Girai wurrung
| Regions with significant populations | |
|---|---|
| Languages | |
| Girai Wurrung, English | |
| Religion | |
| Australian Aboriginal mythology, Christianity | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
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Gulidjan, Djargurd Wurrung, Djab Wurrung and Wada wurrung see List of Indigenous Australian group names |
The Girai wurrung (also spelled Kirrae Wuurong) are Indigenous Australian people who traditionally occupied the territory between Mount Emu Creek and the Hopkins River up to Mount Hamilton, and the Western Otways from the Gellibrand River to the Hopkins River.
Language
The Giray language (Girai wurrung meaning literally 'blood lip language')[1] spoke a dialect of the Warnabool language, which belongs to the Kulinic branch of the Pama-Nyungan language family.[2] James Dawson and his daughter Isabella took down extensive vocabulary lists of it and related dialects.[3] A dictionary of the language has been compiled recently.[4]
Country
Girai territory covered some 1,900 sq. miles, extending from Warrnambool and the Hopkins River eastwards to the coastal town of Princetown, and inland as far as Lake Bolac and Darlington; east to beyond Camperdown.[5] The tribes on their borders were, to the north, the Djab wurrung and Wathaurong, to their west were the Dhauwurd wurrung and the Djargurd Wurrung. On their eastern flank were the Gulidjan and Gadubanud.
History
The first white to visit Girai territory was the explorer Edward Eyre.[5] As pastoralists began to penetrate their region and squatter|take up squatting runs for their livestock, the Giray responded by waging a frontier guerilla war to hinder the expropriations.[1] The Framlingham Aboriginal Reserve was established in Girai wurrung territory bordering the Gunditjmara (Dhauwurd wurrung) people.[6]
Clan System
The Girai wurrung people had 21 clans, differing slightly in dialect, with a patriarchal hierarchy and a matrilineally based descent system based on the gabadj (Black Cockatoo) and guragidj (White Cockatoo) moieties.
| No | Clan Name | Approximate Location |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Baradh gundidj | mouth of Curdies River |
| 2 | Badadgil gundidj | Allandale station |
| 3 | Burug gundidj | Mount Shadwell |
| 4 | Duram gundidj | Tooram station |
| 5 | Flat Topped Hill clan | Flat Topped Hill |
| 6 | Garar gundidj | north of Mount Warrnambool |
| 7 | Garngigung gundidj | southwest of Lake Terang |
| 8 | Gilambidj gundidj | Lake Keilambete |
| 9 | Gilidmurar gundidj | Framlingham |
| 10 | Gulag gundidj | Kona Warren and Merrang stations on the Hopkins River |
| 11 | Gular gundidj | southwest of Lake Keilambete |
| 12 | Gun gundidj | between Mount Warrnambool and Terang |
| 13 | Gunawurd gundidj | Lake Connewarren |
| 14 | Gunindarar | The Sisters |
| 15 | Ngalug barar balug | midway between Mount Shadwell and Lake Bolac |
| 16 | Mount Noorat clan | Mount Noorat and Pejerk Marsh |
| 17 | Ngaragurd gundidj | east of Curdies River |
| 18 | Purteet chowel gundidj | southeast of Lake Bolac, including Mount Hamilton |
| 19 | Lake Terang clan | Lake Terang |
| 20 | Warnambul gundidj | Mount Warrnambool |
| 21 | Yelingamadj gundidj | Lake Elingamite |
Norman Tindale said they nwere grouped into 12 hordes, which he lists as follows:
- Manmait
- Dantgurt
- Colongulac.
- Jarcoort.
- Elingamait
- Barrath.
- Warnambu:l (Pertobe)
- Bolaga
- Tooram.
- Narragoort.
- Coonawanee.[5]
The clans gathered with the Djab wurrung, Dhauwurd wurrung and Wada wurrung peoples to harvest eels at Lake Bolac. They also met at Mirraewuae swamp near Hexham to hunt emus and other game and to conduct business.[6]
History
On first sighting a European ship off the coast, the Giray took it for a monster from the deep called Koorung in their traditional law, and fled the area.[1] European settlement of the area began in 1838 and in the early 1840s the Girai wurrung engaged in a sustained guerilla war with the encroaching pastoralists. Dispossession from their land led to starvation and the theft of sheep resulted in murderous reprisals.[6]
Assistant Aboriginal Protector Charles Sievwright was successful in bringing charges against G.S. Bolden for killing 2 Gunawurd gundidj people on 27 October 1841, but Supreme Court Judge Willis acquitted Bolden in December 1841 of the charges and spoke of the right of squatter licencees to turn anyone off their property. This decision was made despite the conditional nature of the squatter's licence by the Government to allow for Aboriginal access for hunting and traditional use.[6]
During 1841 Assistant Protector CW Sievwright set up headquarters at two locations: Lake Keilambete and Lake Terang, but these were only temporary and Sievwright was ordered by Robinson to move to Mount Rouse in February 1842.[6]
When Framlingham Aboriginal Reserve was occupied in 1865 near Warrnambool many of the surviving members of the Girai wurrung joined the reserve along with surviving Djargurd wurrung who were forcibly relocated and Gunditjmara from Warrnambool. Gunditjmara from Portland and Lake Condah refused to settle at Framlingham, leading to the establishment of Lake Condah reserve in 1869.[6]
The historian Ian Clark asserts that from 1868 the history of the Girai wurrung becomes the history of Framlingham.[6]
Alternative names
- Kirrae, Kirawirung Kirraewuurong.
- Manmait.
- Dantgurt, Dautgart.
- Tantgort, Targurt, Dyargurt.
- Jarcoort (This may refer to the horde located at Jancourt*Bolaga/Bolagher (Apparently the name for the horde at Lake Bolac).
- Mount Shadwell tribe.
- Colongulac tribe (This refers to a horde)
- Warntalliin (This is an exonym among tribes to their west meaning 'rough language.
- Ngutuk (meaning 'you').
- Ngutung.[5]
Notes
Citations
- 1 2 3 Clark 1995, p. 125.
- ↑ Dixon 2002, p. xxxv.
- ↑ Blake 2011, p. 12.
- ↑ Krishna-Pillay 1996.
- 1 2 3 4 Tindale 1974.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Clark 1995, pp. 125–133.
References
- Blake, Barry J. (2011). Dialects of Western Kulin, Western Victoria Yartwatjali, Tjapwurrung, Djadjawurrung (PDF). LaTrobe University.
- Clark, Ian D. (1995). Scars in the Landscape: a register of massacre sites in western Victoria, 1803–1859 (PDF). AIATSIS. pp. 169–175. ISBN 0 85575 281 5.
- Dixon, Robert M. W. (2002). Australian Languages: Their Nature and Development. 1. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-47378-1.
- Krishna-Pillay, Sharnthi (1996). A Dictionary of Keerraywoorroong and Related Dialects. Gunditjmara Aboriginal Cooperative. ISBN 978-0-646-28933-5.
- Tindale, Norman Barnett (1974). "Kirrae (VIC)". Aboriginal Tribes of Australia: Their Terrain, Environmental Controls, Distribution, Limits, and Proper Names. Australian National University Press. ISBN 978-0-708-10741-6.