Warrongo people

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The Warruŋu, also known as the Warungu/Warrongo, were an Indigenous Australian people of the northern Queensland rainforest areas south of Cairns.

Language[edit]

The Warrongo language, extinct since the death of the last speaker Alf Palmer in 1981, is classified as a member of the Maric branch of the Pama–Nyungan languages. Tsunoda Tasaku made a claim for Warungu having 'the strongest syntactic ergativity' of all the world's languages.[1] The claim has been challenged by Robert M. W. Dixon who believes that the conversational material on which it is based is vitiated by confusions in the informant.[2]

Country[edit]

Mount Garnet marks their northern border.[3] From there their territory extended southeast along the Herbert River.[4]

Society[edit]

The Warrongo bore close linguistic and cultural affinities with the Gudjal and Gugu Badhun peoples, all three occupying the Herbert and Upper Burdekin rivers.[5] Like other contiguous groups of this area, the Warrango divided their members into 4 'skin' sections.

  • gorgorro (polite form:goynba). Totem =carpet snake(gabol)/sparrowhawk (garrgay)
  • gorgilla (polite form:woragaja) Totem=crow (wajagan)/eaglehawk (gorrijala)
  • won.go (polite form:wolmirri) Totem=echnidna (barrbira)/dove (?gorraga)
  • wojorro (polite formn:yawonya) Totem=eagelhawk/Carpet snake/emu (gondolo)[a]

History of contact[edit]

Tin was discovered in the vicinity of Warrongo territory,[b] in the Wild river area in 1880. John Atherton's Cashmere station, and the Gunnawarra station, were established on their territory in the mid 1870s.[3] The surging influx of miners led to many clashes and massacres. At Blencoe Falls, a group of Warrongo were driven off the cliffs to plunge into the gorge.[7] Very little knowledge survived of these people.[8]

Last speakers[edit]

  • Alf Palmer, boat-builder, who also knew Jirrbal, Girramay, and Warrgamay.[9] His mother Lucy was one of the people pushed into the gorge to drown at Blencoe Falls.[7]

Some words[edit]

  • warrngu (woman).[10]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ These are the male terms. Women of the same groups are referred to by applying a female suffix[6]
  2. ^ It is not quite clear whether this was Warrongo or Ngaygungu territory

Citations[edit]

  1. ^ Tsunoda 1974.
  2. ^ Dixon 1994, p. 180.
  3. ^ a b Tsunoda 2012, p. 38.
  4. ^ Sutton 1973, p. 14.
  5. ^ Menghetti 1984, p. 4.
  6. ^ Tsunoda 2012, pp. 25–26.
  7. ^ a b Tsunoda 2012, p. 39.
  8. ^ Tindale 1974, p. 188.
  9. ^ Dixon 2011, p. 112.
  10. ^ Dixon 2011, p. 113.

Sources[edit]

  • Dixon, R. M. W. (1972). The Dyirbal Language of North Queensland. Cambridge University Press. p. 339. ISBN 978-0-521-08510-6.
  • Dixon, R. M. W. (1994). Ergativity. Cambridge University Press. p. 180. ISBN 978-0-521-44898-7.
  • Dixon, R. M. W. (2011). Searching for Aboriginal Languages: Memoirs of a Field Worker. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-108-02504-1.
  • Menghetti, Diane (1984). Charters Towers (PDF) (Ph.D. thesis). James Cook University.
  • Sutton, Peter (1973). Gugu-Badhun and its neighbours: A Linguistic Salvage Study (PDF). Macquarie University MA Thesis. ISBN 978-0-521-59971-9.
  • Tindale, Norman Barnett (1974). "Warungu (QLD)". Aboriginal Tribes of Australia: Their Terrain, Environmental Controls, Distribution, Limits, and Proper Names. Australian National University.
  • Tsunoda, Tasaku (1974). A grammar of the Warungu language, North Queensland (M.A. thesis). Monash University.
  • Tsunoda, Tasaku (2012). A Grammar of Worrongo. Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 978-3-110-23877-8.
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