Djerimanga
The Djerimanga, also known as the Wulna, are an indigenous Australian people of the Northern Territory.
Country
Djerimanga country consisted of some 1,200 square miles (3,100 km2) on the coastal plain where the Adelaide River debouches into the Timor Sea, north to the tip of Cape Hotham, west to Fog Dam, south to an area including the community at Acacia Larrakia and eastwards as far as the Mary River floodplains. Humpty Doo Station, Koolpinyah Station and Djukbinj National Park are also situated within these traditional boundaries. Historically, the Djerimanga had a southern inland extension of their land as far as the Margaret River and the Ringwood Range, but lost it to the eastern Djowei.[1]
Families
Today Wulna descendants are contained to three distinct family groups; Browne, Talbot and Kenyon. The matriarchs of these families are Nancy Browne (née Moo) (dec), her younger sister Lorna Talbot (née Lee) (dec) and Joan Kenyon (dec).
The senior elder man for Wulna was Jack Wandi, he is buried at Humpty Doo Station on his traditional land. Jack Wandi has a wife (tribal marriage) who is still alive and living at the Humpty Doo Station.
Nancy and Lorna were the daughters of Topsy Garamanak (1900-1974), the senior Larrakia/Wulna ceremony woman who conducted ceremony across the Top End. Topsy was the daughter of Larrakia ancestor Blanchie and Wulna ancestor Finity (Pinity) Yunupingu, who had direct family links to the Yunupingu clan from Yirrkala, Northern Territory. Descendants of Nancy Browne and Lorna Talbot are Larrakia/Wulna.
Joan Kenyon born 1944 in Humpty Doo, is the daughter of Hilda Gunmanga (born 1910). Hilda was also the daughter of Blanchie and Finity. Joan married Tony Kenyon making their descendants of Limilngan, Wulna & Warai. The descendants still live on country and provide "welcome to country" for events, schools, meetings etc.
Alternative names
- Djeramanga, Jermangel
- Waak
- Wulna, Woolna (toponym), Woolnah, Woolner, Wulnar, Wolna
Source: Tindale 1974, p. 224
Sources
- Ford, Lysbeth Julie (1998). A description of the Emmi language of the Northern Territory of Australia (PDF) (Doctoral thesis). Australian National University.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
- Tindale, Norman Barnett (1974). "Djerimanga (NT)". Aboriginal Tribes of Australia: Their Terrain, Environmental Controls, Distribution, Limits, and Proper Names. Australian National University.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)