The Koinmerburra people, also known as Koinjmal, Guwinmal, Kungmal and other variants, 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 Isl ...

people of the state of

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , establishe ...

. They are the

traditional owners Native title is the designation given to the common law doctrine of Aboriginal title in Australia, which is the recognition by Australian law that Indigenous Australians (both Aboriginal Australian and Torres Strait Islander people) have right ...

of an area which includes part of the

Great Barrier Reef The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef system composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over over an area of approximately . The reef is located in the Coral Sea, off the coast of Queensland, ...

Country

Koinmerburra traditional lands covered an estimated , taking in the western slopes of Pine Mountain in the Normanby Range to the Styx River. They occupied the coastal strip from Broad Sound northwards to

Cape Palmerston Cape Palmerston is a national park in the Mackay Region, Queensland, Australia. Geography The park is 748 km northwest of Brisbane. It is located within the boundaries of Koumala, part of the Mackay Region local government area. It l ...

and took in

St. Lawrence Saint Lawrence or Laurence ( la, Laurentius, lit. " laurelled"; 31 December AD 225 – 10 August 258) was one of the seven deacons of the city of Rome under Pope Sixtus II who were martyred in the persecution of the Christians that the Roma ...

. Their inland extensions went as far as the Coast Range, and, to the south, ended around

Marlborough Marlborough may refer to: Places United Kingdom * Marlborough, Wiltshire, England ** Marlborough College, public school * Marlborough School, Woodstock in Oxfordshire, England * The Marlborough Science Academy in Hertfordshire, England Austral ...

Ecological Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overlaps wi ...

ly, they worked large areas of

mangrove A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows in coastal saline or brackish water. The term is also used for tropical coastal vegetation consisting of such species. Mangroves are taxonomically diverse, as a result of convergent evolution in severa ...

mudflats, and employed bark canoes to navigate these shoreline zones.

Social organisation

The Koinmerburra consisted of several kin groups, the name of at least one of which is known: * ''Mamburra'' * ''Bauwiwarra'' (This may, alternatively, have been a horde of the

Darumbal The Darumbal people, also spelt Dharumbal, are the Aboriginal Australians that have traditionally occupied Central Queensland, speaking dialects of the Darumbal language. Darumbal people of the Keppel Islands and surrounding regions are sometime ...

) According to an early Rockhampton informant, W. H. Flowers, responding to a request for information by Alfred William Howitt, the Koinjmal were divided into two moieties, the ''Yungeru'' and the ''Witteru'', each in turn subdivided into two sections, creating 4 sub-classes: The ''Yungeru'' were split into the ''Kurpal'' ( Eaglkehawk totem) and the ''Kuialla'' ( Laughing jackass totem): the ''Witteru'' divided into the ''Karilbura'' and ''Munaal'', which had several totems, including the

wallaby A wallaby () is a small or middle-sized macropod native to Australia and New Guinea, with introduced populations in New Zealand, Hawaii, the United Kingdom and other countries. They belong to the same taxonomic family as kangaroos and som ...

Curlew The curlews () are a group of nine species of birds in the genus ''Numenius'', characterised by their long, slender, downcurved bills and mottled brown plumage. The English name is imitative of the Eurasian curlew's call, but may have been in ...

, Hawk, Clearwater and Sand.

Marriage

According to Flowers, marriages were contracted early, in infancy, when a girl's parents would arrange her marriage to an elder man, who, after the ceremony of betrothal would supply her regularly with game and fish, while scrupulously avoiding going near the camp of her parents or speaking to the mother. The ceremony was finalised in the following manner:

The parents having painted the girl and dressed her hair with feathers, her male cousin takes her to where her future husband is sitting cross-legged in silence, and seats her at his back, and close to him. He who has brought the girl after a time removes the feathers from her hair and places them in the hair of her future husband, and then leads the girl back to her parents.

The actual marriage was sealed by a simulated kidnapping of the young girl.

when a girl who has been promised is considered to be old enough for marriage by her father, he sends the girl as usual with the other women to gather yams or other food, and he tells the man to whom he has promised her, who, then painting himself, takes his weapons and follows her, inviting all the unmarried men in the camp to assist him. When they come up with the women he goes forward alone, and telling the girl he has come for her he takes her by the wrist or hand. The women at once surround her and try to keep her from him. She tries to escape, and if she does not like him she bites his wrist, this being an understood sign that she refuses him.

History

Some Koinmerburra kin groups could be found living beyond their traditional lands, at places like Yaamba and Bombandy, at the beginning of the 20th century, but this displacement was the consequence of white encroachments, which drove them to push south of their homeland.

Language

Guwinmal is an extinct dialect of

Alternative names

As of 2020, the usual name used for this people is Koinmerburra. * ''Koinbal'' (meaning people of the plains) * ''Kooinmerburra'' * ''Kuinmurbura'' * ''Kungmal'' * ''Kungalburra'' *Kuinmabara, Kungalburra, Gunmal, Koi, Koinbal, Kweembul, Kwiambal, Kwigalburra, Mamburra, Queenbullaquieumble, Gunymal, Gonjmal, Kuinmur bura, Koinjmal

Some words

* ''kuinmur.'' (a plain)

Natural resource management

Traditional Owner Native title is the designation given to the common law doctrine of Aboriginal title in Australia, which is the recognition by Australian law that Indigenous Australians (both Aboriginal Australian and Torres Strait Islander people) have rights ...

Reference Group consisting of representatives of the

Yuwibara The Yuwibara, also written Yuibera and Juipera and also known as Yuwi, after their language, are an Aboriginal Australian people, originating from the area around present-day Mackay, on the east coast of Queensland, Australia. Country Accordin ...

, Koinmerburra, Barada Barna,

wiri Wiri is a mostly industrial-commercial focused suburb in Auckland, New Zealand. It was formerly part of Manukau City until the merger of all of Auckland's councils into the ' super city' in 2010. The area was named after the chief Takaanini ...

, Ngaro, and those

Gia ''Gia'' is a 1998 American biographical drama television film about the life and times of one of the first supermodels, Gia Carangi. The film stars Angelina Jolie as Gia and Faye Dunaway as Wilhelmina Cooper, with Mercedes Ruehl and Elizabeth M ...

and

Juru people The Juru people also known as the ‘Yuru’ people are the proud Aboriginal people of the state of Queensland Country In Norman Tindale's estimate, the Yuru had some of land, extending northwards from Bowen to the Burdekin River at the site of ...

whose lands are within Reef Catchments Mackay Whitsunday Isaac region, helps to support

natural resource management Natural resource management (NRM) is the management of natural resources such as land, water, soil, plants and animals, with a particular focus on how management affects the quality of life for both present and future generations (stewardship) ...