The Ewamian or Agwamin people are an
Aboriginal Australian
Aboriginal Australians are the various indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, excluding the ethnically distinct people of the Torres Strait Islands.
Humans first migrated to Australia 50,000 to 65,000 year ...
people of the state of
Queensland
Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...
.
Language
The language of Ewamian people, now undergoing revival,
is variously known as Agwamin or
Wamin
Wamin () is a commune in the department of Pas-de-Calais in the Nord-Pas de Calais region in France of France. It lies 5 km north of Hesdin and 24 km east of Montreuil.
Main sights
The church of Our Lady of Assumption was const ...
. Elder Fred Fulford, as documented by
Peter Sutton in the early 1970s, explained that Agwamin and Wamin were originally two mutually intelligible dialects, one "heavy" and one "light".
There was said to be one living speaker of the language alive in 1981.
Country
The Ewamian People are the
traditional owner
Native title is the set of rights, recognised by Australian law, held by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups or individuals to land that derive from their maintenance of their traditional laws and customs. These Aboriginal title right ...
s of an area of north-western Queensland extending over the
Gilbert and
Einasleigh River catchment areas, including
Georgetown,
Mount Surprise,
Forsayth, and
Einasleigh. Ewamian country includes
Undara Volcanic National Park,
Cobbold Gorge, and
Talaroo hot springs. The
Savannah Way
The Savannah Way is a route of highways and major roads across the tropical savannahs of northern Australia, linking Cairns in Queensland with Broome in Western Australia. Promoted as a self-drive tourist route, it joins Cairns, Normanton, ...
travels across Ewamian country. The Ewamian People have had
native title determined over more than .
In
Norman Tindale
Norman Barnett Tindale AO (12 October 1900 – 19 November 1993) was an Australian anthropologist, archaeologist, entomologist and ethnologist. He is best remembered for his work mapping the various tribal groupings of Aboriginal Australians ...
's estimation, the Ewamian had approximately of tribal land, centering on the headwaters of the Einasleigh and Copperfield Rivers. Their northern limits reached as far as Georgetown], Mount Surprise, and
Lancewood, Queensland, Lancewood. Their eastern boundaries lay up around the
Great Dividing Range
The Great Dividing Range, also known as the East Australian Cordillera or the Eastern Highlands, is a cordillera system in eastern Australia consisting of an expansive collection of mountain ranges, plateaus and rolling hills. It runs roughl ...
, while their western reaches touched the headwaters of the
Percy River. They were present at the contemporary sites of Oak Park, Einasleigh, and Forsayth.
To the north of Ewamian country is that of
Wakaman with
Mbabaram to the north-east. In clockwise direction, Ewamian's eastern neighbours are the
Warungu, and the
Gugu-Badhun, and, south-east, the
Gudjal. On their southern side were the Mbara, with Yanga and Tagalaka to the west.
Alternative names
* ''Ewamian''
* ''Wimanja''
* ''Agwamin''
* ''Egwamin''
* ''Gwamin''
* ''Ak Waumin''
* ''Wamin''
* ''Wommin, Waumin, Wawmin''
* ''Walamin''
* ''Wommin''
* ''Walming''
* ''Wailoolo''
Some words
* ''twa'' (dog)
* ''moa'' (man)
Notes
References
External links
Ewamian People Aboriginal Corporation RNTBCAIATSIS Map of Indigenous AustraliaWaminon
Ethnologue
''Ethnologue: Languages of the World'' is an annual reference publication in print and online that provides statistics and other information on the living languages of the world. It is the world's most comprehensive catalogue of languages. It w ...
Bibliography of Agwamin language resources at the
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Southern Pama languages