The Ngiyampaa people, also spelt Ngyiyambaa, Nyammba and Ngemba, 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

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

. The generic name refers to an aggregation of three groups, the Ngiyampaa, the Ngiyampaa Wangaaypuwan, and the Ngiyampaa Wayilwan, respectively clans of a larger Ngiyampaa nation.

Language

Their language consisted of varieties of

Ngiyampaa The Ngiyampaa people, also spelt Ngyiyambaa, Nyammba and Ngemba, are an Aboriginal Australian people of the state of New South Wales. The generic name refers to an aggregation of three groups, the Ngiyampaa, the Ngiyampaa Wangaaypuwan, and the ...

, which was composed of two dialects, Ngiyambaa Wangaaypuwan and Wayilwan Ngiyambaa. The

Wangaaypuwan The Wangaaypuwan, also known as the Wongaibon or Ngiyampaa Wangaaypuwan, are an Aboriginal Australian people who traditionally lived between Nyngan, the headwaters of Bogan Creek, and on Tigers Camp and Boggy Cowal creeks and west to Ivanhoe ...

(with ''wangaay'') people are so called because they use ''wangaay'' to say "no", as opposed to the Ngiyampaa in the Macquarie Marshes and towards

Walgett Walgett is a town in northern New South Wales, Australia, and the seat of Walgett Shire. It is near the junctions of the Barwon and Namoi Rivers and the Kamilaroi and Castlereagh Highways. In 2021, Walgett had a population of 1,377. In the ...

, who were historically defined separately by colonial ethnographers as

Wayilwan The Wayilwan (also rendered Weilwan or Wailwan; also known as Ngiyambaa Wayilwan and Ngemba Wayilwan) are an Aboriginal Australian people of the state of New South Wales. They are a clan of the Ngiyambaa (nee-yam-bar) nation. Name The Wayilwan ...

, so-called because their word for "no" was ''wayil''. The distinction between Ngiyampaa, Wangaaypuwan, and Wayilwan traditionally drawn, and sanctioned by the classification of

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 ...

, may rest upon a flawed assumption of marked "tribal" differences based on Ngiyampaa linguistic discriminations between internal groups or clans whose word for "no" varied.

Country

According to Tindale's estimation, Ngiyampaa tribal lands (''ngurrampaa'', "country") extended over some in the territory, much of it

peneplain In geomorphology and geology, a peneplain is a low-relief plain formed by protracted erosion. This is the definition in the broadest of terms, albeit with frequency the usage of peneplain is meant to imply the representation of a near-final (or ...

, lying south of the south bank of the Barwon and Darling rivers, from

Brewarrina Brewarrina (pronounced ''bree-warren-ah''; locally known as "Bre") is a town in north-west New South Wales, Australia on the banks of the Barwon River in Brewarrina Shire. It is east of Bourke and west of Walgett on the Kamilaroi Highway, a ...

to Dunlop. Their area included Yanda Creek down to the source of

Mulga Creek Mulga Creek is a river of the state of New South Wales in Australia. See also *List of rivers of Australia Rivers are ordered alphabetically, by state. The same river may be found in more than one state as many rivers cross state borders. Lon ...

, and took in the

Bogan River Bogan River, a perennial river that is part of the Macquarie– Barwon catchment within the Murray–Darling basin, is located in the central west and Orana regions of New South Wales, Australia. From its origin near Parkes, the Bogan River ...

. The Wayilwan clan were on their southeastern flank, the Wangaaypuwan clan southwest while the

Gamilaraay The Gamilaroi, also known as Gomeroi, Kamilaroi, Kamillaroi and other variations, are an Aboriginal Australian people whose lands extend from New South Wales to southern Queensland. They form one of the four largest Indigenous nations in Austr ...

were to the northeast and the

Paakantyi The Paakantyi, or Barkindji or Barkandji, are an Australian Aboriginal tribal group of the Darling River (known to them as the Baaka) basin in Far West New South Wales, Australia. Name The ethnonym Paakantyi means "River people", formed from ...

to their west and northwest. Mount Grenfell, some northwest of

Cobar Cobar is a town in Outback New South Wales, Australia, whose economy is based mainly upon base metals and gold mining. The town is by road northwest of the state capital, Sydney. It is at the crossroads of the Kidman Way and Barrier Highwa ...

, is an important site for the Ngiyampaa people, who were barred from accessing it until the 1970s.

Group classifications

A geographical distinction regarding the homeland camping world (''ngurrampaa'') is attested between three groups, all inhabiting areas devoid of permanent watercourses. * (a) ''pilaarrkiyalu'' ('woodlanders'. Lit.' belar people') to the east. * (b) ''nhiilyikiyalu'' ( nilyah tree people) a westerly group who formerly camped northwest of the ''ngurrampaa'', around Marfield station. These two groups are collectively referred to as drylanders. * (c)''karulkiyalu'' or 'stone people', those associated with the stony terrain north of the Ngiyampaa's camping world. A further distinction was drawn between the above three groups and two groups of river people whose descendants now dwell to the east and west of the ''ngurrampaa''. These are the * (d) ''kaliyarrkiyalu'' (people of the Lachlan River (''kaliyarr'') * (e) ''paawankay'' (people of the Darling River).

History of contact

In 1914 a regional newspaper stated that there had been a massacre in 1859 of around 300 Ngiyampaa at Hospital Creek, close to

Some words

* ''ngurram-paa'' ('camp-world', therefore homeland) * ''ngurrangkiyalu'' (housewife) * ''purrpa'' (school for making men) * ''waaway'' (

Rainbow Serpent The Rainbow Serpent or Rainbow Snake is a common deity often seen as the Creator deity, creator God, known by numerous names in different Australian Aboriginal languages by the many List of Australian Aboriginal group names, different Aborigina ...

) * ''wirringan'' ( doctors or 'clever' people)

Notes

Citations

Sources

*. * * * * {{authority control Aboriginal peoples of New South Wales South Coast (New South Wales)