Baanbay

The Banbai are an Indigenous Australian people of New South Wales.

Language

Baanbai, which R. H. Mathews had treated as a distinct language, appears on closer analysis, according to W. G. Hoddinott, to have been a dialect of Gumbaiŋgar. if not indeed almost identical to the language spoken by that tribe.

Country

The Banbai were a Northern Tablelands tribe whose lands are estimated by Norman Tindale to have covered some 2,300 square miles (6,000 km²), taking in Ben Lomond, Glencoe, Marowan, Mount Mitchell, and Kookabookra. They were also present along the Boyd River valley.

People

The Banbai appear to be closely related, as an inland people, to the coastal Gumbaynggirr.

Alternative names

• Ahnbi
• Bahnbi
• Dandi

Source: Tindale 1974, p. 191

Some words

• bodyerra (boy)
• dillanggan (girl)
• ginggēr (kangaroo)
• wandyi. (dog)

Source: Hoddinott 1967, p. 58

Sources

• Hoddinott, W. G. (September 1967). "The BA:NBAI Language of Northern New South Wales". Oceania. 38 (1): 56–60. doi:10.1002/j.1834-4461.1967.tb00935.x. JSTOR 40329645.
• MacPherson, J. (1904). "Ngarrabul and other aboriginal tribes: distribution of tribes". Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales. 29: 677–684. doi:10.5962/bhl.part.20175.
• Mathews, R. H. (1903). "Languages of the New England aborigines". Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society. 42: 249–263.
• Radcliffe-Brown, A. R. (1918). "Notes on the social organization of Australian tribes". Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute. 48: 222–253.
• Radcliffe-Brown, A. R. (April 1930). "The Social Organization of Australian Tribes". Oceania. 1 (1): 34–63. doi:10.1002/j.1834-4461.1930.tb00003.x. JSTOR 40373034.
• Radcliffe-Brown, A. R. (July 1930). "The Social Organization of Australian Tribes. Part II". Oceania. 1 (2): 206–246. doi:10.1002/j.1834-4461.1930.tb01645.x. JSTOR 40327321.
• Radcliffe-Brown, A. R. (October–December 1930). "The Social Organization of Australian Tribes Part II (Continued)". Oceania. 1 (3): 322–341. doi:10.1002/j.1834-4461.1930.tb01652.x. JSTOR 40327330.
• Radcliffe-Brown, A. R. (January–March 1931). "The Social Organization of Australian Tribes: Part III". Oceania. 1 (4): 426–456. doi:10.1002/j.1834-4461.1931.tb00015.x. JSTOR 40327343.
• Tindale, Norman Barnett (1974). "Banbai (NSW)". Aboriginal Tribes of Australia: Their Terrain, Environmental Controls, Distribution, Limits, and Proper Names. Australian National University.