The Djugun (also spelt Jukun, Tjunung) 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 of the Kimberley region of

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

. Writing in 1974,

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 ...

stated that by his time the Djugun had become almost extinct. However, their descendants live on and intermarry with the

Yawuru The Yawuru, also spelt Jawuru, are an Indigenous Australian people of the Kimberley region of Western Australia. Language A Japanese linguist, Hosokawa Kōmei (細川弘明), compiled the first basic dictionary of the Yawuru language in 1988, a ...

tribe.

Language

According to the Japanese linguist and authority on the

Yawuru language Yawuru is a Western Nyulnyulan language spoken on the coast south of Broome in Western Australia. Grammatically it resembles other Nyulnyulan languages. It has a relatively free word order In linguistics, word order (also known as linear o ...

Hosokawa Kōmei Hosokawa (typically ja, 細川, meaning "narrow river" or "little river") is a Japanese surname. People with the name include: *Bill Hosokawa (1915–2007), Japanese American author and journalist *Chieko Hosokawa (born 1929), a Japanese manga a ...

, the Djugun spoke a dialect of Yawuru.

Country

Djugun traditional lands extended over some along the northern coast of

Roebuck Bay Roebuck Bay is a bay on the coast of the Kimberley region of Western Australia. Its entrance is bounded in the north by the town of Broome, and in the south by Bush Point and Sandy Point. It is named after , the ship captained by William ...

, up the coast to Willie Creek. Their lands reached inland roughly 15 miles.

Modern Period

The Jukun people, by reason of their modern historical fusion with the southern

, formed one of the parties in the Yawuru native title holding group, which had its claim to

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, ...

recognized by a Federal Court in 2010 for the area around Broome.

Alternative names

* ''Tjugun'' * ''Tjukun'' * ''Djukun'' * ''Tjugan'' * ''Djukan'' * ''Jukan'' * ''Tjunung'' * ''Kularrabulu'' * ''Jukannganga''

Notes

Citations

References

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Jukun People (Australia) Aboriginal peoples of Western Australia Kimberley (Western Australia)