Ngooraialum 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 ...

tribal subgroup, one of 3 comprising the '' Ngurai-illam Wurrung'', though

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 ...

placed them among the

Taungurung The Taungurung people, also spelt ''Daung Wurrung'', are an Aboriginal people who are one of the Kulin nations in present-day Victoria, Australia. They consist of nine clans whose traditional language is the Taungurung language. Their Country i ...

. They inhabited land along the

Goulburn River The Goulburn River, a major inland perennial river of the Goulburn Broken catchment, part of the Murray-Darling basin, is located in the alpine, Northern Country/North Central, and Southern Riverina regions of the Australian state of Victoria. ...

in central

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

, north of Mitchellstown, at Murchison, above

Toolamba Toolamba is a town in the Goulburn Valley region of Victoria, Australia. It is in the City of Greater Shepparton local government area, north of the state capital, Melbourne. At the , Toolamba and the surrounding area had a population of 873. ...

, within of the Murray-Goldburn junction. The heart of their land was Noorillim, which they called ''Waaring''.

Language

The Ngooraialum spoke a dialect of Taungurung, a Kulinic language of the Pama-Nyungan language family, as did the Taungurong. Their ethnonym ''Nguraialum'' denotes the dialect they spoke.

History

The Ngooraialum were first mentioned in 1840, when they visited the Mitchellstown depot in February of that year. At that time, their

ngurungaeta An Ngurungaeta is a Woiwurrung head man or tribal leader of clans of the Woiwurrung tribes and Taungurung Ngurai-illum Wurrung. Ngurungaeta held the same tribal standing as an Arweet of the Bunurong and Wathaurong people. The current Ngurungaeta is ...

was ''Weeng-her-bil''. They were said to be numerous and in good condition, despite some skin diseases, and the names of 53 were registered in 1845. They were frequently in conflict with the neighbouring

Bangerang The Pangerang, also spelt Bangerang and Bangarang, are the Indigenous Australians who traditionally occupied much of what is now north-eastern Victoria stretching along the Murray River to Echuca and into the areas of the southern Riverina in Ne ...

, Edward M. Curr, noting that a native from

Swan Hill Swan Hill is a city in the northwest of Victoria, Australia on the Murray Valley Highway and on the south bank of the Murray River, downstream from the junction of the Loddon River. At , Swan Hill had a population of 11,508. Indigenous Peopl ...

used a word used by the Ngooraialum to the south-east, but not by the tribe in the intermediate area, developed a whole theory of the migration of all the tribes in Australia. MurchisonGoulburnRiver

Today, many Ngooraialum in the

Goulburn Valley The Goulburn Valley is a sub-region, part of the Hume region of the Australian state of Victoria. The sub-region consists of those areas in the catchment of the Goulburn River and other nearby streams, and is part of the Murray-Darling Basin. ...

live in the settlement of Rumbalara built in 1958 to replace a shanty town on the edge of

Shepparton Shepparton () ( Yortayorta: ''Kanny-goopna'') is a city located on the floodplain of the Goulburn River in northern Victoria, Australia, approximately north-northeast of Melbourne. As of the 2021 census, the estimated population of Shepparton, ...

Alternative names

* ''Ngooralung-boola/Ngouraylung-bulla'' * ''Ngurailum'' * ''Ooraialum'' * ''Oorilim'' * ''Orilims'' * ''Woo-ril-lum/Woo-rai-lim/Wo-ra-lims/Woralim'' * ''Wor-ile-lum-buluc'' Source:

Notes

Citations

Sources

* * * * * {{Authority control Aboriginal peoples of Victoria (state) History of Victoria (state)