The Barindji, also written Parrintyi, are 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 ...

people of the state 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 ...

. They are to be distinguished from the Paaruntyi, who spoke a similar language but whom they called the ''spitting people''.

Name

Parrintyi, according to one theory, meant ''forest dwellers'' in the local languages, but another view suggests it may have originated from the

toponym Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of '' toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage and types. Toponym is the general term for a proper name of ...

for a creek known as the Paroo, reflecting prior tribal links. Tindale glosses this attribution by suggesting that the term may derive from a creek name, called the ''Paroo'', reflecting prior tribal links. An

exonym An endonym (from Greek: , 'inner' + , 'name'; also known as autonym) is a common, ''native'' name for a geographical place, group of people, individual person, language or dialect, meaning that it is used inside that particular place, group, ...

, ''mamba'' (devils) was once used by the Darling River aborigines, who were terrified of the Parrintyi.

Country

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 ther ...

estimated Parrintyi lands as encompassing roughly of tribal territory. Their land consisted of large stretches of mallee, mulga, swamp and sand land running parallel to, and east of, the

Darling River The Darling River (Paakantyi: ''Baaka'' or ''Barka'') is the third-longest river in Australia, measuring from its source in northern New South Wales to its conflu ence with the Murray River at Wentworth, New South Wales. Including its long ...

. Tindale set their southern boundaries from Moira to within of Euston, and their eastern extension in the vicinity of Ivanhoe. To their west, he added, they took in Manara Rangebr>Albermarle
Carowra
KilferaManfred
and Willandra Lakes. Running clockwise from the north, their neighbours were the Naualko, followed by the

Ngiyambaa The Ngiyambaa language, also spelt Ngiyampaa, Ngempa, Ngemba and other variants, is a Pama–Nyungan language of the Wiradhuric subgroup. It was the traditional language of the Wangaibon and Weilwan peoples of New South Wales, Australia ...

to their east, the Yitayita on their southeastern flank, while the southern Paakantyi inhabited the land to their west.

Social organization

The Parrintyi were organized into clans (hordes) of which the following eight are known: * ''Lagerung'' * ''Murro'' * ''Milparo'' * ''Boanjilla'' * ''Pularli'' * ''Nielyi-gulli'' * ''Kurlkgulli'' * ''Karndukul''

Traditional Culture

Their water often was obtained from the roots of water mallee (''Eucalyptus'') trees and ''Hakea'', hence their camping places were widely dispersed and often were casual. Some of the neighbours had more disparaging names for them. The Barindji, living in dry country, extracted water from

hakea ''Hakea'' ( ) is a genus of about 150 species of plants in the Family ''Proteaceae'', endemic to Australia. They are shrubs or small trees with leaves that are sometimes flat, otherwise circular in cross section in which case they are sometimes d ...

and mallee. In periods of

drought A drought is defined as drier than normal conditions.Douville, H., K. Raghavan, J. Renwick, R.P. Allan, P.A. Arias, M. Barlow, R. Cerezo-Mota, A. Cherchi, T.Y. Gan, J. Gergis, D. Jiang, A. Khan, W. Pokam Mba, D. Rosenfeld, J. Tierney, an ...

, they would resort, in large mobs, to riverine areas in other tribal lands, engendering fear among, and conflict with, the riverine tribal groups. Their burial practices are similar to the very ancient burials at nearby Mungo Lake indicating a long time in the area. The Parrintyi were described by Thomas Mitchell and

Charles Sturt Charles Napier Sturt (28 April 1795 – 16 June 1869) was a British officer and explorer of Australia, and part of the European exploration of Australia. He led several expeditions into the interior of the continent, starting from Sydney and la ...

on their respective explorations of the area and described in colonial times by local landowners A.L.P. Cameron and Alfred William Howitt.

Alternative names

* ''Barrengee'' * ''Beriait, Berri-ait'' * ''Paru, Paroo'' * ''Bpaaroo'' (creek name) * ''Bpaa'roon-jee'' * ''Bpaaroo'' (Darling River creek name, not the

Paroo River The Paroo River, a series of waterholes, connected in wet weather as a running stream of the Darling catchment within the Murray–Darling basin, is located in the South West region of Queensland and Far West region of New South Wales, Austra ...

) * ''Bpaa'roon-jee'' (reflects

for the Barindji used by the

Maraura The Maraura or Marrawarra people are an Aboriginal group whose traditional lands are located in Far West New South Wales and South Australia, Australia. Language The Maraura spoke the southernmost dialect of Paakantyi. A wordlist of the languag ...

)

Notes

Citations

Sources

* * * * * * * * * * * * {{authority control Aboriginal peoples of New South Wales