Latjilatji
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The Latjilatji, sometimes spelt Latji Latji or Latje Latje are 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 state of
Victoria, Australia Victoria is a state in southeastern Australia. It is the second-smallest state with a land area of , the second most populated state (after New South Wales) with a population of over 6.5 million, and the most densely populated state in Au ...
.


Name

The
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 ...
Latjilatji consists of a reduplication of the word for "no" (''latja'').


Language

Latjilatji is a Western Central Murray language classified as a member of the Kulinic language branch of the Pama Nyungan language family. It is closely related to Matimati and Wadiwadi. A vocabulary of the tongue, compiled by E. M. Curr from informants interviewed at Kulkyne, was published in 1887. It is critically endangered, with 10 speakers being recorded in 2004.


Country

The Latjilatji lands extended over some , ranging from Chalka Creek to Mildura on southern bank of Murray River, and stretching some 50 miles to its south. It encompassed Kulkyne, and ran south as far the vicinity of Murrayville and Pine Plains.


Social organization

The Latjilatji are divided into two moieties, the ''Kailpara'' and ''Makwara'', the former connected to the emu, the latter to the eagle-hawk. A child's descent was traced through the mother.


History

The early explorer
Edward Eyre Edward John Eyre (5 August 181530 November 1901) was an English land explorer of the Australian continent, colonial administrator, and Governor of Jamaica. Early life Eyre was born in Whipsnade, Bedfordshire, shortly before his family moved to ...
mentioned them in his work (1845) under the name ''Boraipar'' and transcribed a number of words from their language. The smallpox that devastated the Latjilatji, as it did all the Murray riverine tribes (
Tatitati The Dadi Dadi or Tatitati are an Australian Aboriginal people whose traditional lands are located along the southern banks of the Murray River in Victoria Australia. Language The Dadi Dadi language is a nearly extinct member of the Lower Murr ...
,
Jitajita The Jitajita, otherwise spelt ''Yitayita,'' are an indigenous Australian people of southern New South Wales. Language The Yitayita spoke one of the languages of the lower Murray river group that included Dadi Dadi and Kureinji, as is distinctive ...
, Nari-Nari, Barababaraba,
Warkawarka The Warkawarka, also called Weki Weki, were an Australian Aboriginal group whose traditional lands are located in Victoria, Australia. Controversy exists as to whether they were an independent 'tribe' or rather consisted of a subgroup of the Wer ...
,
Watiwati The Watiwati are an indigenous Australian aboriginal people traditionally living on both sides of the Murray River, from Victoria to New South Wales. Language The "mobs" name comes from a reduplication the word for 'no' (''wati''), typical of indi ...
,
Wemba-Wemba The Wemba-Wemba are an Aboriginal Australian people in north-Western Victoria and south-western New South Wales, Australia, including in the Mallee and the Riverina regions. They are also known as the Wamba-Wamba. Language Wemba-Wemba bears st ...
) after initial contact with whites was established, was described by Peter Beveridge, writing of his impressions in the 1850s.
All the old men in these tribes shows distinct smallpox traces, In speaking of this scourge they say that it came with the waters, that is to say, it followed down the rivers in the flood season, laying its death clutch on every tribe in its prime until the whole country became perfectly decimated. During the early stages of its ravages the natives gave proper sepulture to its victims; but at last the death rate became so heavy, and naturally, the panic so great, burying the bodies was no longer attempted- the survivors merely moved their camps leaving the sick behind to die, unattended, and the dead to fester in the sun, or as food for wild dogs and carrion birds, until in a short time the whole atmosphere became tainted with the odour arising from the decomposing bodies...When the bright torrid summer displaced the moister spring, after devastating these tribes, gradually died out, leaving but a sorry remnant of the aborigines behind, to mourn the depopulation of the land, and many, many moons waxed and waned before the fell destroyer's foul presence was even partially forgotten. To this day the old men who bear such patent traces of the loathed distemper speak shudderingly and with so much genuine horror as it is impossible for any other evil to elicit from them their inherent stolidity'.
The death of John Mack in 1918 was reported as that of the "last blackfellow" of the "Murray River tribes" and specifically of the original people of Mildura, which was on Latjilatji lands. His precise tribal affiliation has not been established however. Mack's aboriginal name was, according to
Ronald Ronald is a masculine given name derived from the Old Norse ''Rögnvaldr'',#H2, Hanks; Hardcastle; Hodges (2006) p. 234; #H1, Hanks; Hodges (2003) § Ronald. or possibly from Old English ''Regenweald''. In some cases ''Ronald'' is an Anglicised ...
and Catherine Berndt, who interviewed his first wife, the Jarildekald woman Pinkie Karpeny in 1891, was ''Djelwara/Telwara'', (born 1842 and he was said to have hailed, east of Mildura, from Laitjum, near Culcairn station in Kalkine territory, in
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 ...
. From the Berndts's classificatory Kukabrak perspective that would be Munpul clan territory and Mack would have been a Walkandiwoni. James Matthew, who knew him and corresponded with his son, Albert, variously has him as born in Jarijari lands, or in the
Wimmera The Wimmera is a region of the Australian state of Victoria. The district is located within parts of the Loddon Mallee and the Grampians regions; and covers the dryland farming area south of the range of Mallee scrub, east of the South Austral ...
and taken as a child to the Mildura Murray area as a child, where he underwent initiation.


Alternative names

* ''Baluk-mernen'' ("people of the sandhills") an
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, ...
for them used by the Wotjobaluk * ''Banju-bunan'' * ''Boraipar'' * ''Laitche'' * ''Laitchi-Laitehi'' * ''Latjoo-Latjoo'' * ''Latyu-latyu, Latyoo-Latyoo, Litchoo-Litchoo, Laitci-laitci, Laci-Laci, Laitu-Laitu, Laitu'' * ''Leitchi-Leitchi'' * ''Litchy-Litchy'' * ''Lutchye-Lutchye'' * ''Sitchy Sitchy'' (a misreading ) * ''Walkandwani'' (the term used by tribes to their west to designate them. * ''Wortongi'' (variant: ''Woortongi'', meaning "man" Source:


Some words

* ''manul''. (type of bony fish, also name of a totem).


Notes


Citations


Sources

* * * * * * * * {{Authority control Aboriginal peoples of Victoria (Australia)