The Olkolo or Koko-olkola' are an
Indigenous Australian people
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 British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups, w ...
of central and eastern
Cape York Peninsula
The Cape York Peninsula is a peninsula located in Far North Queensland, Australia. It is the largest wilderness in northern Australia.Mittermeier, R.E. et al. (2002). Wilderness: Earth's last wild places. Mexico City: Agrupación Sierra Madre, ...
in northern
Queensland
Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...
. 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 ...
, they are to be distinguished from the
Kokangol, higher up on the
Alice River watershed.
Language
Olkola
The Olkolo or Koko-olkola' are an Indigenous Australian people of central and eastern Cape York Peninsula in northern Queensland. According to Norman Tindale, they are to be distinguished from the Kokangol, higher up on the Alice River watershe ...
belongs to the
Kunjen branch of the
Southwestern Paman languages
The Southwestern Paman languages are a family of the Paman languages spoken on the western part of the Cape York Peninsula of Queensland, Australia.
Alpher (1972) accepts Southwestern Pama as a valid node; the classification below is his. R. M ...
, as is mutually intelligible with Uw Oykangand, one of the other dialects of that group.
Country
The Olkolo are the
traditional owners
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 rig ...
of some extending from the
Middle Coleman River, as far south as Crosbie River., and including the western margins of the
Quinkan region.
Lifestyle and ecology
The Olkolo are one of the Kawadji, or sandbeach people, who harvested the maritime resources available to them as coastal dwellers opposite the
Coral Sea
The Coral Sea () is a marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean, South Pacific off the northeast coast of Australia, and classified as an Interim Biogeographic Regionalisation for Australia, interim Australian bioregion. The Coral Sea extends down t ...
. Traditionally, the rhythm of their foraging depended on the climatic changes over two seasons, the dry season that arrived with the south-east trade winds, blowing from April through to November, followed by the northwest monsoon season, beginning in late November/early December. During the dry season, they would occasionally move inland to cull vegetables and timber, but otherwise spent the major part of the year camped on the shores.
History
By 1889, Olkolo people could be found in camps south of their traditional grounds, in the
Coen area. One descendant, Willy Long of
Laura recalled several decades later a massacre, from which his parents survived, which took place by 40 troopers under Sub-Inspector Urquhart from the Musgrave police station. The ambushed Olkolo fled and sought refuge in swamps, where they were gunned down, in one of 5 such massacres that took place in 1889.
Alternative names
* ''Koko Olkol, Koko Olkolo, Koko-olkol''
* ''Ol'kol'', Olkulo
* ''Koka-ollugul''
* ''Ulkulu''
* ''Wulgulu''
* ''Olgolo''
* ''Olcoola''
Notes
Citations
Sources
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{{authority control
Aboriginal peoples of Queensland