Gija, also spelt Gidja and Kija, alternatively known as the Lungga, refers to

Aboriginal Australians 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 ...

from the East 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 t ...

, about 200 km south of Kununurra. In the late 19th century pastoralists were fiercely resisted by Gija people, many of whom now live around localities such as

Halls Creek Halls is a plural of the word hall. Halls may also refer to: People * Walter Halls (1871–1953), British trade unionist and politician * Ethel May Halls (1882–1967), American actress * Julian Halls (born 1967), British field hockey player * ...

and Warmun (also known as Turkey Creek).

Language

Gija does not belong to the Pamas-Nyungan language family which covers most Australian aboriginal tongues, but is a member of the small Jarrakan language group. It is still spoken by from 100 to 200 people.

Country

The Gija's traditional territory consisted of an estimated . On Salmond, Chamberlain, and Wilson rivers. The western boundary ran up to the foothills of the Bluff Face Range. They also lived and hunted around the upper Margaret River, above the Ramsay Range gorge. Their easternmost lands ran as far as

and Alice Downs. Sites associated with the Gija are Macphee Creek, as far north as Sugarloaf Hill, the Durack Range, Lissadell and Turkey Creek Station, Fig Tree Pool and the headwaters of Stony River.

History of contact

The last known massacre of the Gija people took place at

Bedford Downs Station Bedford Downs, or Bedford Downs Station, is a pastoral lease that operates as a cattle station in Western Australia. It is situated about west of Warmun and north of Halls Creek in the Kimberley region. Both the station and nearby Mount Bed ...

in 1924, when, according to Gija tradition, Paddy Quilty and others at the Bedford station took tribesmen off the station and fed them food laced with

strychnine Strychnine (, , US chiefly ) is a highly toxic, colorless, bitter, crystalline alkaloid used as a pesticide, particularly for killing small vertebrates such as birds and rodents. Strychnine, when inhaled, swallowed, or absorbed through the e ...

. The corpses of those they killed were then heaped up and burnt on a funeral pyre to eliminate traces of the deed.

Modern period

In 1979, mining explorations teams discovered

pink Pink is the color of a namesake flower that is a pale tint of red. It was first used as a color name in the late 17th century. According to surveys in Europe and the United States, pink is the color most often associated with charm, politeness, ...

and reddish diamonds, quite rare at the time, at Smoke Creek and at Barramundi Gap, a key site in Gija female dreaming. Subsequently the Argyle diamond mine was established. Employment of local people remained low, 10% in 2003, when strategies changed. Now a quarter of the workforce is recruited from local indigenous people. The Gija have maintained a strong tradition of

cultural preservation The conservation and restoration of cultural property focuses on protection and care of cultural property (tangible cultural heritage), including artworks, architecture, archaeology, and museum collections. Conservation activities include prev ...

and active programs include a repository of teaching materials and artwork.

Qantas Qantas Airways Limited ( ) is the flag carrier of Australia and the country's largest airline by fleet size, international flights, and international destinations. It is the world's third-oldest airline still in operation, having been founde ...

adapted Paddy Bedford's artwork for use on a

Boeing 737 The Boeing 737 is a narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing at its Renton Factory in Washington. Developed to supplement the Boeing 727 on short and thin routes, the twinjet retains the 707 fuselage width and six abreast seating with two u ...

Notable people

* Paddy Bedford (1922-2007), Gija artist *

Josie Farrer Josephine Farrer (born 24 September 1947) is an Australian politician who was a Labor Party member of the Legislative Assembly of Western Australia from 2013 to 2021, representing the seat of Kimberley. Farrer was born on Moola Bulla Stati ...

, Australian parliamentarian. Member of the

Legislative Assembly of Western Australia The Western Australian Legislative Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of Western Australia, an Australian state. The Parliament sits in Parliament House in the Western Australian capital, Perth. The Legisla ...

since 2013, representing the seat of Kimberley. * Stacy Mader, the first Aboriginal Australian to obtain a PhD in astronomy. *

Lena Nyadbi Lena Nyadbi (born 1936, near Warnmarnjulugun lagoon, Western Australia) is a contemporary Indigenous Australian artist from the Warmun Community in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. Her works include ''Dayiwul Lirlmim'', details of ...

, Gija artist whose works on

barramundi The barramundi (''Lates calcarifer'') or Asian sea bass, is a species of catadromous fish in the family Latidae of the order Perciformes. The species is widely distributed in the Indo-West Pacific, spanning the waters of the Middle East, Sout ...

scale designs have been exhibited in Paris, notable on the roof of the Musee du Quai Branly, and only viewable from the

Eiffel Tower The Eiffel Tower ( ; french: links=yes, tour Eiffel ) is a wrought-iron lattice tower on the Champ de Mars in Paris, France. It is named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose company designed and built the tower. Locally nicknamed ...

. The work was commissioned by the Museum; Nyadbi's design represents the dreaming story of the barramundi, eluding capture to shed its scales across the landscape. The scales are metaphors for the pink Argyle diamonds, now mined by

Rio Tinto Rio Tinto, meaning "red river", may refer to: Businesses * Rio Tinto (corporation), an Anglo-Australian multinational mining and resources corporation ** Rio Tinto Alcan, based in Canada ** Rio Tinto Borax in America *** Rio Tinto Borax Mine, ...

on Gija land. With the positioning on the rooftop, Nyadbi's intent was to have the barramundi appear poised to flip back into the

Seine ) , mouth_location = Le Havre/ Honfleur , mouth_coordinates = , mouth_elevation = , progression = , river_system = Seine basin , basin_size = , tributaries_left = Yonne, Loing, Eure, Risle , tributa ...

Notes

Citations

Sources

* * * * * * * * * * * * *

External links

Bibliography of Kija people and language resources
at the

Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies The Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS), established as the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies (AIAS) in 1964, is an independent Australian Government statutory authority. It is a collecting, ...

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