Traditional lands of Australian Aboriginal Tribes around Derby

The Warrwa, also spelt Warwa, are 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 ...

people of the Kimberley region of

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

Language

Warrwa is an eastern Nyulnyulan language, sufficiently closely related to

Nyigina The Nyikina people (also spelt Nyigina and Nyikena, and listed as Njikena by Tindale) are an Aboriginal Australian people of the Kimberley region of Western Australia. They come from the lower Fitzroy River (which they call ''mardoowarra''). ...

to be classified as a dialect of the latter.

Country

According to

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 ...

's estimate, the Warrwa's domains encompassed approximately , extending along the eastern shores of

King Sound King Sound is a large gulf in northern Western Australia. It expands from the mouth of the Fitzroy River, one of Australia's largest watercourses, and opens to the Indian Ocean. It is about long, and averages about in width. The port town ...

from Fraser River to Round Hill on Stokes Bay. Their inland extension reached as far as the upper Logue River. Their presence on the Fitzroy River was thought to run only as far as Yeeda. They were also present in the area of

Derby Derby ( ) is a city and unitary authority area in Derbyshire, England. It lies on the banks of the River Derwent in the south of Derbyshire, which is in the East Midlands Region. It was traditionally the county town of Derbyshire. Derby gai ...

, and north of

Meda Meda may refer to: Places * Meda de Mouros, a parish in Tábua Municipality, Portugal * Medas, a parish in Gondomar Municipality, Portugal * Meda-Ela, Sri Lanka * Međa (Leskovac), village in the municipality of Leskovac, Serbia * Meda, Lombardy ...

, inland to roughly . To their north lay the Umiida, on their eastern flank were the

Unggumi The Unggumi, also written ''Ongkomi'', are an Aboriginal Australian people of the Kimberley region of Western Australian. Country Norman Tindale estimated that the Unggumi's traditional territorial lands stretch over some , centered on the uppe ...

, while the

were on their southern frontier.

Pre-contact times

According to Tindale, in pre-contact times, the Warrwa were affected by the movement of the Nyigina down the Fitzroy river, which effectively drove a wedge between Warrwa clans, that were subsequently cut off from each other. The incoming Nyigina distinguished thereafter the western Warwa ('little Warrwa') from the eastern Warrwa around Derby and Meda ('big Warrwa.').

Alternative names

* ''Waruwa.'' * ''Warwai, Warrwai.'' * ''Kolaruma.'' (an Unggumi

exonym An endonym (from Greek: , 'inner' + , 'name'; also known as autonym) is a common, ''native'' name for a geographical place, group of people, individual person, language or dialect, meaning that it is used inside that particular place, group, ...

Language

Country

Pre-contact times

Alternative names

Notes

Citations

Sources