Yeidji

The Yeidji, otherwise commonly known as the Gwini, are an indigenous Australian people of the Kimberley area of Western Australia.

Name

In contemporary accounts, the Yeidji are often called Gwini people. Norman Tindale, writing in 1974, maintained that Gwini was a directional term meaning 'easterners' used by inlanders. The other term, Kujini means those in the coastal lowlands. There is no clear tribal name for several peoples in this area, and some confusing in the nomenclature and the several tribes, including also the Miwa are generally referred to as the Forrest River people,[1] who, however are occasionally referred to as the Gwini/Yeidji.[lower-alpha 1]

Country

The Yeidji, according to Norman Tindale, controlled some 1,000 square miles (2,600 km2) of tribal territory, running from the coast of Cambridge Gulf along the Forrest River as far as the Milligan ranges. Its southern extension touched Steere Hills. The northernmost boundary lay at Mount Carty and the Lyne River.[3] Their neighbours were the Wilawila to the west, the Wenamba to the northwest, the Wirngir to the east, and the Arnga on their southern border. The Guragona horde, though classified as a subgroup of the Wenamba, may have been a section of the Yeidji.[3]

Alternative names
  • Yeidji, Yeithi.
  • Gwi:ni, Gwini, Kuini ('easterners')
  • Kujini,Gu:jini.
  • Ombalkari. (toponym east of the Forrest River Mission)
  • Umbalgari.
  • Miwu. ( perhaps a name for the language)
  • Miwadange. ('saltwater people').
  • Waringnari=Waringari.( a pejorative exonym suggesting the practice of cannibalism)).
  • Morokorei. (Forrest River horde.[3]

Notes
  1. 'The tribes the Forrest River have no common name, but may be collectively called by the name of the southernmost Gwi:ni.'[2]

Citations
  1. McGregor 2013, p. 42.
  2. Capell 1939, p. 383.
  3. Tindale 1974, p. 243.

Sources
  • "AIATSIS map of Indigenous Australia". AIATSIS.
  • "Tindale Tribal Boundaries" (PDF). Department of Aboriginal Affairs, Western Australia. September 2016.
  • Capell, Arthur (June 1939). "Mythology in Northern Kimberley, North-West Australia". Oceania. 9 (4): 382–404. JSTOR 40327760.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Capell, Arthur (June 1940). "The Classification of Languages in North and North-West Australia (Continued)". Oceania. 10 (4): 404–433. JSTOR 40327866.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Elkin, A. P. (June 1933). "Totemism in North-Western Australia". Oceania. 3 (4): 435–481. JSTOR 40327434.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Kaberry, Phyllis M. (June 1935). "The Forrest River and Lyne River Tribes of North-West Australia: A Report on Field Work". Oceania. 5 (4): 408–436. JSTOR 40327811.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • 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). "Arnga (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)
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