The Giimbiyu were 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 Northern Territory. Their descendants having adopted the
Kunwinjku language
Kunwinjku is a dialect of Bininj Kunwok, an Australian Aboriginal language. The Aboriginal people who speak Kunwinjku are the Bininj people, who live primarily in western Arnhem Land. As Kunwinjku is the most widely spoken dialect of Bininj Ku ...
.
Language
The Giimbiyu consisted of three distinct groups, defined by their different varieties of the
Giimbiyu language
Giimbiyu is an extinct Aboriginal Australian language isolate once spoken by the Giimbiyu people of northern Australia.
The name ''Giimbiyu'' is a Gaagudju word for 'of the stoney country'. It was introduced in Harvey (1992) as a cover term f ...
, ''Erre, Mangerr'' and ''Urningannngg.''
Ethnonym
Giimbiyu is a collective term once used by
Gaagadju people referring to the three languages formerly spoken around the Alligator Rivers region. In that language it meant 'of the rock country'.
Country
The Giimbiyu's land was around the
East Alligator river area, Mount Howship and Red Lily area of the
Kakadu National Park
Kakadu National Park is a protected area in the Northern Territory of Australia, southeast of Darwin. It is a World Heritage Site. Kakadu is also gazetted as a locality, covering the same area as the national park, with 313 people recorded liv ...
west of
Gunbalanya (formerly Oenpelli). In the Erre language, this site was called ''Uwunbarlany'', an echo of which survives in the old settlers' term for the area, Oenpelli.
History
With the establishment of a cattle station in the area, the Kunwinjku moved into the area, and renamed it Gunbalanya.
Notes and references
Notes
References
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Aboriginal peoples of the Northern Territory
Arnhem Land