![Devil's Marbles 2004](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/46/Devil%27s_Marbles_2004.jpg)
The Kaytetye, also written Kaititya, and pronounced ''kay-ditch'', 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 live around
Barrow Creek
Barrow Creek is a very small town, with a current population of 11, in the southern Northern Territory of Australia. It is located on the Stuart Highway, about 280 km north of Alice Springs, about halfway from there to Tennant Creek. The m ...
and
Tennant Creek
Tennant Creek ( wrm, Jurnkkurakurr) is town located in the Northern Territory of Australia. It is the seventh largest town in the Northern Territory, and is located on the Stuart Highway, just south of the intersection with the western termin ...
in the
Northern Territory
The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...
. Their neighbours to the east are the
Alyawarre
The Alyawarre, also spelt Alyawarr and also known as the Iliaura, are an Aboriginal Australian people, or language group, from the Northern Territory. The Alyawarre are made up of roughly 1,200 associated peoples and actively engage in local tra ...
, to the south the
Anmatyerre
The Anmatyerr, also spelt Anmatyerre, Anmatjera, Anmatjirra, Amatjere and other variations) are an Aboriginal Australian people of the Northern Territory, who speak one of the Upper Arrernte languages.
Language
Anmatyerr is divided into Easte ...
, to the west the
Warlpiri, and to the north the
Warumungu
The Warumungu (or Warramunga) are a group of Aboriginal Australians of the Northern Territory. Today, Warumungu are mainly concentrated in the region of Tennant Creek and Alice Springs.
Language
Their language is Warumungu, belonging to the ...
. Kaytetye country is dissected by the Stuart Highway.
Language
The
Kaytetye language
Kaytetye (also spelt Kaititj, Gaididj, Kaiditj, Kaytej) is an Australian Aboriginal language spoken in the Northern Territory north of Alice Springs by the Kaytetye people, who live around Barrow Creek and Tennant Creek. It belongs to the Ar ...
belongs to the
Arandic subgroup of the
Pama-Nyungan languages. It is considered to be a threatened language. A sophisticated form of
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 ...
is also used by some Kaytetye.
Country
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 estimation the Kaytetye's traditional lands extended over roughly , to the southeast of
Tennant Creek
Tennant Creek ( wrm, Jurnkkurakurr) is town located in the Northern Territory of Australia. It is the seventh largest town in the Northern Territory, and is located on the Stuart Highway, just south of the intersection with the western termin ...
, taking in Elkedra, Gastrolobium Creek,
Frew River, Whistleduck Creek, the headwaters of the Elkedra River, the
Davenport
Davenport may refer to:
Places Australia
*Davenport, Northern Territory, a locality
* Hundred of Davenport, cadastral unit in South Australia
**Davenport, South Australia, suburb of Port Augusta
**District Council of Davenport, former local govern ...
and Murchison Ranges, together with Mount Singleton. Their northern frontier was roughly north of Kelly Well, while the southern boundary was close to Mount Octy. To the west they extended into the sandy desert area east of Hanson. They were present on
Taylor and Barrow creeks, and at the Forster Range.
Social organization
The Kaitetye, like the
Anmatyerre
The Anmatyerr, also spelt Anmatyerre, Anmatjera, Anmatjirra, Amatjere and other variations) are an Aboriginal Australian people of the Northern Territory, who speak one of the Upper Arrernte languages.
Language
Anmatyerr is divided into Easte ...
, have an Aranda-type eight subsection system.
History of contact
European penetration of Kaytetye country began with
John Stuart's early explorations from 1860 onwards and his subsequent survey of the area for the purposes of installing an
Overland Telegraph
The Australian Overland Telegraph Line was a telegraphy system to send messages over long distances using cables and electric signals. It spanned between Darwin, in what is now the Northern Territory of Australia, and Adelaide, the capital o ...
.
The two cultures did not initially integrate peacefully. In 1874, European settlers stationed at the
Barrow Creek telegraph station
Barrow may refer to:
Places
England
* Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria
** Borough of Barrow-in-Furness, local authority encompassing the wider area
** Barrow and Furness (UK Parliament constituency)
* Barrow, Cheshire
* Barrow, Gloucestershire
* Barro ...
are said to have infringed tribal laws regarding either sacred sites or women, and in reprisal Kaytetye men attacked the station, killing two whites. This sparked revenge killings by constables and settlers, who, acting in line with an inspector's suggestion that, "the close adherence to legal forms should not be insisted upon," carried out a savage series of retaliatory killings that decimated the Kaitetye, though affecting contiguous tribes as well. Official reports say only two Aboriginals were killed. Unofficial figures suggest the numbers went as high as 50-90, with some make an overall estimate of hundreds. The bones of Kaitetye people slaughtered in one such raid at the time, at Skull Creek, were visible for decades afterwards.
After the 1890s Kaytetye confrontations with whites became rarer. Later, in the widely known
Coniston massacre
The Coniston massacre, which took place in the region around the Coniston cattle station in the then Territory of Central Australia (now the Northern Territory) from 14 August to 18 October 1928, was the last known officially sanctioned massa ...
of 1928, a series of three punitive raids occurred over a number of weeks as a police party of 8 men under Mounted Police Constable George Murray killed, according to a later inquiry, at least 31 Kaytetye, Warlpiri and Anmatyerre indiscriminately, though native oral records suggest a higher figure.
Kaytetye people worked alongside European settlers for years to come in pastoral and mining capacities but were not treated equally until the period of World War 2 in which an army settlement was established near Barrow Creek. Many Kaytetye men and women were employed and were treated fairly for the first time, making it difficult for pastoral stations to keep their Indigenous workers on the station. This forced a change the way Kaytetye pastoral workers were treated. Both the mining employment and the army settlement were temporary engagements, leaving the Kaytetye only pastoral work if they desired to stay in their country.
Kaytetye call the area around Barrow Creek ''Thangkenharenge'' which includes the site of their creation story at Elkerempelkere.
Traditionally, the Kaytetye people maintain their connection to the sacred sites like Elkerempelkere.
The
Devils Marbles, which the Kaytetye call ''Karlu Karlu'', are located on a sacred
Dreaming site. It has been desecrated by whites on occasion. Granite was removed from the site for the tomb commemorating
John Flynn, the 'Flying Doctor'. though subsequently restored under protest.
Alternative names
* ''Gaididj''
* ''Kadda-kie''
* ''Kaitish''
* ''Kaititj, Kaititja''. (
Aranda pronunciation)
* ''Kaititje, Kaititj, Kaitidji, Kaitije, Kaitiji, Katitja, Katitch-a, Kattitch-a, Kat-tit-ya''
Source: .
Notes
Citations
Sources
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External links
"Barrow Creek" Central Land Council
{{Authority control
Aboriginal peoples of the Northern Territory