The Tjurabalan (Jura-palan) is a nomadic desert tribe from the edge of the
Tanami Desert
The Tanami Desert is a desert in northern Australia, situated in the Northern Territory and Western Australia.
It has a rocky terrain with small hills, and cacti. The Tanami was the Northern Territory's final frontier and was not fully explored b ...
near Sturt Creek and
The Paraku Lake system, Lake Gregory in the
Kimberley region 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 ...
.
Language
The language jurisdictions governing much of Tjurabalan territory are provided by
Djaru and
Walmajarri
The Walmadjari (Walmajarri) people, also known as Tjiwaling and Wanaseka, are an Aboriginal Australian people of the Kimberley region of Western Australia.
Name
The two names reflect different Walmadjari preferences. Their western bands accept ...
.
Society
The combined population of the tribe in 2003 was approximately 1200 people.
Country
The Tjurabalan dwell in the Tanami Desert, in proximity to the
Ngurrara, and encompasses the communities of Ringer Soak (Kundat Djaru),
Billiluna,
Mulan
Hua Mulan () is a legendary folk heroine from the Northern and Southern dynasties era (4th to 6th century CE) of Chinese history.
According to legend, Mulan took her aged father's place in the conscription for the army by disguising herself as ...
and
Balgo. The
Coyote Gold Mine
The Coyote Gold Mine is a gold mine located in the remote Tanami Desert in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. The mine, processing plant and camp are 17 km west of the Northern Territory border. The mine was closed in 2013 and pl ...
is also located within the native title of the Tjurabalan people.
History
The explorers
David Carnegie and
Alfred Canning
Alfred Wernam Canning (21 February 1860 – 22 May 1936) was a Western Australian government surveyor. Born at Campbellfield north of Melbourne, he started work in New South Wales as a cadet surveyor and in 1893 joined the Western Austral ...
crossed their region, both being in the habit of capturing aboriginals and coercing them into revealing where fresh water springs might be found. Carnegie denied them water until their thirst made them collaborate. Canning had chains and neck padlocks manufactured which he applied to kidnapped Tjurabalan people in order to force them to guide his party to water.
Oral tradition of a massacre of the local Tjurabalan people by white settlers was corroborated by forensic archaeological investigations in 2017.
The Tjurabalan did not have much contact with whites until the 1950s since no extensive development projects had been envisaged for their area down to that time.
Native title
In Ngalpil vs. Western Australia (2001) the Tjurabalan won recognition of their
native title
Aboriginal title is a common law doctrine that the land rights of indigenous peoples to customary tenure persist after the assumption of sovereignty under settler colonialism. The requirements of proof for the recognition of aboriginal title, ...
rights to of their traditional lands.
Notes
Citations
Sources
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Aboriginal peoples of Western Australia
Pilbara
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