Yukul People
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The Yukul, also written ''Jukul,'' were 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
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 ...
.


Language

Little has been salvaged of the Yukul language, since it was never studied: no examples of their speech that would allow grammatical analysis exist, and only a few words were taken down. Though believed to be similar to Alawa and Marra, there is no evidence for such an inference. Most of the younger generation now speak a variety of kriol.


Country

Yukul lands covered an estimated . on the southern bank of the
Roper River The Roper River is a large perennial river located in the Katherine region of the Northern Territory of Australia. Location and features Formed by the confluence of the Waterhouse River and Roper Creek, the Roper River rises east of Mataranka ...
at the mouth of the Hogson River and around Leichhardt Bar (''Urapunga''). Their northern boundary lay around Mount Favenc.


Social organization

A brief description of their class divisions was given by R. H. Mathews in 1900.


History

A massive land seizure in the densely populated
Gulf Country The Gulf Country is the region of woodland and savanna grassland surrounding the Gulf of Carpentaria in north western Queensland and eastern Northern Territory on the north coast of Australia. The region is also called the Gulf Savannah. It ...
started in 1881, with 14 colonial landholders taking up stations that averaged some each. Within the following 3 decades an estimated 600 indigenous people were shot down to make way for the cattle and sheep pastured on these runs. A Church Mission was established at
Ngukurr Ngukurr ( , ), formerly Roper River Mission (1908−1968), is a remote Aboriginal community on the banks of the Roper River in southern Arnhem Land, Northern Territory. A number of different clans and language groups are represented in the tow ...
in 1908 to take in the remnants of decimated tribes.


Recent times

Many Yukul now live at Ngukurr.


Alternative names

* ''Jokul'' * ''Yikil, Yookil, Yookull'' * ''Yikul'' * ''Yookala'' * ''Yukul'' Source:


Notes


Citations


Sources

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