Wongkamala

The Wongkamala are an indigenous Australian people of the Northern Territory.

Not to be confused with Wongkumara.

Country

In Norman Tindale's estimate, the Wongkamala's tribal lands covered some 20,000 square miles (52,000 km²) of territory.[1] They roamed northwest of Annandale, at Kalidawarry and around the lower Field and Hay rivers, along the Plenty river, and on the eastern margins of the Simpson Desert.[1] River waters were ephemeral and they dug native wells (mikari).

Economy

The Wongkamala lived in areas where the pituri narcotic grew, and, aside from using it themselves, they employed it as a valuable trading resource.[1]

Alternative names

• Wonkamala
• Wonkamudla

Source: Tindale 1974, p. 238

Notes

Citations

1. Tindale 1974, p. 238.

Sources

• "AIATSIS map of Indigenous Australia". AIATSIS.
• Howitt, Alfred William (1904). The native tribes of south-east Australia (PDF). Macmillan.
• Howitt, Alfred William; Siebert, Otto (January–June 1904). "Legends of the Dieri and Kindred Tribes of Central Australia". Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland. Adelaide. 34: 100–129. JSTOR 2843089.
• Mathews, R. H. (January 1900a). "Divisions of the South Australian Aborigines". Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society. 39 (161): 78–91+93. JSTOR 983545.
• Mathews, R. H. (October–December 1900b). "Phallic Rites and Initiation Ceremonies of the South Australian Aborigines". Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society. 39 (164): 622–638. JSTOR 983778.
• Tindale, Norman Barnett (1974). "Wongkamala (NT)". Aboriginal Tribes of Australia: Their Terrain, Environmental Controls, Distribution, Limits, and Proper Names. Australian National University Press. ISBN 978-0-708-10741-6.