Maduwongga
The Maduwongga (Martu Wangka) are an Aboriginal Australian people of the Goldfields-Esperance region of Western Australia.
Language[edit]
The language spoken by the Maduwongga was supposedly called Kabal.[1]
Country[edit]
In Norman Tindale's estimation, the Maduwongga tribal territory extended over some 9,000 square miles (23,000 km2), ranging westwards from Pinjin on Lake Rebecca as far as Mulline, including the area a few miles south of Menzies, where their borders with the Ngurlu ran,[2] over to Kalgoorlie, Coolgardie, Kanowna, Kurnalpi, and Siberia.[1] Ecologically they lived in country marked by mallee Eucalypt species.[3]
However, Tindale's description of this group and country has not stood close examination. In a native title case involving people identifying as Maduwongga, it was found that Tindale's mapping "was probably wrong"[4] and "unreliable".[5] After hearing detailed expert evidence and examining the relevant data, the judge stated: "Inexplicably, Tindale's map of Maduwongga territory does not correspond with his own data collected in 1939 when he spoke to [relevant informants] .... Further, the information given to Tindale [by other informants in 1939 and 1966] ... all but disposes of the notion of Maduwongga country ...".[6] In addition, the judge cites part of the expert evidence, which states: "the 'Maduwongga tribe' is essentially a Tindale creation - a case of what my colleague, Dr Paul Burke, in a very similar context, has called 'cartographic ethnogenesis'.[7] In short, 'Maduwongga' seems to have been a mistake, and the area in question appears likely to have been originally distributed amongst Wangkayi ('Wongi') people (not 'Martu' people) and those who spoke the language which [was] ... recorded as 'Kabul' (... [who Tindale called] 'the Kalamaia') ...".[8]
History[edit]
According to oral traditions picked up by ethnographers, the Maduwongga may have moved in from an original homeland further east, and displaced the Kalamaia, westwards beyond Bullabulling.[1]
Alternative names[edit]
Notes[edit]
Citations[edit]
- ^ a b c Tindale 1974, p. 246.
- ^ Tindale 1974, p. 143.
- ^ Tindale 1974, p. 252.
- ^ FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA. Strickland on behalf of the Maduwongga Claim Group v State of Western Australia [2023] FCA 270 [903]
- ^ FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA. Strickland on behalf of the Maduwongga Claim Group v State of Western Australia [2023] FCA 270 [892]
- ^ FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA. Strickland on behalf of the Maduwongga Claim Group v State of Western Australia [2023] FCA 270 [904]
- ^ Burke, Paul. 2015. 'Cartographic Ethnogenesis: Tindale's Invention of the Jadira Tribe in the Pilbara Region of Western Australia.' Journal of the Anthropological Society of South Australia Volume 39: 102-126.
- ^ FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA Strickland on behalf of the Maduwongga Claim Group v State of Western Australia [2023] FCA 270 [885].
Sources[edit]
- "AIATSIS map of Indigenous Australia". AIATSIS.
- "Tindale Tribal Boundaries" (PDF). Department of Aboriginal Affairs, Western Australia. September 2016.
- Tindale, Norman Barnett (1974). "Maduwongga (WA)". Aboriginal Tribes of Australia: Their Terrain, Environmental Controls, Distribution, Limits, and Proper Names. Australian National University Press. ISBN 978-0-708-10741-6.