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The Girai wurrung, also spelt Kirrae Wuurong and Kirrae Whurrung, 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 who traditionally occupied the territory between
Mount Emu Creek The Mount Emu Creek, (Aboriginal Australian:''Tarnpirr'') a perennial creek of the Glenelg Hopkins catchment, is located in the Western District of Victoria, Australia. Course and features The Mount Emu Creek is a long and small meanderi ...
and the
Hopkins River The Hopkins River, a perennial river of the Glenelg Hopkins catchment, is located in the Western District of Victoria, Australia. Course and features The Hopkins River rises below Telegraph Hill near , and flows generally south, joined by twe ...
up to Mount Hamilton, and the Western Otways from the
Gellibrand River The Gellibrand River is a perennial river of the Lake Corangamite, Corangamite catchment, located in the Otway Ranges, Otways region of the Australian state of Victoria (Australia), Victoria. Location and features The Gellibrand River rises in ...
to the Hopkins River. The historian Ian D. Clark has reclassified much of the material regarding them 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 compendium under the
Djargurd Wurrung The Djargurd Wurrong (also spelt Djargurd Wurrung) are Aboriginal Australian people of the Western district of the State of Victoria, and traditionally occupied the territory between Mount Emu Creek and Lake Corangamite. Language The Djargurd ...
, a term reflecting the assumed pre-eminence of one of their clans, the Jacoort/Djargurd.


Language

The Giray language (''Girai wurrung'' meaning literally "blood lip language") spoke a dialect of
Dhauwurd Wurrung language Dhauwurd Wurrung is a term used for a group of languages spoken by various groups of the Gunditjmara people of the Western District (Victoria), Western District of Victoria, Australia. Keerray Woorroong (also spelt Girai Wurrung and variants) i ...
("the Warrnambool language"), which belongs to the Kulinic branch of the Pama-Nyungan language family. James Dawson and his daughter Isabella took down extensive vocabulary lists of it and related dialects. A dictionary of the language was compiled in the 1990s.


Country

The Girai lands comprised of territory from
Warrnambool Warrnambool ( Maar: ''Peetoop'' or ''Wheringkernitch'' or ''Warrnambool'') is a city on the south-western coast of Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 census, Warrnambool had a population of 35,743. Situated on the Princes Highway, Warrnambool (Al ...
and
Hopkins River The Hopkins River, a perennial river of the Glenelg Hopkins catchment, is located in the Western District of Victoria, Australia. Course and features The Hopkins River rises below Telegraph Hill near , and flows generally south, joined by twe ...
down to the coast at
Princetown Princetown is a villageDespite its name, Princetown is not classed as a town today – it is not included in the County Council's list of the 29 towns in Devon: located within Dartmoor national park in the English county of Devon. It is the p ...
. The northern boundary was at
Lake Bolac Lake Bolac is a town in the Western District region of Victoria, Australia. The town is on the shores of Lake Bolac, and the Glenelg Highway passes through the town. At the 2021 census, Lake Bolac and the surrounding area had a population of ...
and
Darlington Darlington is a market town in the Borough of Darlington, County Durham, England. The River Skerne flows through the town; it is a tributary of the River Tees. The Tees itself flows south of the town. In the 19th century, Darlington underwen ...
. To the east their land extended beyond Camperdown. The tribes on their borders were, to the north, the
Djab wurrung The Djab Wurrung, also spelt Djabwurrung, Tjapwurrung, Tjap Wurrung, or Djapwarrung, people are Aboriginal Australians whose country is the volcanic plains of central Victoria from the Mount William Range of Gariwerd in the west to the Pyrenee ...
and
Wathaurong The Wathaurong nation, also called the Wathaurung, Wadawurrung and Wadda Wurrung, are an Aboriginal Australian people living in the area near Melbourne, Geelong and the Bellarine Peninsula in the state of Victoria. They are part of the Kulin all ...
, to their west were the
Dhauwurd wurrung The Gunditjmara or Gunditjamara, also known as Dhauwurd Wurrung, are an Aboriginal Australian people of southwestern Victoria. They are the traditional owners of the areas now encompassing Warrnambool, Port Fairy, Woolsthorpe and Portland. Thei ...
and the
Djargurd Wurrung The Djargurd Wurrong (also spelt Djargurd Wurrung) are Aboriginal Australian people of the Western district of the State of Victoria, and traditionally occupied the territory between Mount Emu Creek and Lake Corangamite. Language The Djargurd ...
. On their eastern flank were the
Gulidjan The Gulidjan people (perhaps originally Kolidjon,), also known as the Kolakngat, or Colac tribe, are an Aboriginal Australian tribe whose traditional lands cover the Lake Colac region of the state of Victoria, Australia. They occupied the grassl ...
and
Gadubanud The Gadubanud (Katubanut), also known as the Pallidurgbarran, Yarro waetch or Cape Otway tribe ( Tindale), are an Aboriginal Australian people of the state of Victoria. Their territory encompasses the rainforest plateau and rugged coastline of ...
.


History

The first white to visit Girai territory was the explorer
Edward Eyre Edward John Eyre (5 August 181530 November 1901) was an English land explorer of the Australian continent, colonial administrator, and Governor of Jamaica. Early life Eyre was born in Whipsnade, Bedfordshire, shortly before his family moved to ...
. As pastoralists began to penetrate their region and squatter, take up squatting runs for their livestock, the Giray responded by waging a frontier guerilla war to hinder the expropriations. An
Aboriginal reserve An Aboriginal reserve, also called simply reserve, was a government-sanctioned settlement for Aboriginal Australians, created under various state and federal legislation. Along with missions and other institutions, they were used from the 19th c ...
was established at Framlington in Girai wurrung territory bordering the
Gunditjmara The Gunditjmara or Gunditjamara, also known as Dhauwurd Wurrung, are an Aboriginal Australian people of southwestern Victoria. They are the traditional owners of the areas now encompassing Warrnambool, Port Fairy, Woolsthorpe and Portland. Their ...
(Dhauwurd wurrung) people.


Clan system

The Girai wurrung people had 21 clans, differing slightly in dialect, with a patriarchal hierarchy and a matrilineally based descent system based on the ''gabadj'' (
Black Cockatoo Black cockatoo is a general descriptive term for cockatoos that are mainly black and may include: * Palm cockatoo, ''Probosciger aterrimus'', also called great black cockatoo *Species of the genus ''Calyptorhynchus'': **Red-tailed black cockatoo, ' ...
) and ''guragidj'' (
White Cockatoo The white cockatoo (''Cacatua alba''), also known as the umbrella cockatoo, is a medium-sized all-white cockatoo endemic to tropical rainforest on islands of Indonesia. When surprised, it extends a large and striking head crest, which has a sem ...
) moieties. Norman Tindale said they were grouped into 12 "hordes" (kin groups), which he lists as follows: *''Bolaga''/ ''Bolagher'' (group at
Lake Bolac Lake Bolac is a town in the Western District region of Victoria, Australia. The town is on the shores of Lake Bolac, and the Glenelg Highway passes through the town. At the 2021 census, Lake Bolac and the surrounding area had a population of ...
) * ''Dantgurt'' * ''Manmait'' * ''Elingamait'' * ''Barrath'' * ''Warnambu'' (Pertobe) * ''Jarcoort'' (believed to be a group at that place). Known as the Tampirr gundidj. * ''Colongulac'' * ''Tooram'' * ''Narragoort'' * ''Coonawanee'' The clans gathered with the Djab wurrung, Dhauwurd wurrung and Wada wurrung peoples to harvest eels at Lake Bolac. They also met at Mirraewuae swamp near
Hexham Hexham ( ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Northumberland, England, on the south bank of the River Tyne, formed by the confluence of the North Tyne and the South Tyne at Warden, Northumberland, Warden nearby, and ...
to hunt emus and other game and to conduct business.


History

On first sighting a European ship off the coast, the Giray took it for a monster from the deep called ''Koorung'' in their traditional law, and fled the area. European settlement of the area began in 1838 and in the early 1840s the Girai wurrung engaged in a sustained guerilla war with the encroaching pastoralists. Dispossession from their land led to starvation and the theft of sheep resulted in murderous reprisals. In early 1839, Frederick Taylor, the manager at George McKillop and James Smith's station at Glenormiston, on being informed that around 50 members of the Jarcoort clan were camped in a gully at Mount Emu creek (the site was known as Tampirr), not far from Camperdown. Taylor rounded up a squatter vigilante band and virtually wiped out the whole group, men, women and children. Ian D. Clark states the estimated deaths at 35–40. A few survived, one woman called Bareetch Chuumeen, managed to swim to safety across Lake Bullen with her child on her shoulders. The place thereafter was called ' Murdering Gully.' places this within Djargurd wurrung country. Assistant Aboriginal Protector
Charles Sievwright Charles Wightman Sievwright (31 March 1800 – 10 September 1855) was a British army officer before being appointed Assistant Protector of Aborigines in part of the Port Phillip District of the colony of New South Wales, now Victoria, Australia. ...
was successful in bringing charges against G.S. Bolden for killing 2 Gunawurd gundidj people on 27 October 1841, but Supreme Court Judge Willis acquitted Bolden in December 1841 of the charges and spoke of the right of squatter licencees to turn anyone off their property. This decision was made despite the conditional nature of the squatter's licence by the Government to allow for Aboriginal access for hunting and traditional use. During 1841 Assistant Protector CW Sievwright set up headquarters at two locations: Lake Keilambete and Lake Terang, but these were only temporary and Sievwright was ordered by Robinson to move to Mount Rouse in February 1842. When Framlingham Aboriginal Reserve was occupied in 1865 near Warrnambool many of the surviving members of the Girai wurrung joined the reserve along with surviving Djargurd wurrung who were forcibly relocated and Gunditjmara from Warrnambool. Gunditjmara from Portland and Lake Condah refused to settle at Framlingham, leading to the establishment of Lake Condah reserve in 1869. The historian Ian Clark asserts that from 1868 the history of the Girai wurrung becomes the history of Framlingham.


Alternative names

* ''Bolaga''/ ''Bolagher'' (apparently the name for the group at
Lake Bolac Lake Bolac is a town in the Western District region of Victoria, Australia. The town is on the shores of Lake Bolac, and the Glenelg Highway passes through the town. At the 2021 census, Lake Bolac and the surrounding area had a population of ...
) * ''Colongulac tribe'' (a clan group) * ''Dantgurt, Dautgart, Tantgort, Targurt, Dyargurt'' * ''Jarcoort'' (may refer to the
group A group is a number of persons or things that are located, gathered, or classed together. Groups of people * Cultural group, a group whose members share the same cultural identity * Ethnic group, a group whose members share the same ethnic ide ...
located at Jancourt) * ''Kirawirung, Kirraewuurong'' * ''Konoug-willam'' (typo?) * ''Manmait'' * ''Mount Shadwell tribe'' * ''Ngutuk'', meaning "you" * ''Ngutung'' * ''Warn tallin'' (western tribal
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, ...
for them meaning "rough language") Source:


Notes


Citations


Sources

* * * * * * {{authority control Aboriginal peoples of Victoria (Australia) History of Victoria (Australia)