44-506: The Thaua people, also spelt Thawa and Dhawa , and also referred to as Yuin (Djuin), are an Aboriginal Australian people living around the Twofold Bay area of the South Coast of New South Wales . It is often claimed in popular literature, following a conjecture by the amateur historian Kenneth McIntyre in 1977, that the ruins of an old stone building at Bittangabee Bay represents
88-477: A moojingarl or do not know their family's spiritual connection due to dispossession and assimilation. Yuin have a spiritual connection (but not a "totem" one) with Mount Gulaga , believed to be the origin of the Yuin. From Gulaga, Merriman Island is visibly duck-shaped. Genealogist and researcher Dave Tout, a relative of King Merriman , has identified at least four groups and their spiritual connection: In 1904,
132-521: A native title claim in the Federal Court for Yuin country in New South Wales. The claim is made by 52 family groups and was approved by more than 500 Aboriginal people. The claim extends into the ocean and includes traditional fishing rights. In 2018, the registration was accepted. The population before 1788 has been estimated at about 11,000 between Cape Howe and Batemans Bay . The population
176-675: A "a strong element" of contemporary Yuin kinship. To the extent that they are known, family spiritual connections are inherited, and there are still some Yuin families associated with certain animals. Yuin typically do not marry people with connections to the same personal or family beings (see below, Relationship with the natural world). Multiple Yuin have described a system of "skin groups" (subsets of language groups) that would "govern social behaviours and interaction, determining those with whom individuals can (and cannot) talk, marry, trade, as well as identifying their natural enemies". However, most Yuin these days are "not familiar with this level of
220-447: A "medicine man" bestowing a "second totem" (additional to a family "totem") on a Yuin man at his initiation. Contemporary Yuin describe the process as a "discussion" between elder and initiand about which animal is personally significant, rather than a bestowal, and variously describe the spiritual connection as a "secret" or "ceremonial" one, or as a "personal" one. Donaldson says that ceremonial connections are earned by Yuin who "attain
264-429: A certain ritual status". Many ceremonial relationships are with fish. Ceremonial connections are associated to the "specialised powers" that "clever people" have, such as Umbarra 's power to turn into a whirlwind. Yuin women may receive up to four new names during their spiritual training. The first two level names are open but the third and fourth are secret. However, unlike other kinship relationships described here,
308-510: Is accepted by Dixon. They were spoken in the region of Sydney . The Kuri (northern) group has been reduced to its southernmost languages: Languages once classified as Kuric include Yugambal , Yuggarabul (Yuggera), and Nganyaywana (Anaiwan) further north. Jeremy Steele's partial reconstruction of the Sydney language includes a comparison of pronouns in several Yuin–Kuric languages. The following partial and simplified version shows some of
352-589: Is from a brief note in Alfred William Howitt , who wrote that Thau-aria was the language of Twofold Bay. It is considered to have been either a dialect of Dhurga , a variety of Dyirringany , or a distinct tongue. The word Yuin in the ethnonym associated with the Thawa meant "man", though among the Tharawal to the north the term signified "yes". In recent years, local Aboriginal leaders have worked together to revive
396-458: Is named Umbarra after it, and a duck-shaped island in Wallaga Lake is named Merriman Island . Umbarra was believed to communicate with black ducks, who would warn him of danger. In 2003, Rose, James and Watson identified six levels of "interacting beings" spoken of by the Yuin, also described as "families within families" by Yuin woman Mary Duroux. The six families described (and, in brackets,
440-580: The Bega Valley Shire Council . The Yuin at Twofold Bay near Eden had mutual cooperation with the killer whales of Eden . The Yuin are considered as the traditional owners of Wallaga Lake land. The former Wallaga Lake National Park is incorporated into Gulaga National Park . Gulaga Mountain , in the Gulaga National Park , is described by Aboriginal people as the place of ancestral origin for Yuin people. Gulaga itself symbolises
484-563: The Djiringanj and the Thaua . In Howitt's work, the Yuin were divided into northern (Kurial-Yuin) and southern (Gyangal-Yuin) branches. The term "Yuin" is commonly used by South Coast Aboriginal people to describe themselves, although in a 2016 New South Wales native title application for land overlapping Yuin country, "South Coast people" is used. The name is also spelt Djuwin and Juwin. The native title application depends on establishing
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#1733086258188528-581: The Dreamtime by an ancestral creator , although not all spiritual animals have Dreamtime stories associated with them (or those stories have been lost). Dreamtime stories for the creation of the diving birds and the black swan are recorded by Susan Dale Donaldson. The best known Yuin spiritual animals are the Pacific black duck ( Umbarra ) and the Black swan . The Black Duck was the moojingarl of King Merriman , who
572-486: The Ojibwe term "totem" to describe these spiritual connections, as they saw commonalities between Aboriginal Australian spiritual connections to animals and those of First Nations and Native Americans. The term is not widely used by Yuin and the term "totemism" is not well-regarded by them, but Yuin authors often use the term "totem" in works for wider audiences. Yuin believe these spiritual animals to have been made in
616-529: The Wagonga Inlet at Narooma . The Bugelli-manji people lived around Moruya . During the push in the late 1970s and early 1980s to protect Mumbulla Mountain , Wallaga Lake people led by Guboo Ted Thomas described the Yuin tribe as "shar[ing] the one walkabout from Mallacoota in the south to the Shoalhaven River in the north". In 2016, 12 applicants representing South Coast Aboriginals lodged
660-581: The Yuin language dialects . Sub-groupings of the Yuin people are made on the basis of language and other cultural features; groups include the Brinja or Bugelli-manji , , Wandandian, Jerrinja, Budawang , Yuin-Monaro , Djiringanj , Walbunja , and more. They have a close association with the Thaua and Dharawal people. The ethnonym Yuin ("man") was selected by early Australian ethnographer, Alfred Howitt , to denote two distinct Nations of New South Wales, namely
704-495: The Yuin language group include the Djiringanj , Thaua , Walbanga , Wandandian and Dhurga languages , from north of Moruya River to Nowra . The country the Yuin ancestors occupied, used, and enjoyed reached across from Cape Howe to the Shoalhaven River and inland to the Great Dividing Range . Their descendants claim rights to be recognised as the traditional owners of the land and water from Merimbula to
748-521: The freehold titles to Gulaga and Biamanga National Parks were handed back to the Yuin people by the New South Wales Government . Freehold title of Gulaga National Park are held in trust for the Aboriginal owners by Merrimans and Wagonga Local Aboriginal Land Councils , while that of Biamanga are held in trust by Merrimans and Bega Local Aboriginal Land Councils. Both parks are co-managed by
792-696: The traditional owners and the NPWS. Barunguba / Montague Island ( dual-named in November 2021 ) is known to the Yuin people as Barunguba (sometimes spelt Barranguba). Barunguba is regarded as being the son of Gulaga , along with Najanuga ; Barunguba being the oldest son and allowed out to sea, whereas Najanuga had to stay close to his mother. This is a Djiringanj , version Barunguba Story, as told by Ruby Henry when looking after Reid children in Vulcan St. Moruya Dyillagongarmi, pronounced Dilly gone gar me. Brooidore,
836-599: The Black Duck, can have spiritual connections with Yuin at any of these levels. Yuin typically do not eat animals with which they have a spiritual connection, which are considered part of their extended family – restrictions which may extend to related animals (all ducks, for example, because of the Black Duck connection). Yuin elder Randall Mumbler describes the significance of the different levels of connection: There are personal, family, tribal, and ceremonial totems. The ceremonial totem gives you status if you've been through
880-510: The Burgali. Barunguba, the Brinja elder, saw this with his own eyes, and as Brooidore was watching Barunguba, Brooidore called out to him, "Why are you watching?" Did you tell Dyillagongarmi I was watching Darama when he made the coastline. Then Dyillagongarmi spoke from the sky (darel) like thunder (mirribi). I will call the stone turtles Barunguba. You, Barunguba the elder, will continually watch over
924-575: The South Coast Aboriginal people as a distinct and continuing group that has existed since colonisation. South Coast Aboriginal people have identified 59 apical ancestors that lived during the settlement of the region in 1810–1830; current South Coast Aboriginal people are either descended from these ancestors or integrated into families that descend from these ancestors. In 2018, the National Native Title Tribunal ruled that
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#1733086258188968-455: The South Coast people represent a "single cohesive kinship population" going back to colonisation, governed by shared rules, with a "single system of religion" centred on the figure Darhumulan , a marine-based economy, sacred sites that continue to be recognised, exogamous marriage rules, and a male initiation ceremony called Bunan (remembered, but not practised since the 1920s). Dialects of
1012-642: The ['Katungal] 'sea coast people,' and the ['Baianbal] or ['Paienbara], the 'tomahawk people,' those who lived in the forests; a third group, the Bemerigal or mountain people at Cooma belonged to the Ngarigo with whom the inland Thaua had some associations. Yuin The Yuin nation, also spelt Djuwin , is a group of Australian Aboriginal peoples from the South Coast of New South Wales . All Yuin people share ancestors who spoke, as their first language, one or more of
1056-488: The alternative terms used by Yuin elder Randall Mumbler) are: A Yuin's responsibilities to these beings, and their responsibilities to that Yuin, varied depending on the level of the relationship. For example, while a Yuin is expected to protect animals of their moojingarl , Guboo Ted Thomas described no obligation to protect the black duck as his relationship with it was only on a "nation" level. Donaldson also briefly mentions "gender totems". Some animals, including
1100-1058: The animal in the Dharug language , a Yuin–Kuri language within the Yora group, and the same word occurs in other Yuin–Kuri languages, such as Gundungurra, within the Yuin group. As of 2020 , Yuin is listed as one of 20 languages prioritised as part of the Priority Languages Support Project, being undertaken by First Languages Australia and funded by the Department of Communications and the Arts . The project aims to "identify and document critically-endangered languages — those languages for which little or no documentation exists, where no recordings have previously been made, but where there are living speakers". The constituent languages are groups are arranged from southwest to northeast: The Yuin (southern) group includes: The Yora or Iyora (central) group
1144-458: The case of Coorall had 14 wives and Kian had 12 wives, including bush wives. The main reason was death came quickly if you sustained an injury and marriage was more about survival of the tribe than the present days view. A bush wife is a wife given to an elder at a major ceremonially event. Marriage should be exogamous between family groups, as determined by the spiritual connections of those families. However, these family connections are no longer
1188-653: The catch, cash and food in exchange for their labour. The area nearby, at Snug Point near Eden , had been taken up by Alexander , George and Peter Imlay , who employed local people. On arriving in Australia, the Scottish immigrant and pastoralist Benjamin Boyd squatted on land in the area, and became an entrepreneur in the Twofold Bay whaling industry. His companion on the voyage out, the painter Oswald Brierly remarked admiringly of
1232-426: The coastline to make sure turtles only travel up and down the coast and never come ashore again while you, Barunguba the great elder, are alive. Then Dyillagongarmi said, Barunguba, you will always find turtles in your fresh waterways, and Brooidore will never be able to turn turtles into stone again while you watch over the shores. The principle could be said to be “someone is always watching,” but I have never heard
1276-519: The dreamtime story of Barunguba referred to this way. This is the Brinja story, Barunguba is on Brinja country The exact arrangement of Yuin kinship before colonisation is not clear, although early ethnographers reported that they did not have a moiety or section system (where a people are split into two or four intermarrying groups). Instead, Yuin kinship would have involved "extensive networks of relatedness within and between exogamous intermarrying country groups". Yuin men had more than one wife in
1320-648: The ethnologist Howitt described Yuin "totems" as patrilineal (i.e. inherited from the father), and gave budjan , mura and jimbir as Yuin terms for these "totems". Errors in Howitt's account that have been identified by contemporary Yuin include his use of budjan for "totem" (it just means "bird") and that inheritance was only patrilineal, as there is also matrilineal inheritance of family connections. There are still some Yuin families associated with certain animals. Many family connections are with birds – in which case they may be called "family birds". Howitt described
1364-450: The great sky spirit who was watching, then intervened. Brooidore took the two turtles from the shore, then turned them into stones, placed them offshore with the two turtles facing each other, and pushed them together with only one head. Barunguba, the great Brinja elder, saw this with his own eyes. Brooidore then placed water around the two turtles that were head to head and would not allow sea turtles ever again to come ashore or lay eggs in
Thaua - Misplaced Pages Continue
1408-586: The language . According to John Blay , the Thawa ranged from Mallacoota to Merimbula , and westwards as far as the borders of Narigo territory in Monaro . Norman Tindale in his 1974 catalogue of Australian Aboriginal boundaries describes the Thaua country and associated estates as follows: From north of Merimbula south to Green Cape; west to the scarp of the Dividing Range. Their hordes were divided into two groups,
1452-468: The law, the tribal totem connects you with everyone in your tribe, the family totem connects you with your family and the personal totem is your best mate Susan Dale Donaldson has assembled a preliminary list of Yuin spiritual connections, consisting of 20 birds, two marine animals ( bream and whale), seven terrestrial mammals and three reptiles. The black duck is the symbol for the Yuin people, and may be particularly significant for Yuin who may not have
1496-572: The mother, and has several sacred sites relating to places where the women went for storytelling and to participate in ceremonies and to give birth. Umbarra, aka Merriman Island , in Wallaga Lake is a particularly sacred place for the Yuin people. On 25 November 1977, it was the first place in New South Wales to be declared an Aboriginal Heritage site by the New South Wales National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS). The island
1540-448: The names are not those of animals; examples include plant names, sacred place names, spirit women names and the word for "female warrior". The Yuin word for a personal spiritual connection with an animal, moojingarl , literally means "my friend" (from moodji , friend, and gaarl , my) and involves reciprocity with that animal and a place or places where it is commonly found. Yuin typically do not marry people with connections to
1584-408: The original inhabitants of what are now the cities of Sydney and Canberra . The name of this grouping was coined by Wilhelm Schmidt in 1919, and it refers to the two groups which define the geographical extent of the subgroup. The labels of all three subgroups reflect the word for 'man' or 'Aboriginal person' in their respective included languages. The koala is named from the word gula for
1628-464: The prowess, of both native men and women, in handling whaling boats there. The Thaua people have also been referred to as Yuin (Djuin), which is a larger grouping of Aboriginal Australian peoples. Thawa is a member of the Yuin–Kuric language family that was almost lost following British colonisation . Its exact status as of the late 20th century was unknowable, since the only report we have of it
1672-419: The remains of a 16th-century Portuguese fort, testifying to the putative Portuguese priority in the discovery of Australia . For McIntyre it was a wintering place erected by Cristóvão de Mendonça as he made his imagined way back up the coast from Corio Bay . The ruin actually is what is left of a structure partially raised, but left unfinished, dating to the 1840s. The area where people speaking Thua language
1716-485: The same personal or family beings. Yuin%E2%80%93Kuric languages The Yuin–Kuric languages are a group of mainly extinct Australian Aboriginal languages traditionally spoken in the south east of Australia . They belong in the Pama–Nyungan family . These languages are divided into the Yuin , Kuri , and Yora groups, although exact classifications vary between researchers. Yuin–Kuric languages were spoken by
1760-573: The southern head of the sea entrance of the Shoalhaven River. The Yuin people consisted of 12 clans at the time of European arrival in the area. The Yuin groups include: The Yuin are set out as follows by Howitt (1904): Contemporary sources report that the Brinja-Yuin people's traditional lands extended along the "Lagoon Coast", south of the Moruya River to South Kianga , or further south to
1804-596: The system". Yuin people had, and in many cases still have, spiritual, mutual relationships with an aspect of the natural world. These spiritual connections are represented by animals, and these connections come with obligations and relationships, not just to the animal but to other humans and to places and things associated with that animal. Anthropologist Alfred William Howitt briefly described Yuin spiritual connections with animals in 1904, in The native tribes of south-east Australia . Howitt , and other early ethnographers, used
Thaua - Misplaced Pages Continue
1848-481: Was named after Umbarra , aka King Merriman, leader of the Yuin, who died in 1904. His wife was Queen Narelle. Mumbulla Mountain , located in the middle of Bega Valley Shire , was named after "King" Jack Mumbulla, a leader of the Yuin people. Mumbulla Mountain is the central place of significance in Biamanga National Park , and is known for its importance in men's initiation ceremonies. On 6 May 2006
1892-407: Was recorded as around the Twofold Bay area of the South Coast of New South Wales . Twofold Bay was an important area for the whaling industry where the local Aboriginal people quickly gained employment not only as crewmen and oarsmen, but also as harpooners . Contemporary writers commented favourably on their industriousness, and, unlike natives working on pastoral leases, they were given parts of
1936-592: Was reduced to only 600 by the mid nineteenth century due to smallpox epidemics in 1789 and 1830, as well as tribal battles and the spread of venereal disease from whalers . The Eurobodalla Shire Council signed a Local Agreement with the Northern Yuin people in 1998. In 2001, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the Bega, Eden and Merrimans Local Aboriginal Land Councils, the Native Title Holders and
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