The Karrangpurru 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

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 ...

. They suffered severe population loss very early on in the period of colonial expropriations of their land.

Language and ethnonym

Karrangpurru is believed to have belonged to the eastern Ngumpin branch of the Ngumpin-Yapa languages. Nothing is known of their language, Karranga, since its many of its speakers were wiped out without any items from it being recorded. Patrick McConvell has suggested it may have been a dialect of

Mudburra The Mudburra, also spelt Mudbara and other variants, are an Aboriginal Australian people of the Northern Territory. Language Mudburra is one of the far eastern forms of the Pama-Nyungan Ngumbin languages. Country The Mudburra people live i ...

. They were also known as the ''Karranga''. The form Karrangpurru registered by David Horton, is formed from that word and the familiar suffix -''purru''.

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 ...

completely missed noticing the Karrangpurru. The Karrangpurru lived to the north of the

Bilinara The Bilinarra, also spelt Bilingara and Bilinara, are an Aboriginal Australian people of the Northern Territory. Language The Bilinarra language is classified as an eastern variety of one of the Pama-Nyungan Ngumbin languages. It is mutually ...

and ictoria River Downs Stationwas established both on Bilingara and Karrangpurru lands. It has been argued that with regard succession claims to an area south-east of the Karrangpuru, that the notion of tribal boundaries ignores the fact that Peter Sutton has argued that Dreaming narratives of landscape creation can overlap in different languages spoken by neighbouring peoples.

History of contact

Karrangpurru lands were subsumed into the

Victoria River Downs Station Victoria River Downs Station, also known as Victoria Downs and in the past sometimes referred to as The Big Run, is a pastoral lease that operates as a cattle station in the Northern Territory of Australia, established in 1883. It is south of ...

when it was established in 1883. A combination of massacres and the impact of diseases introduced by whites penetrating their country effectively decimated the population. A handful of people belonging to one family claim that they have Karrangpurru heritage by descent.

References

Sources

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