Barungguan Explained

The Barungguan are an Aboriginal Australian people of the Cape York Peninsula of Northern Queensland. The name is associated with three languages: Ganganda,^[1] Umpithamu and Morrobolam.

Name

The anthropologist Donald Thomson classified them (speaking of them as the Yintjinga) as one of what he called the Kawadji peoples.

Country

According to Norman Tindale, writing in 1974, the Barungguan had about 700mi2 of tribal land, on the western side of Princess Charlotte Bay and extending northwards toward Cape Sidmouth. Their furthest northern limit appears to have been around the Rocky River, beyond which they rarely ventured.

Social organisation

The Barungguan were organized into clans the names of at least two of which are known:

• Umbuigamu
• Umbindhamu

As with the neighbouring Walmbaria, tooth avulsion was practised on all members of either sex among the Barungguan, with either the right or left upper incisor extracted for ritual purposes.

Alternative names

• Baka (Kaantju exonym)
• Banjigam (Bakanambia exonym)
• Barunguan (typo)
• Ganganda
• Jintjingga (native toponym for a site at the mouth of the Stewart River)
• Njindingga
• Umbindhamu
• Umbuigamu
• Yintjingga

Source:

Notes

Citations

Sources

• Web site: AIATSIS map of Indigenous Australia . 28 July 2023 . . .
• Battle Camp to Boralga: a local study of colonial war on Cape York Peninsula, 1873-1894 . Cole . Noelene . . 2004 . 28 . 156–189 .
• Aborigines of Princess Charlotte Bay, North Queensland . Hale . H. M. . Tindale . N.B. . Norman Tindale . . Adelaide . 1933 . 5 . 1 . 64–116 .
• Social Organization of the Tribes of Cape York Peninsula, North Queensland . McConnel . Ursula H. . Ursula McConnel . . September 1939 . 10 . 1 . 54–72 . 10.1002/j.1834-4461.1939.tb00256.x . 40327744.
• Social Organization of the Tribes of Cape York Peninsula, North Queensland (Continued) . McConnel . Ursula H. . Ursula McConnel . . June 1940 . 10 . 4 . 434–455 . 10.1002/j.1834-4461.1940.tb00305.x . 40327867.
• The Hero Cult, Initiation and Totemism on Cape York . Thomson . Donald F. . Donald Thomson . . July–December 1933 . 63 . 453–537 . 10.2307/2843801 . 2843801.
• The Dugong Hunters of Cape York . Thomson . Donald F. . Donald Thomson . . July–December 1934 . 64 . 237–263 . 10.2307/2843809 . 2843809.
• Book: Tindale, Norman Barnett . Barungguan (QLD) . 1974 . Norman Tindale . Aboriginal Tribes of Australia: Their Terrain, Environmental Controls, Distribution, Limits, and Proper Names . . http://archives.samuseum.sa.gov.au/tindaletribes/barungguan.htm . 978-0-708-10741-6.

Notes and References

1. Web site: Y138: Ganganda . AIATSIS Collection (Austlang) . 26 July 2019 . 7 August 2020.