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Turrbal

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Turrbal are an Aboriginal Australian people from the area now known as Brisbane. The boundaries of their traditional territory are unclear and linguists are divided over whether they spoke a separate language or a dialect of the Yuggera language.[1][2] The Turrbal/Yuggera toponym for the central Brisbane area is Meanjin.[3][a]

Name

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The ethnonym Turrbal is an exonym which is thought to derive from the root turr/dhur (bora ring) and -bal, signifying "those who say turr or dhur for a bora ring", rather than using the other tribe's customary term bool. It was the toponym used in 1841 by native guides from Nundah who led the group of German Lutheran missionaries to the Ningy Ningy at what became Toorbul Point, in the area where they established the Zion Hill Mission.[4]

Language

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Turrbal is considered either a dialect of the Yuggera language,[2] or a separate language, one of five subgroups of the Durubalic branch of the Pama-Nyungan languages.[1] Tom Petrie, son of one of the founding families of the Brisbane area settlements, mixed freely with the Turrbal, and mastered the language and the contiguous dialects from an early age.[5] He stated that Turrbal was spoken from Gold Creek and Moggill, north as far as North Pine, and south to the Logan River.[6] Connors, however, states that the Yaggera (Yuggera) language group spread south of the Brisbane River from the Brisbane River Valley to the present South Bank almost to Morton Bay.[7]

Meanjin (also Meeanjin, Mianjin) is a Turrbal/Yuggera word whose various etymologies suggest a meaning of "spike place" or "tulip wood".[b] It was used for the area now covered by Gardens Point and the Brisbane central business district.[8][9] The Turrbal called the early Brisbane settlement "Umpi Korrumba" meaning "many houses".[10]

Country

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The Turrbal people's traditional lands lay around the Brisbane River. Tom Petrie stated that their land coincided with the territorial range of their language.[6] Ford and Blake, however, state that the Turrbal and Jagera were distinct peoples, the Jagera generally living south of the Brisbane river and the Turrbal mostly living north.[11] The group comprised a number of family clans, such as the Ngundari.[12] Neighbouring Aboriginal peoples include the Gubbi Gubbi and Wakka Wakka to the north, the Dalla to the northwest and the Quandamooka of Moreton Bay.[13]

At the time of European settlement, the Turrbal comprised local groups each of which had a "head man" and a specific territory.[14] The European names for the locality groups, sometimes called clans, of the Brisbane area include the Duke of York's clan, the North Pine (or Petrie), the Coorpooroo, Chepara, Yerongpan and others.[15][16]

Despite collective title to a stretch of land, the Turrbal permitted private ownership of specific sections of land. Petrie states:

Though the land belonged to the whole tribe, the head men often spoke of it as theirs. The tribe in general owned the animals and birds on the ground, also roots and nests, but certain men and women owned different fruit or flower-trees and shrubs. For instance, a man could own a bonyi (Araucaria bidwilli) tree, and a woman a minti (Banksia amula), dulandella (Persoonia Sp.), midyim (Myrtus tenuifolia), or dakkabin (Xanthorrhoea aborea) tree. Then a man sometimes owned a portion of the river which was a good fishing spot, and no one else could fish there without his permission.[17]

Mythology

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In Turrbal thought, the origins of the division of the sexes was attributed to two nocturnal flying creatures. Menfolk all came from the billing (a small house bat). Women in turn had their descent from a wamankan (night-hawk). Given their mythic function, they could not be eaten, but capturing and killing them was permitted.[18][c]

History

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The explorer John Oxley, on first sighting the Turrbal in 1824, called them "about the strongest and best-made muscular men I have seen in any country".[19]

The Turrbal's tracks form the basis of many modern-day roads. Waterworks Road from Ashgrove is built on a Turrbal track that leads to Mount Coot-tha. Turrbal people would go to Mount Coot-tha to collect honey (ku-ta) from the bees there; it is the place of the honey-bee dreaming.[20] Similarly, Old Northern Road from Everton Hills is built on a Turrbal track that led to the site of a triennial Bunya feast in neighboring Wakka Wakka country.[citation needed]

Many suburbs and places in Brisbane have names derived from Turrbal/Yuggera words. Woolloongabba is derived from either woolloon-capemm meaning "whirling water", or from woolloon-gabba meaning "fight talk place".[21] Toowong is derived from tuwong, the onomatopoeic name for the Pacific koel.[22] Bulimba means "place of the magpie-lark".[22] Indooroopilly is derived from either nyindurupilli meaning "gully of leeches", or from yindurupilly meaning "gully of running water".[22] Enoggera is a corruption of the words yauar-ngari meaning "song and dance".[22]

Hunting and gathering economy

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The Turrbal exploited a large range of local species of animals and insects as part of their daily cuisine. These may be divided into sea- and riverine food, mainland victuals, and vegetables.

Vegetables and fruit

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Meats

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They often sought out goanna (magil) eggs, which could be found near ant nests in soft soil. The Turrbal would occasionally hunt marine animals, such as dugongs (yangon), porpoises (talobilla), tailor fish (punba), and mullet (andakal).[36]

Alternative names

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Turubul, Turrubul, Turrubal, Terabul, Torbul, Turibul.[37]

Native title

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Descendants of both the Turrbal and the Jagera (Yugara) consider themselves traditional custodians of the land over which much of Brisbane is built. Native claim applications were lodged respectively by the Turrbal in 1998 and the Jagera in 2011, and the two separate claims were combined in 2013. In January 2015, Justice Christopher Jessup for the Federal Court of Australia, in Sandy on behalf of the Yugara People v State of Queensland (No 2), rejected the claims on the basis that under traditional law, which was now lacking, none of the claimants would be considered to have such a land right.[38][39] The decision was appealed before the full bench of the Federal Court, which on 25 July 2017 rejected both appeals, confirming the 2015 decision that native title does not exist in the greater Brisbane area.[40]

Notable people

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  • Daki-Yakka: Daki-Yakka was a leader who succeeded Toorbal, and whom white settlers called "the Duke of York". This nickname survived in the place-name for their camping site, "York's Hollow". The indigenous name for the location was Barrambin and it is now covered by Victoria Park and the Exhibition Ground.[41][42]
  • Kulkarawa. A young Turrbal woman who was taken from the tribe by an Indian escapee convict. The two survived the capsizing of a stolen boat, and landed up at Noosa Heads where they were looked after by the local tribe. The convict tired of life in the bush and returned to Brisbane, where the Turrbal killed him for taking one of their women without consent. Kulkarawa composed a song expressing her nostalgia for her clan and earlier life, which became popular when it was sung, to a special dance, at a bunya corroboree. She was eventually reunited with her family at Barranbin.[43]
  • Maroochy Barambah is one of the elders of the Turrbal people and is an acclaimed performing artist[44]

See also

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Notes

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  1. ^ Tom Petrie, who was fluent in the Turrbal language from his early youth, stated that "Meanjin" (Meeanujin) referred specifically to the area of "Garden Point from the bridge round to Creek-street, taking in the settlement." (Petrie 1901, p. 7)
  2. ^ "The original name of Brisbane can be traced back to just two phonetic versions of the one name." The transcription variations range from Makandschin, Megandsin (exonym) Miantjun, Mientjin., Magoo-jin, Magandjin(from magan, tulipwood). The suggestion that it refers to a spike (migan) would allow various meanings such as "the shape of the point, ground being dug up, and weaponry". The (d)jin suffix marks a plural (of "place, district, river".) (Charlton 2023)
  3. ^ Among the natives of Burnett, Mary and Dawson rivers, the common bat, deering, was the friend of all the men, while a small owl or night hawk, boorookapkap, was the friend of the women. T. Petrie reports that the blacks of Brisbane river believe that the bat, there called billing, made all their menfolk, and that the wamankan, or night hawk, made the women. In 1834, Rev L. E. Threlkeld reported that the tribe at Lake Macquarie, New South Wales, had a belief that a certain small bird was the first maker of women, and that the bat was venerated on the same grounds by the men. J. Dawson in 1881, describing the customs and beliefs of the Aborigines of western Victoria, states that the common bat belongs to the men, and the fern owl to the women (Mathews 1910, p. 47).
  4. ^ the word lies behind the Queensland toponym, Caboolture, "place of many carpet snakes" (Petrie & Petrie 1904, p. 80)
  5. ^ Tortoises were associated with an area of Brisbane, now called New Farm and formerly called binkinba (place of the land tortoise) (Petrie & Petrie 1904, p. 82)

Citations

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  1. ^ a b Bowern 2013, pp. lviii, lxxxiv.
  2. ^ a b Dixon 2002, p. xxxiv.
  3. ^ Charlton 2023.
  4. ^ Steele 2015, p. 165.
  5. ^ Hall 1974.
  6. ^ a b Petrie & Petrie 1904, pp. 4–5.
  7. ^ Connors 2015, p. 5.
  8. ^ Steele 2015, pp. 122, 129.
  9. ^ Petrie & Petrie 1904, pp. 315–319.
  10. ^ Steele 2015, pp. 123–124.
  11. ^ Ford & Blake 1998, p. 11.
  12. ^ de Vries & de Vries 2012, p. 10.
  13. ^ Ford & Blake 1998, pp. 11, 35.
  14. ^ Watson 1944, pp. 4–5.
  15. ^ Steele 2015, p. 121.
  16. ^ Crump 2015.
  17. ^ Petrie & Petrie 1904, p. 117.
  18. ^ Petrie & Petrie 1904, p. 62.
  19. ^ Evans 1992, p. 12.
  20. ^ Turrbal Association 1998.
  21. ^ ourbrisbane.com.
  22. ^ a b c d Watson 1944, p. 105.
  23. ^ a b Petrie & Petrie 1904, p. 93.
  24. ^ Petrie & Petrie 1904, p. 92.
  25. ^ Petrie & Petrie 1904, pp. 92–93.
  26. ^ Maiden 1889.
  27. ^ Petrie & Petrie 1904, pp. 93–94.
  28. ^ Petrie & Petrie 1904, p. 94.
  29. ^ a b Petrie & Petrie 1904, p. 81.
  30. ^ Petrie & Petrie 1904, pp. 82–83.
  31. ^ Petrie & Petrie 1904, p. 85.
  32. ^ Petrie & Petrie 1904, p. 86.
  33. ^ Petrie & Petrie 1904, p. 88.
  34. ^ Petrie & Petrie 1904, pp. 88–89.
  35. ^ Petrie & Petrie 1904, pp. 90–92.
  36. ^ Petrie & Petrie 1904, pp. 65–90.
  37. ^ Tindale 1974, p. 169.
  38. ^ Riga 2015.
  39. ^ Sandy 2015.
  40. ^ Carseldine 2017.
  41. ^ Petrie & Petrie 1904, p. 35.
  42. ^ Fisher 2009, p. 97.
  43. ^ Petrie & Petrie 1904, pp. 26–27.
  44. ^ Maroochy Barambah 2019.

Sources

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Further reading

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