The Kurajarra were 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
Pilbara
The Pilbara () is a large, dry, sparsely populated regions of Western Australia, region in the north of Western Australia. It is known for its Indigenous Australians, Aboriginal people; wealth disparity; its ancient landscapes; the prevailing r ...
region of
Western Australia
Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...
.
Their existence as a people was overlooked in
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 ...
's classic 1974 survey of Australian Aboriginal tribal groups and their language is unattested.
Country
The Kurajarra were a small tribe whose territorial extension is not known other than that its heartland lay in the McKay Range (''Pungkulyi'') some northwest of
Kumpupintil Lake. They lived between the
Nyiyaparli to their west, the
Wanman to the north, the
Kartudjara
The Kartudjara are an Aboriginal Australian people of the Pilbara region of Western Australia.
Country
The Kartudjara's traditional lands extended over from ''Madaleri'', north of Kumpupintil Lake around Well 22 down southwest towards ''Pulp ...
on their eastern and southeastern side, and the
Putidjara to the south.
People
Like the
Ngulipartu, the Kurajarra were a numerically small tribe which, under the stress of post-contact migrations and change, diminished rapidly, with many of them being absorbed into neighbouring tribes through intermarriage. Writing in 1989, Tonkinson stated that only a handful of descendants survived from the original tribe.
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Aboriginal peoples of Western Australia
Mid West (Western Australia)