The Karrangpurru are an Aboriginal Australian people of the Northern Territory. They suffered severe population loss very early on in the period of colonial expropriations of their land.
Language and ethnonym
editNothing is known of their language, Karranga, since its many of its speakers were wiped out without any items from it being recorded.[1] They were also known as the Karranga. The form Karrangpurru registered by David Horton[2], is formed from that word and the familiar suffix -purru.[3]
Country
editNorman Tindale completely missed noticing the Karrangpurru.[3] The Karrangpurru lived to the north of the Bilinara [1] and [Victoria River Downs Station] was established both on Bilingara and Karrangpurru lands. It has been argued that with regard succession claims to an area south-east of the Karrangpuru, that the notion of tribal boundaries ignores the fact that Peter Sutton has argued that Dreaming narratives of landscape creation can overlap in different languages spoken by neighbouring peoples.[3][4]
History of contact
editKarrangpurru lands were subsumed into the Victoria River Downs Station when it was established in 1883.[5] A combination of massacres and the impact of diseases introduced by whites penetrating their country effectively decimated the population.[1] A handful of people belonging to one family claim that they have Karrangpurru heritage by descent.[1]
References
edit- ^ a b c d Meakins & Nordlinger 2014, p. 17.
- ^ AIATSIS.
- ^ a b c Sutton 1995, p. 112.
- ^ Rose 1994, pp. 1–11.
- ^ Meakins & Nordlinger 2014, p. 16.
Sources
edit- "C33: Karranga". AIATSIS.
- Meakins, Felicity; Nordlinger, Rachel (2014). A Grammar of Bilinarra: An Australian Aboriginal Language of the Northern Territory. Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 978-1-614-51274-5.
- Rose, Deborah Bird (1994). "Whose Confidentiality, Whose Intellectual property?". In Edmunds, Mary (ed.). Claims to Knowledge, Claims to Country: Native Title Claims and the Role of the Anthropologist. Canberra: The Native Titles Unit, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Straigfht Islander. pp. 1–11. ISBN 0855752793.
- Sutton, Peter (1995). Country: Aboriginal Boundaries and Land Ownership in Australia. Aboriginal History. ISBN 978-0-731-52146-3.
- Tindale, Norman Barnett (1974). "Mutpura (NT)". Aboriginal Tribes of Australia: Their Terrain, Environmental Controls, Distribution, Limits, and Proper Names. Australian National University. ISBN 978-0-708-10741-6. Archived from the original on 20 March 2020.
- Tindale, Norman Barnett (1974). "Bilingara (NT)". Aboriginal Tribes of Australia: Their Terrain, Environmental Controls, Distribution, Limits, and Proper Names. Australian National University. ISBN 978-0-708-10741-6. Archived from the original on 20 March 2020.