The Wiradjuri people (; ) are a group of

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 from central

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, united by common descent through kinship and shared traditions. They survived as skilled hunter-fisher-gatherers, in family groups or clans, and many still use knowledge of hunting and gathering techniques as part of their customary life. In the 21st century, major Wiradjuri groups live in

Condobolin Condobolin is a town in the west of the Central West region of New South Wales, Australia, on the Lachlan River. At the , Condobolin had a population of 3,486. History Prior to European settlement, the area was inhabited by the Wiradjuri pe ...

, Peak Hill,

Narrandera Narrandera ( ) until around 1949 also spelled "Narandera", is a town located in the Riverina region of southern New South Wales, Australia. The town lies on the junction of the Newell and Sturt highways, adjacent to the Murrumbidgee River, and ...

and

Griffith Griffith may refer to: People * Griffith (name) * Griffith (surname) * Griffith (given name) Places Antarctica * Mount Griffith, Ross Dependency * Griffith Peak (Antarctica), Marie Byrd Land * Griffith Glacier, Marie Byrd Land * Griffith Rid ...

. There are significant populations at

Wagga Wagga Wagga Wagga (; informally called Wagga) is a major regional city in the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia. Straddling the Murrumbidgee River, with an urban population of more than 56,000 as of June 2018, Wagga Wagga is the state's la ...

and Leeton and smaller groups at

West Wyalong West Wyalong is the main town of the Bland Shire in the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia. Located west of Sydney and above sea level, it is situated on the crossroads of the Newell Highway between Melbourne and Brisbane, and the ...

Parkes Parkes may refer to: * Sir Henry Parkes (1815–1896), Australian politician, one of the earliest and most prominent advocates for Australian federation Named for Henry Parkes * Parkes, New South Wales, a regional town * Parkes Observatory, a radi ...

Dubbo Dubbo () is a city in the Orana Region of New South Wales, Australia. It is the largest population centre in the Orana region, with a population of 43,516 at June 2021. The city is located at the intersection of the Newell, Mitchell, and Gol ...

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...

Cootamundra Cootamundra, nicknamed Coota, is a town in the South West Slopes region of New South Wales, Australia and within the Riverina. It is within the Cootamundra-Gundagai Regional Council. At the 2016 Census, Cootamundra had a population of 6,782. ...

Darlington Point Darlington Point is a small town on the banks of the Murrumbidgee River in the Riverina district of western New South Wales, Australia. It is part of the Murrumbidgee Council local government area. The centre of town is four kilometres from ...

Cowra Cowra is a small town in the Central West region of New South Wales, Australia. It is the largest population centre and the council seat for the Cowra Shire, with a population of 9,863. Cowra is located approximately above sea level, on the ...

and

Young Young may refer to: * Offspring, the product of reproduction of a new organism produced by one or more parents * Youth, the time of life when one is young, often meaning the time between childhood and adulthood Music * The Young, an American roc ...

Name

The Wiradjuri

autonym Autonym may refer to: * Autonym, the name used by a person to refer to themselves or their language; see Exonym and endonym * Autonym (botany), an automatically created infrageneric or infraspecific name See also * Nominotypical subspecies, in zo ...

is derived from , meaning "no" or "not", with the

comitative In grammar, the comitative case (; abbreviated ) is a grammatical case that denotes accompaniment. In English, the preposition "with", in the sense of "in company with" or "together with", plays a substantially similar role (other uses of "with", l ...

suffix or meaning "having". That the Wiradjuri said , as opposed to some other word for "no", was seen as a distinctive feature of their speech, and several other tribes in New South Wales, to the west of the

Great Dividing Range The Great Dividing Range, also known as the East Australian Cordillera or the Eastern Highlands, is a cordillera system in eastern Australia consisting of an expansive collection of mountain ranges, plateaus and rolling hills, that runs rough ...

, are similarly named after their own words for "no". A similar distinction was made between

Romance languages The Romance languages, sometimes referred to as Latin languages or Neo-Latin languages, are the various modern languages that evolved from Vulgar Latin. They are the only extant subgroup of the Italic languages in the Indo-European language fam ...

medieval France The Kingdom of France in the Middle Ages (roughly, from the 10th century to the middle of the 15th century) was marked by the fragmentation of the Carolingian Empire and West Francia (843–987); the expansion of royal control by the House of C ...

, with the ''

langues d'oc Occitan (; oc, occitan, link=no ), also known as ''lenga d'òc'' (; french: langue d'oc) by its native speakers, and sometimes also referred to as ''Provençal'', is a Romance language spoken in Southern France, Monaco, Italy's Occitan Valley ...

'' and the ''

langues d'oïl The ''langues d'oïl'' (; ) are a dialect continuum that includes standard French and its closest autochthonous relatives historically spoken in the northern half of France, southern Belgium, and the Channel Islands. These belong to the larger ...

'' distinguished by their word for "yes". In his book ''Aboriginal tribes of Australia'' (1974),

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 ...

wrote that ''Wiradjuri'' was one of several terms coined later, after the 1890s had seen a "rash of such terms", following the publication of a work by ethnologist

John Fraser John Fraser may refer to: Politics *John Simon Frederick Fraser (1765–1803), commanded the Fraser Fencibles in Ireland and was (M.P.) for Inverness-shire *John James Fraser (1829–1896), 5th Premier of the Canadian province of New Brunswick, 18 ...

. In 1892, Fraser had published a revised and expanded edition of

Lancelot Threlkeld Lancelot Edward Threlkeld (20 October 1788 – 10 October 1859) was an English missionary, primarily based in Australia. He was married twice and survived by sons and daughters from both marriages. Thelkeld is known for his work with Biraban i ...

's 1834 work on the Awabakal language, ''

An Australian Grammar ''An Australian grammar : comprehending the principles and natural rules of the language, as spoken by the Aborigines in the vicinity of Hunter's River, Lake Macquarie, &c. New South Wales'' is a book written by Lancelot Edward Threlkeld and publ ...

'', in which he created his own names for groupings, such as Yunggai, Wachigari and Yakkajari. Tindale says that some of the later terms had entered the literature, although not based on fieldwork and lacking Aboriginal support, as artificial, collective names for his "Great Tribes" of New South Wales. He writes that there was such a "literary need for major groupings that

raser A maser (, an acronym for microwave amplification by stimulated emission of radiation) is a device that produces coherent electromagnetic waves through amplification by stimulated emission. The first maser was built by Charles H. Townes, James ...

set out to provide them for New South Wales, coining entirely artificial terms for his 'Great tribes'. These were not based on field research and lacked aboriginal support. His names such as Yunggai, Wachigari and Yakkajari can be ignored as artifacts...During the 1890s the idea spread and soon there was a rash of such terms...Some of these have entered, unfortunately, into popular literature, despite their dubious origins." He goes on to list the Bangarang (

Pangerang 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 ...

) (Vic.);

Booandik The Bungandidj people are an Aboriginal Australian people from the Mount Gambier region in south-eastern South Australia, and also in western Victoria. Their language is the Bungandidj language. Bungandidj was historically frequently rendered a ...

(Vic. & SA); Barkunjee (

Barkindji The Paakantyi, or Barkindji or Barkandji, are an Australian Aboriginal tribal group of the Darling River (known to them as the Baaka) basin in Far West New South Wales, Australia. Name The ethnonym Paakantyi means "River people", formed from ...

) (NSW), Kurnai (Vic.), Thurrawal (

Dharawal The Dharawal people, also spelt Tharawal and other variants, are an Aboriginal Australian people, identified by the Dharawal language. Traditionally, they lived as hunter–fisher–gatherers in family groups or clans with ties of kinship, s ...

) (NSW), Wiradjuri (NSW) and Malegoondeet (?) (Vic.) as some of these names, and mentions R. H. Mathews, A. W. Howitt and

John Mathew John Mathew (31 May 1849 – 11 March 1929) was an Australian Presbyterian minister and anthropologist, author of ''"Eaglehawk and Crow"'' and ''"Two Representative Tribes of Queensland"''. Biography Mathew was born in Aberdeen, Scotland, on ...

as promulgators of the "nations" concept. However, Tindale refers to Wiradjuri in his own work (p. 200): "Wiradjuri 'Wiradjuri (Wi'raduri)".

Wiradjuri language

Wiradjuri The Wiradjuri people (; ) are a group of Aboriginal Australian people from central New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , ...

is a Pama–Nyungan family and classified as a member of the small Wiradhuric branch of Australian languages of Central New South Wales. The Wiradjuri language is effectively extinct, but attempts are underway to revive it, with a reconstructed grammar, based on earlier ethnographic materials and wordlists and the memories of Wiradjuri families, which is now used to teach the language in schools. This reclamation work was originally propelled by elder Stan Grant and John Rudder who had previously studied

Australian Aboriginal languages The Indigenous languages of Australia number in the hundreds, the precise number being quite uncertain, although there is a range of estimates from a minimum of around 250 (using the technical definition of 'language' as non-mutually intellig ...

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 ...

Country

The Wiradjuri are the largest Aboriginal group in New South Wales. They once occupied a vast area in central New South Wales, on the plains running north and south to the west of the Blue Mountains. The area was known as "the land of the three rivers", the ''Wambuul'' (Macquarie), the ''Kalare'' later known as the Lachlan and the Murrumbidgee, or ''Murrumbidjeri''.

estimated the territorial range of the Wiradjuri tribal lands at . Their eastern borders ran from north to south from above

Mudgee Mudgee is a town in the Central West (New South Wales), Central West of New South Wales, Australia. It is in the broad fertile Cudgegong River valley north-west of Sydney and is the largest town in the Mid-Western Regional Council Local gover ...

, down to the foothills of the Blue Mountains east of Lithgow and

Oberon Oberon () is a king of the fairies in medieval and Renaissance literature. He is best known as a character in William Shakespeare's play ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'', in which he is King of the Fairies and spouse of Titania, Queen of the Fair ...

, and east of

and

Tumut Tumut () is a town in the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia, situated on the banks of the Tumut River. Tumut sits on the north-west foothills of the Snowy Mountains and is located on the traditional lands of the Wiradjuri, Wolgalu ...

and south to the upper Murray at

Albury Albury () is a major regional city in New South Wales, Australia. It is located on the Hume Highway and the northern side of the Murray River. Albury is the seat of local government for the council area which also bears the city's name – the ...

and east to about

Tumbarumba Tumbarumba ( ) is a small town in New South Wales, Australia, about southwest of the state capital, Sydney. Tumbarumba is located on the periphery of the Riverina and South West Slopes regions at the western edge of the Snowy Mountains. The s ...

. The southern border ran to Howlong. Its western reaches went along

Billabong Creek The Billabong Creek, a partly perennial stream of the Murray River catchment within the Murray-Darling basin, is located in the Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia. At (with some estimates ranging up to ), Billabong Creek is belie ...

to beyond Mossgiel. They extended southwest to the vicinity of

Hay Hay is grass, legumes, or other herbaceous plants that have been cut and dried to be stored for use as animal fodder, either for large grazing animals raised as livestock, such as cattle, horses, goats, and sheep, or for smaller domesticat ...

and

southwards to

Booligal Booligal is a village in the Riverina area of western New South Wales (NSW), Australia. It is located on the Cobb Highway, on the Lachlan River north of Hay. Booligal is a part of Hay Shire local government area. The name of the village is an ...

Carrathool Carrathool is a village in the western Riverina region of New South Wales, Australia, in Carrathool Shire. In , Carrathool had a population of 296 people. It is about north of the Sturt Highway between Darlington Point Darlington Point is a ...

, Trundle;

Gundagai Gundagai is a town in New South Wales, Australia. Although a small town, Gundagai is a popular topic for writers and has become a representative icon of a typical Australian country town. Located along the Murrumbidgee River and Muniong, Honeys ...

Boorowa Boorowa () is a farming village in the Hilltops Region in the south west slopes of New South Wales, Australia. It is located in a valley southwest of Sydney around above sea-level. The town is in Hilltops Council local government area. H ...

, and Rylstone,

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

, and

Carcoar Carcoar is a town in the Central West region of New South Wales, Australia, in Blayney Shire. In 2016, the town had a population of 200 people. It is situated just off the Mid-Western Highway 258 km west of Sydney and 52 km south-wes ...

all lay within Wiradjuri territory. The

Murray River The Murray River (in South Australia: River Murray) (Ngarrindjeri: ''Millewa'', Yorta Yorta: ''Tongala'') is a river in Southeastern Australia. It is Australia's longest river at extent. Its tributaries include five of the next six longest r ...

forms the Wiradjuri's southern boundary and the change from woodland to open grassland marks their eastern boundary.

Social organisation

The Wiradjuri were organised into bands.

quotes

Alfred William Howitt Alfred William Howitt , (17 April 1830 – 7 March 1908), also known by author abbreviation A.W. Howitt, was an Australian anthropologist, explorer and naturalist. He was known for leading the Victorian Relief Expedition, which set out to es ...

as mentioning several of these local groups of the tribe: * ''Narrandera'' (prickly lizard) * ''Cootamundra'' (, kutamun turtle) * ''Murranbulla'' (, two bark canoes).

Burial rite

The Wiradjuri, together with the

Gamilaraay The Gamilaraay, also known as Gomeroi, Kamilaroi, Kamillaroi and other variations, are an Aboriginal Australian people whose lands extend from New South Wales to southern Queensland. They form one of the four largest Indigenous nations in Aust ...

(who however used them in bora ceremonies), were particularly known for their use of carved trees which functioned as taphoglyphs, marking the burial site of a notable medicine-man, ceremonial leader, warrior or orator of a tribe. On the death of a distinguished Wiradjuri, initiated men would strip the bark off a tree to allow them to incise symbols on the side of the trunk which faced the

burial mound Burial, also known as interment or inhumation, is a method of final disposition whereby a dead body is placed into the ground, sometimes with objects. This is usually accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing the deceased and objec ...

. The craftsmanship on remaining examples of this funeral artwork displays notable artistic power. Four still stand near

Molong Molong is a small town in the Central West region of New South Wales, Australia, in Cabonne Shire. History The name Molong comes from the Aboriginal word for 'all rocks'. William Lee of Kelso is said to have had cattle in the area by 1819. ...

at the

Grave of Yuranigh Grave of Yuranigh is the heritage-listed grave of Yuranigh, a 19th-century Wiradjuri man. It is located 3 km south-east of Molong, Cabonne Shire, New South Wales, Australia and dates from 1852. It is also known as Yuranigh's grave. It was ...

. They are generally to be found near rivers where the softer earth allowed easier burial.

remarked that these trees incised with taphoglyphs served both as transit points to allow mythological cultural heroes to ascend to, and descend from, the firmament as well as a means for the deceased to return to the sky.

Lifestyle

The Wiradjuri diet included yabbies and fish such as Murray cod from the rivers. In dry seasons, they ate kangaroos, emus and food gathered from the land, including fruit, nuts, yam daisies (''

Microseris lanceolata ''Microseris lanceolata'' is an Australian alpine herb with yellow flowers and one of three plants known as murnong or yam daisy along with ''Microseris scapigera'' and ''Microseris walteri.'' The plant is found in southern parts of Australia, ...

''), wattle seeds, and orchid tubers. The Wiradjuri travelled into Alpine areas in the summer to feast on

Bogong moth The bogong moth (''Agrotis infusa'') is a temperate species of night-flying moth, notable for its biannual long-distance seasonal migrations towards and from the Australian Alps, similar to the diurnal monarch butterfly. During the autumn a ...

s. The Wiradjuri were also known for their handsome

possum-skin cloak Possum-skin cloaks were a form of clothing worn by Aboriginal people in the south-east of Australia – present-day Victoria and New South Wales. The cloaks were made from numerous possum pelts sewn together with kangaroo sinew, and often dec ...

s stitched together from several possum furs.

Governor Macquarie Major General Lachlan Macquarie, CB (; gd, Lachann MacGuaire; 31 January 1762 – 1 July 1824) was a British Army officer and colonial administrator from Scotland. Macquarie served as the fifth Governor of New South Wales from 1810 to 1821, an ...

was presented with one of these cloaks by a Wiradjuri man when he visited Bathurst in 1815.

British penetration

Wiradjuri territory was first penetrated by

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

colonists in 1813. In 1822

George Suttor George Suttor (11 June 1774 – 5 May 1858) was an Anglo-Scottish farmer and pioneer settler of Australia, who is notable as the founder of a significant Australian family, and also as a supporter of Captain Bligh following the 1808 Rebellion ...

took up an extensive lot of land, later known as Brucedale Station, after Wiradjuri guides showed him an area with ample water sources. Suttor learnt their language, and befriended Windradyne, nicknamed "Saturday", and attributed conflict to the harshness of his own people's behaviour, since the Wiradjuri were in his view, fond of white people, as they would call them. Clashes between the British settlers and the Wiradjuri however multiplied as the influx of colonist increased, and became known as the Bathurst Wars. The occupation of their lands and their cultivation began to cause famine among the Wiradjuri, who had a different notion of what constituted property. In the 1850s there were still

corroboree A corroboree is a generic word for a meeting of Australian Aboriginal peoples. It may be a sacred ceremony, a festive celebration, or of a warlike character. A word coined by the first British settlers in the Sydney area from a word in the l ...

s around

, but there were fewer clashes.

Notable people

Historical

* William Punch, massacre survivor and World War One serviceman *

Windradyne Windradyne ( – 21 March 1829) was an Aboriginal warrior and resistance leader of the Wiradjuri nation, in what is now central-western New South Wales, Australia; he was also known to the British settlers as Saturday. Windradyne led his peopl ...

, important Aboriginal leader during the Bathurst War * Yuranigh, a much prized guide for the explorer Thomas Mitchell, especially during his expedition to the Gulf of Carpentaria in 1845–1846. On hearing of Yuranigh's death in 1852, Mitchell put up £200 to have his gravesite marked with a tombstone.

Modern

* Kirsten Banks, astronomer *

Tony Briggs Tony Briggs (born 3 July 1967) is an Australian actor, writer and producer. He is a former track and field athlete. He is best known for creating the stage play '' The Sapphires'' (later a 2012 film) telling the true story of an Aboriginal s ...

, actor, writer and producer *

Linda Burney Linda Jean Burney (born 25 April 1957) is an Australian politician and is an Australian Labor Party member of the Australian House of Representatives, representing Barton since the 2016 federal election. She is Minister for Indigenous Australi ...

, member of the Australian House of Representatives *

Evonne Goolagong Cawley Evonne Fay Goolagong Cawley (née Goolagong; born 31 July 1951) is an Australian former world No. 1 tennis player. Goolagong was one of the world's leading players in the 1970s and early 1980s. At the age of 19, she won the French Open singl ...

, tennis great *

Jimmy Clements Jimmy Clements ( – 28 August 1927) was an Aboriginal elder from the Wiradjuri tribe in Australia, and was present at the opening of the Provisional Parliament House in Canberra on 9 May 1927. He explained that he was there to demonstrate hi ...

, present at the opening of

Provisional Parliament House Parliament House, also referred to as Capital Hill or simply Parliament, is the meeting place of the Parliament of Australia, and the seat of the legislative branch of the Australian Government. Located in Canberra, the Parliament building is ...

in 1927 *

Paul Coe Paul Coe (born 4 February 1949), a Wiradjuri man born at Erambie Mission in Cowra, is an Australian Aboriginal activist. He is known for his advocacy of Aboriginal rights, with involvement in the publicity drive for the 1967 referendum, and the ...

, lawyer and activist * Kevin Gilbert, 20th century author * Stan Grant, journalist, son of Stan Grant Sr * Stan Grant Sr, a Wiradjuri elder and linguist *

Anita Heiss Anita Marianne Heiss (born 1968) is an Aboriginal Australian author, poet, cultural activist and social commentator. She is an advocate for Indigenous Australian literature and literacy, through her writing for adults and children and her mem ...

contemporary novelist * Kate Howarth author * Faye McMillan, academic *

Kerry Reed-Gilbert Kerry Reed-Gilbert (24 October 1956 – 13 July 2019) was an Australian poet, author, collector, editor, educator, a champion of Indigenous writers and an Aboriginal rights activist. She was a Wiradjuri woman. Early life Born on 24 October 1956 ...

, poet, author and elder * Aunty Isabel Reid (born 1932), elder and advocate for the

Stolen Generation The Stolen Generations (also known as Stolen Children) were the children of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent who were removed from their families by the Australian federal and state government agencies and church miss ...

; NSW State Recipient of Senior

Australian of the Year The Australian of the Year is a national award conferred on an Australian citizen by the National Australia Day Council, a not-for-profit Australian Governmentowned social enterprise. Similar awards are also conferred at the State and Territo ...

2021; oldest living survivor of those forcibly removed under the ''

Aborigines Protection Act 1909 The ''Aborigines Protection Act 1909'' was a New South Wales statute that repealed the ''Supply of Liquors to Aborigines Prevention Act 1867'' with the aim of providing for the protection and care of Aboriginal people in New South Wales, Australi ...

'' (NSW), having been sent to the

Cootamundra Domestic Training Home for Aboriginal Girls The Cootamundra Domestic Training Home for Aboriginal Girls, commonly known as "Bimbadeen" and Cootamundra Girls' Home, located at Cootamundra, New South Wales operated by the New South Wales Aborigines Welfare Board from 1911 to 1968 to provi ...

* Jessa Rogers, founding principal of the Cape York Girl Academy *

Mum (Shirl) Smith Coleen Shirley Perry Smith AM MBE (22 November 1924 – 28 April 1998), better known as Mum Shirl, was a prominent Wiradjuri woman, social worker and humanitarian activist committed to justice and welfare of Aboriginal Australians. She wa ...

MBE OAM, community activist * Malcolm Towney aka MFC, Mayor's Office Queanbeyan NSW *

Margaret Tucker Margaret Lilardia Tucker MBE (28 March 1904 – 23 August 1996) was an Aboriginal Australian activist and writer who was among the first Aboriginal authors to publish an autobiography, in 1977. Early life Margaret Tucker was born at War ...

, co-founder of the Australian Aborigines League * Joyce Williams, Wiradjuri elder, health campaigner, native title activist * Neville "Uncle Chappy" Williams, land activist and proponent in the Lake Cowal Campaign *

Tara June Winch Tara June Winch (born 1983) is an Australian writer. She is the 2020 winner of the Miles Franklin Award for her book ''The Yield''. Biography Tara June Winch was born in Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia in 1983. Her father is from the Wi ...

, author

Music/the arts

Brook Andrew Brook Andrew (born 1970 in Sydney, Australia) is an Australian contemporary artist. Work Andrew has exhibited internationally since 1996. His work focuses on Western narratives, especially relating to colonialism in the Australian context, and ...

, contemporary artist * Bianca Beetson, contemporary artist *

Alan Dargin Alan Dargin (13 July 196724 February 2008) was an indigenous Australian musician and songwriter known for being a didgeridoo player. He grew up in Wee Waa and started learning the instrument at age five from his grandfather and other Wiradjuri ...

didgeridoo The didgeridoo (; also spelt didjeridu, among other variants) is a wind instrument, played with vibrating lips to produce a continuous drone while using a special breathing technique called circular breathing. The didgeridoo was developed by ...

player *

Ella Havelka Ella Havelka (born 1989) is an Australian ballet dancer who is the first Indigenous person to join The Australian Ballet. Early life Havelka was born in Dubbo, New South Wales, and is a descendant of the Wiradjuri people. She was raised by a s ...

, dancer, first Indigenous person to join

The Australian Ballet The Australian Ballet is the largest classical ballet company in Australia. It was founded by J. C. Williamson Theatres Ltd and the Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust in 1962, with the English-born dancer, teacher, repetiteur and direct ...

* Melanie Horsnell, singer-songwriter *

Lin Onus Lin Onus (4 December 1948 – 23 October 1996), born William McLintock Onus and also known as Lin Burralung McLintock Onus, was an Australian artist of Scottish- Aboriginal origins. He was the son of activist Bill Onus. Early life Willia ...

, artist *

Harry Wedge Harry James "HJ" Wedge (1957 – 8 November 2012) was a Wiradjuri artist. Early life and education Wedge was born in Erambie Mission, Cowra, New South Wales. Prior to starting his artwork professionally, Wedge worked as a driver and fruit pick ...

, artist

Sporting

Rugby League

Josh Addo-Carr Josh Addo-Carr (born 28 July 1995) is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who plays as a er for the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs in the National Rugby League (NRL) and Australia at international level. He began his career with ...

, rugby league footballer *

Braidon Burns Braidon Burns (born 8 July 1996) is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who last played for the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs in the National Rugby League (NRL). He is the nephew of Canterbury premiership winner, Rod Silva. Bac ...

, rugby league footballer *

Justin Carney Justin Robert Carney (born 19 June 1988), also known by the nickname of "The Tank on the Flank", is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played on the or as a . He played for Canberra Raiders and the Sydney Roosters in ...

, rugby league footballer *

Laurie Daley Laurie William Daley AM (born 20 October 1969), also known by the nicknames of "Lozza" and "Loz", is an Australian professional rugby league football coach and a former player who played as a and in the 1980s and 1990s. He represented Aus ...

, rugby league footballer * Blake Ferguson, rugby league footballer * David Grant, rugby league footballer *

Nicho Hynes Nicholas Hynes (born 18 June 1996) is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who plays as a for the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks in the National Rugby League, NRL. He previously played as a for the Melbourne Storm in the National R ...

, rugby league footballer * Ben Jones, rugby league footballer *

Cliff Lyons Cliff Lyons (born 19 October 1961) is an indigenous Australian former international rugby league footballer who played in the 1980s and 1990s. A Clive Churchill Medalllist and two-time Dally M Medallist, he made 309 first-grade appearances wit ...

, rugby league footballer *

Latrell Mitchell Latrell Mitchell (''né'' Goolagong; born 16 June 1997) is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who plays as a for the South Sydney Rabbitohs in the NRL, and has represented both New South Wales in the State of Origin series and ...

, rugby league footballer *

David Peachey David Peachey (born 21 April 1974) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who played in the 1990s and 2000s. An Australian international and New South Wales representative , he played the majority of his club football in t ...

, rugby league footballer *

Tyrone Peachey Tyrone Peachey (born 8 August 1991) is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who plays for the Penrith Panthers in the NRL. He previously played for the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks, Penrith Panthers and the Gold Coast Titans and ...

, rugby league footballer * Jesse Ramien, rugby league footballer * Will Robinson, rugby league footballer * George Rose, rugby league footballer *

Ron Saddler Ronald William Saddler was an Australian rugby league footballer who played in the 1960s and 1970s. A New South Wales and Australian international representative three-quarter back, he played in Sydney's NSWRFL Premiership for the Eastern Subu ...

, rugby league footballer *

Kotoni Staggs Kotoni Staggs (born 29 October 1998) is a Tonga international rugby league footballer who plays as a for the Brisbane Broncos in the National Rugby League (NRL). He has represented Indigenous All Stars, Tonga and New South Wales. He has playe ...

, rugby league footballer *

Robbie Simpson Robbie Simpson (born 15 March 1985 in Poole, Dorset) is an English semi-professional association football, footballer who plays as a forward (association football), forward. Simpson is currently manager at National League South club Chelmsford ...

, rugby league footballer * Joel Thompson, rugby league footballer *

Brad Tighe Bradley Tighe (born 5 April 1984) is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer. He played at and and played for the Newcastle Knights, Penrith Panthers and Gold Coast Titans in the National Rugby League. Playing career Tighe ...

, rugby league footballer * Esikeli Tonga, rugby league footballer *

Willie Tonga Villiami Sione "Willie" Tonga (born 8 August 1983), also known by the nickname of "Little Willie", is an Australian former professional rugby league footballer who last played for the Leigh Centurions in the Super League. An Australia internat ...

, rugby league footballer * Connor Watson, rugby league footballer *

Jack Wighton Jack Wighton (born 4 February 1993) is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who plays as a for the Canberra Raiders in the NRL and Australia at international level. He has played at representative level for the Indigenous All ...

, rugby league footballer * Joe Williams, rugby league footballer * Jonathan Wright, rugby league footballer

Other sports

Jarrod Atkinson Jarrod Atkinson is an Australian rules footballer who played for Essendon Essendon may refer to: Australia *Electoral district of Essendon *Electoral district of Essendon and Flemington * Essendon, Victoria **Essendon railway station **Essen ...

, Australian Rules footballer *

Wally Carr Wally Carr (11 August 1954 – 13 April 2019) was an Australian professional boxer. A Wiradjuri man who was born and raised in Wellington, New South Wales, Carr held twelve titles across six different divisions across his 15-year career as a box ...

, Australian Commonwealth Boxing Champion *

Sean Charles Sean Charles (born 18 May 1975) is a former Australian rules footballer who played with Melbourne, Carlton and St Kilda in the Australian Football League (AFL). Seen as a great talent from early on, he was promoted from the reserves after s ...

, Australian Rules footballer *

Daniel Christian Daniel Trevor Christian (born 4 May 1983) is an Australian professional cricketer with Aboriginal ancestry. He is considered to be a Twenty20 cricket specialist and has played for franchises all over the globe. Christian is known as a powerfu ...

, member of the

Australian cricket team The Australia men's national cricket team represents Australia in men's international cricket. As the joint oldest team in Test cricket history, playing in the first ever Test match in 1877, the team also plays One-Day International (ODI) an ...

* Brendon Cook, international racing driver *

Evonne Goolagong Evonne Fay Goolagong Cawley (née Goolagong; born 31 July 1951) is an Australian former world No. 1 tennis player. Goolagong was one of the world's leading players in the 1970s and early 1980s. At the age of 19, she won the French Open singl ...

, champion tennis player * John Kinsela, first Aboriginal Olympic wrestler * Joel Swift, Australian and Olympic

water polo Water polo is a competitive team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The game consists of four quarters in which the teams attempt to score goals by throwing the ball into the opposing team's goal. The team with the ...

player *

Tai Tuivasa Tai Anthony Tuivasa (born 16 March 1993) is an Australian professional mixed martial artist. He currently competes in the Heavyweight division in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). As of December 6, 2022, he is #5 in the UFC heavyweight ...

mixed martial arts Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, inc ...

and UFC Fighter *

Mariah Williams Mariah Williams (born 31 May 1995) is an Australian field hockey player. She represented her country at the 2016 Summer Olympics. Personal life Williams was born and raised in Parkes, New South Wales. She plays national representative hockey f ...

Australian Olympic hockey player * Zac Williams, Australian Rules footballer *

David Wirrpanda David Selwyn Burralung Merringwuy Galarrwuy Wyal Wirrpanda ( ; born 3 August 1979) is a former Australian rules footballer, best known for his career with the West Coast Eagles in the Australian Football League (AFL). Born in Melbourne, Wirrpand ...

, Australian Rules footballer

Places of significance

Koonadan Historic Site Koonadan Historic Site is a Wiradjuri ceremonial and burial grounds, and designated Aboriginal Place, located 9 km northwest of Leeton, New South Wales. The site has a picnic shelter with signs that tell the story of the site, with artwork ...

, located 9 km north-west of Leeton * The

Wellington Convict and Mission Site The Wellington Convict and Mission Site is a heritage-listed former convict agricultural station, Australian Aboriginal mission and cemetery located at Curtis Street, Wellington in the Dubbo Regional Council local government area in New South ...

, a former convict settlement and Aboriginal

mission Mission (from Latin ''missio'' "the act of sending out") may refer to: Organised activities Religion *Christian mission, an organized effort to spread Christianity *Mission (LDS Church), an administrative area of The Church of Jesus Christ of ...

. * 56 historical sites were found during survey work at

Yathong Nature Reserve The Yathong Nature Reserve is a protected nature reserve that is also a nationally and internationally recognized biosphere situated in the central-western region of New South Wales, in eastern Australia. The reserve was listed by UNESCO in 19 ...

, including scar trees, camp sites and cave art. * A historical site, consisting of an open campsite, was found during survey work at

Nombinnie Nature Reserve The Nombinnie Nature Reserve is a protected nature reserve in central New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_typ ...

Wiradjuri culture in fiction

The short story ''Death in the Dawntime'', originally published in ''The Mammoth Book of Historical Detectives'' (Mike Ashley, editor; 1995), is a

murder mystery Crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, mystery novel, and police novel are terms used to describe narratives that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a professional detective, of a crime, ...

that takes place entirely among the Wiradjuri people before the arrival of Europeans in Australia. In

Bryce Courtenay Arthur Bryce Courtenay, (14 August 1933 – 22 November 2012) was a South African-Australian advertising director and novelist. He is one of Australia's best-selling authors, notable for his book '' The Power of One''. Background and early ye ...

's novel '' Jessica'', the plot is centred in Wiradjuri region. Jessica's best friend (Mary Simpson) was from Wiradjuri. Noel Beddoe's novel ''The Yalda Crossing'' also explores Wiradjuri history from an early settler perspective, bringing to life a little-known massacre that occurred in the 1830s. Andy Kissane's poem, "The Station Owner's Daughter, Narrandera" tells a story about the aftermath of that same massacre, and was the inspiration for Alex Ryan's short film, ''Ngurrumbang''.

Alternative names

The variety of spellings for the name Wiradjuri is extensive, with over 60 ways of transcribing the word registered.

Some words

* ' native peach'. The English word for this in Australia, ''

quandong Quandong, quandang or quondong, is a common name for the species '' Santalum acuminatum'' (desert, sweet, Western quandong), especially its edible fruit, but may also refer to * '' Aceratium concinnum'' (highroot quandong) * '' Peripentadenia mea ...

,'' is thought to derive from the Wirandjuri term. * 'crow'. The Wiradjeri term perhaps lies behind the toponym for the town of

. The reduplication may be a pluralizer suggesting the idea of "(place of) many crows". This has recently been questioned by Wiradjuri elder Stan Grant Sr and Tim Wess, an academic. The word behind the

toponym Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of '' toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage and types. Toponym is the general term for a proper name of ...

is, they claim, , meaning "dance", and the reduplicative would mean "many dances/much dancing".

Notes

Citations

Sources

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *]) * * * * * * * * * * * {{Authority control Wiradjuri, Aboriginal peoples of New South Wales South Coast (New South Wales)