The Kunwinjku (formerly written Gunwinggu) people are an

Australian Aboriginal 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 Isl ...

people, one of several groups within the

Bininj The Bininj are an Aboriginal Australian people of Western Arnhem land in the Northern Territory. The sub-groups of Bininj are sometimes referred to by the various language dialects spoken in the region, that is, the group of dialects known as Bi ...

people, who live around West Arnhem Land to the east of

Darwin, Northern Territory Darwin ( ; Larrakia: ) is the capital city of the Northern Territory, Australia. With an estimated population of 147,255 as of 2019, the city contains the majority of the residents of the sparsely populated Northern Territory. It is the small ...

. Kunwinjku people generally refer to themselves as "Bininj" (meaning people, or Aboriginal people) in much the same way that Yolŋu people refer to themselves as "Yolŋu".

Language

They traditionally speak the

Kunwinjku language Kunwinjku is a dialect of Bininj Kunwok, an Australian Aboriginal language. The Aboriginal people who speak Kunwinjku are the Bininj people, who live primarily in western Arnhem Land. As Kunwinjku is the most widely spoken dialect of Bininj ...

Country

Their original heartland is said to have been in the hilly terrain south of

Goulburn Island The Goulburn Islands are a group of small islands and islets in the Arafura Sea off the coast of Arnhem Land in Northern Territory of Australia. The largest islands are Weyirra (North Goulburn Island) and Warruwi (South Goulburn Island), where t ...

and their frontier with the Maung running just south o
Tor Rock
Their northern extension approached Sandy Creek, while they were also present south-east at the head o
Cooper's Creek
and part of the King River. 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 ...

's scheme, the Kunwinjku were allotted a tribal territory of around in the area south o
Jungle Creek
and on the headwaters of the

East Alligator River Alligator Rivers is the name of an area in an Arnhem Land region of the Northern Territory of Australia, containing three rivers, the East, West, and South Alligator Rivers. It is regarded as one of the richest biological regions in Australia, ...

. The Gumader swamps near Junction Bay and the creeks east of Oenpelli/''Awunbelenja'' (now Gunbalanya) also formed part of their land.

Alternative names

* ''Gunwinggu'' * ''Gunwingu'' * ''Gunwingo'' * ''Wengi, Wengei, Wengej'' * ''Gundeidjeme'' * ''Gundjeipmi'' * ''Kulunglutji, Kulunglutchi'' * ''Gundjeibmi, Gundjajeimi, Gundeijeme, Gundeidjeme'' * ''Margulitban'' * ''Unigangk, Urnigangg''. * ''Koorungo'' * ''Neinggu/Neiŋgu''. ( Maung

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, o ...

) * ''Mangaridji'' * ''Mangeri''.

Customs

Dzamalag was a form of ritualised ceremonial exchange or

barter In trade, barter (derived from ''baretor'') is a system of exchange in which participants in a transaction directly exchange goods or services for other goods or services without using a medium of exchange, such as money. Economists dist ...

ing practised by the Gunwinggu people.

Notes

Citations

Sources

* * * * * * * * * {{authority control Aboriginal peoples of the Northern Territory Indigenous Australians in the Northern Territory