Ngurelban people
The Ngurelban or Ngurai-illamwurrung were an indigenous Australian people of the state of Victoria
Language
The Ngurelban language was similar to that of the Taungurong, the neighbouring tribe to their east.[1]
Country
Ngurelban tribal territory took in an estimated 3,000 sq. miles of land. According to Norman Tindale, it ran along the Campaspe River,[lower-alpha 1] had its northern boundary edging on Echuca, its western frontier probably not beyond Gunbower. It extended south of Tatura along the Goulburn River to Old Crossing (Mitchellstown), and north of Seymour.[3]
Social organization
Ngurelban were organized according to hordes.
- The Pimpandoor to the northwest, at Colbinabbin, known for keep their distance and for having a relationship of tense rivalry with other hordes of the tribes.
- Ngooraialum A northern clan
- Paboinboolok. The horde at Lake Cooper).[3]
History of contact
By the late 1830s the pressure of the effects of grazing on their pastoral lands from livestock introduced by squatters had started to create serious problems for the Ngurelban. In 1839 one of them, Moonin Moonin, complained that:
Jumbuck and Bulgana (sheep and cattle) were eating and destroying Aboriginal game pastures and staples like yams and mirr-n'yong roots.'[4]
Alternative names
- Gunn-el-ban
- Gnurellean.
- Nouralung-bula,
- Nguralung-bula.
- Noorillim.
- Ngooraialum
- Ngurilim.
- Ooraialum ( a mishearing that dropped the initial ng-).Oorilim. Oorallim.
- Woo-ral-lim.
- Panyool.
- Paboinboolok. Panpandoor.[3]
Notes
- There is possibly some confusion in these reports. Barkwick wrfites:'Tindale's 1974 description of a 'Ngurelban tribe' on the Campaspe merges Tuckfield's report with Curr's and Howitt's descriptions of clans speaking a different language at and east of the Campaspe.'[2]
Citations
- Atkinson & Aveling 1987, p. 45.
- Barwick 1984, p. 125.
- Tindale 1974, p. 207.
- Kiernan 2008, p. 289.
References
- Atkinson, Alan; Aveling, Marian, eds. (1987). Australians, 1838. Fairfax, Syme & Weldon Associates. ISBN 978-0-521-34073-1.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
- Barwick, Diane E. (1984). "Mapping the Past: An Atlas of Victorian clans, 1835-1904. Part 1" (PDF). Aboriginal History. 8 (2): 100–131.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
- Kiernan, Ben (2008). Blood and Soil: Modern Genocide 1500-2000. Melbourne University Press. ISBN 978-0-522-85477-0.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
- Tindale, Norman Barnett (1974). "Ngurelban (VIC)". Aboriginal Tribes of Australia: Their Terrain, Environmental Controls, Distribution, Limits, and Proper Names. Australian National University Press. ISBN 978-0-708-10741-6.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)