Unggarrangu

The Unggarranggu, also traditionally transcribed as Ongkarango, are an indigenous Australian people of Western Australia.

Traditional lands of Aboriginal tribes around Derby, WA

Language

The Unggarranggu spoke a Worrorran language. What little is known of it was taken down by Howard Coate in the 1960s.[1]

Country

The Unggarranggu by Norman Tindale's estimate had a domain extending over roughly 400 square miles (1,000 km²), ranging from the northeastern area of King Sound, the eastern side of Stokes Bay, and reaching north as far as Crawford Bay. They also were present on Helpman Island and thoseislands of the eastern part of the sound as far as Caffarelli. Their continental extension ran no more than 10 miles inland.[2]

Society

The Unggarranggu were basically a coastal people dwelling on the mainland but were on close terms with the more maritime Umiida. Like the Umiida they plied rafts fashioned from mangrove woods, with which they would sail out to places like the island of Wilima off the mouth of Meda River, close to Warrwa territory.[2]

Alternative names

• Ongkarang.
• 0kwata.
• Unggarangi.[2]

Notes

Citations

1. McGregor 2013, pp. 42,18.
2. Tindale 1974, p. 255.

Sources

• "AIATSIS map of Indigenous Australia". AIATSIS.
• "Tindale Tribal Boundaries" (PDF). Department of Aboriginal Affairs, Western Australia. September 2016.
• McGregor, William B. (2013). The Languages of the Kimberley, Western Australia. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-134-39602-3.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Tindale, Norman Barnett (1974). "Ongkarango (WA)". Aboriginal Tribes of Australia: Their Terrain, Environmental Controls, Distribution, Limits, and Proper Names. Australian National University. ISBN 978-0-708-10741-6.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)