The Dhuwal are an

indigenous Australian Indigenous Australians are people with familial heritage from, or recognised membership of, the various ethnic groups living within the territory of contemporary Australia prior to History of Australia (1788–1850), British colonisation. The ...

people of

Arnhem Land Arnhem Land is a historical region of the Northern Territory of Australia. It is located in the north-eastern corner of the territory and is around from the territorial capital, Darwin, Northern Territory, Darwin. In 1623, Dutch East India Compa ...

in the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as the Territory) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian internal territory in the central and central-northern regi ...

Language

Dhuwal belongs to the Yolŋu-Matha branch of the Pama-Nyungan language family.

Country

The Dhuwal were described by

Norman Tindale Norman Barnett Tindale AO (12 October 1900 – 19 November 1993) was an Australian anthropologist, archaeologist, entomologist and ethnologist. He is best remembered for his work mapping the various tribal groupings of Aboriginal Australians ...

in 1974 as one of two groups of clans, the other being the Dhuwala, both living predominantly in the coastal area facing the

Arafura Sea The Arafura Sea (or Arafuru Sea) lies west of the Pacific Ocean, overlying the continental shelf between Australia and Western New Guinea (also called Papua), which is the Indonesian part of the Island of New Guinea. Geography The Arafura Sea is ...

, and inhabiting the east Arnhem land coastal area reaching from Castlereagh Bay,

Buckingham River Buckingham River is a river in the Northern Territory of Australia. The headwaters of the river are on the northern edge on the eastern side of the Mitchell Ranges near where the Central Arnhem Road crosses the Range. The river flows in a nort ...

, and the Koolatong River to the vicinity of Port Bradshaw. Tindale's approximate estimate of their land estates' extension, calculated together with that of the Dhuwala, was . In 1927 the missionary J. C. Jennison wrote down a list of some 900 words he heard from the indigenous people of

Elcho Island Elcho Island, known to its traditional owners as Galiwin'ku (Galiwinku) is an island off the coast of Arnhem Land, in the Northern Territory of Australia. It is located at the southern end of the Wessel Islands group located in the East Arnhe ...

, and modern linguistic analysis indicates that this word-list consists of vocabulary from the

Dhuwal language Dhuwal (also Dual, Duala) is one of the Yolŋu languages spoken by Aboriginal Australians in the Northern Territory, Australia. Although all Yolŋu languages are mutually intelligible to some extent, Dhuwal represents a distinct dialect continu ...

. The implication is that Dhuwal estates also existed on that island.

History of contact

The first European to come in contact with the Dhuwal, the ''Balamumu'' (seafolk/coastal people) at

Caledon Bay Caledon Bay is a bay in Arnhem Land, in the Northern Territory of Australia, at approximately 12.8° S, 136.5° E. It is perhaps most famous as the home of a group of Yolngu people who were key players in the Caledon Bay crisis, which marked a tu ...

, was

Matthew Flinders Captain (Royal Navy), Captain Matthew Flinders (16 March 1774 – 19 July 1814) was a British Royal Navy officer, navigator and cartographer who led the first littoral zone, inshore circumnavigate, circumnavigation of mainland Australia, then ...

. Two were shot dead in skirmishes. A short word-list was compiled of their language.

Social organization

Dhuwal society is organized in terms of eight clans, all belonging to the ''Dua''

moiety Moiety may refer to: __NOTOC__ Anthropology * Moiety (kinship), either of two groups into which a society is divided ** A division of society in the Iroquois societal structure in North America ** An Australian Aboriginal kinship group ** Native Ha ...

of the Yirritja/Dia binome: * ''Tjambarupingu'' * ''Leiagawumir'' * ''Leiagalawumir'' (Leyagalawumirr, Liaalaomir, Laigalawumiri, Laigulawulmiree) * ''Datiwui'' (Datiwuy) * ''Marangu'' (Marrangu, Marrakuli, Merango) * ''Marakulu'' (Marrakulu, Maragulu) * ''Djapu'' * ''Dapuingu''

Alternative names

* ''Balamumu'' (southern

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 ...

for the coastal tribes around

, meaning 'sea/coastal folk') * ''Barlamomo, Barlamumu'' * ''Malag'' (from the word ''mala'', meaning 'sea') * ''Marlark'' * ''Arrawiya'' * ''Banjarrpuma'' * ''Bilamandji'' * ''Dhurili'' (mainly used of clans to the south) * ''Durilji''

Notes

Citations

Sources

* * * * * * Yolngu {{IndigenousAustralia-stub