The Gambalang are 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 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 ...

Language

Though many speakers now use

Bininj Kunwok Bininj Kunwok is an Australian Aboriginal language which includes six dialects: Kunwinjku (formerly Gunwinggu), Kuninjku, Kundjeyhmi (formerly Gundjeihmi), Manyallaluk Mayali (Mayali), Kundedjnjenghmi, and two varieties of Kune (Kune Dulerayek a ...

in their daily lives, their ancestral language Gambalang belongs to the Gunwinggic branch of the non- Pama-Nyungan

Macro-Gunwinyguan languages The Macro-Gunwinyguan languages, also called Arnhem or Gunwinyguan, are a family of Australian Aboriginal languages spoken across eastern Arnhem Land in northern Australia. Their relationship has been demonstrated through shared morphology i ...

. The language is at risk of extinction, with only 40 surviving speakers, its grammar has been described recently by Ivan Kapitonov.

Country

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 their tribal territory as covering some on the coast between Hawkesbury Point and Junction Bay. Their inland extension ran to about as far as Table Hill. To their east across the estuary opening into the

Arafura Sea The Arafura Sea (or Arafuru Sea) lies west of the Pacific Ocean, overlying the continental shelf between Australia and Western New Guinea (also called Papua), which is the Indonesian part of the Island of New Guinea. Geography The Arafura Sea is ...

were the

Gunavidji The Gunavidji people, also written Kunibidji and Kunibídji and also known as the Ndjébbana, are an Aboriginal Australian people of Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory. Language The Gunavidji speak Ndjébbana, which is one of the Maningrida ...

, the Gungorogone lay southeast, while the

Kunwinjku The Kunwinjku (formerly written Gunwinggu) people are an Australian Aboriginal people, one of several groups within the Bininj people, who live around West Arnhem Land to the east of Darwin, Northern Territory. Kunwinjku people generally refer ...

were to their immediate south, on the west bank of the

Liverpool River Liverpool River is a river in the Northern Territory of Australia. It is the largest of the tidal river systems of northern Arnhem Land, which includes two major tributaries, the Tomkinson and Mann Rivers. Geography The river rises at the ea ...

Notable people

Xavier Clarke Xavier Clarke (born 28 September 1983) is a former Australian rules football player who played for St Kilda and Brisbane Lions in the Australian Football League (AFL). Early life Clarke has Indigenous Australian heritage and his ancestry can ...

Australian rules Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

footballer

Alternative names

* ''Gunbalang'' * ''Gunbulan'' * ''Walang''

Notes

Citations

Sources

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