The Kalibal (Gullibul) were 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
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 ...
.
Name
The name Kalibal/Galibal could also be used as an exonym. Margaret Sharpe explains its usage:
The name ''Galibal'' (Gullybul, Gullyvul, etc.) could be applied to any group who pronounced the final vowel of ''gala/gale/gali'' 'this' as i, by a (neighbouring) group which did not. Such groups called 'Galibal' could be distinguished among themselves using some other difference, e.g. the use of ''nyang'' versus ''minyang'' for 'what', or the shape of the second person singular nominative pronoun (''wiya/wiye/wuhye/wuhje'' etc.), or the pronunciation ''yugambeh'' (versus ''jagambe'') for 'no'.
Country
The Kalibal were partially a rainforest people who straddled the borders of the modern states of Queensland and New South Wales and frequented the areas in the latter around
Tyalgum
Tyalgum is a rural village located in north-eastern New South Wales, Australia. At the time of the , Tyalgum had a population of 521 people.
By road, Tyalgum is located approximately west of Murwillumbah, from the Gold Coast, and from Brisb ...
, and the
Brunswick River divide. For Norman Tindale, their territory ran north from the
Macpherson Range extending to the area near Unumgar, and over the border to
Christmas Creek in Queensland, while their eastern limits would have stretched to the upper waters of the
Nerang River
The Nerang River is a perennial river in South East Queensland, Australia. Its drainage basin, catchment lies within the City of Gold Coast, Gold Coast Local government in Queensland, local government area and covers an area of . The river is app ...
and south to
Mount Cougal and the
Tweed Range
The Tweed Range is a mountain range which is the western extension of the Tweed Volcano caldera rim, part of the Scenic Rim of the Great Dividing Range, located in northern New South Wales, near the southeastern border of Queensland, in Australi ...
. There are problems with Tindale's mapping, since he generally located the Kalibal where Margaret Sharpe puts the
Yugambeh people
The Yugambeh ( ''(see alternative spellings)''), also known as the Minyangbal ( ), or Nganduwal ( ), are an Aboriginal Australian people of South East Queensland and the Northern Rivers of New South Wales, their territory lies between the L ...
Social divisions and rites
The names of at least 2 clans near
Murwillumbah
Murwillumbah ( ) is a town in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales, Australia, in the Tweed Shire, on the Tweed River. Sitting on the south eastern foothills of the McPherson Range in the Tweed Volcano valley, Murwillumbah is 848&nbs ...
are known:
* ''Murwillumbah'' ( a
clan
A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship
and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, a clan may claim descent from a founding member or apical ancestor who serves as a symbol of the clan's unity. Many societie ...
southwest of Murwillumbah)
* ''Moorung-moobar'' (a
clan
A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship
and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, a clan may claim descent from a founding member or apical ancestor who serves as a symbol of the clan's unity. Many societie ...
to the northwest)
The male initiation ceremony, called ''Bool'', changed adolescents from ''tabboo'' status into ''cabra'' - fully fledged males. The
bora ceremonial site consisted of a circle surrounded by earth banked about 2 feet and measuring 35 yards in diameter. One such site was at the head of the Tweed River and under the McPherson range at a place known as Coowarragum. This was linked by a trench dug out for a distance of some 90 yards to a nearby creek. The final stage of the rite had the initiands travel down the ditch, which was surrounded by shrubs and roofed with branches to form a tunnel until they reached the creek and disappeared for three days.
History of contact
The Police Magistrate J. Bray recounted in 1901 that the Murwillumbah area had hundreds of blacks when he first went there, and that he had seen some 600 assembled at one time. By the time of his writing, he stated that no more children were to be seen and that the tribe had almost died out.
Alternative names
* ''Murwillumbah''
* ''Moorung-moobar''
Notes
Citations
Sources
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{{authority control
Aboriginal peoples of New South Wales