The Umpithamu, also once known to

ethnographer Ethnography is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. It explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject of the study. Ethnography is also a type of social research that involves examining ...

s as the Koko Ompindamo, are a contemporary Aboriginal Australian people of the 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 ...

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 ...

, transcribing their

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 ...

Umpithamu as Umbindhamu, referred to them as a

horde Horde may refer to: History * Orda (organization), a historic sociopolitical and military structure in steppe nomad cultures such as the Turks and Mongols ** Golden Horde, a Turkic-Mongol state established in the 1240s ** Wings of the Golden Hor ...

of the Barungguan. They are one of several Lamalama peoples.

Language

The Umpithamu language belongs to the Paman subgroup of the

Pama–Nyungan languages The Pama–Nyungan languages () are the most widespread language family, family of Australian Aboriginal languages, containing 306 out of 400 Aboriginal languages in Australia. The name "Pama–Nyungan" is a merism: it is derived from the two e ...

. By the early 2000s, there were only two completely fluent speakers of Umpithamu, one of them being Florrie Bassani. In July 2020, ''A Dictionary of Umpithamu'' was published, compiled by

Flemish Flemish may refer to: * Flemish, adjective for Flanders, Belgium * Flemish region, one of the three regions of Belgium *Flemish Community, one of the three constitutionally defined language communities of Belgium * Flemish dialects, a Dutch dialec ...

linguist Jean-Christophe Verstraete, with main language consultants Florrie Bassani and her niece Joan Liddy.

People and country

The Umpithamu were the southernmost group of the Kawadji or "sandbeach peoples" (in Umpithamu ''ma-yaandhimunu'' or "people who own the sandbeach".), followed in order to their north, by the Yintyingka, the Umpila, the Pontunj (Yankonyu) the Pakadji(Koko Yao) and the Otati(Wuta(h)i). Their territory embraced an estimated on the western coastline of

Princess Charlotte Bay Princess Charlotte Bay is a large bay on the east coast of Far North Queensland at the base of Cape York Peninsula, 350 km north northwest of Cairns. Princess Charlotte Bay is a part of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park and it is a habitat ...

with its northern limits around Cape Sidmouth.

History

For some years in the 1950s a cattle station owner in Umpithamu territory had been complaining of the presence of this Aboriginal people on his grazing lands, and after successful lobbying, he managed to have them removed in 1961. The Umpithamu were deported, reportedly by a ruse that deceived them, by the local police from their home country around Port Stewart to the

Aboriginal reserve An Aboriginal reserve, also called simply reserve, was a government-sanctioned settlement for Aboriginal Australians, created under various state and federal legislation. Along with missions and other institutions, they were used from the 19th ...

near

Bamaga Bamaga ( , ) is an Indigneous town and locality about from the northern tip of Cape York in the north of Queensland, Australia. It is within the Northern Peninsula Area Region. It is one of the northernmost settlements in continental Australi ...

, to their north. After decades they eventually managed to return south, to Coen, a mere from their tribal centre. Since then they have managed to set up three outstations in the Port Stewart area. They form one of the several peoples composing the Lama Lama people.

Alternative names

* Baka (Kaantjuu term) * Banjigam (Bakanambia term) * Barungguan * Ganganda * Njindingga * Umbuigamu/Umbindhamu * Yintjingga (native name of a place at mouth of Stewart River) Source:

Notes

Citations

Sources

* * * * {{authority control Aboriginal peoples of Queensland