The Ninanu were 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
Gascoyne
The Gascoyne region is one of the nine regions of Western Australia. It is located in the northwest of Western Australia, and consists of the local government areas of Carnarvon, Exmouth, Shark Bay and Upper Gascoyne. The Gascoyne has about of ...
region of
Western Australia
Western Australia (WA) is the westernmost state of Australia. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east, and South Australia to the south-east. Western Aust ...
.
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 Ninanu's tribal lands covered roughly on both the
Lyons and North Lyons Rivers, extending west as far as the vicinity of
Mount Phillips and Peedawarra Bluff. Their eastern boundary lay at the eastern end of Teano Range, while their southern frontier was in proximity of
Mount Augustus.
Social customs
The Ninanu's initiatory rites involved the practice of both circumcision and
subincision
Penile subincision is a form of genital modification or mutilation consisting of a urethrotomy, in which the underside of the penis is incised and the urethra slit open lengthwise, from the urethral opening (meatus) toward the base. The slit can ...
.
Alternative name
One possible alternative name for the Ninanu may be ''Ngaunmardi''. The word is attested only in manuscripts collecting ethnographic data written by
Carl Georg von Brandenstein
Carl-Georg Christoph Freiherr von Brandenstein (10 October 1909 – 8 January 2005) was a German linguist who took up the study of Australian Aboriginal languages.
Life
Born in 1909 in Hannover to , Carl-Georg finished high school in Weimar, an ...
, which state that this referred to a people on Dooley Downs on the Lyons River. Unable to find independent corroboration for this tribe, Tindale speculated that it might have been an alternative name for the Ninanu in the same area.
Notes
Citations
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Aboriginal peoples of Western Australia
Gascoyne