The Ngarluma are an
Indigenous Australian people
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 ...
of the western
Pilbara
The Pilbara () is a large, dry, thinly populated region in the north of Western Australia. It is known for its Aboriginal peoples; its ancient landscapes; the red earth; and its vast mineral deposits, in particular iron ore. It is also a g ...
area of northwest Australia. They are coastal dwellers of the area around
Roebourne and
Karratha. Not including Millstream.
Language
The Ngarluma language belongs to the
Ngayarda branch of the
Pama-Nyungan family. It is a highly inflected suffixing language, with, unusually, a Nominative-Accusative case-marking system, with verbs inflected for
Tense, Aspect and Mood. The Ngarluma on contact with whites and distant tribes appeared to have reserved their grammatically complex language for conversations among themselves while adopting a simplified version when interacting with strangers.
There are an estimated 20 full speakers, most are older generation.
History
It would appear that the Ngarluma adapted quickly to the developing
pearling industry along the northwest coast, perhaps travelling down to get work at
Cossack 300 miles south. This hypothesis is based on the fact that the vocabulary list provided to a priest in 1875 by two
Dalmatian Italian shipwreck survivors, Michele Bacich and Giovanni Iurich, after they returned to Italy, appears to be a
creole with a strong but simplified component of Ngarluma. It is thought that they were extended hospitality for 3 months by the
Yinikutira people who had picked up the creole from
indentured Ngarluma labourers in the pearling industry.
Kinship system
The Ngarluma people have a
four group skin system.
Some words
* ''t(h)artaruga'' = (
sea turtle
Sea turtles (superfamily Chelonioidea), sometimes called marine turtles, are reptiles of the order Testudines and of the suborder Cryptodira. The seven existing species of sea turtles are the flatback, green, hawksbill, leatherback, loggerhe ...
). This might be a loanword predating the Western discovery of the continent of Australia.
In a number of Pilbara languages such as
Ngarluma,
Ngarla,
Kariyarra Yinjibarndi and
Nyamal, the turle is called ''tartaruga/thartaruga''. This happens to be identical to the
Portuguese word for that creature, and there is a grounded suspicion that the common term must reflect some otherwise unattested interception of Portuguese sailors prior to the advent of the Dutch on the northwestern coast. The data, and theorization of some such contact, was gathered and advanced by
Carl Georg von Brandenstein
Carl-Georg Christoph Freiherr von Brandenstein (10 October 1909 – 8 January 2005) was a German linguist who took up the study of Australian Aboriginal languages.
Life
Born in 1909 in Hannover to , Carl-Georg finished high school in Weimar, a ...
, who hypothesized that there must have been a secret Portuguese colony established in the area around the 1520s, which lasted for 60 years. The need for secrecy stemmed, in this hypothesis, from the consequences of the
Treaty of Tordesillas which divided the
New World
The term ''New World'' is often used to mean the majority of Earth's Western Hemisphere, specifically the Americas."America." ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (). McArthur, Tom, ed., 1992. New York: Oxford University Press, p. ...
into
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Can ...
and
Portuguese imperial zones. Von Brandenstein thought that, given the quarrels between the two nations over the boundaries and extension of these lines of demarcation, the Portuguese might have kept their discovery of Australia and colonization of the coastal area of the Pilbara, secret until the
Portuguese succession crisis of 1580
The Portuguese succession crisis of 1580 ( pt, Crise de sucessão de 1580) came about as a result of the deaths of young King Sebastian I of Portugal in the Battle of Alcácer Quibir in 1578 and his successor and great-uncle Henry I in 1580. As ...
led to the regency of the Spanish king
Philip 11, after which the colony ended. This etymology has strong claims, unlike the rest of the hypothesis.
Native title
In 2015, the Ngarluma people's
native title
Aboriginal title is a common law doctrine that the land rights of indigenous peoples to customary tenure persist after the assumption of sovereignty under settler colonialism. The requirements of proof for the recognition of aboriginal title, ...
rights were recognised by the
Federal Court of Australia. Ngarluma Aboriginal Corporation, based in Karratha, administer the Ngarluma's native title rights and interests.
Since 1998, the Ngarluma people, alongside the
Yindjibarndi people, have been a party to the land access agreement for the
Woodside-operated
North West Shelf Gas Project.
Under the agreement, Ngarluma and Yindjibarndi people remain the traditional owner representatives for the
North West Shelf Project area, which includes the
Karratha Gas Plant.
The 1998 agreement contributed to the establishment of the
Ngarluma Yindjibarndi Foundation Ltd (NYFL), which continues to operate out of Roebourne. NYFL delivers social and economic benefits for the Ngarluma and Yindjibarndi people, and the broader Roebourne community.
Notes
Citations
Sources
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{{Authority control
Aboriginal peoples of Western Australia
Broome, Western Australia