Jarijari Language

Jarijari were an indigenous Australian people whose traditional territory was located in the Mallee region of Victoria.

Name

Jarijari was the tribe's word for "no", it being customary for the Murray tribes of this area to be identified by the negative used in their respective languages.

Language

The Jarijari language has been classified as belonging to the Lower Murray Areal Group, together with Kureinji, and to be similar to that spoken by the Watiwati, but reports are contradictory and may not be speaking of the same people.

Country

Jarijari tribal lands covered around on the western bank of the Murray River, from above Chalka Creek to Annuello in the Mallee. Their southern frontier ran sound along Hopetoun Lake Korong and Pine Plains. The northern frontier bordered on Redcliffs.

Neighbouring tribes were the Wergaia to the south, the Latjilatji to the west and the Dadi Dadi to the east.

Riverine diet

The classification of species by Blandowski was flawed, in that he made several species out of distinct life phases in just a few. At least 3 were reclassified and renamed under a different taxonomy: flathead gudgeon, the Jarijari ''collundera'':
Australian smelt (''Retropinna semoni'') and
Murray hardyhead (''Craterocephalus fluviatilis'')

* tandan or dew-/jewfish, in Jarijari called ''kenaru,'' was considered a great delicacy, and its consumption by young men was forbidden.
* Bony bream (''Nematalosa erebi''). Blandowski who was the first to identify it scientifically, called this ''Megalope Caillentassart,'' - ''manur'' in Jarijari. This was a tribal staple throughout June–July, except for women, for whom it was taboo, since it was thought to have aphrodisiacal properties, given its nourishing adiposity. It was also a grave marker, positioned in a way that pointed in the direction of the presumed murderer.
* silver perch known as ''baggack.'' Blandowski used Thomas Mitchell 's nomenclature and referred to it as ''Cernua Bidyana.''
* ''Cernua Eadesii,'' native aname ''buruitjall.''
* ''Cernua Nicholsonia,'' or in Jarijari ''karpa.''
* ''Cernua Ifflaensis,'' or ''bipe purritjall.''
* ''Cernua Wilkiensis,'' or in Jarijari ''mallupit.'' A billabong species.
* ''Kohna Mackennce,'' or ''kohn.''
* ''Turruitja Achenson,'' or ''turrultje.'' Both a Murray and billabong species.
* ''Jerrina Dobreensis,'' or ''jorrin.'' Mainly fished from billabongs.
* ''Poko.'' Only the Jarijari term was given for this species of nigh transparent, greenish spotted trout, which however was not specific to the Murray, but also found in the Yarra River.
* ''Uteranka Irvingi'' or ''uterank.'' Also a Yarra fish, not unknown to the Murray, though rare there. Preyed on largely by other fish.
* '' Oristes Macquariensis,'' or ''yaturr.'' This was a major staple of thed Jarijari, even in winter where it would be hunted at night by firelight when the flooding led the cod to 'sleep' in the nooks of logs along the bank. In summer, the Jarijari would dive to the bottom of the Murray to spear it.
* ''Gristes Peelil,'' or ''barnta,''
* ''Collundera Miitteriana,'', in Jarijari ''collundera.'' A billabong fish.
* ''Loetj,'' a billabong fish, no longer than 2 inches.
* ''Rurrina Macadamia,'' or ''koerin/kurrin,'' a bluish-green billabong fish that mostly preyed on crayfish.
* ''Brosmius Bleasdalii,'' or ''paltk,'' a billabong fish, but found also in the Yarra.
* ''Cernua Nicholsonia,'' or ''karpa.''

History

The Blandowski Expedition (1856-1857) was one of the first documented European encounters with the people. Blandowski described the Yarree as his "good friends". Notably one of William Blandowski's 1857 illustrations depicted traditional Jari Jari recreation. Peter Beveridge, in his 1883 account "The Aborigines of Victoria and Riverina" recorded some of the tribe's dreamtime beliefs, associated with these Murray tribes of which the Jarijari were one.

Blandowski ended his account with a general statement on the recent state of these Murray riverine tribes:

On the whole I have but to make the most deplorable statements concerning our natives. Extermination proceeds so rapidly, that the regions of the Lower Murray are already depopulated, and a quietude reigns there which saddens the traveller who visited those districts a few years ago.

Alternative names

* ''Jere jere''
* ''Nyerri-nyerri''
* ''Yairy-yairy''
* ''Yari-yari''
* ''Yariki-luk.'' (exonym applied to the Jarijari by the Wotjobaluk)
* ''Yarree Yarree, Yarre-yarre, Yerri-yerri, Yerre-yerre, Yerry-yerry''

Source:

Some words

* ''yaturr.'' ( Murray cod)
* ''barnta.'' (Trout cod).

Notes

Citations

Sources

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Aboriginal peoples of Victoria (Australia)
History of Victoria (Australia)