The Bodaruwitj, also rendered Bedaruwidj or Potaruwutj, and referred to in some early sources as the Tatiara, 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
South Australia
South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...
.
David Horton believed they were the group his sources referred to as the Bindjali people.
Austlang
The Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS), established as the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies (AIAS) in 1964, is an independent Australian Government statutory authority. It is a collecting, ...
refers to Bindjali / Bodaruwitj as alternative names for the same language.
Name
''Potaruwutj'' is an
autonym, meaning in their language, "wandering" (-''wutj'' is a suffix meaning "man"), referring to their continuous shifting of their campsites throughout the
mallee scrubland.
Language
Country
Relying on two informants, Clarence Long (Milerum) and Alf Watson, Tindale estimated that the Potaruwutj's lands covered , extending westwards from
Naracoorte down to within the third inland dune range of the
Coorong area, some 10 miles from the coastline. The northern reaches touched
Tatiara. It included
Bordertown, Wirrega, and
Keith.
Ecologically, Potaruwutj territory was less fertile and suffered from lower rainfall than neighbouring areas. The
Ngarkat foraged to their north, with the Potaruwutj also present south of the main belt of
mallee where the Ngarkat predominated. Like the
Tanganekald and
Jarildekald, the Potaruwutj marked out their territory with stones or
cairn
A cairn is a human-made pile (or stack) of stones raised for a purpose, usually as a marker or as a burial mound. The word ''cairn'' comes from the (plural ).
Cairns have been and are used for a broad variety of purposes. In prehistory, t ...
s. The Potaruwutj clans, following a usage shared by these two tribes, named the major features of their territory by a name that referred to a distinctive characteristic of the zone, suffixed with a word like ''-injeri'' (belonging to) or -''orn'' (an abbreviation of the word for "man"] attached to
denote the area possessed. The suffix ''-injeri'' had the meaning of "belonging to" while ''-orn'' is said to be a contraction of ''korn'' meaning man or person,
Social organisation
According to William Haynes, writing about the Tatiara in 1887, their numbers were thought to have amounted to some 500 at the beginning of
British colonisation of South Australia, white settlement, but only scattered remnants of the several distinct groups had survived within a few decades, and knowledge of them is fragmentary.
At least five
clans
A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship
and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, a clan may claim descent from a founding member or apical ancestor who serves as a symbol of the clan's unity. Many societie ...
are known to have constituted the Potaruwutj group:
* ''Coolucooluk'' (horde name)
* ''Wirigirek'' (to the north. Cf. the
toponym
Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of ''wikt:toponym, 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 ...
Wirrega, a place name)
* ''Tatiara'' (
toponym
Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of ''wikt:toponym, 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 ...
)
* ''Polinjunga''
* ''Kangarabalak''
They practised neither
circumcision
Circumcision is a procedure that removes the foreskin from the human penis. In the most common form of the operation, the foreskin is extended with forceps, then a circumcision device may be placed, after which the foreskin is excised. T ...
nor
ritual avulsion of the front teeth.
History of contact
According to material gathered by
Ronald
Ronald is a masculine given name derived from the Old Norse ''Rögnvaldr'',#H2, Hanks; Hardcastle; Hodges (2006) p. 234; #H1, Hanks; Hodges (2003) § Ronald. or possibly from Old English ''Regenweald''. In some cases ''Ronald'' is an Anglicised ...
and
Catherine Berndt, as large number of Tatiara were killed at Piwingang near
Tailem Bend
Tailem Bend (locally, "Tailem") is a rural town in South Australia, south-east of the state capital of Adelaide. It is located on the lower reaches of the River Murray, near where the river flows into Lake Alexandrina (South Australia), Lake Al ...
after the former in a raid on a
Ngarrindjeri
The Ngarrindjeri people are the traditional Aboriginal Australian people of the lower Murray River, eastern Fleurieu Peninsula, and the Coorong of the southern-central area of the state of South Australia. The term ''Ngarrindjeri'' means "belo ...
camp. The affected group had too few warriors to retaliate and went south to organise a retaliatory hunt among several different groups. The large band of warriors managed to track the Tatiara down at Piwingang and only few survived the onslaught. Notwithstanding traditions that the Tatiara and Yaraldi did not intermarry, records indicate that intermarriage did take place between them and the Yaraldi Piltindjeri clan.
A Scottish businessman and immigrant, Robert Lawson, established a pastoral station on Bodaruwitj territory near
Padthaway, and in later reports called the Indigenous people of that district the ''Coolucooluck'', but also Padthaway. He defined these Coolucooluck as denizens of the area between
Salt Creek, Galt's Station and Padthaway.
Culture
The Bodaruwitj (Tatiara) men had a repute among other tribes, including the
Yaraldi, for being well-endowed and having strong sexual appetites, just as native outsiders attributed to their women large
labia majora
In primates, and specifically in humans, the labia majora (: labium majus), also known as the outer lips or outer labia, are two prominent Anatomical terms of location, longitudinal skin folds that extend downward and backward from the mons pubis ...
. Some of this is reflected in a number of recorded songs.
The ''pelekaw'' song form is one in southeastern South Australia that makes a defiant accusation in the expectation it will be challenged. One notable case concerned the rules of
exogamous exchange regarding women. A dispute with the
Coorong lagoon Tanganekeld, whom the Potaruwutj called ''Tenggi'', arose when the Tatiara Wepulprap clan of the Potaruwutj suspected the women they gave to the former were maltreated and subject to the sorcery of lethal
bone-pointing. The reality was one of resentment over a perceived break-down in one-on-one exchanges arising from women being sent to the wrong, rather than the right, clan they were contracted to marry into.
A Potaruwutj big man with a repute for
powerful magic, Dongaganinj, composed a pelekaw refrain which articulated these feelings of grievance.
The neighbouring
Meintangk, who sided with the Tanganekeld, on hearing this rude insinuation, composed a slanderous ''weritjinj'' variant on the pelekaw song which both slandered the Potaruwutj and challenged them to battle at the traditional combat grounds at Nunukapul (Telauri Flat) near
Marcollat station. This song, chanted while men danced imitating their enemies coupling with dogs, rang:
A resolutive battle was arranged, and seven warriors were left dead on the Nunukapul field.
The Tanganekeld then took up the challenges, and composed a song:
Weritjamini was another influential Potaruwutj headman, associated with Dongaganinj. In this region's lore, the spirit, ''powoqko,'' was, on death, believed to travel northwest and cross over the sea to dwell on
the island of Karta, and the implications of the original language were so abusive that the two groups would not intermarry for another two generations.
Alternative names
* ''Bindjali''
* ''Bunyalli''
* ''Cangarabaluk''
* ''Coolucooluk''
* ''Dadiera''
* ''Djadjala''
* ''Jaran'' (language name)
* ''Kangarabalak'' (of the Tanganekald, ''kangara'' meant "east"+''balak'', "people.")
* ''Padthaway tribe''
* ''Polenjunga''
* ''Polinjunga''
* ''Potangola''
* ''Potaruwutj/Potaruwutji''
* ''Tatiara'' (
toponym
Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of ''wikt:toponym, 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 ...
)
* ''Tattayarra, Tatiarra''
* ''Tyattyalla''
* ''Tyatyalli''
* ''Tyedduwurrung''
* ''Tyeddyuwurru''
* ''Wepulprap'' (an
exonym
An endonym (also known as autonym ) is a common, name for a group of people, individual person, geographical place, language, or dialect, meaning that it is used inside a particular group or linguistic community to identify or designate them ...
meaning "southern people" in
Tanganekald)
* ''Wereka''
* ''Wereka-tyalli''
* ''Werekarait''
* ''Wergaia''
* ''Wimmera''
* ''Wirigirek'' (a northern horde; Wirrega, a place name)
* ''Wirrega''
* ''Woychibirik''
* ''Wra-gar-ite'' (see
Marditjali)
* ''Yaran''
Some words
* ''kadleira''
eared Otaria seal
* ''kal/kaal''
tame dog.
* ''maranipo/wrakan''
Red wattlebird
The red wattlebird (''Anthochaera carunculata'') is a passerine bird native to southern Australia. At in length, it is the second largest species of Australian honeyeater. It has mainly grey-brown plumage, with red eyes, distinctive pinkish-re ...
* ''mingka''
wedge-tailed eagle
The wedge-tailed eagle (''Aquila audax'') also known as the eaglehawk, is the largest bird of prey in the continent of Australia. It is also found in southern New Guinea to the north and is distributed as far south as the state of Tasmania. A ...
.
* ''pirit''
Noisy miner.
* ''teriterit''
willy wagtail.
* ''tuwul''
white-backed magpie (''Gymnorhina tibicen'')
* ''weirintj'' (whale). This Bodaruwitj term lies behind the indigenous term for the area of
Rivoli Bay, namely ''Weirintjam/Wilitjam''.
* ''wereka'' (no)
* ''wilkra'' wild dog
* ''wutj'' (man)
Notes
Citations
Sources
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{{Authority control
Aboriginal peoples of South Australia