Wiyabal

See also: Widjabal language

The Wiyabal (also Widjabal, possibly from confusion of the letter ⟨j⟩ in the older spelling Wijabal) are an Aboriginal Australian people of the state of New South Wales. They may be a clan of the Bundjalung people.

Country

Norman Tindale assigned the Widyabal about 600 square miles (1,600 km²) of territory on the Upper Richmond River, running south from Kyogle to the area in the vicinity of Casino, with their eastern limits at Dunoon.^[1]

They have been described as a clan of the Bundjalung people.^[2][3]

Alternative names

• Ettrick tribe
• Noowidal
• Nowgyjul
• Waibra
• Watchee
• Watji

Source: Tindale 1974, p. 200

Some words

• groomon or kroomon (kangaroo)
• kooning (mother)
• marmong (father)
• tobury (tame dog)
• tucki (white man)

Source: Edwards 1887, p. 288

Notable people

• Rhoda Roberts, journalist and artistic director^[2]

Notes

Citations

1. Tindale 1974, p. 200.
2. Roberts, Rhoda (25 January 2019). "Indigenous arts supremo Rhoda Roberts". The Sydney Morning Herald (Interview). Interviewed by Baker, Candida. Retrieved 3 September 2024.
3. "Australia - Aboriginal Mythology". Jane's Oceania. 31 May 2012. Archived from the original on 30 April 2007. Retrieved 10 March 2015.

Sources

• Edwards, Charles (1887). "Richmond River" (PDF). In Curr, Edward Micklethwaite (ed.). The Australian race: its origin, languages, customs, place of landing in Australia and the routes by which it spread itself over the continent. Vol. 3. Melbourne: J. Ferres. pp. 286–289.
• Hargrave, E. (21 February 1903a). "Aboriginal dialects". Science of Man. 6 (1): 24–28.
• Hargrave, E. (21 March 1903b). "Aboriginal dialects". Science of Man. 6 (2): 24–28.
• Hargrave, E. (22 April 1903c). "Aboriginal dialects". Science of Man. 6 (3): 39–42.
• Hargrave, E. (25 May 1903d). "Aboriginal dialects". Science of Man. 6 (4): 54–55.
• Mathews, R. H. (1898). "Initiation Ceremonies of Australian Tribes. Appendix Nguttan initiation ceremony". Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society. 37 (157): 54–73. JSTOR 983694.
• Tindale, Norman Barnett (1974). "Widjabal (NSW)". Aboriginal Tribes of Australia: Their Terrain, Environmental Controls, Distribution, Limits, and Proper Names. Australian National University Press. ISBN 978-0-708-10741-6.