The Wadandi, also spelt Wardandi and other variants, are an Aboriginal people of south-western

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 ...

, one of fourteen language groups of the

Noongar The Noongar (, also spelt Noongah, Nyungar , Nyoongar, Nyoongah, Nyungah, Nyugah, and Yunga ) are Aboriginal Australian people who live in the South West, Western Australia, south-west corner of Western Australia, from Geraldton, Western Aus ...

peoples.

Name

There are at least three theories about the meaning of the tribal

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 ...

. One informant suggested it reflected a word for "crow" (''wardan''), a theory that sits poorly with early word lists that state that the Wardandi word for that bird is ''kwa:kum''. A second view argues for the sense of "seacoast people"; one source in support of this cites a word variously given as ''waatu'' or ''waatern'' with the meaning "the ocean". A third hypothesis has it that the name is derived from the word for "no".

Country

Wadandi traditional country covers an estimated . Predominantly coastal, it encompasses

Busselton Busselton is a city in the South West (Western Australia), South West region of the States and territories of Australia, state of Western Australia approximately south-west of Perth. Busselton has a long history as a popular holiday destin ...

and the areas from Bunbury to

Cape Leeuwin Cape Leeuwin is the most south-westerly (but not most southerly) mainland point of the Australian continent, in the state of Western Australia. Description A few small islands and rocks, the St Alouarn Islands, extend further in Flinders ...

and

Geographe Bay Geographe Bay is in the south-west of Western Australia, around southwest of Perth. The bay was named in May 1801 by French explorer Nicolas Baudin, after his ship, ''Géographe''. It is a wide curve of coastline extending from Cape Natur ...

. Inland it reaches the area around Nannup. They were the sole inhabitants of the area for an estimated 45,000 years before the arrival of British colonial settlers at Augusta in 1830, and are one of fourteen language groups of the Bibbulmun (Noongar) peoples.

Language

The Wadandi people speak a variety of the Doonan and Dwordan dialects continuum known as Wadandi.

Archaeological site

Wadandi

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 ...

guided archaeological researchers to a spot on a granite

outcrop An outcrop or rocky outcrop is a visible exposure of bedrock or ancient superficial deposits on the surface of the Earth and other terrestrial planets. Features Outcrops do not cover the majority of the Earth's land surface because in most p ...

near Flinders Bay in Augusta which was excavated and reported on in 2021, revealing grooves and other signs that people ground stones to make tools here around 9,700 years ago.

Alternative names and spellings

* Waddarndi, Wadarndee, Wardandie, Wardandi * Wadjandi * Belliman * Geographe Bay and Vasse tribe * Bunbury tribe * Kardagur ("between" (the two seas)) * Dardanup (

toponym Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of ''wikt:toponym, 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 ...

) * Dordenup * Dunanwongi (language name) * Doonin * Dornderupwongy * Jabaru ("north" among northern tribes) * Yabaroo * Wadandi * Nghungar (''njunga'' is an eastern tribe word for "man".)

Notes

Citations

Sources

* * * * * * {{Aboriginal peoples of Western Australia Noongar