The Jitajita, otherwise spelt ''Yitayita,'' 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 southern
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 ...
.
Language
The Yitayita
spoke one of the languages of the lower Murray river group that included
Dadi Dadi and
Kureinji, and is distinctive for the large number of monosyllables in its vocabulary.
Name
The tribal name Jitajita is a reduplicative
endonym
An endonym (also known as autonym ) is a common, name for a group of people, individual person, geographical place, language, or dialect, meaning that it is used inside a particular group or linguistic community to identify or designate them ...
formed from their word for 'no' (''jita''). Numerous tribes in the area defined themselves in terms of the negative used. Early ethnographers marveled at the variety of words for 'no' among the Riverine tribes, as an index of the differences in their languages. Peter Beveridge remarked:
Each tribes possesses a ''gnalla wattow'' or postman, who can speak and understand the dialects of all the tribes within a radius of 150 miles. The persons of these officials are held sacred, even by tribes which are at feud with their own: they therefore negotiate all matters of barter and trade policy.
Country
The Jitajita lands covered some , north of the
Lachlan River
The Lachlan River (Wiradjuri: ''Kalari'', ''Galiyarr'') is an intermittent river that is part of the Murrumbidgee catchment within the Murray–Darling basin, located in the Southern Tablelands, Central West, and Riverina regions of New Sou ...
from near
Booligal - to vicinity of
Balranald
Balranald is a town within the Local government in Australia, local government area of Balranald Shire, in the Murray (New South Wales), Murray region of far south-western New South Wales, Australia.
The town of Balranald is located where the ...
, west to Carrawathal. They appear to have been closely related to the
Muthi Muthi. Their northwestern boundaries reached the edge of the
Parintji domain.
Alternative names
* ''Eethie-Eethie, Eethee Eethee, Eetha-eetha''
* ''Ita-ita, Ithi-ithi, Iti-iti''
* ''Tjuop''
* ''Yetho, Yit-tha, Yitsa''
Source:
Some words
* ''tin'' (foot)
* ''kapul'' (leg)
Notes
Citations
Sources
*
*
*
External links
Nari-Nari Tribal Council- Official website
{{authority control
Aboriginal peoples of New South Wales