The Mangarayi, also written Mangarai, 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 the
Northern Territory
The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory shares its borders with Western Au ...
.
Language
Mangarayi
The Mangarayi, also written Mangarai, were an indigenous Australian people of the Northern Territory.
Language
Mangarayi is thought to be one of the Gunwingguan languages. Francesca Merlan published a grammar of the language in 1982, one that is ...
is thought to be one of the
Gunwingguan languages. Francesca Merlan published a grammar of the language in 1982, one that is notable also for the difficulty it presents for determining whether it is a
tensed or non-tensed language. The linguist Margaret Sharpe was deterred from pursuing more intensive studies of Mangarayi by a station owner who grew annoyed with the presence of metropolitan anthropologists and linguists coming to study the indigenous people on his cattle run.
Country
The Mangarayi held sway over an estimated of land on the middle and upper courses of
Roper River
The Roper River is a large perennial river located in the Katherine region of the Northern Territory of Australia.
Location and features
Formed by the confluence of the Waterhouse River and Roper Creek, the Roper River rises east of Mataranka ...
as far as Mount Lindsay. Their traditional grounds took in east of
Mataranka Mataranka may refer to.
* Mataranka, Northern Territory, a town and locality in Australia
* Mataranka Falls, a water fall in Australia
* Mataranka Hot Springs, a hot spring in Australia
* Mataranka Primary School, a school – refer List of school ...
and
Maranboy, Mount Emily,
Elsey, and
Beswick. The north-eastern frontier lay around Mount Elsie.
History
Some Mangarayi were thought to have been implicated in the murder of a telegraph worker from
Daly Waters that took place on 30 June 1875. A large party of police and vigilantes set out to exact a thorough revenge by slaughtering large numbers of the Mangarayi and people of other tribes along the length of the Roper River in August of that year.
Alternative names
* ''Mangarei, Manggarai''
* ''Mungarai''
* ''Mungerry''
* ''Walooka'' (?)
Source:
Notes
Citations
Sources
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{{authority control
Aboriginal peoples of the Northern Territory