Yilba Explained

The Yilba, also written Ilba and Jilba, are or were an Aboriginal Australian people of the present-day state of Queensland.

Country

In Norman Tindale's estimation, the Yilba were assigned a tribal domain extending over approximately 7400mi2, from the area of Cape River westwards as far as the Great Dividing Range. Their northern boundaries lay roughly about Pentland Hills and Seventy Mile Range. Their eastern extension was around the Suttor River, while their southern limits were at Lake Buchanan. The Yilba were indigenous to places like on Campaspe River; and the Natal Downs.

Language

See main article: Yilba language. The Yilba language (and variant names as per the people) is extinct, with no speakers recorded since before 1975. It is regarded as a dialect of Biri.

Social organisation

The Yilba were composed of kin groups of which six at least are known:

• Yukkaburra
• Wokkulburra (eel people)
• Pegulloburra
• Mungooburra
• Mungullaburra (spinifex people)
• Goondoolooburra (emu people)

While stating that there are six "hordes", Tindale gave the names of only three, two of which differ from the list in one of his primary sources on the six, namely:

• Moothaburra
• Mungera

He also adds a possible fourth group:

• Muqkibara

Alternative names

• Yukkaburra, Yuckaburra
• Munkeeburra
• Moothaburra (horde name)
• Mungera, Mungerra (horde name)
• Eneby (language name)
• Pagulloburra, Pegulloburra (horde name)

Notes

Citations

Sources

• Web site: AIATSIS map of Indigenous Australia . 14 May 2024 . . .
• Book: Armstrong, M. . The Watershed and Upper Portion of the Cape River . 1886 . 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 . 2 . 464–467 . J. Ferres . Melbourne . https://archive.org/download/cu31924026093827/cu31924026093827.pdf .
• Book: Roth, W. E. . Ethnological Studies among the North-West-Central Queensland Aborigines . Walter Roth . 1897 . Edmund Gregory, Government Printer . Brisbane . PDF .
• Book: Sutton, Peter . Gugu-Badshun and its neighbours: A Linguistic Salvage Study . Peter Sutton (anthropologist) . . November 1973 .
• Book: Sutton, Peter . Languages of Cape York: papers presented to the linguistic symposium, part B, held in conjunction with the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies Biennial General Meeting, May, 1974 . Peter Sutton (anthropologist) . 1975 . Sutton . Peter . . 116–120 .
• Book: Tindale, Norman Barnett . Ilba (QLD) . Norman Tindale . 1974 . Aboriginal Tribes of Australia: Their Terrain, Environmental Controls, Distribution, Limits, and Proper Names . . http://archives.samuseum.sa.gov.au/tindaletribes/ilba.htm . 978-0-708-10741-6 .
• Book: Natal Downs Station, Cape River . Tompson . F.M. . Chatfield . W. . 1886 . 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 . 2 . 468–483 . J. Ferres . Melbourne . https://archive.org/download/cu31924026093827/cu31924026093827.pdf .