Wik peoples

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Wik peoples are an Indigenous Australian group of people from an extensive zone on western Cape York Peninsula in northern Queensland, of several different language groups. They are from the coastal flood plains bounding the Gulf of Carpentaria lying between Pormpuraaw (Edward River) and Weipa, and inland the forested country drained by the Archer, Kendall and Holroyd rivers.

The term Wik comes from languages of this region, and means "language". However, until recently it was not used by Aboriginal people to refer to themselves. The term was used by anthropologists and others for over two decades as a shorthand means of referring to the Aboriginal peoples of this region, and it is now common to hear it used by them to identify themselves as opposed to other Aboriginal people or whites.

The name Wik became virtually a household one in Australia after a landmark native title case of Wik Peoples v Queensland.

An earlier case of Koowarta v Bjelke-Petersen involved a Wik man, John Koowarta, who struggled all his life to start a cattle station against opposition of the Bjelke-Petersen Government.