The Wudjari were 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

Noongar The Noongar (, also spelt Noongah, Nyungar , Nyoongar, Nyoongah, Nyungah, Nyugah, and Yunga ) are Aboriginal Australian peoples who live in the south-west corner of Western Australia, from Geraldton on the west coast to Esperance on the so ...

cultural group of the southern 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 ...

Country

The Wudjari's traditional lands are estimated to have extended over some , encompassing the southern coastal area from the

Gairdner River Gairdner River is a river located in the Great Southern region of Western Australia. The river was first recorded by Surveyor General John Septimus Roe in 1848, when carrying out exploration of the area, noting that natives referred to it an ...

eastwards, as far as ''Point Malcolm''. The inland extension was to about 30 miles.

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

Ravensthorpe Ravensthorpe may refer to any of the following places. England *Ravensthorpe, Dewsbury in West Yorkshire **Ravensthorpe railway station, Dewsbury *Ravensthorpe, Northamptonshire *Ravensthorpe, Peterborough in Cambridgeshire *Ravensthorpe, an histor ...

, Fanny Cove, Esperance, and

Cape Arid Cape Arid National Park is a national park located in Western Australia, southeast of Perth. The park is situated east of Esperance and lies on the shore of the south coast from the eastern end of the Recherche Archipelago. The bay at its east ...

all have been developed over the old Wudjari lands.

Early history

There was a western/eastern divide among the Wudjari bands. At the earliest point of contact with white explorers, it was noted that the western divisions were on the move, shifting towards

Bremer Bay Bremer may refer to: People *Bremer (surname) * Bremer Ehrler (born 1914), American politician * Bremer (born 1997), Brazilian footballer Places ;Australia *Bremer Bay, Western Australia * Bremer Marine Park *Bremer Island * Bremer River (disambig ...

. The groups to the east of Fanny Cove and the Young River, on the other hand, had adopted

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 ...

as part of their tribal initiatory rites, a transformation that earned them the name of ''Bardonjunga/Bardok'' among those Wudjari who refused to absorb the practice. This customary scission, 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 ...

, perhaps marked the inchoate genesis of a new tribal identity among the easterners, who had also adopted a differential

ethnonym An ethnonym () is a name applied to a given ethnic group. Ethnonyms can be divided into two categories: exonyms (whose name of the ethnic group has been created by another group of people) and autonyms, or endonyms (whose name is created and used ...

for themselves; ''Nyunga''. These Wudjari ''Njunga'' contested the terrain between Mount Ragged and

Israelite Bay Israelite Bay is a bay and locality on the south coast of Western Australia. Situated in the Shire of Esperance local government area, it lies east of Esperance and the Cape Arid National Park, within the Nuytsland Nature Reserve and the Grea ...

with the

Ngadjunmaia The Ngadju are an indigenous Australian people of the Goldfields-Esperance region of the Western Australia. Country Ngadju traditional land took in some , running south from Goddard Creek to Mount Ragged, Israelite Bay and Point Malcolm. The ...

Curiosity

In 1855 an edited account was published of a shipwrecked castaway, called William Jackman, purporting to relate 18 months of captivity among Australian cannibal tribes somewhere on the

Great Australian Bight The Great Australian Bight is a large oceanic bight, or open bay, off the central and western portions of the southern coastline of mainland Australia. Extent Two definitions of the extent are in use – one used by the International Hydrog ...

. The story proved very popular, and the narrative seen as fascinating, but suspicions have long existed as to its authenticity. In 2002, the historian Martin Gibbs analysed both the book and its historical background and context, and concluded that some elements certainly bore traces of familiarity with the Nyungar cultural block. In particular he conjectured that parts of the tale might well reflect experience of living among the Wudjari, or Nyunga, or even the Ngadjunmaia.

Alternative names

* ?''Daran'' (Perth exonym for eastern tribes seeing the sun emerge from the sea) * ''Karkar'' (A Wiiman exonym meaning "east") * ''Kwaitjman'' (of northern tribes) * ''Ngokgurring'' * ''Ngokwurring'' * ''Njungar, Nyungar'' * ''Njungura'' (A Mimeng informant's

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, ...

) * ''Nonga.'' * ''Nunga'' * ''Warangu '' * ''Widjara'' * ''Wuda'' * ''Wudja'' * ''Wudjarima'' * ''Yunga''/''Yungar'' ([tribal name of the Bremer Bay tribe, where a group of Wudjari shifted, into territory not originally theirs) Source:

Some words

* ''kooning.'' (baby) * ''kun.'' (mother) * ''mann.'' (father) * ''mookine.'' (wild dog) * ''twart'' (tame dog) Source:

Notes

Citations

Sources

* * * * * * {{Authority control Aboriginal peoples of Western Australia Extinct ethnic groups Great Southern (Western Australia)