The Djiringanj, also spelt Dyirringañ, 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 southern coast of

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 ...

. They are one of a larger group, known as the

Yuin The Yuin nation, also spelt Djuwin, is a group of Aboriginal Australians, Australian Aboriginal peoples from the South Coast (New South Wales), South Coast of New South Wales. All Yuin people share ancestors who spoke, as their first language, ...

people, who all speak or spoke dialects of the Yuin–Kuric group of languages.

Language

Robert M. W. Dixon classifies the

Djiringanj language Dyirringañ, also spelt Dyirringany and Djiringanj, is an Australian Aboriginal language of the Yuin people of New South Wales. Although it is not listed in Bowern (2011), the people are ethnically Yuin. The only attestation of the language ar ...

as distinct from both

Thaua The Thaua people, also spelt Thawa and Dhawa, and also referred to as Yuin (Djuin), are an Aboriginal Australian people living around the Twofold Bay area of the South Coast of New South Wales. History It is often claimed in popular literat ...

and Dhurga. They are all Yuin–Kuric languages.

Country

The Djiringanj's tribal lands encompassed roughly southwards along the coast from Cape Dromedary to beyond Bega. Their inland extension ran up to the scarp of 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 ...

east of

Nimmitabel Nimmitabel ( ) is a small town in the Monaro region in southeast New South Wales, Australia, in the Snowy Monaro Regional Council local government area. At the , Nimmitabel had a population of 324. Etymology Nimmitabel means "the place where ...

. They were wedged between the

Walbanga The Walbunja, also spelt Walbanga, Walbunga and Wulbunja, are an Aboriginal Australian people of New South Wales, part of the Yuin nation. Language The Walbunja language may be a dialect of Dhurga. Country The Walbunja people are a subgroup o ...

to their north and the

to their south, while their western limits touched those of the

Ngarigo The Ngarigo people (also spelt Garego, Ngarego, Ngarago, Ngaragu, Ngarigu, Ngarrugu or Ngarroogoo) are Aboriginal Australian people of southeast New South Wales, whose traditional lands also extend around the present border with Victoria. They ...

Wallaga Lake

In early 2020, men from the Bermagui Wallaga Lake Djiringanj men's group were able to resume their traditional practice of fish with nets on

Wallaga Lake Wallaga Lake is an estuarine lake in Bega Valley Shire in New South Wales, Australia, the largest lake in southern NSW. It is located between Bermagui, New South Wales, Bermagui to the south and between Tilba Tilba to the north, situated beneath ...

for the first time in decades. After obtaining a special cultural fishing permit, that allows them to fish once a week using a specially built boat and handmade traditional net, young men from the community will target species like flathead,

bream Bream (, ) are species of freshwater fish belonging to a variety of genera including '' Abramis'' (e.g., ''A. brama'', the common bream), '' Ballerus'', '' Blicca'', '' Brama'', '' Chilotilapia'', '' Etelis'', '' Lepomis'', '' Gymnocranius'', ...

, and mullet, and hand over their catch to local elders. They see it as a way of helping people who live below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, and suffer from poor nutrition, particularly lack of

iodine Iodine is a chemical element; it has symbol I and atomic number 53. The heaviest of the stable halogens, it exists at standard conditions as a semi-lustrous, non-metallic solid that melts to form a deep violet liquid at , and boils to a vi ...

, and diseases such as

heart disease Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is any disease involving the heart or blood vessels. CVDs constitute a class of diseases that includes: coronary artery diseases (e.g. angina pectoris, angina, myocardial infarction, heart attack), heart failure, ...

and

diabetes Diabetes mellitus, commonly known as diabetes, is a group of common endocrine diseases characterized by sustained high blood sugar levels. Diabetes is due to either the pancreas not producing enough of the hormone insulin, or the cells of th ...

brought on partly by poor nutrition.

Alternative names

* ''Dyirringan'' * ''Jeringin'' * ''Yuin'' (term used collectively by

Alfred William Howitt Alfred William Howitt (17 April 1830 – 7 March 1908), also known by author abbreviation A. W. Howitt, was an Australian anthropologist, explorer and naturalist. He was known for leading the Victorian Relief Expedition, which set out to est ...

to denote both the

and the Thaua) Source:

Notes

Citations

Sources

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