The Ngaliya (Ngalia) are 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 of the
Northern Territory
The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory shares its borders with Western Au ...
who speak a dialect of the
Warlpiri language
The Warlpiri ( or ) ( wbp, Warlpiri > waɭbɪ̆ˌɻi language is spoken by about 3,000 of the Warlpiri people from the Tanami Desert, northwest of Alice Springs, Central Australia. It is one of the Ngarrkic languages of the large Pama� ...
.
They are not to be confused with the
Ngalia of the
Western Desert.
Country
The traditional lands of the Ngalia, in
Norman Tindale
Norman Barnett Tindale AO (12 October 1900 – 19 November 1993) was an Australian anthropologist, archaeologist, entomologist and ethnologist.
Life
Tindale was born in Perth, Western Australia in 1900. His family moved to Tokyo and lived ...
's estimation, extended over some . He places them to the north of Stuart Bluff Range from West Bluff west to Mounts Cockburn and Carey, at mounts Ethel Creek, Farewell, Singleton, Saxby and
Doreen. Their territory also took in
Cockatoo Creek, the Treuer Range, Mount Davenport and
Vaughan Springs (aka Pikilji/Pikilyi).
History of contact
Carl Strehlow
Carl Friedrich Theodor Strehlow (23 December 1871 – 20 October 1922) was an anthropologist, linguist and genealogist who served on two Lutheran missions in remote parts of Australia from May 1892 to October 1922. He was at Killalpaninna Missi ...
was the first outsider to mention the Ngalia. Some studies were made of them in August 1931, and in the same month in 1952, at
Cockatoo Creek by members of anthropological expeditions from the
University of Adelaide
The University of Adelaide (informally Adelaide University) is a public research university located in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third-oldest university in Australia. The university's main campus is located on ...
. On the first occasion, one Ngalia youth, advancing through the degrees of his initiation, recited a list
of over 300
toponym
Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of '' toponyms'' ( proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage and types. Toponym is the general term for a proper name o ...
s referring to the
totemic sites along his tribe's
dreaming tracks
A songline, also called dreaming track, is one of the paths across the land (or sometimes the sky) within the animist belief systems of the Aboriginal cultures of Australia which mark the route followed by localised "creator-beings" in the Drea ...
which he had visited the year before as part of his education. The landscape names remained unpublished because of the complexities of pinning down the precise location of each place name in this initiatory journey.
Charles P. Mountford
Charles Pearcy Mountford OBE (8 May 189016 November 1976) was an Australian anthropologist and photographer. He is known for his pioneering work on Indigenous Australians and his depictions and descriptions of their art. He also led the America ...
published a work detailing the 'totemic topography' marked by the travels of the
serpent
Serpent or The Serpent may refer to:
* Snake, a carnivorous reptile of the suborder Serpentes
Mythology and religion
* Sea serpent, a monstrous ocean creature
* Serpent (symbolism), the snake in religious rites and mythological contexts
* Serp ...
''Jarapiri'' as it slithered across
Warlpiri Warlpiri may refer to:
* Warlpiri people, an indigenous people of the Tanami Desert, Central Australia
Central Australia, also sometimes referred to as the Red Centre, is an inexactly defined region associated with the geographic centre of Au ...
and Ngalia country, to ''Wimbaraku'', situated between Mount Liebig and Haast's Bluff.
In the early 1950s their numbers were estimated to be 300-400.
Alternative names
* ''Ngalea''
* ''Ngallia''
* ''Nanbuda''
* ''Ngarilia.'' (typo)
* ''Ngali''
* ''Njalia.'' (a blunder)
* ''Wawilja.'' (
Warlpiri Warlpiri may refer to:
* Warlpiri people, an indigenous people of the Tanami Desert, Central Australia
Central Australia, also sometimes referred to as the Red Centre, is an inexactly defined region associated with the geographic centre of Au ...
exonym
An endonym (from Greek: , 'inner' + , 'name'; also known as autonym) is a common, ''native'' name for a geographical place, group of people, individual person, language or dialect, meaning that it is used inside that particular place, group, o ...
)
* ''Warniaka''
* ''Waneiga.'' (exonym)
* ''Nambulatji.'' (
Balgo Gugadja
The Kukatja people, also written Gugadja, are an Aboriginal Australian people of the Kimberley region of Western Australia.
Country
The Kukatja's traditional lands were, according to Norman Tindale, roughly , centering around Lake Gregory, and ...
exonym)
* ''Jalpiri''
Notes
Citations
Sources
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{{authority control
Aboriginal peoples of the Northern Territory