The Kareldi was a name assigned by

Norman Tindale Norman Barnett Tindale AO (12 October 1900 – 19 November 1993) was an Australian anthropologist, archaeologist, entomologist and ethnologist. Life Tindale was born in Perth, Western Australia in 1900. His family moved to Tokyo and lived ...

Aboriginal Australian Aboriginal Australians are the various Indigenous peoples of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland and many of its islands, such as Tasmania, Fraser Island, Hinchinbrook Island, the Tiwi Islands, and Groote Eylandt, but excluding the T ...

peoples of the state of

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

. There were two groups that went by this name, the Garandi (Karandi), after the Garandi language, and the Gkuthaarn (Kutanda, Kuthant, Kotanda), after the Gkuthaarn language. It is not clear if they constituted a single people, but it appears that there were two dialects in the same area. In addition, Tindale said that "Kotanda", sometimes used for both the Gkuthaarn and Garandi languages but also applied to the Kalibamu people, was also sometimes used for the Kareldi people.

Country

The Kareldi held, in Tindale's estimation, some of land, extending over the mouth of the Norman River and westwards from Normanton to the

Flinders River The Flinders River is the longest river in Queensland, Australia, at approximately . It was named in honour of the explorer Matthew Flinders. The catchment is sparsely populated and mostly undeveloped. The Flinders rises on the western slopes o ...

. Their domain included Karumba and the Swinburne River. Their inland extension went as far as Milgarra, Maggieville, and Stirling. W.E. Armit, Inspector of

Native Police Australian native police units, consisting of Aboriginal troopers under the command (usually) of at least one white officer, existed in various forms in all Australian mainland colonies during the nineteenth and, in some cases, into the twentiet ...

, had earlier written in Curr's 1886 volume that the land of the "Karrandee tribe" commenced at the mouth of the River Bryce, passed the mouth of the Norman River, and continued along the coast to a saltwater creek "within of the

Gilbert Gilbert may refer to: People and fictional characters *Gilbert (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters *Gilbert (surname), including a list of people Places Australia * Gilbert River (Queensland) * Gilbert River (South A ...

", and extended inland as far as Magowra Station and Walker's Creek, comprising around .

Frontier wars

When European settlers moved into the

Gulf of Carpentaria The Gulf of Carpentaria (, ) is a large, shallow sea enclosed on three sides by northern Australia and bounded on the north by the eastern Arafura Sea (the body of water that lies between Australia and New Guinea). The northern boundary ...

region and established Normanton in the 1870s, there were an estimated seven

Aboriginal peoples Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

in the area, and the frontier wars blurred and confused the boundaries of traditional lands. By the 1920s, many Aboriginal people had been forcibly removed to

Aboriginal reserve An Aboriginal reserve, also called simply reserve, was a government-sanctioned settlement for Aboriginal Australians, created under various state and federal legislation. Along with missions and other institutions, they were used from the 19th ce ...

s and

missions Mission (from Latin ''missio'' "the act of sending out") may refer to: Organised activities Religion * Christian mission, an organized effort to spread Christianity *Mission (LDS Church), an administrative area of The Church of Jesus Christ of ...

. The Gkuthaarn and

Kukatj The Kukatj are an Aboriginal Australian people of the Cape York Peninsula in the state of Queensland. They are to be distinguished from the Kukatja of Western Australia and the Luritja of the Northern Territory, who have also historically been k ...

people who remained lived in camps along the south-western side of the town, while others, such as the Kurtijar people, camped north of the

Norman River The Norman River is a river in the Gulf Country, Queensland, Australia. The river originates in the Gregory Range 200 km southeast of Croydon and flows 420 km northwest to the Gulf of Carpentaria. It is joined by three major tributari ...

Native title

On 29 September 2020 the

and Gkuthaarn peoples won a native title determination over more than west of the

, including Normanton, as far as the

Leichhardt River The Leichhardt River is a river in north west Queensland, Australia. Course The source of the river is in the Selwyn Range under Rifle Creek Hill and fed by Rifle Creek approximately south of the mining town Mount Isa. It runs in a generally n ...

. Their recognition as

traditional owners Native title is the designation given to the common law doctrine of Aboriginal title in Australia, which is the recognition by Australian law that Indigenous Australians (both Aboriginal Australian and Torres Strait Islander people) have rights ...

of the land, eight years after lodging the claim, allows the two groups to

fish Fish are aquatic, craniate, gill-bearing animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish as well as various extinct related groups. Approximately 95% ...

, hunt and practise their culture and their cultural ceremonies on pastoral land.

Alternative names

* ''Karundi, Karunti, Kurandi, Karantee, Karrandi, Karrandee.'' * ''Gar-und-yih'' * ''Kanin.'' (''kanin'' means 'scrub,') * ''Gooran.'' (scrub people) * ''Kotanda.'' – a name usually used for the Kalibamu * ''Kutanda.'' * ''Goothanto.''

Language

It is not clear whether the Gkuthaarn (Kutanda) and Garandi (Karandi) were the same language, or different dialects.

Some words

According to W.E. Armit, inspector of

in 1886, these were some words of the "Karrandee tribe": * ''irruag'' (tame dog) * ''nyet'' (father) * ''mooruk'' (mother) * ''morbuy'' (whiteman) * ''irruag'' (tame dog) * ''nyet'' (father) * ''mooruk'' (mother) * ''morbuy'' (whiteman)

Indigenous rangers

The Gkuthaarn Kukatj Indigenous Land & Sea Ranger group is a group of

Indigenous ranger The Indigenous ranger projects were introduced by the Australian Government in 2007 as part of its Working on Country program. Indigenous rangers are Indigenous Australians who combine traditional knowledge with conservation training in order to p ...

s made up of

and Gkuthaarn people, help to protect the

natural resources Natural resources are resources that are drawn from nature and used with few modifications. This includes the sources of valued characteristics such as commercial and industrial use, aesthetic value, scientific interest and cultural value. ...

and cultural heritage of the southern Gulf of Carpentaria region. The group is managed by the

Carpentaria Land Council Aboriginal Corporation ''Carpentaria acuminata'' (carpentaria palm), the sole species in the genus ''Carpentaria'', is a palm native to tropical coastal regions in the north of Northern Territory, Australia. It is a slender palm, growing to tall in the garden situ ...