The Maia 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 ...
tribe 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 ...
.
Language
The Maia appear to have spoken a dialect similar to that of the
Yingkarta.
Country
Maia traditional lands extended over an estimated . They consisted mainly of a strip on the coast facing the
Indian Ocean
The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by th ...
, and a western hinterland and up to and beyond
Boolathanna, Mooka, Mardathuna,
Binthalya, and the
Kennedy Range. They also lived around
the coastal salt lakes near Canarvon to Manberry and Hutton Creek. Their southern flank ran down to the floodplain of the
Gascoyne River
The Gascoyne River is a river in the Gascoyne region of Western Australia. At , it is the longest river in Western Australia.
Description
The Gascoyne River comprises three branches in its upper reaches. Draining the Collier Range, the river ...
, and on
Lake Macleod.
History of contact
The Maia are believed to have been extinct by 1910. Their area was afflicted by diseases like smallpox and influenza which ravaged the coastal populations after the establishment of pearling stations on the coast, at
Shark Bay
Shark Bay (Malgana: ''Gathaagudu'', "two waters") is a World Heritage Site in the Gascoyne region of Western Australia. The http://www.environment.gov.au/heritage/places/world/shark-bay area is located approximately north of Perth, on the ...
and
Cossack
The Cossacks , es, cosaco , et, Kasakad, cazacii , fi, Kasakat, cazacii , french: cosaques , hu, kozákok, cazacii , it, cosacchi , orv, коза́ки, pl, Kozacy , pt, cossacos , ro, cazaci , russian: казаки́ or ...
. Subsequently,
'nigger hunting' to cull hands to work the pearling trawlers, and a system of
indenture
An indenture is a legal contract that reflects or covers a debt or purchase obligation. It specifically refers to two types of practices: in historical usage, an indentured servant status, and in modern usage, it is an instrument used for commercia ...
d labour imposed on the tribes found by pastoralists on their runs, effectively decimated people like the Maia by breaking up their kinship groups.
Alternative names
* Majanna (nggarda
exonym
An endonym (from Greek: , 'inner' + , 'name'; also known as autonym) is a common, ''native'' name for a geographical place, group of people, individual person, language or dialect, meaning that it is used inside that particular place, group, ...
)
* Miah
Source:
Some words
* ''baba'' (1.breasts; 2.rain; 3.water)
* ''doodoota'' (wild dog)
* ''mamma'' (father)
* ''manghana'' (tame dog)
* ''marawa'' (whiteman)
* ''ngangerreta'' (mother)
* ''yamba'' (baby)
Source:
Notes
Citations
Sources
*
*
*
*
*
{{Authority control
Aboriginal peoples of Western Australia