The Kalibal (Gullibul) were an
Indigenous Australian
Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples o ...
people of
New South Wales
)
, nickname =
, image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, es ...
.
Name
The name Kalibal/Galibal could also be used as an exonym. Margaret Sharpe explains its usage:-
The name ''Galibal'' (Gullybul, Gullyvul, etc.) could be applied to any group who pronounced the final vowel of ''gala/gale/gali'' 'this' as i, by a (neighbouring) group which did not. Such groups called 'Galibal' could be distinguished among themselves using some other difference, e.g. the use of ''nyang'' versus ''minyang'' for 'what', or the shape of the second person singular nominative pronoun (''wiya/wiye/wuhye/wuhje'' etc.), or the pronunciation ''yugambeh'' (versus ''jagambe'') for 'no'.
Country
The Kalibal were partially a rainforest people who straddled the borders of the modern states of Queensland and New South Wales and frequented the areas in the latter around
Tyalgum, and the
Brunswick River divide. For Norman Tindale, their territory ran north from the
Macpherson Range extending to the area nea
Unumgar and over the border to
Christmas Creek
The Christmas Creek, a perennial stream that is part of the Macleay River catchment, is located in the Mid North Coast region of New South Wales, Australia.
Course and features
Christmas Creek rises below Roses Knob, about east by north of the ...
in Queensland, while their eastern limits would have stretched to the upper waters of the
Nerang River
The Nerang River is a perennial river located in South East Queensland, Australia. Its catchment lies within the Gold Coast local government area and covers an area of . The river is approximately in length.
Course and features
The Nerang R ...
and south to
Mount Cougal
The Springbrook National Park is a protected national park that is located in the Gold Coast hinterland of Queensland, Australia. The park is situated on the McPherson Range, near Springbrook, approximately south of Brisbane. The park is part ...
and the
Tweed Range
The Tweed Range is a mountain range which is the western extension of the Tweed Volcano caldera rim, part of the Scenic Rim of the Great Dividing Range, located in northern New South Wales, near the southeastern border of Queensland, in Austra ...
. There are problems with Tindale's mapping, since he generally located the Kalibal where Margaret Sharpe puts the
Yugambeh people
The Yugambeh ( ''(see #Alternative spellings and names, alternative spellings)'', also known as the Minyangbal ( , are an Aboriginal Australian people of South East Queensland, south-east Queensland and the Northern Rivers of New South Wales, ...
Social divisions and rites
The names of at least 2 clans near
Murwillumbah
Murwillumbah ( ) is a town in far north-eastern New South Wales, Australia, in the Tweed Shire, on the Tweed River. Sitting on the south eastern foothills of the McPherson Range in the Tweed Volcano valley, Murwillumbah is 848 km north-e ...
are known,
* ''Murwillumbah.'' ( a
clan southwest of Murwillumbah)
* ''Moorung-moobar.'' (a
clan to the northwest).
The male initiation ceremony, called ''Bool'', changed adolescents from ''tabboo'' status into ''cabra'' - fully fledged males. The
bora ceremonial site consisted of a circle surrounded by earth banked about 2 feet and measuring 35 yards in diameter. One such site was at the head of the Tweed River and under the McPherson range at a place known as Coowarragum. This was linked by a trench dug out for a distance of some 90 yards to a nearby creek. The final stage of the rite had the initiands travel down the ditch, which was surrounded by shrubs and roofed with branches to form a tunnel until they reached the creek and disappeared for three days.
History of contact
The Police Magistrate J. Bray recounted in 1901 that the Murwillumbah area had hundreds of blacks when he first went there, and that he had seen some 600 assembled at one time. By the time of his writing, he stated that no more children were to be seen and that the tribe had almost died out.
Alternative names
* ''Murwillumbah''
* ''Moorung-moobar''
Notes
Citations
Sources
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{{authority control
Aboriginal peoples of New South Wales