The Gia people, also known as Giya, Kia, Bumbarra, and variants, 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 state of

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

. Little is known of them.

Language

The Gia spoke Giya/Bumbarra, a dialect of the

Biri language Biri, also known as Biria, Birri Gubba, Birigaba, Wiri, Perembba and other variants, is an Australian Aboriginal language of the Mackay area of Queensland spoken by the Birri Gubba people. There are at least eight languages regarded as dial ...

, belongs to the Proserpine subgroup of the

Maric languages Maran or Maric is an extinct branch of the Pama–Nyungan languages, Pama–Nyungan family of Australian languages formerly spoken throughout much of Queensland by many of the Murri peoples. The well attested Maric languages are clearly related ...

AIATSIS The Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS), established as the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies (AIAS) in 1964, is an independent Australian Government statutory authority. It is a collecting, ...

, in its

AUSTLANG The Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS), established as the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies (AIAS) in 1964, is an independent Australian Government statutory authority. It is a collecting, ...

database, assigns a separate code to Ngaro, but its status is shown as unconfirmed, as the only source for it is a wordlist by

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 ...

Country

According to Tindale, the Gias' lands extended over some of land from Bowen to St. Helens and

Mount Dalrymple Mount Dalrymple () is a mountain (3,600 m) between Mount Alf and Mount Goldthwait in the northern part of the Sentinel Range, Antarctica. It surmounts Sabazios Glacier to the north-northeast and Embree Glacier to the southeast. The mountain ...

. Inland they reached the

Clarke Range The Clarke Range, part of the Great Dividing Range, is a rainforest-covered mountain range located in North Queensland, Australia. The range is located approximately from the Coral Sea and west of the coastal city of Mackay. The highest poin ...

. They were present at Proserpine, Gloucester Island, and

Repulse Bay Repulse Bay or Tsin Shui Wan is a bay in the southern part of Hong Kong Island, located in the Southern District, Hong Kong, Southern District, Hong Kong. It is one of the most expensive residential areas in the world. Geography Repulse B ...

. Tindale registered this as a distinct tribe, directly south of

Port Denison Port Denison is a town of 3000 residents in the Mid West region of Western Australia. Its local government area is the Shire of Irwin and it is located southwest of Dongara on the Indian Ocean coast. History Port Denison was initially known ...

, but this has been questioned by Barker. Although Ngaro is given as a synonym for Gia, and vice versa, it appears that the

Ngaro people The Ngaro are an Australian Aboriginal group of people who traditionally inhabited the Whitsunday Islands and coastal regions of Queensland, employing a seafaring lifestyle in an area that archaeologically shows evidence of human habitation sinc ...

inhabited the

Whitsunday Islands The Whitsunday Islands are 74 continental islands of various sizes off the central coast of Queensland, Australia, north of Brisbane. The northernmost of the islands are off the coast by the town of Bowen, while the southernmost islands ar ...

. The

Yuwibara The Yuwibara, also written Yuibera and Juipera and also known as Yuwi, after their language, are an Aboriginal Australian people, originating from the area around present-day Mackay, on the east coast of Queensland, Australia. Country Accord ...

people occupied land to their south. The

Traditional Owner Native title is the set of rights, recognised by Australian law, held by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups or individuals to land that derive from their maintenance of their traditional laws and customs. These Aboriginal title right ...

Reference Group consisting of representatives of the Yuwibara,

Koinmerburra The Koinmerburra people, also known as Koinjmal, Guwinmal, Kungmal and other variants, are an Aboriginal Australian people of the state of Queensland. They are the traditional owners of an area which includes part of the Great Barrier Reef. C ...

, Barada Barna,

Wiri Wiri is a mostly industrial-commercial focused suburb in Auckland, New Zealand. It was formerly part of Manukau City until the merger of all of Auckland's councils into the ' super city' in 2010. The area was named after the chief Takaanini W ...

, Ngaro, and those Gia and

Juru people The Juru people, also known as Yuru, are a group of Aboriginal people of the state of Queensland, Australia. Country In Norman Tindale's estimate, the Yuru had some of land, extending northwards from Bowen to the Burdekin River at the site of ...

whose lands are within Reef Catchments Mackay Whitsunday Isaac region, helps to support

natural resource management Natural resource management (NRM) is the management of natural resources such as Land (economics), land, water, soil, plants and animals, with a particular focus on how management affects the quality of life for both present and future generati ...

and look after the cultural heritage sites in the area.

Earliest description

In response to inquiries made by

Edward Micklethwaite Curr Edward Micklethwaite Curr (25 December 1820 – 3 August 1889) was an Australian pastoralist, author, advocate of Australian Aboriginal peoples, and squatter. Biography Curr was born in Hobart, Tasmania (then known as Van Diemen's Land), the ...

, Sergeant B. Shea, a resident of the Gia area, provided a sketch of the natives of his district. He identified them as the Bumbarra tribes. He provided the names of the tribal divisions: those applying to men were ''Karilla'' and ''Whychaka'', while women belonged either to the ''Denterbago'' or ''Helmerago''. Marriage was contracted when girls reached the age of 12.

Alternative names

* ''Kia'' * ''Bumbara'', ''Bumbarra''

Some words

* ''wina'' (fish) * ''pigina'' (mosquito) * ''kroopulla'' (fly) * ''worniwoma'' (black woman) * ''yaboo'' (father) * ''yanga'' (mother) * ''koloona'' (young man) * ''kutha'' (old man) * ''kummi'' (old woman) * ''korea'' (head) * ''dilli'' (eye) * ''wolloo'' (ear) * ''dongalla'' (excrement) * ''nikkana'' (food) * ''kangoola'' (thirsty) * ''wangalla'' (boomerang)

Notes

Citations

References

* * * * * {{authority control Aboriginal peoples of Queensland