The Yadhaykenu, otherwise known as the ''Jathaikana'' or ''Yadhaigana,'' are an

Australian aboriginal Aboriginal Australians are the various Indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, such as Tasmania, Fraser Island, Hinchinbrook Island, the Tiwi Islands, and Groote Eylandt, but excluding the Torres Strait I ...

tribe of

northern Queensland North Queensland or the Northern Region is the northern part of the Australian state of Queensland that lies just south of Far North Queensland. Queensland is a massive state, larger than many countries, and its tropical northern part has been ...

. The name appears to be 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, ...

from the Western and Central Torres Strait (

Kalau Lagau Ya ''Kalau Lagau Ya'', ''Kalaw Lagaw Ya'', ''Kala Lagaw Ya'' (), or the ''Western Torres Strait language'' (also several other names, see below), is the language indigenous to the central and western Torres Strait Islands, Queensland, Australia. O ...

) yadaigal (

Kaurareg Kaurareg (alt. Kauraraiga, plural Kauraraigalai, Kauraregale) is the name for one of the Indigenous Australian groups collectively known as Torres Strait Islander peoples, although many or most identify as Aboriginal Australians. They are the ...

dialect yařadaigalai~yařadegale) "talkers, chatterers,people who speak a lot".

Language

The Yadhaykenu language was a dialect of Uradhi, a group of dialects marked by their use of variants of ''urra'' for 'this'. For example, in the Wudhadhi dialect, just south of Yadhaykenu, ''urra'' is realised as ''wudha''.

Country

The Yadhaykenu had, in

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 ...

's estimation, some of territory southwards from the Escape River to the vicinity of Orford Ness. This covers the area extending from Escape River to Pudding Pan Hill in the

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

. Their numbers at the time of contact with colonial pastoralists who took over their land in the 1860s has been estimated to range between 1,500 and 1,600.

History

The Yadhaigana were traditional enemies of the

Gudang The Djagaraga or Gudang (Pantyinamu/Yatay/Gudang/Kartalaiga and other clans) are an Australian Aboriginal tribe, traditionally lived in the coastal area from Cape York to Fly point, including also Pabaju (Albany Island), in the Cape York Penins ...

, Alfred Cort Haddon (Head Hunters, Black, White and Brown, ph 190 ) stated in the 1880s that the Gudang had died out, or at all events none now live in their own country, the same remark also applies to the neighbouring tribes.Together with the neighbouring

Unduyamo The Unduyamo (Andooyomo) were an indigenous Australian people who once lived around the northern shore of Newcastle Bay, Cape York Peninsula Queensland. It has been hypothesized that, among other aspects of their life, they functioned as religious ...

and Gudang aboriginal tribes, they were regarded as warlike by the colonial authorities and settlers who moved into their lands and encountered their resistance. Writing in 1864, the Scottish immigrant John Jardine (1807–1874), from 1863 to 1865 the police magistrate at the newly established Somerset settlement. thought of these natives in his area of administration 'to be in a lower state of degradation, mentally and physically, than any of the Australian aboriginal tribes which I have seen'. British marines stationed at Somerset were withdrawn in 1868, and native troopers under Henry Chester set about dispersing the local tribes with terror tactics, punitive forays, and by adopting methods such as inciting one tribe against another. The young men and women were subject to

Blackbirding Blackbirding involves the coercion of people through deception or kidnapping to work as slaves or poorly paid labourers in countries distant from their native land. The term has been most commonly applied to the large-scale taking of people in ...

in order to obtain slave labour on pearling boats. Two Anglican missionaries present Rev F Jagg and William Kennett wrote on protest at the shocking conditions the tribes were subject to, only to be speedily removed. Internecine hostilities, already frequent, flared between the Yadhaigana and their Gumakudin neighbours as settlement expanded, and eventually the latter were absorbed by the former. Within three decades of settlement, of the estimated 3,000 Aborigines belonging to the three tribes, only a 100 remained. After the shattering of the traditional east-coast tribal groupings and their dispersal, many remnants of each group intermarried and a new more collective identity was formed at Red Island Point, from descendants or survivors of the Wuthgathi, Yadhaigana, Gudong and Unduyamo, who came to be known as the Red Island Point tribes. By virtue of this amalgamation, the Yadhaigana, as part 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, ...

claim, consider themselves heir to the old Gumakudin lands extending from Pudding Pan Hill, across Utingu, Red Island Point,

Injinoo The Injinoo were an Indigenous Australian people of the Cape York Peninsula, and their name now applies to a tribal aggregation of remnants of various tribes of the Cape York Peninsula. Country The traditional lands of the Injinoo Community ext ...

to Muttee Head on the southwest of the York Peninsula.

Native title

In 2008 the

Yadhaykenu together with the Atampaya and Seven Rivers Angkamuth communities, made an application for

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, ...

, which was successful in 2014, when their right to 680,000ha of land was recognized. In 2017 the Gudang Yadhaykenu leaders representing some 2000 people signed a development deal with former Macquarie banker Bill Moss to lease areas in 360,000ha and set up tourism and agribusinesses, with trust funds set aside for improvements in Gudang Yadhaykenu health care, education and employment opportunities.

Alternative names

* ''Induyamo'' * ''Yadaigan'' * ''Yaldaigan'' * ''Yandigan'' * ''Yaraidyana'' * ''Yaraikana'' * ''Yaraikanna, Yaraikkanna'' * ''Yarakino'' * ''Yardaikan'' * ''Yarudolaiga.''(

, correct form ''Yařadaigalai''). * ''Yathaikeno'' Source:

Notes

Citations

Sources

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * {{authority control Aboriginal peoples of Queensland