Tatungalung people
The Tatungalung are an
Name
The word tatung means 'south', referring to the fact that they are the southernmost of the
Language
The Tatungalung traditionally spoke a dialect that was likely mutually intelligible with the Brataualung and the
Country
Their traditional lands covered an estimated 1,800 square kilometres (700 sq mi), running along the coast of
Social organization
According to Friedrich Hagenauer the Tatungalung were divided into 4 hordes, though Alfred William Howitt adds a fifth.[3] Tindale suspected that one of the names associated with the tribe, Boul-boul, might refer to one of these hordes.
The clan or horde that lived on Raymond Island, which Howitt says was an enclave - the mainland around the shores of King Lake being Brabiralung ground - was known as the Biinjil-baur, and they asserted a right to exclusive ownership of all of the swans' eggs laid on the site.[1] This notice has drawn the attention of scholars because the concept of property, widely thought absent, appears here to have been asserted as an exclusive title.[4]
History
A tradition relates that, in revenge for killing one of their men, the Brabiralung set up an ambush, using a hill overlooking the island to secretly make preparations.[5]
Alternative names
- Boul-boul
- Nulit (this name was also used of the Bratauolung, and refers to the dialect or language the two tribes spoke
- Tatoongolong
- Tatung
- Tatunga
- Tirtalawakani
- Tirthung
Source: Tindale 1974, p. 207
Notes
Citations
- ^ a b Howitt 1904, p. 73.
- ^ Dixon 2002, pp. xxxv, 44.
- ^ Tindale 1974, p. 207.
- ^ Keen 2010, p. 51.
- ^ Bulmer 1999, pp. 24–25.
Sources
- Bulmer, John (1999). Campbell, Alastair Heriot; Vanderwal, Ron (eds.). John Bulmer's recollections of Victorian Aboriginal life, 1855-1908. ISBN 978-0-957-74712-8.
- ISBN 978-0-521-47378-1.
- Howitt, Alfred William (1904). The native tribes of south-east Australia (PDF). Macmillan.
- Keen, Ian (2010). "The interpretation of Aboriginal 'property' on the Australian colonial frontier". In Keen, Ian (ed.). Indigenous Participation in Australian Economies: Historical and Anthropological Perspectives. ISBN 978-1-921-66687-2.
- ISBN 978-0-708-10741-6.