The Pitapita or Pitta Pitta 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 Islands ...
people of the state of
Queensland
)
, nickname = Sunshine State
, image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, established_ ...
.
Language
They spoke
Pitapita, one of the
Karnic languages
The Karnic languages are a group of languages of the Pama–Nyungan family. According to Dixon (2002), these are three separate families, but Bowern (2001) establishes regular paradigmatic connections among many of the languages, demonstrating ...
, which remains the best described dialect of an eastern group that comprised also Rangwa, Kunkalanya, Ngulupulu and Ringa-Ringa. It is otherwise closely related to the Western group consisting of
Wangkajutjuru/Wangka-Yutjurru and
Lhanima.
Country
The Pitapita's precise geographical borders are not known, since the earliest detailed account of them, by
Walter Roth
Walter Edmund Roth (2 April 1861 – 5 April 1933) was a British colonial administrator, anthropologist and medical practitioner, who worked in Queensland, Australia and British Guiana between 1898 and 1928.
Roth and his brother, Henry Ling Ro ...
, included numerous subtribes and
hordes in a somewhat confusing presentation.
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 ...
remarked that the precise tribal distribution was impossible to determine on the basis of Roth's data but that their area was in the present day
Shire of Boulia
The Shire of Boulia is a local government area in Central West Queensland, bordering the Northern Territory. Its administrative centre is in the town of Boulia.It covers an area of , and has existed as a local government entity since 1887. The ...
, extending from Fort William in the north, through
Boulia
Boulia () is an outback town and locality in the Shire of Boulia, Queensland, Australia. In the , Boulia had a population of 301 people.
Boulia is the administrative centre of the Boulia Shire, population approximately 600, which covers an area ...
and some 50 miles south of the district, suggesting a territorial range of roughly .
Their land was adjacent to the
Wanggamala
The Wanggamala people, also spelt Wangkamahdla, Wangkamadla, Wangkamanha, Wangkamana, Wonkamala, Wongkamala, Wonkamudla, and other variants, are an Aboriginal Australian people of the Northern Territory and Queensland.
Country
In Norman Tindale ...
people.
History of contact
Opening up the country to white settlement led to the displacement of numerous tribes in the area from their traditional grounds, and "with privation, disease, alcohol and lead", whole communities were annihilated. By the time of his sojourn at Boulia, Roth goes on to estimate that, as with most tribes in the area, the Pitapita were suffering from a rapid demographic collapse, and he stated that no more than 200 probably remained in the whole of the district.
Native title
In 2012 a
Federal Court awarded the Pitapita
native title rights to of land in the Boulia region.
Social organisation and rites
The Pitapita practised both
circumcision
Circumcision is a surgical procedure, procedure that removes the foreskin from the human penis. In the most common form of the operation, the foreskin is extended with forceps, then a circumcision device may be placed, after which the foreskin ...
and
subincision
Penile subincision is a form of genital modification or mutilation consisting of a urethrotomy, in which the underside of the penis is incised and the urethra slit open lengthwise, from the urethral opening (meatus) toward the base. The slit can ...
as part of their initiatory rites.
Alternative names
* ''Bitta Bitta''
* ''Pittapitta''
* ''Wangkahicho''
* ''Wangkahichs.'' (typo)
* ''Wangkapit:a''
Source:
Some words
* ''amma'' (mother)
* ''apari.'' (father)
* ''munga'' (tame dog)
* ''punamya.'' (wild dog)
* ''tita.'' (whiteman)
Source:
Notes
Citations
Sources
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{{authority control
Aboriginal peoples of Queensland