alfred William Howitt
Alfred William Howitt , (17 April 1830 – 7 March 1908), also known by author abbreviation A.W. Howitt, was an Australian anthropologist, explorer and naturalist. He was known for leading the Victorian Relief Expedition, which set out to es ...
in 1891, who first mistook them for defiant or command gestures until he realised that they formed part of an integral system of hand signs, of which he registered 65. One of their functions was to allow women to communicate during mourning, when a speech taboo prevailed.
Country
The traditional lands of the Diyari were estimated by
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 ...
to have encompassed roughly , and lay in the delta of the Barcoo River (
Cooper Creek
The Cooper Creek (formerly Cooper's Creek) is a river in the Australian states of Queensland and South Australia. It was the site of the death of the explorers Burke and Wills in 1861. It is sometimes known as the Barcoo River from one of its t ...
) to the east of
Lake Eyre
Lake Eyre ( ), officially known as Kati Thanda–Lake Eyre, is an endorheic lake in east-central Far North South Australia, some north of Adelaide. The shallow lake is the depocentre of the vast endorheic Lake Eyre basin, and contains the ...
. The southern boundary was marked by
Mount Freeling, its most northern reach by the Pirigundi Lake, on the Cooper Creek. The most easterly edge was constituted by
Lake Hope, and the western limits lay some 80 miles west of Lake Hope. Their neighbouring tribes were the
Yandruwandha and Yawarrawarrka, respectively to their east and north-east and, to the north, the
Ngameni. To their north-west were the
Wangganguru, to their west the
Thirrari and Arabana, while on the southern fringes were the
Kuyani
The Kuyani people, also written Guyani and other variants, and also known as the Nganitjidi, are an Aboriginal Australian people of the state of South Australia who speak the Kuyani language. Their traditional lands are to the west of the Flinder ...
and
Adnyamathanha
The Adnyamathanha (Pronounced: ) are a contemporary Aboriginal Australian people of the northern Flinders Ranges, South Australia, formed as an aggregate of several distinct peoples. Strictly speaking the ethnonym Adnyamathanha was an alternativ ...
.
The environment was harsh, and foraging for vegetables was a staple since the kangaroo was absent from their terrain and the
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' ...
, their favourite food, quite rare.
Native rats, snakes and lizards were, however, abundant.
Mythology
Lorimer Fison
Lorimer Fison (9 November 1832 – 29 December 1907) was an Australian anthropologist, Methodist minister and journalist.
Early life
Fison was born at Barningham, Suffolk, England, the son of Thomas Fison, a prosperous landowner, and his wife ...
(1880):
After the creation, brothers, sisters, and others of the closest kin, intermarried promiscuously, until — the evil effects of these alliances becoming manifest — a council of the chiefs was assembled to consider in what way they might be averted, the result of their deliberations being a petition to the Muramura (Good Spirit), in answer to which he ordered that the tribe should be divided into branches, and distinguished one from another by different names, after objects animate and inanimate, such as dogs, mice, emu, rain, iguana, and so forth; the members of any such branch not to intermarry, but with permission for one branch to mingle with another. Thus, the son of a dog might not marry the daughter of a dog, but either might form an alliance with a mouse, rat, or other family. This custom is still observed, and the first question asked of a stranger is, "What murdoo?", i.e., "Of what family are you?".
The Diyari creation story imagined ''Mooramoora'', the good spirit, making small black lizards at first, and delighted with them, they decided should hold sway over all other created beings. It was by remodulating this variety of lizard, cutting off the tail, and using his forefinger to create a nose, that man was created, and then divided into male and female. Mooramoora then had the Moon create all creatures. Man could not run down the fleet, tasty emu, and the deity was asked to make heat so that it would tire and allow men to catch up and trap it. Men were asked to perform certain ceremonies, considered obscene by Gason, and after their compliance, Mooramoora created the sun.
History of contact
Lutheran missionaries established the
Bethesda or Killalpaninna Mission among the Dieri in 1866. The first ethnographic reports regarding the Diyari were written by a police trooper, Samuel Gason (1845–1897) in 1874. He estimated the numbers of Aborigines in the Cooper Creek area at 1000-1200, of which the Diyari were the most prominent, with an estimated 230 members. By the end of WW2, they were estimated to number around 60.
Kinship system
The Diyari foundational myths stated that originally man was incestuously promiscuous, fathers, mothers, sons and daughter all marrying each other. To overcome the strife that ensued, the Elders petitioned the Mooramoora creator for a solution, which consisted in splitting the tribe into distinct branches, each designated by an animal or natural name, and then disallow marriage among members of the same branch.
Before the white intrusion on their lands made its impact, the Dieri were divided into two tribal groups, the ''Ku'na:ri'' around Cooper Creek and the ''Pandu'' in proximity of Lake Hope.
Their kinship system was first studied by Howitt, who took it as exemplifying a form of one of the most socially backward of Australian tribes.
Alfred Radcliffe-Brown
Alfred Reginald Radcliffe-Brown, FBA (born Alfred Reginald Brown; 17 January 1881 – 24 October 1955) was an English social anthropologist who helped further develop the theory of structural functionalism.
Biography
Alfred Reginald Radcli ...
analysed the Diyari kinship structure as a variant of the
Arrernte system. Their
moieties were ''Matharri'' and ''Kararrhu,'' in accordance with the general divisions among speakers of
Thura-Yura languages
The Yura or Thura-Yura languages are a group of Australian Aboriginal languages surrounding Spencer Gulf and Gulf St Vincent in South Australia, that comprise a genetic language family of the Pama–Nyungan family.
Name
The name ''Yura'' com ...
in South Australia.
Social system
Gason thought the Diyari extremely treacherous, nourished by suspicion from infancy. At the same time, he said they displayed exemplary hospitality, revered the aged, and adored their children. Any stranger who passed through their camp, was provided with food. Infanticide was widespread, by Gason's calculation, affecting some 30% of births and was performed by the mother. They were very attached to their camp
dingo
The dingo (''Canis familiaris'', ''Canis familiaris dingo'', ''Canis dingo'', or ''Canis lupus dingo'') is an ancient (Basal (phylogenetics), basal) lineage of dog found in Australia (continent), Australia. Its taxonomic classification is de ...
s, treating them as they would a human.
Native title
Th
Dieri Aboriginal Corporation (DAC)incorporated in 2001 and by 2014 had 600 members living in
Marree,
Lyndhurst,
Port Augusta
Port Augusta is a small city in South Australia. Formerly a port, seaport, it is now a road traffic and Junction (rail), railway junction city mainly located on the east coast of the Spencer Gulf immediately south of the gulf's head and about ...
,
Whyalla
Whyalla was founded as "Hummocks Hill", and was known by that name until 1916. It is the fourth most populous city in the Australian state of South Australia after Adelaide, Mount Gambier and Gawler and along with Port Pirie and Port Augusta ...
and in
Broken Hill
Broken Hill is an inland mining city in the far west of outback New South Wales, Australia. It is near the border with South Australia on the crossing of the Barrier Highway (A32) and the Silver City Highway (B79), in the Barrier Range. It is ...
in New South Wales. The group purchased the Marree Station property surrounding Marree in 2008. In May 2012 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 ...
made a determination which recognized Diyari rights to of land along Cooper Creek, with boundaries extending to part of the
Strzelecki Regional Reserve and the
Lake Eyre National Park.
Alternative names
* ''Diari, Diyeri, Dieyerie, Dieri''
* ''Deerie, Dieyrie, Dayerrie''
* ''Dthee-eri, Dickeri (misprint)''
* ''Kunari.'' (the native name for Cooper Creek)
* ''Koonarie''
* ''Wongkadieri'' (
Arabana
The Arabana, also known as the Ngarabana, are an Aboriginal Australian people of South Australia.
Name
The older tribal Exonym and endonym, autonym was Ngarabana, which may have been misheard by white settlers as Arabana, the term now generall ...
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, ...
)
* ''Wonkadieri''
* ''Ti:ari'' (Southern
Aranda exonym)
* ''Urrominna (southern name not only for the Diyari, but also for the
Kuyani
The Kuyani people, also written Guyani and other variants, and also known as the Nganitjidi, are an Aboriginal Australian people of the state of South Australia who speak the Kuyani language. Their traditional lands are to the west of the Flinder ...
Some words
* ''kunki'' (Man of high degree/clever man/medicine man)
* ''kutyi'' (malign spirit, devil)
See also
*
Adno-artina, a spirit that appears in Diyari stories
*
Kadimakara, monsters in Diyari stories that have been associated with extinct megafauna
Notes
Citations
Sources
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Further reading
Dieri Aboriginal CorporationDieri Native Title Claims info
{{authority control
Aboriginal peoples of South Australia