The Yeidji, also spelt Yiiji and other variants, commonly known as Gwini/ Kwini, are 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 Kimberley area 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 ...

, who also self-identify as Balanggarra.

Name

In contemporary accounts, the Yeidji are often called ''Gwini'', also spelt ''Kwini'', people.

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 ...

, writing in 1974, maintained that ''Gwini'' was a directional term meaning "easterners" used by inlanders. The other term, ''Kujini'' means those in the coastal lowlands. There is no clear tribal name for several peoples in this area, and some confusion in the nomenclature and the several tribes, including also the Miwa are generally referred to as the Forrest River people, who, however are occasionally referred to as the Gwini/Yeidji.

Country

The Yeidji, according to

, controlled some of tribal territory, running from the coast of

Cambridge Gulf Cambridge Gulf is a gulf on the north coast of the Kimberley region of Western Australia. Many rivers flow into the gulf, including the Ord River, Pentecost River, Durack River, King River and the Forrest River, making the environment an es ...

along the

Forrest River The Forrest River is a river in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. The river rises just east of Pseudomys Hill in the Drysdale River National Park and flows in an easterly direction until discharging into the western arm of the Cambri ...

as far as the Milligan ranges. Its southern extension touched Steere Hills. The northernmost boundary lay at Mount Carty and the Lyne River. Their neighbours were the

Wilawila The Wilawila are an indigenous Australian tribe of the Kimberley region of Western Australia. Name Norman Tindale gave "wilawila" as the proper tribal ethnonym, but noted that, according to reports by the missionary Theodore Hernández, the sa ...

to the west, the

Wenamba The Wenamba are an indigenous Australian people of the central eastern edge of Western Australia in the Goldfields Region. Language The Wenamba spoke a dialect similar to that of the Pintupi. Country The Wenamba ranged over an estimated . Norma ...

to the northwest, the

Wirngir The Wirngir are an indigenous Australian people of the Kimberley region of Western Australia. Country Norman Tindale estimated their territorial extension to range around . They were a coastal people, whose inland borders stopped in the highlands ...

to the east, and the

Arnga The Arnga are an indigenous Australian people of the northern Kimberley region of Western Australia. Name The Arnga, like the Yeidji/Gwini and Miwa lack a self-defining tribal ethnonym, and for that reason have generally been called the Forrest ...

on their southern border. The Guragona horde, though classified as a subgroup of the Wenamba, may have been a section of the Yeidji. Today they are the

traditional owners Native title is the designation given to the common law doctrine of Aboriginal title in Australia, which is the recognition by Australian law that Indigenous Australians (both Aboriginal Australian and Torres Strait Islander people) have rights ...

by succession of Sir Graham Moore Island, off the Kimberley coast.

Oral histories Oral history is the collection and study of historical information about individuals, families, important events, or everyday life using audiotapes, videotapes, or transcriptions of planned interviews. These interviews are conducted with people wh ...

and archaeological excavations reveal evidence of interactions with Makassan traders from the 18th century onwards.

Language

Yiiji is a dialect of

Wunambal The Wunambal (Unambal), also known as Wunambal Gaambera, Uunguu (referring to their lands), and other names, are an Aboriginal Australian people of the northern Kimberley region of Western Australia. People The Wunambal were, according to Norma ...

Alternative names

* ''Yiiji'' * ''Yeidji, Yeithi, Yeidthee, Yeeji, Yedji, Jeidji, Jeithi'' * ''Gwi:ni, Gwini, Kuini'' ("easterners") * ''Kujini, Gu:jini, Kuini, Gujini'' * ''Ombalkari'' (

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 ...

east of the Forrest River Mission) * ''Umbalgari'' * ''Miwu'' (perhaps a name for the language) * ''Miwadange'' ("saltwater people") * ''Waringnari,

Waringari Ngardi, also spelt Ngarti or Ngardilj, is an Australian Aboriginal language that is considered moribund. It was previously thought to be an alternative name for the Bunara language, but these are now classified as separate languages. It was/is ...

'' (a pejorative exonym suggesting the practice of cannibalism) * ''Morokorei'' (Forrest River

horde Horde may refer to: History * Orda (organization), a historic sociopolitical and military structure in steppe nomad cultures such as the Turks and Mongols ** Golden Horde, a Turkic-Mongol state established in the 1240s ** Wings of the Golden Hord ...

) * ''

'' * ''Pikkolatpan'' * ''Bugay'' * '' Worrorran''

Notes

Citations

Sources

* * * * * * * * * {{authority control Aboriginal peoples of Western Australia Kimberley (Western Australia)