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The Gurindji () 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 northern Australia, southwest of
Katherine Katherine (), also spelled Catherine and Catherina, other variations, is a feminine given name. The name and its variants are popular in countries where large Christian populations exist, because of its associations with one of the earliest Ch ...
in the
Northern Territory The Northern Territory (abbreviated as NT; known formally as the Northern Territory of Australia and informally as the Territory) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian internal territory in the central and central-northern regi ...
's Victoria River region.


Country

The Gurindji people live on an estimated of land. The land is situated on the headwaters of the Victoria River south from Mundane and Tjalwa or Longreach Waterhole, extending westward to G.B. Rockhole and east to Bullock Creek and Canfield River, at Wave Hill. Their southern boundary lies near Hooker Creek.


Language and culture

Gurindji is one of the eastern
Ngumpin languages Ngumpin languages are a small language family of Australia, consisting of (from west to east): *Walmajarri * Djaru * Gurindji (Gurindji proper, Bilinarra, Wanyjirra, Malngin, Ngarinyman) *Mudburra In 2004 it was demonstrated that Ngumpin is re ...
, in the Ngumpin-Yapa subgroup of Pama-Nyungan languages. It is however characterised by a high level of adoption of
loanword A loanword (also a loan word, loan-word) is a word at least partly assimilated from one language (the donor language) into another language (the recipient or target language), through the process of borrowing. Borrowing is a metaphorical term t ...
s from non Pama-Nyungan sources.
Gurindji Kriol Gurindji Kriol is a mixed language which is spoken by Gurindji people in the Victoria River District of the Northern Territory (Australia). It is mostly spoken at Kalkaringi and Daguragu which are Aboriginal communities located on the tradit ...
is a
mixed language A mixed language, also referred to as a hybrid language or fusion language, is a type of contact language that arises among a bilingual group combining aspects of two or more languages but not clearly deriving primarily from any single language. ...
, mostly spoken at Kalkaringi and Daguragu along with Gurindji and English. Gurindji people share many similarities in language and culture with the neighbouring
Warlpiri people The Warlpiri, sometimes referred to as Yapa, are a group of Aboriginal Australians defined by their Warlpiri language, although not all still speak it. There are 5,000–6,000 Warlpiri, living mostly in a few towns and settlements scattered th ...
. They also regard themselves as "one mob" with the Malngin,
Bilinara The Bilinarra, also spelt Bilingara and Bilinara, are an Aboriginal Australian people of the Northern Territory. Language The Bilinarra language is classified as an eastern variety of one of the Pama-Nyungan Ngumbin languages. It is mutually ...
,
Mudburra The Mudburra, also spelt Mudbara and other variants, are an Aboriginal Australian people of the Northern Territory. Language Mudburra is one of the far eastern forms of the Pama-Nyungan Ngumbin languages. Country The Mudburra people live i ...
and
Ngarinyman The Ngarinman or Ngarinyman people are an Aboriginal Australian people of the Northern Territory who spoke the Ngarinyman language. Country According to an estimate made by Norman Tindale, the Ngarinman held some of territory. Their central do ...
peoples, referring to themselves as a group named Ngumpit, sharing "most of our languages and culture". Among the Ngumpit, there are four
skin name Aboriginal Australian kinship comprises the systems of Aboriginal customary law governing social interaction relating to kinship in traditional Aboriginal cultures. It is an integral part of the culture of every Aboriginal group across Austr ...
s for boys, such as Janama and Japarta, and four for girls, such as Nangala and Nawurla. These are inherited at birth and kept for life, determining how all of the people relate to each other. Jurntakal (snake) is a major Dreaming for the Gurindji, with this and other ancestor spirits keeping their traditional lands alive. Art is the main occupation, with the Karungkarni Art and Cultural Centre the hub of artistic activity.


Ethnography

Important contributions to the study of the Gurindji were made by the young Japanese scholar Hokari Minoru (保苅実, 1971–2004) before his premature death. Hokari immersed himself in their narratives of the Gurindji experience of the white occupation of their land and, responsive to their complaints that whatever they had transmitted to outsiders ended up locked far away in Australian cities, always had them vet his writings. His primary informant was Jimmy Mangayarri.


Native title

The Gurindji people of the Northern Territory are best known for The Gurindji Strike, or Wave Hill walk-off, led by
Vincent Lingiari Vincent Lingiari (; 13 June 1908 or 1919 – 21 January 1988) was an Australian Aboriginal rights activist of the Gurindji people. In his early life he started as a stockman at Wave Hill Station, where the Aboriginal workers were given no ...
in 1966, protesting against mistreatment by the station managers. The strike would become the first major victory of the Indigenous land rights movement. A small part of their traditional lands (roughly ), subsequently known as "Daguragu Station" was handed back to them in 1975 as a Northern Territory pastoral lease, by the then Australian prime minister,
Gough Whitlam Edward Gough Whitlam (11 July 191621 October 2014) was the 21st prime minister of Australia, serving from December 1972 to November 1975. To date the longest-serving federal leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP), he was notable for being ...
– paving the way for further
land rights Land law is the form of law that deals with the rights to use, alienate, or exclude others from land. In many jurisdictions, these kinds of property are referred to as real estate or real property, as distinct from personal property. Land use ...
victories in Australia. In 1984, after a hearing under the ''
Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1976 The ''Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976'' (ALRA) is Australian federal government legislation that provides the basis upon which Aboriginal Australian people in the Northern Territory can claim rights to land based on tradi ...
'', and 1981 recommendations made by the original Aboriginal Commissioner, Justice John Toohey, they were granted
inalienable Inalienable or inalienability may refer to: *Inalienable right, a type of legal right in jurisprudence **Restraint on alienation *Inalienable possession, a class of nouns in linguistics *Inalienable possessions Inalienable possessions (or imm ...
freehold title to almost all of the area originally transferred back to them by Whitlam, of their tribal land. A final small portion of the Daguragu lease was recommended by the later Commissioner, Justice Maurice, in 1984. It wasn't until May 1986 that the
Hawke government The Hawke government was the federal executive government of Australia led by Prime Minister Bob Hawke of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) from 1983 to 1991. The government followed the Liberal-National Coalition Fraser government and was su ...
finally handed over the inalienable Aboriginal
freehold title In English law, a fee simple or fee simple absolute is an estate in land, a form of freehold ownership. A "fee" is a vested, inheritable, present possessory interest in land. A "fee simple" is real property held without limit of time (i.e., per ...
deeds to the Gurindji. Much of Wave Hill pastoral station (some ), however, remains in non-Indigenous hands.


Governance and economy

Two Gurindji communities are
Kalkarindji Kalkarindji (formerly Wave Hill Welfare Settlement, also spelt Kalkaringi) is a town and locality in the Northern Territory of Australia, located on the Buntine Highway about south of the territory capital of Darwin and located about south o ...
(established by the NT Government as Wave Hill Welfare Settlement), a township of located on the Buntine Highway, and Daguragu, a community settled on land under the ''Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1976''. Kalkarindji was
gazette A gazette is an official journal, a newspaper of record, or simply a newspaper. In English and French speaking countries, newspaper publishers have applied the name ''Gazette'' since the 17th century; today, numerous weekly and daily newspapers ...
d as an open town in September 1976 (hence permits are not required for residents or visitors). Daguragu is located north of Kalkarindji via a
bitumen Bitumen ( , ) is an immensely viscosity, viscous constituent of petroleum. Depending on its exact composition, it can be a sticky, black liquid or an apparently solid mass that behaves as a liquid over very large time scales. In American Engl ...
road. Permission from
traditional owner Native title is the set of rights, recognised by Australian law, held by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups or individuals to land that derive from their maintenance of their traditional laws and customs. These Aboriginal title right ...
s, through the
Central Land Council The Central Land Council (CLC) is a land council that represents the Aboriginal peoples of the southern half of the Northern Territory of Australia (NT), predominantly with regard to land issues. it is one of four land councils in the Northern ...
, is required to visit Daguragu. Daguragu became the first
cattle station In Australia and New Zealand, a cattle station is a large farm ( station is equivalent to the American ranch), the main activity of which is the rearing of cattle. The owner of a cattle station is called a '' grazier''. The largest cattle stati ...
to be owned and managed by an Aboriginal community, the Murramulla Gurindji Company, after the Wave Hill walk-off. By the time the Gurindji eventually won ownership of Daguragu in 1986, there was little left of the economy. The bakery was destroyed by flooding in 2001. The
Northern Territory Emergency Response The Northern Territory National Emergency Response, also known as "The Intervention" or the Northern Territory Intervention, and sometimes the abbreviation "NTER" (for Northern Territory Emergency Response) was a package of measures enforced by ...
("The Intervention") put controls on people and made compulsory land acquisitions in 2007. Equipment and jobs went during a reorganisation of shires by the NT Labour government in 2008. Municipal and other services to both communities were provided by the Daguragu Community Government Council until 2008, when it was replaced by the Victoria Daly Shire, now called the
Victoria Daly Region The Victoria Daly Regional Council is a Local Government Areas of the Northern Territory, local government area in the Northern Territory of Australia. The shire covers an area of and had a population of 3,138 in June 2018. History In October ...
, which has a regional office for the
ward Ward may refer to: Division or unit * Hospital ward, a hospital division, floor, or room set aside for a particular class or group of patients, for example the psychiatric ward * Prison ward, a division of a penal institution such as a pris ...
of Kalkarindji/Daguragu located in Kalkarindji. The council services a number of outstations where traditional owners, belonging to the Gurindji language group, live. Some residents of Daguragu and Kalkarindji belong to other language groups, including the Warlpiri. Following a successful
native title Aboriginal title is a common law doctrine that the land rights of indigenous peoples to customary tenure persist after the assumption of sovereignty to that land by another colonising state. The requirements of proof for the recognition of ab ...
claim over the township, traditional owners of Kalkaringi formed the Gurindji Aboriginal Corporation (GAC) in 2014, a
Registered Native Title Body Corporate A Registered Native Title Body Corporate (RNTBC) is a corporation nominated by a group of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people for the purposes of native title in Australia, to represent their native title rights and interests, once t ...
(RNTBC) owned by a total of about 700 people of mainly Gurindji,
Mudburra The Mudburra, also spelt Mudbara and other variants, are an Aboriginal Australian people of the Northern Territory. Language Mudburra is one of the far eastern forms of the Pama-Nyungan Ngumbin languages. Country The Mudburra people live i ...
and Warlpiri heritage. The underlying tenure remains with the government, but the GAC has powers to negotiate. It oversees a number of community-owned enterprises, such as the Kalkaringi Store and Caravan Park. A 2016 news article about Daguragu described it as "starved, beat up and dying", after "half a century of government duplicity and over promising; bad local management and corporate naivety; land tenure bureaucracy and coercion". It has a creche and a successful
Indigenous ranger Indigenous ranger programs enable First Nations people across Australia to protect and manage their land, sea and culture through a combination of traditional knowledge with Western science and conservation practices. Introduced by the Australia ...
program, but the hub of activity is at Kalkarindji. Here there is a school, a social club and other services. The
traditional owner Native title is the set of rights, recognised by Australian law, held by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups or individuals to land that derive from their maintenance of their traditional laws and customs. These Aboriginal title right ...
groups of the two communities do not have a smooth relationship.


Demographics

At the
2016 Australian census The 2016 Australian census was the 17th Census in Australia, national population census held in Australia. The census was officially conducted with effect on Tuesday, 9 August 2016. The total population of the Commonwealth of Australia was count ...
, the combined population of Daguragu/Kalkarindji was 575 people, of whom 517 (90.4%) identified as " Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people".


Surrounding locality

The locality of Gurindji, Northern Territory, an area of , surrounds Kalkarindji/Daguragu.


Freedom Day

On 23 August every year, a large celebration is held at Kalkarindji to mark the
anniversary An anniversary is the date on which an event took place or an institution was founded. Most countries celebrate national anniversaries, typically called national days. These could be the List of national independence days, date of independen ...
of the strike and walk-off. Known as Freedom Day, people gather from many parts of Australia to celebrate and re-enact the walk-off.


Alternative names

Norman Tindale lists the following names: * ''Garundji'' * ''Guirindji, Gurindji'' * ''Koorangie'' * ''Korindji''


Notable people

* Joseph (Joe) Croft *
Vincent Lingiari Vincent Lingiari (; 13 June 1908 or 1919 – 21 January 1988) was an Australian Aboriginal rights activist of the Gurindji people. In his early life he started as a stockman at Wave Hill Station, where the Aboriginal workers were given no ...
* Charlie King


See also

*
Gurindji strike The Wave Hill walk-off, also known as the Gurindji strike, was a walk-off and strike by 200 Gurindji stockmen, house servants and their families, starting on 23 August 1966 and lasting for seven years. It took place at Wave Hill, a cattle stati ...


Notes


Citations


Sources

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *


Further reading

* Article by the author of the 2017 book ''A Handful of Sand: The Gurindji Struggle, After the Walk-off''. ** *Hokari, Minoru (2011). Gurindji Journey: A Japanese Historian in the Outback. UNSW Press.


External links


Daguragu Community Government Council
{{Authority control Aboriginal land rights in Australia Aboriginal peoples of the Northern Territory