The Marditjali were an

Indigenous Australian Indigenous Australians are people with familial heritage from, or recognised membership of, the various ethnic groups living within the territory of contemporary Australia prior to History of Australia (1788–1850), British colonisation. The ...

people, a small tribe distinct from the

Jaadwa The Jardwadjali (Yartwatjali), also known as the Jaadwa, are an Aboriginal Australian people of the state of Victoria, whose traditional lands occupy the lands in the upper Wimmera River watershed east to Gariwerd (Grampians) and west to Lake B ...

, whose lands extended from the

state of Victoria Victoria, commonly abbreviated as Vic, is a state in southeastern Australia. It is the second-smallest state (after Tasmania), with a land area of ; the second-most-populated state (after New South Wales), with a population of over 7 million; ...

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

Name

Marditjali may not be the term used by the tribe itself, but an

exonym An endonym (also known as autonym ) is a common, name for a group of people, individual person, geographical place, language, or dialect, meaning that it is used inside a particular group or linguistic community to identify or designate them ...

applied to them by tribes to their west. Since the ethnonym is composed of two words ''marti'' ("abrupt/difficult to understand") and ''tjale'' (speech) from Westernj languages indicating their language was hard to grasp.

Language

The Marditjali name for their language is unknown, but it was called Wintjabarap, designating the Wintjintanga horde by tribes to their west.

Country

Marditjali ranged over a traditional land encompassing around from. Naracoorte in South Australia to the Victorian

Wimmera The Victorian government's Wimmera Southern Mallee subregion is part of the Grampians region in western Victoria. It includes most of what is considered the Wimmera, and part of the southern Mallee region. The subregion is based on the social ...

area of Goroke and west of

Mount Arapiles Mount Arapiles is a rock formation that rises about above the Wimmera plains in western Victoria, Australia. It is located in Arapiles approximately west of the town of Natimuk and is part of the Mount Arapiles-Tooan State Park. Arapile ...

; They ranged as far south as Struan, Apsley, and

Edenhope Edenhope is a town in Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. It is located on the Wimmera Highway, 30 kilometres from the South Australian border, in the Shire of West Wimmera local government area. At the Edenhope had a population of 946. ...

. Their northern boundaries were around Bangham, Kaniva, and Servicetown. Marditjali tribal areas were characterized by swampy zones encircled by imposing country was characterized by large red gum forests The frontier with the Bungandidj (Buandik) around Eden hope was marked by a brusque change in tree type, as red gums yielded to scrub gums. Their western boundaries with the Meintangk on the Naracoorte Range are likewise ecologically defined by the rising terraces of wooded lime sand dunes.

Social organisation

The Marditjali were divided into several camps * ''Witjintanga''

Alternative names

* ''Worangarait'' ( 'wora''= plain country, 'ngara''= to exist in-name applied by Bunganditj) * ''Worangarit, Wragarait'' * ''Wintjabarap'' (language name) * ''Lake Wallace tribe'' * ''Keribial-barap'' * ''Witjintanga'' * ''Wichintunga''

Some words

* ''bangg'' (man)

Notes

Citations

Sources

* {{authority control Aboriginal peoples of South Australia History of Victoria (state) Extinct Aboriginal peoples of Victoria (state)