Wiilman are an indigenous

Noongar The Noongar (, also spelt Noongah, Nyungar , Nyoongar, Nyoongah, Nyungah, Nyugah, and Yunga ) are Aboriginal Australian peoples who live in the South West, Western Australia, south-west corner of Western Australia, from Geraldton, Western Au ...

people from the Wheatbelt, Great Southern and

South West The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sep ...

regions of Western Australia. Variant spellings of the name include Wilman, Wilmen and Wheelman. ''Wiilman'' is the

endonym 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, ...

Language

Their original language, also known as ''Wiilman'', is extinct and poorly documented, but is generally believed to have been part of the Nyungar subgroup.

Country

The Wiilman originally occupied an estimated of territory, taking in the future sites of

Collie Collies form a distinctive type of herding dogs, including many related landraces and standardized breeds. The type originated in Scotland and Northern England. Collies are medium-sized, fairly lightly-built dogs, with pointed snouts. Man ...

, Boddington, Pingelly, Wickepin, Narrogin, Williams,

Lake Grace A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much larg ...

, Wagin, and Katanning. The northern boundary of the Wiilmen is from around Wuraming, through Gnowing (north of Wandering) and Dattening to Pingelly. The eastern boundary included Wickepin, Dudinin and Lake Grace. In the south, the boundary of Wiilmen country included Nyabing (originally Nampup), Katanning, Woodanilling and Duranillin.

Mythology

Ethel Hassell Ethel Hassell (1857-1933) was a colonial author who lived near Albany, Western Australia. She wrote several texts on the colony and Nyungar peoples of Southwest Australia, especially those she knew at the region around Broome Hill, Albany, and to ...

wrote extensively on the "Wheelman tribe", her term for the Wiilman, but her manuscript was neglected until the American anthropologist

Daniel Sutherland Davidson Daniel Sutherland Davidson (July 9, 1900—December 26, 1952) was an American anthropologist who also did important work among the Australian Aborigines in the 1930s. Life Davidson was born in Cohoes in New York in 1900, the son of a travelling s ...

came across it while researching Australian archives in 1930. Davidson arranged for Hassell's work to be published in instalments in the journal ''

Folklore Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, rangin ...

'' (1934-1935). According to

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 ...

, much of the material ascribed to the Wiilman was gathered from their southern neighbours, the

Koreng The Koreng, also spelled Goreng, are an indigenous Noongar people of south-west of Western Australia. Language ''Koreng'' belonged to the Nyungic language family, and, specifically, the Koreng appear to have spoken the Wilmun dialect of Nyun ...

and actually reflects Koreng culture.

Alternative names

The neighbouring Koreng people referred to the Wiilman by the

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 ...

''Jaburu'', meaning "northerners/north-westerners". Some early colonial sources referred to them as "the Williams tribe". Abbreviated forms of Wiilman have sometimes been used, including Weal, Weel.

Citations

Sources

* * * * * * * * * * * * * {{Aboriginal peoples of Western Australia Great Southern (Western Australia) Noongar