The Maijabi (Mayi-Yapi) were 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 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 ...
.
Country
According to
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 ...
, the Maijabi held some of territory centered on the area running from the
Cloncurry River
The Cloncurry River is situated in the Gulf Country of north west Queensland, Australia.
Geography
The headwaters of the river rise west of Mount Boorama near Mount Tracey in the Selwyn Range (Australia), Selwyn Range and initially flows nort ...
south to
Canobie and north to Donor Hills, at ''Numbera'' or the Cowan Downs. Their eastern boundary lay on the
Flinders River
The Flinders River is the longest river in Queensland, Australia, at approximately . It was named in honour of the explorer Matthew Flinders. The catchment is sparsely populated and mostly undeveloped. The Flinders rises on the western slopes o ...
and the
lower Saxby, while their extension west ran to the
upper Dismal Creek and the Leichhardt—Alexandra Divide.
Social organization and practices
The Maijabu were a non-circumcising tribe, and subincision likewise was not practised.
History of contact
One early estimate of the number of Maijabi at the time of first contact was around 1,000. By 1868, they were down to 250 'souls', and by 1879 a remnant of about 80 survived. The reasons given for this were.
'the murderous onslaughts of the mounted Native Police and to venereal diseases and measles, which were introduced by the Whites, also to prostitution and infanticide, which have enormously increased.'
Edward Palmer Edward Palmer may refer to:
* Edward Palmer (d.1624) (1555–1624), antiquary and projector of a university in Virginia
* Edward Palmer (socialist) (1802–1886), American religious socialist
* Edward Palmer (Canadian politician) (1809–1889), Pri ...
, who had taken over their hunting grounds on the Canobie Station in 1865, in talking of Maijabi food gathering, was the first white colonialist to discover what emerged to be the widespread practice of harvesting
native purslane seeds, which the Maijabi called ''thukouro'', by gathering the plants and threshing them in an improvised stone circle.
'The stems were eaten raw and also heated in ashes, the rest of the plant being placed on the heap to wilt. Maijabi women used freshwater mussel shells to scoop up the seed that accumulated. There it was ground between stones, pressed into cakes, and cooked in hot ashes.'
Alternative names
* ''Maippe, Myappe''
* ''Majabi''
* ''Miappi''
* ''Miubbi''
* ''Miulbi'' (misprint)
* ''Myabi''
Source:
Some words
* ''barrago'' (white man)
* ''mecum caramra'' (tame dog)
* ''moochoo'' (father)
* ''yakoro'' (mother)
* ''yamby'' (wild dog)
Source:
Notes
Citations
Sources
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{{authority control
Aboriginal peoples of Queensland