The Maikulan were an

indigenous Australian Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples ...

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 , established_ ...

. They have sometimes been confused with the

Maithakari The Maikathari (Mayi-Thakurti) were an Aboriginal Australian people of the state of Queensland. Country The Maithakari had, according to ethnologist Norman Tindale, approximately of tribal territory extending from the Williams River and Cloncur ...

Name

According to an earlier resident of the area, the tribal

autonym Autonym may refer to: * Autonym, the name used by a person to refer to themselves or their language; see Exonym and endonym * Autonym (botany), an automatically created infrageneric or infraspecific name See also * Nominotypical subspecies, in zo ...

referred to the native brushturkey.

Country

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 ...

calculated that they had roughly of territory, from the middle Norman, Yappar and

Clara Clara may refer to: Organizations * CLARA, Latin American academic computer network organization * Clara.Net, a European ISP * Consolidated Land and Rail Australia, a property development consortium People * Clara (given name), a feminine gi ...

rivers northwards t
Milgarra
Their eastern boundary lay near the

Gregory Range The Gregory Range is a mountain range located in Far North Queensland, Australia. Location and features Part of the Great Dividing Range, the Gregory Range lies southeast of and southwest of . The range is located in an area of ephemeral water ...

, while the western frontier was at

Iffley Iffley is a village in a designated Conservation Area in Oxfordshire, England. It lies within the boundaries of the city of Oxford, between Cowley, Oxfordshire, Cowley and the estates of Rose Hill, Oxford, Rose Hill and Donnington, Oxfordshire, D ...

and Canobie.

History of contact

With the onset of white settlement, the tribe's demographic statistics suggested an original population of some 400 people. Within two decades, the numbers had been halved, with 200 remaining, as a result of what one observer stated was 'the rifle and syphilis'. A branch of the Maikulan soon shifted down the

Norman River The Norman River is a river in the Gulf Country, Queensland, Australia. The river originates in the Gregory Range 200 km southeast of Croydon and flows 420 km northwest to the Gulf of Carpentaria. It is joined by three major tributari ...

to settle around Normanton, which misled some early reports to take them to be indigenous to the latter area.

Alternative names

* ''Maikulung, Maikolon'' * ''Makulu'' * ''Mygoolan, Mykoolan, Mycoolon, Micoolan, Miccoolin, Mikkoolan, Mikoolun'' * ''Mykulau.'' (typo) Source:

Some words

* ''meekoolan.'' (whiteman) * ''mirage.'' (mother) * ''.'' (father) * ''.'' (wild/tame dog) Source:

Notes

Citations

Sources

* * * * * * * * * * {{authority control Aboriginal peoples of Queensland