The Koinmerburra people, also known as Koinjmal, Guwinmal, Kungmal and other 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 ...

. They are the

traditional owners 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 rig ...

of an area which includes part of the

Great Barrier Reef The Great Barrier Reef is the world's largest coral reef system, composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over over an area of approximately . The reef is located in the Coral Sea, off the coast of Queensland, ...

Country

Koinmerburra traditional lands covered an estimated , taking in the western slopes of Pine Mountain in the Normanby Range to the

Styx River In Greek mythology, Styx (; ; lit. "Shuddering"), also called the River Styx, is a goddess and one of the rivers of the Greek Underworld. Her parents were the Titans Oceanus and Tethys, and she was the wife of the Titan Pallas and the mothe ...

. They occupied the coastal strip from Broad Sound northwards to

Cape Palmerston Cape Palmerston is a national park in the Mackay Region, Queensland, Australia. Geography The park is 748 km northwest of Brisbane. It is located within the boundaries of Koumala, part of the Mackay Region local government area. It lie ...

and took in St. Lawrence. Their inland extensions went as far as the Coast Range, and, to the south, ended around

Marlborough Marlborough or the Marlborough may refer to: Places Australia * Marlborough, Queensland * Principality of Marlborough, a short-lived micronation in 1993 * Marlborough Highway, Tasmania; Malborough was an historic name for the place at the sou ...

Ecological Ecology () is the natural science of the relationships among living organisms and their environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere levels. Ecology overlaps with the closely re ...

ly, they worked large areas of

mangrove A mangrove is a shrub or tree that grows mainly in coastal saline water, saline or brackish water. Mangroves grow in an equatorial climate, typically along coastlines and tidal rivers. They have particular adaptations to take in extra oxygen a ...

mudflat Mudflats or mud flats, also known as tidal flats or, in Ireland, slob or slobs, are coastal wetlands that form in intertidal areas where sediments have been deposited by tides or rivers. A global analysis published in 2019 suggested that tidal ...

s, and employed bark canoes to navigate these shoreline zones.

Social organisation

The Koinmerburra consisted of several

kin groups In anthropology, kinship is the web of social relationships that form an important part of the lives of all humans in all societies, although its exact meanings even within this discipline are often debated. Anthropologist Robin Fox says that ...

, the name of at least one of which is known: * ''Mamburra'' * ''Bauwiwarra'' (This may, alternatively, have been a horde of the

Darumbal The Darumbal people, also spelt Darambal and Dharumbal, are the Aboriginal Australian people who have traditionally occupied Central Queensland, speaking dialects of the Darumbal language. and the terms are sometimes used interchangeably. Countr ...

) According to an early

Rockhampton Rockhampton is a city in the Rockhampton Region of Central Queensland, Australia. In the , the population of Rockhampton was 79,293. A common nickname for Rockhampton is "Rocky", and the demonym of Rockhampton is Rockhamptonite. The Scottish- ...

informant, W. H. Flowers, responding to a request for information by

Alfred William Howitt Alfred William Howitt (17 April 1830 – 7 March 1908), also known by author abbreviation A. W. Howitt, was an Australian anthropologist, explorer and naturalist. He was known for leading the Victorian Relief Expedition, which set out to est ...

, the Koinjmal were divided into two moieties, the ''Yungeru'' and the ''Witteru'', each in turn subdivided into two sections, creating 4 sub-classes: The ''Yungeru'' were split into the ''Kurpal'' ( Eaglkehawk totem) and the ''Kuialla'' ( Laughing jackass totem): the ''Witteru'' divided into the ''Karilbura'' and ''Munaal'', which had several totems, including the

wallaby A wallaby () is a small or middle-sized Macropodidae, macropod native to Australia and New Guinea, with introduced populations in New Zealand, Hawaii, the United Kingdom and other countries. They belong to the same Taxonomy (biology), taxon ...

Curlew The curlews () are a group of nine species of birds in the genus ''Numenius'', characterised by their long, slender, downcurved bills and mottled brown plumage. The English name is imitative of the Eurasian curlew's call, but may have been infl ...

, Hawk, Clearwater and Sand.

Marriage

According to Flowers, marriages were contracted early, in infancy, when a girl's parents would arrange her marriage to an elder man, who, after the ceremony of betrothal would supply her regularly with game and fish, while scrupulously avoiding going near the camp of her parents or speaking to the mother. The ceremony was finalised in the following manner:

The parents having painted the girl and dressed her hair with feathers, her male cousin takes her to where her future husband is sitting cross-legged in silence, and seats her at his back, and close to him. He who has brought the girl after a time removes the feathers from her hair and places them in the hair of her future husband, and then leads the girl back to her parents.

The actual marriage was sealed by a simulated kidnapping of the young girl.

when a girl who has been promised is considered to be old enough for marriage by her father, he sends the girl as usual with the other women to gather yams or other food, and he tells the man to whom he has promised her, who, then painting himself, takes his weapons and follows her, inviting all the unmarried men in the camp to assist him. When they come up with the women he goes forward alone, and telling the girl he has come for her he takes her by the wrist or hand. The women at once surround her and try to keep her from him. She tries to escape, and if she does not like him she bites his wrist, this being an understood sign that she refuses him.

History

Some Koinmerburra

could be found living beyond their traditional lands, at places like

Yaamba Yaamba is a rural town and locality in the Livingstone Shire, Queensland, Australia. In the , the locality of Yaamba had a population of 51 people. Geography Yaamba is bounded by the Fitzroy River to the south and by its tributary Alligator ...

and Bombandy, at the beginning of the 20th century, but this displacement was the consequence of white encroachments, which drove them to push south of their homeland.

Language

Guwinmal is an

extinct Extinction is the termination of an organism by the death of its Endling, last member. A taxon may become Functional extinction, functionally extinct before the death of its last member if it loses the capacity to Reproduction, reproduce and ...

dialect of

Alternative names

As of 2020, the usual name used for this people is Koinmerburra. * ''Koinbal'' (meaning people of the plains) * ''Kooinmerburra'' * ''Kuinmurbura'' * ''Kungmal'' * ''Kungalburra'' *Kuinmabara, Kungalburra, Gunmal, Koi, Koinbal, Kweembul, Kwiambal, Kwigalburra, Mamburra, Queenbullaquieumble, Gunymal, Gonjmal, Kuinmur bura, Koinjmal

Some words

* ''kuinmur'' (a plain)

Natural resource management

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 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 ...

, Koinmerburra, 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 ''Gia'' is a 1998 American biographical drama television film about the life and times of one of the first supermodels, Gia Carangi. The film stars Angelina Jolie as Gia and Faye Dunaway as Wilhelmina Cooper, with Mercedes Ruehl and Elizab ...

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 ...