The Jukambal were an
indigenous Australian
Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups: the Aboriginal peoples o ...
people located in northern
New South Wales
)
, nickname =
, image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, es ...
, Australia.
Name
The
ethnonym Jukambal is form from the word ''juka'', meaning 'no'.
Country
The traditional lands of the Jukambal stretched over an estimated , running from around
Glen Innes in a northern and easterly direction, through
New England
New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York to the west and by the Canadian province ...
, up to
Drake,
Tenterfield and
Wallangarra. They dwelt east of the line connecting Tenterfield and Glen Innes.
People
The Jukambal were often thought of as part of another tribal group, the
Ngarabal
The Ngarabal are an Aboriginal people of the area from Ashford, Tenterfield and Glen Innes in northern New South Wales, Australia.
Language
Ngarabal was still spoken in the area around Glen Innes, Stonehenge and Emmaville when John MacPherson pr ...
, but are now considered to have been a distinct society.
Medicine
It was the general opinion of aborigines in this area that disease and sickness was rare before the coming of the whites, with tumors rare or unknown. The Jukambal even claimed rheumatism never struck until the colonials' advent. Knowledge about medicinal plants, often thought to have potent effects, was introduced to young men undergoing initiation at a
Bora ceremonial. Some would become fully-fledged
medicine men (''Noonwaebah'') thought to be invested with powers that could endanger others. The Jukambal though anyone who fell sick was exposed in his weak state to the secret enmity of enemies, and as a safeguard often the patient (''dthikkae'') would summon in several medicine men to examine his physical plight.
Corkwood Corkwood is a common name of a number of plants:
* ''Ackama paniculosa'', a soft barked corkwood from Australia in the coachwood family
* ''Annona glabra'', found in the West Indies
* ''Commiphora angolensis'' (sand corkwood), a shrub mainly in Ang ...
, in which
hyoscyamine
Hyoscyamine (also known as daturine or duboisine) is a naturally occurring tropane alkaloid and plant toxin. It is a secondary metabolite found in certain plants of the family Solanaceae, including henbane, mandrake, angel's trumpets, jimson ...
is present, was as generally in eastern Australia exploited for its toxic properties. When stricken by drought, the Jukambal would draw water from the
Angophora apple trees, rather than risk drinking water from impure sources. Fractures were set by binding the affected limb with two pieces of bark stripped from a ''Bugaibil'' tree, whose sap was believed to have curative properties. Snake bites even from the most venomous species rarely proved fatal, the poison being promptly sucked out, with the Jukambal also binding over the wound a ligature made from opossum (''koobi'') skin..
History
As late as 1855, people speaking the Jukambal language were encountered living on the
Macintyre River.
Alternative names
* ''Jukambil''
* ''Ukumbil, Ucumble''
* ''Yacambal''
* ''Yookumbul, Yookumbil, Yookumbill, Yoocumbill, Yookumble, Yoocomble''
* ''Yukambal, Yukumbul, Yukumbil''
* ''Yukumba''
Source:
Notes
Citations
Sources
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{{Authority control
Aboriginal peoples of New South Wales