The Tjurabalan (Jura-palan) is a nomadic desert tribe from the edge of the

Tanami Desert The Tanami Desert () is a desert in northern Australia, situated in the Northern Territory and Western Australia. It has a rocky terrain and small hills. The Tanami was the Northern Territory's final frontier and was not fully explored by Austral ...

near Sturt Creek and The Paraku Lake system, Lake Gregory in the

Kimberley Kimberly or Kimberley may refer to: Places and historical events Australia Queensland * Kimberley, Queensland, a coastal locality in the Shire of Douglas South Australia * County of Kimberley, a cadastral unit in South Australia Ta ...

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 ...

Language

The language jurisdictions governing much of Tjurabalan territory are provided by

Djaru The Djaru people are an Aboriginal Australian people of the southern Kimberley region of Western Australia. Language Djaru is a member of the Ngumbin language family, and is related to Walmajarri. Country The Djaru people ranged along Margar ...

and

Walmajarri The Walmadjari (Walmajarri) people, also known as Tjiwaling and Wanaseka, are an Aboriginal Australian people of the Kimberley region of Western Australia. Name The two names reflect different Walmadjari preferences. Their western bands accept ...

Society

The combined population of the tribe in 2003 was approximately 1200 people.

Country

The Tjurabalan dwell in the Tanami Desert, in proximity to the Ngurrara, and encompasses the communities of Ringer Soak (Kundat Djaru), Billiluna,

Mulan Hua Mulan () is a legendary Chinese folk heroine from the Northern and Southern dynasties era (4th to 6th century Common Era, CE) of Chinese history. Scholar, Scholars generally consider Mulan to be a fictional character. Hua Mulan is depicte ...

and Balgo. The

Coyote Gold Mine The Coyote Gold Mine is a gold mine located in the remote Tanami Desert in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. The mine, processing plant and camp are 17 km west of the Northern Territory border. The mine was closed in 2013 and plac ...

is also located within the native title of the Tjurabalan people.

History

The explorers David Carnegie and

Alfred Canning Alfred Wernam Canning (21 February 1860 – 22 May 1936) was an Australian surveyor. He is best known as the originator of the Canning Stock Route in Western Australia, a cattle track running through remote desert country between Halls Creek, ...

crossed their region, both being in the habit of capturing aboriginals and coercing them into revealing where fresh water springs might be found. Carnegie denied them water until their thirst made them collaborate. Canning had chains and neck padlocks manufactured which he applied to kidnapped Tjurabalan people in order to force them to guide his party to water. Oral tradition of a massacre of the local Tjurabalan people by white settlers was corroborated by forensic archaeological investigations in 2017. The Tjurabalan did not have much contact with whites until the 1950s since no extensive development projects had been envisaged for their area down to that time.

Native title

In Ngalpil vs. Western Australia (2001) the Tjurabalan won recognition of their

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 ...

rights to of their traditional lands.

Notes

Citations

Sources

* * * * * * Aboriginal peoples of Western Australia Pilbara {{IndigenousAustralia-stub