Irukandji
Encyclopedia
The Yirrganydji people (aka Irukandji) are a group of Australian Aborigines
who are the Traditional Owners and original custodians of a narrow coastal strip within Djabugay country that runs northwards from Cairns, Queensland
to Port Douglas (Mowbray River), Queensland.
The Yirrganydji people were, until relatively recently, regarded as seafarers who shared in common, descent from predecessors who once all spoke Yirrgay (which to early linguists noted as a dialect of the Djabugay language
), and were particularly associated with the coastal strip, river mouths, islands, and seas along the coast between the Cairns Trinity Inlet and Port Douglas.
Yerkanji [Roth 1910]
Irukandji [Tindale 1938]
Yirkandyi [McConnel 1939]
Yirkandja [Connolly 1984]
Yettkie [Parry-Okeden 1897]
Yirkai [Roth 1910]
Yerki [Gribble 1932]
Yirrganydji sea country extended east into the Great Barrier Reef with connections to reefs between Green Island and Low Isles. Some of the reefs include:
Alexandra reef [Mowbray], Wentworth reef [Mowbray], Egmont reef [Mowbray], Korea reef [Yule Point], Garioch reef [White cliffs], and Unit reef [Wanghetti].
Upolu Cay, Paradise Reef, Oyster Reef, Vlasoff Reef, Hastings Reef, Michaelmas Cay/Reef, Jorgensen Patch, Saxon Reef, Fin Reef, Hope Reef, Nicholas Reef, Onyx Reef, Spur Reef, Satellite Reef, Norman Reef, Batt Reef, Tongue Reef, and Opal Reef.
Norman Tindale
's (1974) Catalogue of Australian Aborignal tribes identifies Yirrganydji (aka Irukandji) country as follows:
According to various elders of the Yirrganydji people:
Fires were very important to all Aboriginal people of Australia. To the Yirrganydji, the Piri [fire] was used for cooking food, preparing medicines or artefacts, keeping warm, and chasing away the mosquitoes and sand flies. Fires were usually made close to the entrance of a shelter.
The Yirrganydji were a hunter-gatherer society. They would move about from place to place within their traditional country following the seasons and food resources. Men would hunt for the large game and fish, while the women would gather and prepare the plant foods. Women would also be the predominant caretakers of the children.
The Yirrganydji people sought food from waterways (creeks
, river
s, coast
and sea
) such as Kuyu (fish
), Nyingkarra / Kuykal (eel
s), Ngawuyu / Patyikal (turtle
s), Tyala (oyster
s) and Kanytyil / Tyunparra (crustacean
s).
The Yirrganydji people also hunted animals in their region such as Tulpil (wallabies
), Tyuntyurru (bandicoot
)s, Puta: tyi (scrub pythons), Kanyal / Ngunal / Patya Patya (lizards), Kukiny (flying foxes), Punta: rra (cassowaries
), and other Tyarruy (bird
s).
Ma: (Fruit
s and vegetable
s) that were gathered were: Karu: / Tanti (yam
), Ngalka (fig
s), Munumpa / Wakatay (plum
s) and Ngapala / Kurrntu (nut
s) and (berries). They would also treat and prepare toxic items such as Mutala (Orange mangrove fruit), Tanykatcha (Grey Mangrove fruit), Yiwurra (Black bean
), and Patil (Cycad nut), from the rainforest, coastal plains and mangroves to add to their diet.
Fire burn offs were an important part of the annual life cycle and were performed at various times of the year. They were a way on managing the country, cleansing and encouraging regrowth as well as attracting food resources back to the country. It also lowers the risk of a major Tawaray [bush fire] which could be devastating to both the country and people. Fires were usually carried out during the Kurraminya [dry season] from April to October. From October through to March was a dangerous time for fire burn offs with the exception of a small burn off before the onset of the Kurrapana [wet season].
Annually, they would meet with their neighbouring groups at various sites along the coast. They would fight, trade, feast, celebrate, and sometimes intermarry. Some of the meeting sites include: Tyirri: wantay [White Rock], Tyakal [Palm Cove], and Tyapulkanytyi [Port Douglas]. Some meetings were only for special occasions such as the initiation ceremony for male members of the tribe.
The trading of goods between tribes would consist of Miya Miya / Milka (nautilus
shell
necklace
s), Yimpi (Dilly baskets), Wakuy (sword
s) and Matyay (shield
s). Regular trades were made between the Yirrganydji and neighbouring tribal groups of the Djabugay, Yidinyji, Gunggandji, Kuku Yalanji, and Kuku Muluridji.
The Barron and Port Douglas areas exported hour glass pattern dilly bags, round based dilly bags, beeswax necklaces, straight shell shafted spear throwers, a variety of bamboo spears, square cut nautilus shell necklaces and cockatoo top knot head dresses.
They imported Bent spear throwers, swords and shields from Cape Grafton...
(Jones 1976:294)
John Gribble, the founder of Yarrabah mission in 1892. In his 1891 diary journal, he records the tribe on the Lower Barron River:
Yil-gun-gee
Barron Tribe
Dialect of Cha. boo.gi
[Gribble 1891:7]
Walter Roth [1910]
Walter Roth, Protector of the Aborigines, visited the Yarrabah Mission and Cairns District during 1890-1910. He produced a number of bulletins on Ethnography on the Aboriginal tribes of Australia, which were later re-published in his 1984 book, “The Queensland Aborigines – Volume 3”. In this book, Roth observes the aboriginal tribes of the Cairns District:
“For purposes of trade and barter it may be said that the Cairns, and until recent years, the Cape Grafton Blacks travel along the coast-line between Port Douglas and the Mulgrave River; The Barron River Natives wander up the coast as far as Port Douglas and inland to Kuranda and Mareeba; the Russell River boys ‘walk about’ to the Pyramid Mountain, the Mulgrave and Johnstone Rivers and Cairns…"
[Roth Vol. III, Bulletin No. 14. 1984:18]
Ernest Gribble [1897; 1932]
Ernest Gribble, the son of John Gribble, took in charge of the Yarrabah Mission in the 1900s. In his 1897 article, E.R. Gribble completed a paper on ‘Class systems’ to the Australian Anthropological Journal. He mentions three aboriginal tribes:
Goonganji of Cape Grafton
Myarah of Mulgrave River
Dungara of the Lower Barron River
[Gribble 1897:2]
Ernest Gribble later released a book in 1933, “A Despised Race – The Vanishing Aboriginals of Australia”, which observes 'The Natives around Cairns':
‘Goonganji’ and spoke ‘Goongi’. The tribe on the lower Barron River was called ‘Yerkanji’ and spoke ‘Yerki’. On the upper Barron dwelt the ‘Narkalinji’ speaking ‘Narkali'. The tribe on the Mulgrave, a large and powerful tribe, much feared by all the others, was called ‘Yetinji’ and spoke ‘Yeti’.
[Gribble 1933:143]
Ursula McConnel [1935, 1939-40]
Ursula McConnel, one of the earliest anthropologists made an article called ‘Social Organisation of the Tribes of Cape York Peninsula’ in 1939-40. McConnel states the Aboriginal groups in the Cairns Region:
South of Port Douglas is another group – the indyi or andyi tribes of Mowbray, Barron and Mulgrave Rivers, surveyed originally by Roth and later by me in 1931. On the Mowbray River are the Tyabogai-tyanyi, a branch of whom on the Barron River are known as the Nyakali. On the south side of the Barron River are the Bulwandyi; low down on the Barron River are the Yirkandyi…
[McConnel 1939:67]
Norman Tindale
[1938-39, 1940]
The results of Norman Tindale and Joseph Birdell's Harvard-Adelaide Universities Anthropological Expedition in 1938-39 shows the distribution of Australian Aboriginal Tribes in 1940. The listing for Irukandji [Yirrganydji] is as follows:
Irukandji - narrow coastal strip from Cairns to Port Douglas (Mowbray River); on tidal waters of Barron River at Redlynch...
[Tindale 1940:158]
In April 1955, Norman Tindale writes a letter called, 'Aboriginal Tribes about Cairns' and was sent to Dr Hugo Flecker, president of the North Queensland Naturalist. On the letter it states:
According to our information, the Irukandji lived along the coast at Cairns, while the Tjapukai lived up the Barron River, coming only as far as Redlynch during times of ceremonies...In 1937, I spoke to all the old remaining old men and obtained detailed information which I think can be relied upon...
[Tindale 1955:71]
Douglas Seaton [1957]
In 1957, Douglas Seaton produced another article on the 1st September to the North Queensland Naturalist called “The Initiation Ceremony of the Tjapukai Tribe”. In this article, Seaton also mentions the Yirkandji tribe:
The leaders of the Yirkandji [Cairns area] used to travel up the Barron River by canoe to the place of initiation, which was a pool of the Barron...
[Seaton No. 118, 1957:6-7]
P.C. Griffin [1968]
P.C. Griffin, contracted by the A.I.A.T.S.I.S. Library, Canberra, to visit the Yarrabah Mission and record the Aboriginal culture and language of that area. In his 1968 book, "Yarraburra, Myths, Legends and Rock Paintings of the Yarrabah Aboriginal Reserve", Griffin records:
At the head of Trinity Inlet were the Yedtinji tribe...their language Yeti...Other neighbours in Trinity Inlet spoke the language Jabugai; and the area at the mouth of the Barron River was occupied by the Yerkanji people.
[Griffin 1968:3]
Daniel Connolly [1984]
Daniel Connolly recalls about the early days in the Mowbray River Valley when his family [Connolly] and the Reynolds' family settled in the early 1900s. In his 1984 book, "Chronicles of Mowbray and Port Douglas and the pioneering saga of the Reynolds and Connolly families: an historic record", Connolly recalls:
When Grannie [Reynolds]'s family settled in the Mowbray Valley there was no trouble whatever with the Chabbuki tribe. Another tribe of aboriginals camped at White Cliffs, reportedly a very ferocious tribe, was the Yirkandja tribe, who roamed as far as Spring Creek.
[Connolly 1984:45]
Note: Breastplates were a symbol of peace between the Early Settlers and the Aboriginal groups. All throughout Australia, Aboriginal Breast plate holders were regarded as 'Kings' or 'Leaders' of their respected group. However, in some circumstances, the holders were simply just elders and chosen as a spokesperson for their group.
King Billy Jagar later died in 1930 in his Gunyah/Payu [traditional shelter hut] on the Cairns Esplanade at the age of 60. It is recorded by the Cairns Post, 11 March 1930. Jagar was born in the 1860s on the southern side of the Barron River, before the establishment of Cairns in 1876.
Australian Aborigines
Australian Aborigines , also called Aboriginal Australians, from the latin ab originem , are people who are indigenous to most of the Australian continentthat is, to mainland Australia and the island of Tasmania...
who are the Traditional Owners and original custodians of a narrow coastal strip within Djabugay country that runs northwards from Cairns, Queensland
Cairns, Queensland
Cairns is a regional city in Far North Queensland, Australia, founded 1876. The city was named after William Wellington Cairns, then-current Governor of Queensland. It was formed to serve miners heading for the Hodgkinson River goldfield, but experienced a decline when an easier route was...
to Port Douglas (Mowbray River), Queensland.
The Yirrganydji people were, until relatively recently, regarded as seafarers who shared in common, descent from predecessors who once all spoke Yirrgay (which to early linguists noted as a dialect of the Djabugay language
Djabugay language
Djabugay is a nearly extinct Australian Aboriginal language once spoken by Djabugay people.-Names:Names for this language and/or some of its dialects include:...
), and were particularly associated with the coastal strip, river mouths, islands, and seas along the coast between the Cairns Trinity Inlet and Port Douglas.
Alternative Names for Yirrganydji
Yil-gun-gee [Gribble 1891]Yerkanji [Roth 1910]
Irukandji [Tindale 1938]
Yirkandyi [McConnel 1939]
Yirkandja [Connolly 1984]
Yettkie [Parry-Okeden 1897]
Yirkai [Roth 1910]
Yerki [Gribble 1932]
Country
Yirrganydji country extended along the coastal strip, south to the Cairns Trinity Inlet and Woree [including Cairns and Mt. Whitfield]; and went north to the Port Douglas District including offshore islands such as Admiralty Island, Double Island, Haycock Island and Low Isles. Yirrganydji territory also extended west to Freshwater Creek and Kamerunga on the Barron River, Spring Creek on the Mowbray River and at certain spots along the Lamb, Macalister, Rifle and Cassowary Ranges.Yirrganydji sea country extended east into the Great Barrier Reef with connections to reefs between Green Island and Low Isles. Some of the reefs include:
Alexandra reef [Mowbray], Wentworth reef [Mowbray], Egmont reef [Mowbray], Korea reef [Yule Point], Garioch reef [White cliffs], and Unit reef [Wanghetti].
Upolu Cay, Paradise Reef, Oyster Reef, Vlasoff Reef, Hastings Reef, Michaelmas Cay/Reef, Jorgensen Patch, Saxon Reef, Fin Reef, Hope Reef, Nicholas Reef, Onyx Reef, Spur Reef, Satellite Reef, Norman Reef, Batt Reef, Tongue Reef, and Opal Reef.
Norman Tindale
Norman Tindale
Norman Barnett Tindale was an Australian anthropologist, archaeologist and entomologist. Born in Perth, his family moved to Tokyo from 1907 to 1915, where his father worked as an accountant at the Salvation Army mission in Japan. Soon after returning to Australia, Tindale got a job at the South...
's (1974) Catalogue of Australian Aborignal tribes identifies Yirrganydji (aka Irukandji) country as follows:
"Narrow coastal strip from CairnsCairns, QueenslandCairns is a regional city in Far North Queensland, Australia, founded 1876. The city was named after William Wellington Cairns, then-current Governor of Queensland. It was formed to serve miners heading for the Hodgkinson River goldfield, but experienced a decline when an easier route was...
to Port DouglasPort Douglas, QueenslandPort Douglas is a town in Far North Queensland, Australia, approximately north of Cairns. Its permanent population was 948 residents in 2006. The town's population can often double, however, with the influx of tourists during the peak tourism season May–September. The town is named in honour of...
(Mowbray River) and on the tidal waters of the Barron RiverBarron River (Queensland)The Barron River is located on the Atherton Tableland inland from Cairns in Northern Queensland, Australia. With its headwater at Lake Tinaroo, it is more than 165 km long and has a catchment area of approximately 2138 km².-History:...
at Redlynch."
According to various elders of the Yirrganydji people:
"Yirrganydji country went as far as Woree to the foot hills of Punta Mara Kunytyi [Mt. Sheridan]. As you go south to the White Rock area, you are now entering the country of the Yidinyji people. Any Yirrganydji and Djabugay crossing Pana Kiti: rri [Skeleton Creek] were in risk of getting speared. You have to sing a special song when crossing that creek. There is a meeting site there on the southern banks of Skeleton Creek we call Tyirri: wantay or Kirapa. Tribes came from everywhere to meet here."
"Yirrganydji country went north to Tyapulkanytyi [Port Douglas]. Yirrganydji used to camp at Four Mile Beach close to where the Mowbray River exits into the sea. They would have ceremonies there as well as on the foothills of the mountain behind Craiglie. Other tribes used to come to Port Douglas for meeting too, like the Kuku Kulunggur [Yalanji] people used to come down from Mossman area, Kuku Muluridji from Mt. Molloy / Mareeba area as well as the Djabugay / Nyakali from the Mowbray River Valley and mountains going south."
Past
The Yirrganydji people lived in units of Yila: la [married couples] with their Pipunpay [children] and older relatives, often on the sand dunes of the beach and close to water ways or native springs. Tyimurru [shelter huts] were erected using Yapulam [Brown hairy mary/loya cane] or River mangrove, which were tied with strips of Pukul [fish tail loya cane] or Tumpul [stripped bark]. The roofing was completed with the bark of Kiti or Wurpu [Paper bark / tea tree].Fires were very important to all Aboriginal people of Australia. To the Yirrganydji, the Piri [fire] was used for cooking food, preparing medicines or artefacts, keeping warm, and chasing away the mosquitoes and sand flies. Fires were usually made close to the entrance of a shelter.
The Yirrganydji were a hunter-gatherer society. They would move about from place to place within their traditional country following the seasons and food resources. Men would hunt for the large game and fish, while the women would gather and prepare the plant foods. Women would also be the predominant caretakers of the children.
The Yirrganydji people sought food from waterways (creeks
Stream
A stream is a body of water with a current, confined within a bed and stream banks. Depending on its locale or certain characteristics, a stream may be referred to as a branch, brook, beck, burn, creek, "crick", gill , kill, lick, rill, river, syke, bayou, rivulet, streamage, wash, run or...
, river
River
A river is a natural watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, a lake, a sea, or another river. In a few cases, a river simply flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water. Small rivers may also be called by several other names, including...
s, coast
Coast
A coastline or seashore is the area where land meets the sea or ocean. A precise line that can be called a coastline cannot be determined due to the dynamic nature of tides. The term "coastal zone" can be used instead, which is a spatial zone where interaction of the sea and land processes occurs...
and sea
Sea
A sea generally refers to a large body of salt water, but the term is used in other contexts as well. Most commonly, it means a large expanse of saline water connected with an ocean, and is commonly used as a synonym for ocean...
) such as Kuyu (fish
Fish
Fish are a paraphyletic group of organisms that consist of all gill-bearing aquatic vertebrate animals that lack limbs with digits. Included in this definition are the living hagfish, lampreys, and cartilaginous and bony fish, as well as various extinct related groups...
), Nyingkarra / Kuykal (eel
Eel
Eels are an order of fish, which consists of four suborders, 20 families, 111 genera and approximately 800 species. Most eels are predators...
s), Ngawuyu / Patyikal (turtle
Turtle
Turtles are reptiles of the order Testudines , characterised by a special bony or cartilaginous shell developed from their ribs that acts as a shield...
s), Tyala (oyster
Oyster
The word oyster is used as a common name for a number of distinct groups of bivalve molluscs which live in marine or brackish habitats. The valves are highly calcified....
s) and Kanytyil / Tyunparra (crustacean
Crustacean
Crustaceans form a very large group of arthropods, usually treated as a subphylum, which includes such familiar animals as crabs, lobsters, crayfish, shrimp, krill and barnacles. The 50,000 described species range in size from Stygotantulus stocki at , to the Japanese spider crab with a leg span...
s).
The Yirrganydji people also hunted animals in their region such as Tulpil (wallabies
Wallaby
A wallaby is any of about thirty species of macropod . It is an informal designation generally used for any macropod that is smaller than a kangaroo or wallaroo that has not been given some other name.-Overview:...
), Tyuntyurru (bandicoot
Bandicoot
Bandicoots are a group of about 20 species of small to medium-sized, terrestrial marsupial omnivores in the order Peramelemorphia.- Etymology :...
)s, Puta: tyi (scrub pythons), Kanyal / Ngunal / Patya Patya (lizards), Kukiny (flying foxes), Punta: rra (cassowaries
Cassowary
The cassowaries are ratites, very large flightless birds in the genus Casuarius native to the tropical forests of New Guinea, nearby islands and northeastern Australia. There are three extant species recognized today...
), and other Tyarruy (bird
Bird
Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...
s).
Ma: (Fruit
Fruit
In broad terms, a fruit is a structure of a plant that contains its seeds.The term has different meanings dependent on context. In non-technical usage, such as food preparation, fruit normally means the fleshy seed-associated structures of certain plants that are sweet and edible in the raw state,...
s and vegetable
Vegetable
The noun vegetable usually means an edible plant or part of a plant other than a sweet fruit or seed. This typically means the leaf, stem, or root of a plant....
s) that were gathered were: Karu: / Tanti (yam
Yam (vegetable)
Yam is the common name for some species in the genus Dioscorea . These are perennial herbaceous vines cultivated for the consumption of their starchy tubers in Africa, Asia, Latin America and Oceania...
), Ngalka (fig
Ficus
Ficus is a genus of about 850 species of woody trees, shrubs, vines, epiphytes, and hemiepiphyte in the family Moraceae. Collectively known as fig trees or figs, they are native throughout the tropics with a few species extending into the semi-warm temperate zone. The Common Fig Ficus is a genus of...
s), Munumpa / Wakatay (plum
Plum
A plum or gage is a stone fruit tree in the genus Prunus, subgenus Prunus. The subgenus is distinguished from other subgenera in the shoots having a terminal bud and solitary side buds , the flowers in groups of one to five together on short stems, and the fruit having a groove running down one...
s) and Ngapala / Kurrntu (nut
Nut (fruit)
A nut is a hard-shelled fruit of some plants having an indehiscent seed. While a wide variety of dried seeds and fruits are called nuts in English, only a certain number of them are considered by biologists to be true nuts...
s) and (berries). They would also treat and prepare toxic items such as Mutala (Orange mangrove fruit), Tanykatcha (Grey Mangrove fruit), Yiwurra (Black bean
Black bean
Black bean can mean:* Black turtle bean, a small black variety of the common bean* Douchi, a kind of fermented soybean* Urad bean, also known as black gram* Castanospermum australe, also known as a blackbean...
), and Patil (Cycad nut), from the rainforest, coastal plains and mangroves to add to their diet.
Fire burn offs were an important part of the annual life cycle and were performed at various times of the year. They were a way on managing the country, cleansing and encouraging regrowth as well as attracting food resources back to the country. It also lowers the risk of a major Tawaray [bush fire] which could be devastating to both the country and people. Fires were usually carried out during the Kurraminya [dry season] from April to October. From October through to March was a dangerous time for fire burn offs with the exception of a small burn off before the onset of the Kurrapana [wet season].
Annually, they would meet with their neighbouring groups at various sites along the coast. They would fight, trade, feast, celebrate, and sometimes intermarry. Some of the meeting sites include: Tyirri: wantay [White Rock], Tyakal [Palm Cove], and Tyapulkanytyi [Port Douglas]. Some meetings were only for special occasions such as the initiation ceremony for male members of the tribe.
The trading of goods between tribes would consist of Miya Miya / Milka (nautilus
Nautilus
Nautilus is the common name of marine creatures of cephalopod family Nautilidae, the sole extant family of the superfamily Nautilaceae and of its smaller but near equal suborder, Nautilina. It comprises six living species in two genera, the type of which is the genus Nautilus...
shell
Seashell
A seashell or sea shell, also known simply as a shell, is a hard, protective outer layer created by an animal that lives in the sea. The shell is part of the body of the animal. Empty seashells are often found washed up on beaches by beachcombers...
necklace
Necklace
A necklace is an article of jewellery which is worn around the neck. Necklaces are frequently formed from a metal jewellery chain. Others are woven or manufactured from cloth using string or twine....
s), Yimpi (Dilly baskets), Wakuy (sword
Sword
A sword is a bladed weapon used primarily for cutting or thrusting. The precise definition of the term varies with the historical epoch or the geographical region under consideration...
s) and Matyay (shield
Shield
A shield is a type of personal armor, meant to intercept attacks, either by stopping projectiles such as arrows or redirecting a hit from a sword, mace or battle axe to the side of the shield-bearer....
s). Regular trades were made between the Yirrganydji and neighbouring tribal groups of the Djabugay, Yidinyji, Gunggandji, Kuku Yalanji, and Kuku Muluridji.
The Barron and Port Douglas areas exported hour glass pattern dilly bags, round based dilly bags, beeswax necklaces, straight shell shafted spear throwers, a variety of bamboo spears, square cut nautilus shell necklaces and cockatoo top knot head dresses.
They imported Bent spear throwers, swords and shields from Cape Grafton...
(Jones 1976:294)
Historical Facts and Observations
John Gribble [1891]John Gribble, the founder of Yarrabah mission in 1892. In his 1891 diary journal, he records the tribe on the Lower Barron River:
Yil-gun-gee
Barron Tribe
Dialect of Cha. boo.gi
[Gribble 1891:7]
Walter Roth [1910]
Walter Roth, Protector of the Aborigines, visited the Yarrabah Mission and Cairns District during 1890-1910. He produced a number of bulletins on Ethnography on the Aboriginal tribes of Australia, which were later re-published in his 1984 book, “The Queensland Aborigines – Volume 3”. In this book, Roth observes the aboriginal tribes of the Cairns District:
“For purposes of trade and barter it may be said that the Cairns, and until recent years, the Cape Grafton Blacks travel along the coast-line between Port Douglas and the Mulgrave River; The Barron River Natives wander up the coast as far as Port Douglas and inland to Kuranda and Mareeba; the Russell River boys ‘walk about’ to the Pyramid Mountain, the Mulgrave and Johnstone Rivers and Cairns…"
[Roth Vol. III, Bulletin No. 14. 1984:18]
Ernest Gribble [1897; 1932]
Ernest Gribble, the son of John Gribble, took in charge of the Yarrabah Mission in the 1900s. In his 1897 article, E.R. Gribble completed a paper on ‘Class systems’ to the Australian Anthropological Journal. He mentions three aboriginal tribes:
Goonganji of Cape Grafton
Myarah of Mulgrave River
Dungara of the Lower Barron River
[Gribble 1897:2]
Ernest Gribble later released a book in 1933, “A Despised Race – The Vanishing Aboriginals of Australia”, which observes 'The Natives around Cairns':
‘Goonganji’ and spoke ‘Goongi’. The tribe on the lower Barron River was called ‘Yerkanji’ and spoke ‘Yerki’. On the upper Barron dwelt the ‘Narkalinji’ speaking ‘Narkali'. The tribe on the Mulgrave, a large and powerful tribe, much feared by all the others, was called ‘Yetinji’ and spoke ‘Yeti’.
[Gribble 1933:143]
Ursula McConnel [1935, 1939-40]
Ursula McConnel, one of the earliest anthropologists made an article called ‘Social Organisation of the Tribes of Cape York Peninsula’ in 1939-40. McConnel states the Aboriginal groups in the Cairns Region:
South of Port Douglas is another group – the indyi or andyi tribes of Mowbray, Barron and Mulgrave Rivers, surveyed originally by Roth and later by me in 1931. On the Mowbray River are the Tyabogai-tyanyi, a branch of whom on the Barron River are known as the Nyakali. On the south side of the Barron River are the Bulwandyi; low down on the Barron River are the Yirkandyi…
[McConnel 1939:67]
Norman Tindale
Norman Tindale
Norman Barnett Tindale was an Australian anthropologist, archaeologist and entomologist. Born in Perth, his family moved to Tokyo from 1907 to 1915, where his father worked as an accountant at the Salvation Army mission in Japan. Soon after returning to Australia, Tindale got a job at the South...
[1938-39, 1940]
The results of Norman Tindale and Joseph Birdell's Harvard-Adelaide Universities Anthropological Expedition in 1938-39 shows the distribution of Australian Aboriginal Tribes in 1940. The listing for Irukandji [Yirrganydji] is as follows:
Irukandji - narrow coastal strip from Cairns to Port Douglas (Mowbray River); on tidal waters of Barron River at Redlynch...
[Tindale 1940:158]
In April 1955, Norman Tindale writes a letter called, 'Aboriginal Tribes about Cairns' and was sent to Dr Hugo Flecker, president of the North Queensland Naturalist. On the letter it states:
According to our information, the Irukandji lived along the coast at Cairns, while the Tjapukai lived up the Barron River, coming only as far as Redlynch during times of ceremonies...In 1937, I spoke to all the old remaining old men and obtained detailed information which I think can be relied upon...
[Tindale 1955:71]
Douglas Seaton [1957]
In 1957, Douglas Seaton produced another article on the 1st September to the North Queensland Naturalist called “The Initiation Ceremony of the Tjapukai Tribe”. In this article, Seaton also mentions the Yirkandji tribe:
The leaders of the Yirkandji [Cairns area] used to travel up the Barron River by canoe to the place of initiation, which was a pool of the Barron...
[Seaton No. 118, 1957:6-7]
P.C. Griffin [1968]
P.C. Griffin, contracted by the A.I.A.T.S.I.S. Library, Canberra, to visit the Yarrabah Mission and record the Aboriginal culture and language of that area. In his 1968 book, "Yarraburra, Myths, Legends and Rock Paintings of the Yarrabah Aboriginal Reserve", Griffin records:
At the head of Trinity Inlet were the Yedtinji tribe...their language Yeti...Other neighbours in Trinity Inlet spoke the language Jabugai; and the area at the mouth of the Barron River was occupied by the Yerkanji people.
[Griffin 1968:3]
Daniel Connolly [1984]
Daniel Connolly recalls about the early days in the Mowbray River Valley when his family [Connolly] and the Reynolds' family settled in the early 1900s. In his 1984 book, "Chronicles of Mowbray and Port Douglas and the pioneering saga of the Reynolds and Connolly families: an historic record", Connolly recalls:
When Grannie [Reynolds]'s family settled in the Mowbray Valley there was no trouble whatever with the Chabbuki tribe. Another tribe of aboriginals camped at White Cliffs, reportedly a very ferocious tribe, was the Yirkandja tribe, who roamed as far as Spring Creek.
[Connolly 1984:45]
Billy Jagar - King of Barron
Billy Jagar, the leader of the Yirrganydji people, received a breast plate in 1898 with the inscription of 'King of Barron'. He then received a second breast plate in 1906 with the same inscription.Note: Breastplates were a symbol of peace between the Early Settlers and the Aboriginal groups. All throughout Australia, Aboriginal Breast plate holders were regarded as 'Kings' or 'Leaders' of their respected group. However, in some circumstances, the holders were simply just elders and chosen as a spokesperson for their group.
King Billy Jagar later died in 1930 in his Gunyah/Payu [traditional shelter hut] on the Cairns Esplanade at the age of 60. It is recorded by the Cairns Post, 11 March 1930. Jagar was born in the 1860s on the southern side of the Barron River, before the establishment of Cairns in 1876.
External links
- Ausanthrop Australian Aboriginal tribal database Accessed 15 May 2008
- ABC Radio Hindsight Abstract on Yirrganydji ancestor 'King Billy JagarAccessed 12 October 2008
- ABC's 'Speaking Out' The Long Journey of Billy Jagar's King Plate, regarding Yirrganydji ancestor 'King Billy Jagar Accessed 12 October 2008