The Ngolibardu, otherwise written, ''Ngulipartu,'' were 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

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to ...

Country

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 ...

assigned the Ngolibardu a territorial domain of roughly . They were on the

Rudall River The Rudall River ( Wanman: ''Karlamilyi'') is an ephemeral river in the Pilbara region of Western Australia. The entire length of the river is located within the boundaries of the Karlamilyi National Park, which straddles the Little Sandy Deser ...

, whose waters at ''Kalamilji'' were a final refuge in times of extreme drought. From the Rudall their land ran north as far as the Paterson Range. Their eastern frontier lay at Mount Broadhurst Range and Rooney Creek, while their western boundary was marked by the Throssell Range. These tribal lands were later taken over by the

Kartudjara The Kartudjara are an indigenous Australian people of the Pilbara region of Western Australia. Country The Kartudjara's traditional lands extended over from ''Madaleri'', north of Kumpupintil Lake Kumpupintil Lake (pronounced ''goom-bu-pin- ...

, moving up from the south, and the westward movement of the

Nyangumarta Nyangumarta may refer to: * Nyangumarta people of Western Australia * Nyangumarta language Nyangumarta, also written Njaŋumada, Njangamada, Njanjamarta and other variants, is a language spoken by the Nyangumarta people and other Aboriginal Aus ...

to their north. On their western flank were the

Wanman One-person operation (OPO), also known as driver-only operation (DOO), one-man operation (OMO), single person train operation (SPTO), or one-person train operation (OPTO), similarly to Driver Controlled Operation, is operation of a train, bus ...

, and to their east lay the

Nyamal The Nyamal are an Indigenous Australian people of the Pilbara area of north-western Western Australia. Language A version of Nyamal became the basis of a pidgin used among workers on pearling luggers in the late 19th century, and was spoken sev ...

History

Traditions hold that the Ngolibardu's numbers were diminishing even before the period of contact with white colonialists. Apparently the tribe was struck by a devastating 'fever' sometime around the turn of the 19th-20th centuries which killed off large numbers of their community, to the point of virtual extinction.

Alternative names

* ''Tjilakurukuru.'' (regional name for their country).

Notes

Citations

Sources

* * * * {{authority control Aboriginal peoples of Western Australia Canning Stock Route Mid West (Western Australia)