The Nungali, otherwise known as the Ilngali (Jilngari, Yilngari), are an
Indigenous Australian
Indigenous Australians are people with familial heritage from, or recognised membership of, the various ethnic groups living within the territory of contemporary Australia prior to History of Australia (1788–1850), British colonisation. The ...
people of 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 ...
.
Name
The name Nungali, now adopted as the general term, differs from the other
ethnonym
An ethnonym () is a name applied to a given ethnic group. Ethnonyms can be divided into two categories: exonyms (whose name of the ethnic group has been created by another group of people) and autonyms, or endonyms (whose name is created and used ...
for these people only in having a prefix attached to it.
Language
Nungali is distantly related to
Jaminjung and like the latter is one of the
non Pama-Nyungan tongues, usually classified as one of the
''Djamindjungan/Yirram'' family of languages. It is thought to be virtually extinct.
Country
Traditional Nungali territory covered approximately north of
Fitzmaurice River
The Fitzmaurice River is a river in the Northern Territory of Australia.
Course
The river drains into the Joseph Bonaparte Gulf in the Timor Sea from a source just north of the Wombungi homestead. The river flows in a westerly direction betw ...
on headwaters of
Fish River.
Alternative names
* ''Ilngali''
* ''Jilngali''
Notes
Citations
Sources
*
*
{{authority control
Aboriginal peoples of the Northern Territory