The Gajirrawoong people, also written Gadjerong, Gajerrong and other variations, are an

Aboriginal Australian Aboriginal Australians are the various Indigenous peoples of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland and many of its islands, such as Tasmania, Fraser Island, Hinchinbrook Island, the Tiwi Islands, and Groote Eylandt, but excluding the T ...

people of the

Northern Territory The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory shares its borders with Western Au ...

, most of whom now live in north-eastern

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to ...

Language

Geoffrey O'Grady classified their language, Gajirrabeng or Gajirrawoong, as one of two Mirriwongic languages, the other being Miriwoong. More recent work has established it as a member of the Jarrakan group. Gajirrabeng is at severe risk of extinction, with no more than perhaps 2 or 3 native speakers by 2013. Frances Kofod compiled a dictionary of the language in 2007.

Country

Gadjerong lands encompassed in

Norman Tindale Norman Barnett Tindale AO (12 October 1900 – 19 November 1993) was an Australian anthropologist, archaeologist, entomologist and ethnologist. Life Tindale was born in Perth, Western Australia in 1900. His family moved to Tokyo and lived ...

's reckoning. They ran westwards along the rich

ecosystem An ecosystem (or ecological system) consists of all the organisms and the physical environment with which they interact. These biotic and abiotic components are linked together through nutrient cycles and energy flows. Energy enters the syst ...

s of

mangrove A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows in coastal saline or brackish water. The term is also used for tropical coastal vegetation consisting of such species. Mangroves are taxonomically diverse, as a result of convergent evolution in several ...

flat, waterholes, creeks and waterfalls along the coastal area from the mouth of the Fitzmaurice River as far as point where the

Keep River The Keep River is a river located in the Victoria Bonaparte bioregion of Western Australia and the Northern Territory in Australia. Location and features The river rises just south of the Newry Station homestead then flows in a northerly di ...

flows out into the

Joseph Bonaparte Gulf Joseph Bonaparte Gulf is a large body of water off the coast of the Northern Territory and Western Australia and part of the Timor Sea. It was named after Joseph Bonaparte, brother of Napoleon and King of Naples (1806-1808) and then Spain (180 ...

. Their inland extension, taking in also at Legune, went as far as the vicinity of Border Springs. They also frequented the offshore area of Quoin Island, and further north, Clump Island, and those off the mouth of Keyling Inlet.

Native title claims

The Gajirrawoong people were represented in a successful native title claim by the

Kimberley Land Council Kimberley Land Council Aboriginal Corporation, known as Kimberley Land Council (KLC), is an association of Aboriginal people in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. The land council was formed at a meeting at Noonkanbah Station in May 1978 ...

in two joint claims with the Miriuwung people, as "Miriuwung Gajerrong". The Federal Court recognised the native title rights of the two peoples on 9 December 2003, nearly ten years after the claim had been lodged. The claim covers , and includes Kununurra in the east Kimberley,

Lake Argyle Lake Argyle is Western Australia's largest and Australia's second largest freshwater man-made reservoir by volume. The reservoir is part of the Ord River Irrigation Scheme and is located near the East Kimberley town of Kununurra. The lake ...

, the Keep River and the Ord River Irrigation scheme. Another claim, determined in November 2006, covers , with the Carlton Hill Station,

Ivanhoe Station Ivanhoe or Ivanhoe Station is a pastoral lease and cattle station located just north of Kununurra in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. Founded in 1893 by the Durack brothers, station is presently owned by the Consolidated Pastoral ...

and the WA pastoral leases of the

Rosewood Station Rosewood refers to any of a number of richly hued timbers, often brownish with darker veining, but found in many different hues. True rosewoods All genuine rosewoods belong to the genus '' Dalbergia''. The pre-eminent rosewood appreciated ...

Exclusive possession In law, possession is the control a person intentionally exercises toward a thing. Like ownership, the possession of anything is commonly regulated by country under property law. In all cases, to possess something, a person must have an inte ...

was recognised across several community-leased areas.

History

The implementation of the Ord River Irrigation scheme had a major impact on the Gadjerong and other peoples of the east Kimberley area. They were dispossessed of parts of their traditional tribal land and many sacred sites were destroyed. In consequence they moved to the

Aboriginal reserve 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 ce ...

in Kununurra. The extension of the principle of

equal pay for equal work Equal pay for equal work is the concept of labour rights that individuals in the same workplace be given equal pay. It is most commonly used in the context of sexual discrimination, in relation to the gender pay gap. Equal pay relates to the fu ...

in 1969 to Aboriginal people also had a negative impact on peoples like the Gajirrawoong in the Kimberley region and the

, since the managers of pastoral leases evicted the majority of

Indigenous peoples Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

on the land where they lived, with the collateral loss of employment and its substitution by welfare subsidies.

Alternative names

* ''Kadjerawang'' * ''Kadjarong, Kadjeroen'' * ''Kujera'' * ''Ginmu''

Notes

Citations

Sources

* * * * * * * * {{authority control Aboriginal peoples of the Northern Territory