The Turrbal are an
Aboriginal Australian
Aboriginal Australians are the various Indigenous peoples of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland and many of its islands, such as Tasmania, Fraser Island, Hinchinbrook Island, the Tiwi Islands, and Groote Eylandt, but excluding the T ...
people from the region of present-day
Brisbane
Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...
, Queensland. The name primarily referred to the dialect they spoke, the tribe itself being alternatively called ''Mianjin/Meanjin''. Mianjin was the
Turrbal word for the central Brisbane area. The traditional homelands of the Turrbal stretch from the
North Pine River
The North Pine River is a minor river located in South East Queensland, Australia.
Location and features
The North Pine River rises in the D'Aguilar Range in the Mount Mee State Forest, approximately northwest of Brisbane, and flows general ...
, south to the
Logan River
The Logan River ( Yugambeh: ''Dugulumba'') is a perennial river located in the Scenic Rim, Logan and Gold Coast local government areas of the South East region of Queensland, Australia. The -long river is one of the dominant waterways in So ...
, and inland as far as
Moggill, a range which includes the city of
Brisbane
Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...
.
Name
The
ethnonym Turrbal is an
exonym
An endonym (from Greek: , 'inner' + , 'name'; also known as autonym) is a common, ''native'' name for a geographical place, group of people, individual person, language or dialect, meaning that it is used inside that particular place, group, o ...
which is thought to derive from the root ''turr/dhur'' (
bora ring
Bora is an initiation ceremony of the Aboriginal people of Eastern Australia. The word "bora" also refers to the site on which the initiation is performed. At such a site, boys, having reached puberty, achieve the status of men. The initiation ...
) and -''bal'', signifying "those who say ''turr'' or ''dhur'' for a bora ring", rather than using the other tribe's customary term ''bool''. It was the
toponym
Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of '' toponyms'' ( proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage and types. Toponym is the general term for a proper name o ...
used in 1841 by native guides from
Nundah who led the group of German
Lutheran missionaries to the
Ningy Ningy at what became
Toorbul Point, in the area where they established the
Zion Hill Mission.
Language
Turrbal is one of 4 dialects of the
Durubalic branch of the
Pama-Nyungan languages. Turrbal was spoken from
Gold Creek and
Moggill, north as far as
North Pine, and south to the
Logan River
The Logan River ( Yugambeh: ''Dugulumba'') is a perennial river located in the Scenic Rim, Logan and Gold Coast local government areas of the South East region of Queensland, Australia. The -long river is one of the dominant waterways in So ...
.
Tom Petrie
Tom or TOM may refer to:
* Tom (given name), a diminutive of Thomas or Tomás or an independent Aramaic given name (and a list of people with the name)
Characters
* Tom Anderson, a character in ''Beavis and Butt-Head''
* Tom Beck, a character ...
, son of one of the founding families of the Brisbane area settlements, grew up among the Turrbal, and mastered the language and the contiguous dialects from an early age.
Country
The Turrbal people's traditional lands and hunting grounds extended over some and lay around the
Brisbane River
The Brisbane River is the longest river in South East Queensland, Australia, and flows through the city of Brisbane, before emptying into Moreton Bay on the Coral Sea. John Oxley, the first European to explore the river, named it after the G ...
, stretching from the
Cleveland shore area of
Moreton Bay
Moreton Bay is a bay located on the eastern coast of Australia from central Brisbane, Queensland. It is one of Queensland's most important coastal resources. The waters of Moreton Bay are a popular destination for recreational anglers and are ...
, and running inland as far as the
Great Dividing Range about
Gatton; north to near
Esk. The Turrbal mob itself was located specifically in what is now called the
Brisbane CBD
Brisbane City is the central suburb and central business district of Brisbane, the state capital of Queensland, Australia. It is colloquially referred to as the "Brisbane CBD" or "the city". It is located on a point on the northern bank of the ...
, the name for which was Mianjin. Neighbouring Aboriginal nations include the
Gubbi Gubbi and
Wakka Wakka
Wakka Wakka, or Waka Waka, people are an Aboriginal Australian community of the state of Queensland.
Name
"''Wakka''" was assigned the meaning "no" by Western linguists who documented the Wakawaka language. Ethnonyms based on the duplication of ...
to the north, the
Dalla to the northwest and the
Ngugi Ngugi or Ngũgĩ is a name of Kikuyu origin that may refer to:
*Ngugi wa Mirii (1951–2008), Kenyan playwright
*Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o (born 1938), Kenyan writer
*David Mwaniki Ngugi, Kenyan politician and member of the National Assembly of Kenya
* J ...
of
Moreton Island
Moreton Island (Mulgumpin) is an island on the eastern side of Moreton Bay on the coast of South East Queensland, Australia. The Coral Sea lies on the east coast of the island. Moreton Island lies northeast of the Queensland capital, Brisbane. ...
. Despite collective title to a stretch of land, the Turrbal like many tribes permitted private ownership of specific sections of land, down to recognizing personal possession of parts of a river or even of trees and shrubs. Petrie describes the situation in the following words:
Though the land belonged to the whole tribe, the head men often spoke of it as theirs. The tribe in general owned the animals and birds on the ground, also roots and nests, but certain men and women owned different fruit or flower-trees and shrubs. For instance, a man could own a ''bonyi'' ( Araucaria bidwilli) tree, and a woman a ''minti'' ( Banksia amula), ''dulandella'' ( Persoonia Sp.), ''midyim'' ( Myrtus tenuifolia), or ''dakkabin'' ( Xanthorrhoea aborea) tree. Then a man sometimes owned a portion of the river which was a good fishing spot, and no one else could fish there without his permission.
Mythology
In Turrbal thought, the origins of the division of the sexes was attributed to two distinct birds. Menfolk all came from the ''billing'' (a small
house bat). Women in turn had their descent from a ''wamankan'' (
night-hawk). Given their mythic function, they could not be eaten, but capturing and killing them was permitted.
History
The explorer
John Oxley, on first sighting the Turrbal in 1824, called them 'about the
strongest and best-made muscular men I have seen in any country'.
The Turrbal's tracks form the basis of many modern-day roads. Waterworks Road from
Ashgrove is built on a Turrbal track that leads to
Mount Coot-tha. Turrbal people would go to Mount Coot-tha to collect honey (''ku-ta'') from the bees there; it is the place of the honey-bee dreaming. Similarly, Old Northern Road from
Everton Hills is built on a Turrbal track that led to the site of a triennial
Bunya feast in neighboring
Wakka Wakka
Wakka Wakka, or Waka Waka, people are an Aboriginal Australian community of the state of Queensland.
Name
"''Wakka''" was assigned the meaning "no" by Western linguists who documented the Wakawaka language. Ethnonyms based on the duplication of ...
country.
Many suburbs and places in Brisbane have names derived from Turrbal words.
Woolloongabba
Woolloongabba is a suburb in the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the , Woolloongabba had a population of 5,631 people.
Geography
Woolloongabba is located south of the CBD. It contains the Brisbane Cricket Ground ('the Gabba') and ...
is derived from either ''woolloon-capemm'' meaning "whirling water", or from ''woolloon-gabba'' meaning "fight talk place".
Toowong is derived from ''tuwong'', the onomatopoeic name for the
Pacific koel.
Bulimba means "place of the
magpie-lark".
Indooroopilly is derived from either ''nyindurupilli'' meaning "gully of leeches", or from ''yindurupilly'' meaning "gully of running water".
Enoggera is a corruption of the words ''yauar-ngari'' meaning "song and dance".
Hunting and gathering economy
The Turrbal exploited a large range of local species of animals and insects as part of their daily cuisine. These may be divided into sea- and riverine food, mainland victuals, and vegetables.
Vegetables and fruit
* The Turrbal gathered
the pencil yam (''tarm'') from scrub borders, where it was often found almost a metre underground.
* Shoots from the crowns of both (
the cabbage-tree palm (''binkar'')) and
the king palm (''pikki'') served as vegetables.
*
Blechnum serrulatum, a swamp fern called ''bangwal'' was a delicacy found in abundance, and generally consumed as a bread-like sidedish with fish or meat.
a freshwater rush called (''yimbun'') was also harvested and once prepared, tasted like
arrowroot.
* The
Moreton Bay chesnut (''mai''),
a root called ''bundal'' in Turrbal but more widely known as ''cunjevoi'',
Canavalia Obtusifolia beans, (''yugam'') and
zamia nuts, though poisonous, were rendered edible by long soaking after the nuts were cracked. They were then roasted. ''Mai'' was pounded into a cake, (as were ''yugam'' beans, and ''bundal'') and the word was later used to denote European bread. The 1889 book ''The Useful Native Plants of Australia'' records that "The seeds are eaten ... after cooking, as they are poisonous in the raw state. Some shipwrecked sailors in Northwest Australia were poisoned by them."
*
geebung (''dulandella'') was relished and eaten raw, as were two varieties of wild fig, called respectively ''ngoa-nga'' and ''nyuta''.
white myrtle berries (''midyim''), located on sandy islands, like the ''dubbul'' berry, were much sought after as a sweet.
dogwood gum (''denna'') was also highly prized.
* The
breadfruit (''winnam'') was chewed and sucked.
Meats
* A variety of snakes were eaten: the
carpet snake (''kabul''); the
black snake (''tumgu'');
brown snake (''kuralbang'') and
death-adder (''mulunkun'').
* Aside from lizards, two varieties of
goanna
A goanna is any one of several species of lizards of the genus '' Varanus'' found in Australia and Southeast Asia.
Around 70 species of ''Varanus'' are known, 25 of which are found in Australia. This varied group of carnivorous reptiles rang ...
were hunted, the larger one being called ''giwar'', while the smaller variety was named ''barra''. The
echidna
Echidnas (), sometimes known as spiny anteaters, are quill-covered monotremes (egg-laying mammals) belonging to the family Tachyglossidae . The four extant species of echidnas and the platypus are the only living mammals that lay eggs and t ...
(''kagarr''), tortoises (''binkin''), turtle (''bowaiya'') also formed part of their diet.
* Two varieties of kangaroo and possum were hunted, the ''groman'' or old man kangaroo and the ''murri'', and
the forest possum (''kupi'') and scrub possum (''kappolla'').
Koalas (''dumbripi'') were also highly prized.
* The
large black flying squirrel (''panko''), the
small grey squirrel (''chibur''), the
Quoll (''mibur'') were eaten, as was the
flying fox (''gramman'') while the
dingo (''mirri'') was not part of their diet, the pups being taken in order to be domesticated.
* Among the hunted avian species were
the scrub turkey (''wargun''),
the emu (''ngurrun''),
the black swan (''marutchi''),
native ducks (''ngau'u''),
quail ''duwir'', parrots (''pillin'') and
cockatoos (''kaiyar''), the latter highly valued for the yellow topknots (''billa billa'') employed by men as a ceremonial adornment.
They often sought out
goanna
A goanna is any one of several species of lizards of the genus '' Varanus'' found in Australia and Southeast Asia.
Around 70 species of ''Varanus'' are known, 25 of which are found in Australia. This varied group of carnivorous reptiles rang ...
(''magil'') eggs, which could be found near ant nests in soft soil. The Turrbal would occasionally hunt marine animals, such as dugongs (''yangon''), porpoises (''talobilla''), tailor fish (''punba''), and mullet (''andakal'').
Alternative names
''Turubul, Turrubul, Turrubal, Terabul, Torbul, Turibul'' ()
Ngundari may have been a clan group of Turrbal people.
Notable people
*
Maroochy Barambah is one of the elders of the Turrbal people and is an acclaimed performing artist
Notes
Citations
Sources
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{{Authority control
Aboriginal peoples of Queensland
Brisbane