Wotjobaluk people
The Wotjobaluk are an Aboriginal Australian people of the state of Victoria. They are closely related to the Wergaia people.
Language
[edit]R. H. Mathews supplied a brief analysis of the Wotjobaluk language (now known as Wergaia[1]), describing what he called the Tyattyalla dialect of the Wotjobaluk around Albacutya[2] He stated that it was characterised by four numbers: the singular, the dual, trial, and plural.[3] There were, in addition, two forms of the trial number for the 1st person, depending on whether the person addressed was included or excluded.[3] Thus one obtains: wutju (a man); "wutju-buliñ" (two men); wutju-kullik (three men); wutju-getyaul (several men).[3][4]
In mid-2021 a language revival project started up at the Wotjobaluk Knowledge Place, established in December 2020 at Dimboola. A Wergaia language program would run over 20 weeks.[5]
Country
[edit]Wotjobaluk territory took in some 12,000 square kilometres (4,800 sq mi) inclusive of the Wimmera River, Outlet Creek and the two eutrophic lakes, Hindmarsh and Albacutya. Their southern borders down ran to Dimboola, Kaniva, and Servicetown. Their western frontier lay beyond Yanac, and to the east, as far as Warracknabeal and Lake Korong. Their northern horizon reached Pine Plains.[6]
Social organisation
[edit]The Wotjobaluk were divided into 11 bands or clans:[7]
- Lail-buil between Pine Plains and the River Murray.
- Jakelbalak between Pine Plains and Lake Albacutya.
- Kromelak at Lake Albacutya.
- Wanmung Wanmungkur at Lake Hindmarsh.
- Kapuu-kapunbara on the River Wimmera, towards Lake Hindmarsh.
- Duwinbarap west of River Wimmera.
- Jackalbarap west of Duwinbarap.
- Jarambiuk at Yarriambiack Creek (so called).
- Whitewurudiuk, east of Yarriambiack Creek.
- Kerabialbarap south of Mount Arapiles.
- Murra-murra-barap in the Grampians.
Hunting lore
[edit]Wotjobaluk hunters told Adolf Hartmann that kangaroos had acute hearing, and could twig the presence of a predator at 150 yards simply by hearing the noise of ankle-bones cracking. Older kangaroos were apt to cast their young from their marsupial pouch if chased by dingos, to distract the dogs from their main prey.[8]
Cultural centre
[edit]The Wotjobaluk Knowledge Place, apart from teaching language (see above), displays artworks, conducts workshops, and is a centre for social get-togethers.[5]
Alternative names
[edit]- Buibatjali (dialect name), buibatyalli
- Gnallbagootchyourl[9]
- Gourrbaluk (Gour =Lake Hindmarsh, name used by Wemba-Wemba)
- Kurm-me-lak (horde name = Gromiluk)
- Malikunditj (northern tribal exonym)
- Malleegunditch[6]
- Ngalbagutja denoting Lake Albucutya, a Wemba-Wemba exonym used of northern hordes of the Wotjobaluk)
- Tjatijala (regional name west of Lake Hindmarsh)
- Tyattyalla, Djadjala
- Wattyabullak
- Wimmera tribe
- Woitu-bullar (plural of man as used in Barababaraba tribe)
- Wotjo-ba-laiuruk (lit. "men and women")
- Woychibirik (name for man = wotjo])
- Wuttyabullak, Wuttyuballeak
Some words
[edit]- dhallung (male or buck kangaroo)
- gal. (dog)[10]
- kulkun. (a boy)
- laiaruk. (a woman)
- lanangurk. (a girl).[4]
- mindyun (a kangaroo)
- muty (doer or female kangaroo)[10]
- winya nyua. (Who is there?)[11]
- wotjo (a man)
fletcher (creepy)
Notes
[edit]Citations
[edit]- ^ 17 Wergaia at the Australian Indigenous Languages Database, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies
- ^ Mathews 1902, pp. 77ff..
- ^ a b c Mathews 1902, p. 72.
- ^ a b Mathews 1902, p. 77.
- ^ a b Kelso, Andrew (3 June 2021). "Dimboola to 'revive' Wergaia language, in Victorian first". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 21 June 2021.
- ^ a b Tindale 1974, p. 208.
- ^ Hartmann 1878, p. 39.
- ^ Hartmann 1878, p. 250.
- ^ Stone 1911, p. 435.
- ^ a b Mathews 1902, p. 78.
- ^ Mathews 1902, p. 81.
Sources
[edit]- Bride, Thomas Francis, ed. (1898). Letters from Victorian Pioneers (PDF). Melbourne: Robert S Brain Government Printer.
- Curr, Edward Micklethwaite (1887). Curr, Edward Micklethwaite (ed.). The Australian race: its origin, languages, customs, place of landing in Australia and the routes by which it spread itself over the continent (PDF). Vol. 3. Melbourne: J. Ferres.
- Hartmann, Rev Adolf (1878). Smyth, Robert Brough (ed.). The Aborigines of Victoria: with notes relating to the habits of the natives of other parts of Australia and Tasmania (PDF). Vol. 1. Melbourne: J. Ferres, gov't printer. pp. 39, 249–251.
- Howitt, Alfred William (1904). The native tribes of south-east Australia (PDF). Macmillan.
- Mathews, R. H. (1902). "Aboriginal languages of Victoria". Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales. 36: 71–106.
- Parker, K. Langloh (1905). The Euahlayi tribe; a study of aboriginal life in Australia (PDF). A. Constable & Co.
- Smyth, Robert Brough (1878). The Aborigines of Victoria: with notes relating to the habits of the natives of other parts of Australia and Tasmania (PDF). Vol. 1. Melbourne: J. Ferres, gov't printer.
- Stone, A. C. (1911). "Aborigines of Lake Boga". Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria. 23: 433–468 – via BHL.
- Tindale, Norman Barnett (1974). "Wotjobaluk (VIC)". Aboriginal Tribes of Australia: Their Terrain, Environmental Controls, Distribution, Limits, and Proper Names. Australian National University Press. ISBN 978-0-708-10741-6.