The Warndarrang people, (''waɳʈaraŋ''), also spelt Warndarang, Wanderang, and other variants were a predominantly coastal

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 eastern

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...

. Though extinct as a distinct ethnolinguistic group, their descendants survive among the neighbouring Nunggubuyu.

Language

Warndarang has been classified as a member of the Gunwinyguan language group. Though thought to be extinct by 1974, some sources state that a fluent speaker was interviewed in 1989 and provided significant amounts of oral text in the language, together with a translation into Kriol.

Country

The traditional lands of the Warndarang extended over an area in

Arnhem Land Arnhem Land is a historical region of the Northern Territory of Australia, with the term still in use. It is located in the north-eastern corner of the territory and is around from the territory capital, Darwin. In 1623, Dutch East India Compan ...

of some from the

Gulf of Carpentaria The Gulf of Carpentaria (, ) is a large, shallow sea enclosed on three sides by northern Australia and bounded on the north by the eastern Arafura Sea (the body of water that lies between Australia and New Guinea). The northern boundary is ...

and the Phelp River inland to Mount Leane. To their north were the Nunggubuyu while their western borders reached inland, eastwards to the

Ngandi The Ngandi were an indigenous Australian people of the Northern Territory. The Ngandji are another tribe, and the two are not to be confused. Country The Ngandi's lands, some 1,500 sq-miles in extent, encompassed the area around the upper Wilt ...

territories between the Walker and Rose rivers.

History

In 1903 the Eastern and African Cold Storage Company purchased the Hodgson Downs cattle station and other tribal lands, and embarked on a policy of systematic extermination of all Aboriginal people residing on the land which the company directors wished to turn into a pastoral empire. Hunting gangs consisting of 10-14 Aboriginal (though not local) men, armed and under the supervision of a white or "

half-caste Half-caste (an offensive term for the offspring of parents of different racial groups or cultures) is a term used for individuals of multiracial descent. It is derived from the term ''caste'', which comes from the Latin ''castus'', meaning pu ...

" foreman, were commissioned to clear the land by shooting any Aboriginal person on sight. When the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

established the Roper River Mission in 1908, the remnants of the Warndarang, together with survivors of other local clans of peoples such as the Alawa, Marra,

Ngalakgan The Ngalakgan are an indigenous Australian people of the Northern Territory. Language Ngalakgan is generally classified as a member of the Gunwinyguan family. Country Ngalakgan territory covered an estimated , north of the Roper River as far a ...

, and the southern clans of the

Rembarrnga The Rembarrnga people, also spelt Rembarunga and other variants, are an Aboriginal Australian people of the Northern Territory. Language The Rembarrnga language Rembarrnga (Rembarunga) is an Australian Aboriginal language. It is one of the ...

and Nunggubuyu gathered there for sanctuary from the onslaught. Eventually several clans of the Warndarung were assimilated by the Nunggubuyu by adopting their language.

Notes

Citations

Sources

* * * * * * * * {{authority control Aboriginal peoples of the Northern Territory