Djangadi
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The Djangadi people, also spelt Dhungatti, Dainggati, Tunggutti or Dunghutti 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 resident in the Macleay Valley of northern
New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...
.


Language

Dhanggati / Dunghutti belongs to the Yuin–Kuric language family and is usually grouped with the Anēwan language. The Ngabu Bingayi Aboriginal Corporation promotes the revival study of their language learning as an ongoing activity in the Macleay Valley. Linguist Amanda Lissarrague has been active in assisting their efforts. The language is currently being taught at Kempsey
TAFE Technical and further education or simply TAFE () is the common name in Australia for vocational education, as a subset of tertiary education. TAFE institutions provide a wide range of predominantly vocational courses. Colloquially also known ...
. Part of the language was recorded and analysed by
Nils Holmer Nils Magnus Holmer (1905–1994) was a Swedish linguist. Education and research Holmer initially studied Russian at Lund University, where he focused on Indo-European linguistics. In the 1920s, Holmer was a guest student at a university in Pra ...
and his wife.


Country

Ethnologist
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 ...
estimated Djangadi traditional lands to have encompassed some . They took in the area from Point Lookout southwards as far as the headwaters of the Macleay River and the vicinity of the Mount Royal Range. To the east, their territory ran as far as the crests of the coastal ranges, while their inland extension to the west ran up to the
Great Dividing Range The Great Dividing Range, also known as the East Australian Cordillera or the Eastern Highlands, is a cordillera system in eastern Australia consisting of an expansive collection of mountain ranges, plateaus and rolling hills. It runs roughl ...
and Walcha. The people to their north were the
Gumbaynggirr The Gumbaynggirr people, also rendered Kumbainggar, Gumbangeri and other variant spellings, are an Aboriginal Australian people of the Mid North Coast of New South Wales. Gumbathagang was a probable clan or sub-group. The traditional lands of th ...
. On their western flank were the
Anēwan The Anēwan, also written Anaiwan and Anaywan, are an Aboriginal Australian people whose traditional territory spans the Northern Tablelands in New South Wales. Language The Anēwan language, also known as Nganyaywana, has been classified by ...
. The southern linguistic border is with
Biripi The Birrbay people, also spelt Birpai, Biripi, Birippi and variant spellings, are an Aboriginal Australian people of New South Wales. They share a dialect continuum with the Worimi people. Language The Gathang language (aka Gadjang or Worimi) ...
.


People

They are people of the nation. * Nulla Nulla * Conderang.
Totem A totem (from or ''doodem'') is a spirit being, sacred object, or symbol that serves as an emblem of a group of people, such as a family, clan, lineage (anthropology), lineage, or tribe, such as in the Anishinaabe clan system. While the word ...
s, according to some elderly informants, could be social or personal. The
praying mantis Mantises are an order (Mantodea) of insects that contains over 2,400 species in about 460 genera in 33 families. The largest family is the Mantidae ("mantids"). Mantises are distributed worldwide in temperate ...
() is listed among the former as a river totem and described as covering the river stretch from
Bellbrook Bellbrook is a city in Greene County, Ohio, United States. The population was 7,317 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Dayton Metropolitan Statistical Area. It sits about southeast of Dayton. History Bellbrook was laid out in 1816. The nam ...
downwards as far as the area around Georges Creek. Animals such as the
echidna Echidnas (), sometimes known as spiny anteaters, are quill-covered monotremes (egg-laying mammals) belonging to the Family (biology), family Tachyglossidae , living in Australia and New Guinea. The four Extant taxon, extant species of echidnas ...
were personal totems, with which particular persons were identified. The term for the localized
patrilineal Patrilineality, also known as the male line, the spear side or agnatic kinship, is a common kinship system in which an individual's family membership derives from and is recorded through their father's lineage. It generally involves the inheritanc ...
horde Horde may refer to: History * Orda (organization), a historic sociopolitical and military structure in steppe nomad cultures such as the Turks and Mongols ** Golden Horde, a Turkic-Mongol state established in the 1240s ** Wings of the Golden Hor ...
was ''dawun''.


Sacred sites

The Djangadi creation myth contains a legend about the
Rainbow Serpent The Rainbow Serpent or Rainbow Snake is a common deity often seen as the Creator deity, creator God, known by numerous names in different Australian Aboriginal languages by the many List of Australian Aboriginal group names, different Aborigina ...
, who was believed to have created the gorge at
Apsley Falls The Apsley Falls are two waterfalls on the Apsley River in the Northern Tablelands region of New South Wales, Australia. The falls are located about east of Walcha, and 1 kilometre off the Oxley Highway in a deep gorge, that is part of the ...
in the
Dreamtime The Dreaming, also referred to as Dreamtime, is a term devised by early anthropologists to refer to a religio-cultural worldview attributed to Australian Aboriginal religion and mythology, Australian Aboriginal mythology. It was originally u ...
. Once underground, it was said to have re-emerged at the mill hole near Walcha on the Apsley River.


Burrel Bulai

Burrel Bulai (Mount Anderson) is considered to be one of the most powerful sacred sites in Thunghutti/Dunghutti Country and was registered was recorded as a place of significance by Ray Kelly, an Aboriginal Research Officer with the NSW Sites of Significance Survey team.


Long Gully

Two high ridges overlook the site, which was used, as late as 1932, for the final stages of initiation.


Carrai waterholes

Young Djangadi men went through initiation rites at Carrai Waterholes.


History

An Aboriginal presence in the Djangadi lands has been attested archaeologically to go back at least 4,000 years, according to the analysis of the materials excavated at the Clybucca midden, a site which the modern-day descendants of the Djangadi and Gumbaynggirr claim territory. In the Clybucca area are ancient camp sites with shell beds in the form of mounds which are up to high.
Midden A midden is an old dump for domestic waste. It may consist of animal bones, human excrement, botanical material, mollusc shells, potsherds, lithics (especially debitage), and other artifacts and ecofacts associated with past human oc ...
s are attested in the Macleay Valley, together with remnants of a fish trap in the Limeburners Creek Nature Reserve and, just slightly north of Crescent Head, at Richardsons Crossing, there is a
bora ring Bora is an initiation ceremony of the Aboriginal people of Eastern Australia. The word "bora" also refers to the site on which the initiation is performed. At such a site, boys, having reached puberty, achieve the status of men. The initiation ...
. White intrusion on the Djangadi lands first took off as mostly ex-convict cedar cutters, based at a camp at Euroka Creek established by Captain A. C. Innes in 1827, began exploring the rich resources of the area in the late 1820s. The first European settler in the Kempsey district was named Enoch William Rudder, in 1835, who had purchased a land grant of from its first owner, Samuel Onions. Within a decade the timber cutters had virtually harvested every stand of this highly prized
red gold Colored Gold is the name given to any gold that has been treated using techniques to change its natural color. Pure gold is slightly reddish yellow in color, but colored gold can come in a variety of different colors by alloying it with different ...
timber in clearances that made the land increasingly attractive to pastoralists, who by 1847, after the Crown Lands Occupation Act of 1836 permitted squatting, had established 31
stations Station may refer to: Agriculture * Station (Australian agriculture), a large Australian landholding used for livestock production * Station (New Zealand agriculture), a large New Zealand farm used for grazing by sheep and cattle ** Cattle stat ...
along the Macleay river from Kempsey inland to
Kunderang Brook The Kunderang Brook, a perennial stream that is part of the Macleay River catchment, is located in the Northern Tablelands and Mid North Coast regions of New South Wales, Australia. Course and features Kunderang Brook rises about west of Brus ...
. This coincided with one of the most violent and sustained examples of warfare in the Macleay gorges, during which it is estimated that around 15 massacres took place in the region targeting Aboriginal people of the area. The Djangadi and other tribes affected adopted guerilla tactics to fight the usurpation of their land, by attacking shepherds, hit-and-run raids on homesteads and duffing sheep and cattle livestock before retreating into the gorges where pursuit was difficult. Some 2 to 3 dozen people were killed for rustling sheep at a massacre which took place at Kunderang Brook in 1840. The war ended with the establishment of a force of native police at Nulla Nulla in 1851. However, by that time, attrition had devastated tribal numbers. Of the 4,000 Aboriginal people in the area before the settlements, one third are thought to have been killed in a little over two decades. A description of the Djangadi and other Aboriginal groups in the Macleay area was given by Captain John Macdonald Henderson in 1851. Some Djangadi settled the Shark, Pelican Island and the two Fattorini Islands in the
Macleay River The Macleay River is a river that spans the Northern Tablelands and Mid North Coast districts of New South Wales, Australia. Course and features Formed by the confluence of the Gara River, Salisbury Waters and Bakers Creek, the Macleay River ...
, gazette as
Aboriginal reserves An Aboriginal reserve, also called simply reserve, was a government-sanctioned settlement for Aboriginal Australians, created under various state and federal legislation. Along with missions and other institutions, they were used from the 19th ...
in 1885, and grew corn there. In 1924 the Fattorini island residents were relocated to Pelican Island, and its status as a reservation was cancelled. Eventually the Djangadi moved to Kinchela Creek Station though an unofficial camp remained at Green Hills, resisting attempts to have them relocated, until they were placed under the administration of a white manager at Burnt Bridge Reserve. Discrimination barriers were finally broken in part when the first Aboriginal children were permitted in 1947 to attend Green Hill Public School, though the white community reacted by shifting their children to West Kempsey.


Native title

The first successful mainland claim for native title was made by the Djangadi, whose rights were recognised by the
New South Wales Government The Government of New South Wales, also known as the NSW Government, is the executive state government of New South Wales, Australia. The government comprises 11 portfolios, led by a ministerial department and supported by several agencies. Th ...
in the Crescent Head Agreement. They were awarded in the same year in compensation, with an attached agreement to be paid another sum a decade later. A sum of was paid as a compensation payout which the state government has made 14 years later, based on recognition that at Crescent Head, which had been given residential development approval, lay under their native title rights.


Djangadi culture

The Wigay Aboriginal Cultural Park near Kempsey contains over 150 different native Indigenous plants to the Macleay Valley. The site is diversified by plantations of species according to rainforest, dry forest, tropical forest, heathland and wetland niches.


Alternative names and spellings

Source: unless otherwise indicated. * ''Amberu'' * ''Boorkutti'' * ''Burgadi'' * ''Burugardi'' (inland horde) * ''Dang-getti'' * ''Dangadi'' * ''Dangati'' * ''Danggadi'' * ''Danghetti'' * ''Dhangatty'' * ''Dhungatti'' * ''Djaingadi'' * ''Himberrong'' * ''Jang'' (coastal
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 tableland Djangadi, 'bad folk') * ''Nulla Nulla'' * ''Tang-gette'' * ''Tangetti'' * ''Thangatti'' * ''Thangatty'' * ''Yung'' * ''Yunggai'' * ''Yuungai''


Notable Djangadi people


Boxers

* Bradley Hore *
Renold Quinlan Renold Vatubua Quinlan (born 7 July 1989) is an Australian boxer of Indigenous and Fijian descent. Best known for knocking out former world champion Daniel Geale, Quinlan held the IBO super-middleweight title from 2016 to 2017. Background ...
- Middleweight champion *
Dave Sands Dave Sands (born David Ritchie; 4 February 1926 – 11 August 1952) was an Australian professional boxer. The man the Americans called the "boxer with the educated left hand" received his due when he was inducted into the World Boxing Hall ...
* Hector Thompson


Rugby league players

* Beau Champion *
Greg Inglis Gregory Paul Inglis (born 15 January 1987), also known by the nickname of "G.I.", is a retired Indigenous Australian professional rugby league footballer, who regularly played as a centre, fullback, five-eighth and wing. From 2011 to 2019, Ing ...
*
Albert Kelly Albert Kelly (born 21 March 1991) is an Australian professional rugby league footballer who plays as a or for the Redcliffe Dolphins in the Queensland Cup, Hostplus Cup. He has previously played for the Cronulla-Sutherland Sharks and the Go ...
*
Amos Roberts Amos Roberts (born 2 November 1980) is an Indigenous Australian former professional rugby league footballer. A Country New South Wales representative prolific try-scoring back, he played in Australia's National Rugby League for the St. George ...
* Tyrone Roberts-Davis * Jonathan Wright * Triston Reilly


Other notable Djangadi people

* Torita Blake, Paralympian athlete *
Blak Douglas __NOTOC__ Blak Douglas, formerly known as Adam Douglas Hill, is an Aboriginal Australian artist and musician. he is based in Sydney, New South Wales. Early life and education He is a Dhungatti man, with Irish, Scots, English, and German anc ...
, winner of the 2022
Archibald Prize The Archibald Prize is an Australian portraiture art prize for painting, generally seen as the most prestigious portrait prize in Australia. It was first awarded in 1921 after the receipt of a bequest from J. F. Archibald, J. F. Archib ...
*
Samantha Harris Samantha Harris (born Samantha Harris Shapiro; November 27, 1973) is an American television presenter, model, and entertainment reporter and actress, known as the co-host of seasons two through nine of ''Dancing with the Stars'' with Tom Berg ...
, fashion model *
Loretta Kelly Loretta Kelly is an Australian Aboriginal law academic, specialising in Aboriginal dispute resolution. She is of Gumbaynggirr and Dungutti descent and has traditional land at Corindi. She is currently a senior lecturer at Southern Cross Univ ...
, law academic *
Amos Morris Amos Morris (born 1987/1988) is an Indigenous Australian country music bush balladeer from Kempsey, New South Wales. He won a Golden Guitar Award in 2008 for Bush Ballad of the Year, becoming the youngest ever winner of the category. He has perfor ...
, guitarist * Robbie Paige, Professional Surfer. Pipeline Masters Legend


Notes


Citations


Sources

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