Irukandji
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The Irukandji are an indigenous Australian people from the coastal strip from Cairns, Queensland (at Redlynch) to Port Douglas, Queensland (Mowbray River) and by the mouth of the Barron River.
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[edit] Survival
It is thought that the word "Irukandji" means "from the north" but in the Mamu language it means "east". They resided in the Cairns lowlands rainforests and were seafarers.
The Irukandji lived in units of married couples with their children and older relatives. At night, they would reside on the sand dunes of the beach lighting fires to keep mosquitoes away and in the wet season, they would live in semi-permanent huts comprised from loya cane, palm fronds and paperbark.
They were a hunter-gatherer society. Men would hunt and fish and women would gather and prepare food. Women would also be the predominant carers of the children. The Irukandji sought food from waterways (creeks, rivers, coast and sea) such as fish, eels, turtles,oysters and crustaceans. The Irukandji also hunted animals in their region such as wallabies, bandicoots, scrub pythons, lizards, flying foxes, cassowaries, and other birds. Fruits and vegetables that were gathered were yam, figs, plums and nuts and berries. They would also eat toxic items from the rainforest that would be treated and prepared.
At the end of the dry season, they would burn off vegetation to encourage regrowth.
Annually, they would meet with their neighbouring groups at what is known as Palm Cove for trading, feasting and to undertake initiation ceremonies. They also undertook marriages and the settlement of problems. Trading goods would consist of nautilus shell necklaces, dilly baskets, swords and shields.
[edit] Irukandji Dreaming
They believed that their landscape was created by Gudjugudjum, a Rainbow Serpent. Gudjugudju then went to sleep curled up at Wangal Djungay (Double Island).
[edit] History
In 1897 it thought that only six persons of this group existed and documented. By 1952, their existence almost faded such that the nearby Djabugay considered their land as their own. Many of the group were placed in mission stations but many continue to live in the vicinity of Cairns and Yarrabah.
The Irukandji are also know as: Yirrganydji, Irakanji, Yirkandji, Yirkanji, Yirgay, Yettkie (misreading of Yerrkie), Illagona, Wongulli (camp name, south of Cairns), Dungara (horde name on Lower Barron River), Tingaree, Dungarah, Dingal.
[edit] Reference
Norman B. Tindale, Aboriginal Tribes of Australia: Their Terrain, Environmental Controls, Distribution, Limits and Proper Names, University of California Press, 1974, ISBN 0-520-02005-7.
