Gangulu Explained

The Gangulu people, also written Kangulu, Kaangooloo, Ghungalu and other variations, are an Aboriginal Australian people from the Mount Morgan area in Queensland, Australia.

Name

At least one variant name for the Kangulu, Kaangooloo, was formed from the word for "no", ka:ngu.

Language

See main article: Biri language. The Gangulu language is considered to be a dialect of Biri, belonging to the Greater Maric languages.

Country

Gangulu traditional lands occupied an estimated 6000mi2 about the Dawson River as far south as Banana and Theodore. To the northwest, they extended as far as the Mackenzie River and the vicinity of Duaringa and Coomooboolaroo. Their eastern frontier lay towards Biloela, Mount Morgan, Gogango Range, and the upper Don River. Thangool and the headwaters of Grevillea Creek marked its southeastern limits.

People

A correspondent of E. M. Curr, Peter McIntosh, a resident of the area, stated that the Gangulu were a confederation of several groups, the main ones being the Karranbal, the Maudalgo, and the Mulkali. No further data were recorded to enable ethnographer Norman Tindale to clarify the precise nature of the last two groups, but the AUSTLANG database by AIATSIS reports that the Karranbal is the Garaynbal (Garingbal) dialect of Biri and Maudalgo is a variant name of the Wadjigu language and people, a separate group from the Biri, who spoke a Bidjara dialect. Mulkali is not further described.

Along with many other remnants of Queensland tribes who had lost their traditional lands to colonial pastoralists, members of the Kangulu moved to the Cherbourg settlement.

Alternative names

• Ghungalu^[1]
• Kaangooloo
• Cangoolootha (tha meant "speech")
• Khangalu, Kangalo, Kongulu, Kongalu
• Kangool-lo, Konguli, Gangulu
• Cangoolootha, Gangu, Kangool lo, Kongulu, Khang, Ghangulu, Ka ngool lo

Notes

Citations

Sources

• Book: Dixon, Robert M. W. . Australian Languages: Their Nature and Development . Robert M. W. Dixon . 2002 . 1 . . 978-0-521-47378-1 .
• Book: Howitt, Alfred William . The native tribes of south-east Australia . Alfred William Howitt . 1904 . .
• Tribes on Cherburg Settlement, Queensland . Kelly . C. Tennant . . June 1935 . 5 . 4 . 461–473 . 40327813 . 10.1002/j.1834-4461.1935.tb00165.x.
• The Toara Ceremony of the Dippil Tribes of Queensland . Mathews . R. H. . Robert Hamilton Mathews . . 1900 . 2 . 1 . 139–144 . 658865 . 10.1525/aa.1900.2.1.02a00090. free.
• Book: McIntosh, Peter . Eastern slopes of Expedition Range, Lower Dawson, Upper Fitzoy, MacKenzie and Isaacs rivers, and many of their tributaries. . 1887 . The Australian race: its origin, languages, customs, place of landing in Australia and the routes by which it spread itself over the continent . Curr . Edward Micklethwaite . Edward Micklethwaite Curr . 3 . 58–62 . J. Ferres . Melbourne . https://archive.org/download/australianracei02currgoog/australianracei02currgoog.pdf .
• Book: Tindale, Norman Barnett . Kangulu (QLD) . Norman Tindale . 1974 . Aboriginal Tribes of Australia: Their Terrain, Environmental Controls, Distribution, Limits, and Proper Names . . http://archives.samuseum.sa.gov.au/tindaletribes/kangulu.htm . 978-0-708-10741-6 .

Notes and References

1. Web site: The Ghungalu people . Blackwater North State School . 14 August 2018 . 2 May 2022.