The Pakadji people, also known by the southern tribal

exonym An endonym (also known as autonym ) is a common, name for a group of people, individual person, geographical place, language, or dialect, meaning that it is used inside a particular group or linguistic community to identify or designate them ...

as the Koko Yao (Kuuku Yau), are an

Aboriginal Australian Aboriginal Australians are the various indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, excluding the ethnically distinct people of the Torres Strait Islands. Humans first migrated to Australia 50,000 to 65,000 year ...

group of

Cape York Peninsula The Cape York Peninsula is a peninsula located in Far North Queensland, Australia. It is the largest wilderness in northern Australia.Mittermeier, R.E. et al. (2002). Wilderness: Earth's last wild places. Mexico City: Agrupación Sierra Madre, ...

in northern

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

. 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 ...

''Koko Yao'' is said literally to mean " talk, speech" (''koko''/''kuku'') 'this way' (''yao''), though this has been questioned.

Language

Pakadji The Pakadji people, also known by the southern tribal exonym as the Koko Yao (Kuuku Yau), are an Aboriginal Australian group of Cape York Peninsula in northern Queensland. The ethnonym ''Koko Yao'' is said literally to mean " talk, speech" (''kok ...

is one of the Umpila group of dialects within the

North Cape York Paman languages The North Cape York Paman languages are a subdivision of the Paman languages consisting of forty languages, all spoken on the Cape York Peninsula of Queensland, Australia. The languages are grouped largely according to R. M. W. Dixon. The only ...

. They had a highly developed

sign language Sign languages (also known as signed languages) are languages that use the visual-manual modality to convey meaning, instead of spoken words. Sign languages are expressed through manual articulation in combination with #Non-manual elements, no ...

, but used generally only one hand, with rapid movements, and little secondary reinforcement by physical or facial tics or gestures.

Country

Pakadji territory embraced roughly an area of 1,300 sq. miles around

Weymouth Bay Weymouth Bay is a sheltered bay on the south coast of England, in Dorset. It is protected from erosion by Chesil Beach and the Isle of Portland, and includes several beaches, notably Weymouth Beach, a gently curving arc of golden sand which st ...

, the Pascoe River, and Temple Bay. It reached northwards as far as

Cape Grenville Cape Grenville (), is a small, east-facing promontory along the Queensland, Australia coast of Cape York Peninsula. It lies between Shelburne Bay to the north and Temple Bay to the south. The nearest significant settlement is Weipa, along the w ...

; and ran to the southeast at Cape Weymouth. Inland it extended to the Dividing Range.

Lifestyle and economy

The Pakadji were one of the Kawadji, or sandbeach people. These coastal tribes basically exploited the rich food resources on and off the sea-line facing the

Coral Sea The Coral Sea () is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean, South Pacific off the northeast coast of Australia, and classified as an Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia, interim Australian bioregion. The Coral Sea extends down t ...

. The year was divided into two seasons, the ''kawali'' or dry season that began with the onset of the south-east trade winds, from April through to November, and ''wullo wantjan''/''wullo waiyin'' ('when thunder cries') the season ushered in with the arrival of the northwest

monsoon A monsoon () is traditionally a seasonal reversing wind accompanied by corresponding changes in precipitation but is now used to describe seasonal changes in Atmosphere of Earth, atmospheric circulation and precipitation associated with annu ...

, beginning in late November/early December. In the ''kawali'' period they were often venture inland to harvest vegetables (''mai'yi''), yams (''dampu'') and bush honey, and construction materials like spear wood and weaving grasses.

Ceremonies

Donald Thomson gained the confidence of the Pakadji while spending 4 months with them during the season in which their initiation ceremonies (''Okainta'') were held, and was permitted to be present during the rites. He focused in particular on stories related to ''Iwayi'' (Old Man Crocodile).

Native title

On 25 November 2021, of land on the eastern side of the

were handed back to the Kuuku Ya'u people, at the same time as ( were awarded to the Uutaalnganu people, in a

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 to that land by another colonising state. The requirements of proof for the recognition of ab ...

claim that was lodged seven years prior. The landmark ruling was delivered by Justice Debra Mortimer of the

Federal Court of Australia The Federal Court of Australia is an Australian superior court which has jurisdiction to deal with most civil disputes governed by federal law (with the exception of family law matters), along with some summary (less serious) and indictable (mo ...

, sitting at the

Supreme Court of Queensland The Supreme Court of Queensland is the highest court in the Australian State of Queensland. It was formerly the Brisbane Supreme Court, in the colony of Queensland. The original jurisdiction of the Supreme Court allows its trial division to ...

Cairns Cairns (; ) is a city in the Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia, on the tropical north east coast of Far North Queensland. In the , Cairns had a population of 153,181 people. The city was founded in 1876 and named after William Cairns, Sir W ...

Language

Country

Lifestyle and economy

Ceremonies

Native title

Some words

Notes

Citations

References