The Muruwari, also spelt Murawari, Murawarri, Murrawarri 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 Island ...

people of the state of New South Wales and the southwestern area of Queensland.

Language

A monograph on and a dictionary of Muruwari have been published by Lynette Oates.

Country

The Muruwari lands stretch over some around Barringun, on the Queensland - New South Wales border, extending north as far as Mulga Downs and Weela in the former state. It includes Enngonia on the Warrego River; Brenda, and Weilmoringle on the

Culgoa River The Culgoa River is a river that is part of the Darling catchment within the Murray–Darling basin and is located in South West Queensland. Course and features The river is a continuation of the western branch of the Balonne River in sout ...

, as well as Milroy, and south as far as the vicinity of Collerina.

History of contact

The explorer Thomas Mitchell, during his expedition to find a route to the Gulf of Carpentaria, surveyed the area of the Culgoa and

Balonne River The Balonne River, part of the Murray-Darling Basin system, is a short yet significant part of the inland river group of South West Queensland, Australia. Course and features The river is a continuation of the Condamine River. After flowing t ...

s in 1846, relying on a Wiradjuri guide and interpreter Yuranigh. At the same time, In 1845 his son Roderick Mitchell, who was Commissioner of Crown Lands, on hearing stockmen's reports of rich pasturage in the area, began mapping it. By 1850 regulations allowed settlers to take up of land on 14 year leases. Conflicts arose over land use, and several massacres and killings took place in the following years. Many Muruwari attached themselves to established stations, working there except for specific periods when ritual duties or "going bush" led them to take leave: newspaper reports at the time single out Thomas Caddell's Tatala run, managed by Frederick Wherritt, as a station where relations were conducted "with tact and humanity". Wherritt's approach paid off: several hundred sheep were saved in the 1861 flood when the local blacks rescued them by herding them up to the one piece of high dry ground in the area.

Alternative names

* ''Murawari, Murawarri, Murrawarri, Muruworri, Muruwurri'' * ''Murueri'' * ''Moorawarree, Moorawarrie'' * ''Marawari''

Notes

Citations

Sources

* * * * * * * {{authority control Aboriginal peoples of New South Wales South Coast (New South Wales)