The Djinba 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 ...
group of the
Yolngu
The Yolngu or Yolŋu ( or ) are an aggregation of Aboriginal Australian people inhabiting north-eastern Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia. ''Yolngu'' means "person" in the Yolŋu languages. The terms Murngin, Wulamba, Yalnuma ...
people of 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 ...
.
Name
Their
endonym
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 ...
Djinba comes from their word for the demonstrative pronoun "this".
The two
moieties are Ganalbingu (Ganhalpuyngu) and Mandjalpingu (Manydjalpuyngu).
Language
Djinba is one of the
Yolŋu languages
Yolŋu Matha (), meaning the 'Yolŋu tongue', is a linguistic family that includes the languages of the Yolngu (also known as the Yolŋu and Yuulngu languages), the Indigenous Australians, indigenous people of northeast Arnhem Land in northern ...
, and its closest relationship is to
Djinang with which it is about 60% cognate.
Country
The Djinba were inlanders whose territory has been estimated to extend over some , running south from the
Arafura Swamp
The Arafura Swamp is a large inland freshwater wetland in Arnhem Land, in the Top End of the Northern Territory of Australia. It is a near pristine floodplain with an area of that may expand to by the end of the wet season, making it the largest ...
's northern margin to the upper
Goyder River. The
Djinang lie to their north-west, the
Rembarrnga
The Rembarrnga people, also spelt Rembarunga and other variants, are an Aboriginal Australian people of the Northern Territory
The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as ...
directly west, while to their south were the
Ngandi and
Diakui people (Ritharrngu) tribes.
Social organisation
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 ...
claimed that the Djinba were the most northerly tribe in eastern
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 ...
to retain the standard Australian tribal structure, meaning they were divided into Dua and Jiritja clans.
Alternative names
* ''Jinba''
* ''Outjanbah''
Notable people
*
David Gulpilil
David Dhalatnghu Gulpilil (1 July 1953 – 29 November 2021) was an Australian actor and dancer. He was known for his roles in the films Walkabout (film), ''Walkabout'' (1971), Storm Boy (1976 film), ''Storm Boy'' (1976), ''The Last Wave'' (1 ...
Notes
Citations
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Yolngu