Noongar
The Noongar (also: Nyungar , Nyoongar or Nyoongah ) are indigenous Australians who live in the southwest of Western Australia between Geraldton on the west coast and Esperance on the south coast. Their tribal area extends from Jurien Bay in the north to the south coast and east to Ravensthorpe and Southern Cross. Their common language is also known as Noongar . In the south, the spelling Noongar is preferred, which reflects a broader accent.
Before the European settlement, the Noongar were not a single tribe, but consisted of 13 groups that shared a common culture and a similar language with some dialectal differences. According to Green, they can be recognized by two common factors: They use a word like “Noongar” to describe themselves and - unlike most indigenous Australians - do not circumcise their male children as part of an initiation rite . Today much of Noongar culture has been lost, including identification with certain regional groups, although some Noongar feel associated with groups that Tindale identified in the 20th century.
history
Before the arrival of the Europeans, there were believed to be between 6,000 and tens of thousands of Noongar. As soon as the first white settlers arrived, violence and disease (including measles , influenza and smallpox ) caused a significant decline in the population; today, however, there are more than 28,000 Noongar according to their own information. The 2001 census found around 21,000 Noongar living in the southwest at the time.
The Noongar traditionally made their living by hunting various game, including kangaroos and wallabies , fishing with spears and traps, farming with kusus and acacias, and collecting wild edible plants . They used quartz instead of flint for spear and knife tips and developed a now lost art of working quartz crystals.
The Noongar considered themselves civilized, especially when compared to the invading British. With this in mind , they called the newcomers djanga or djanak , which means something like "white devil". From the beginning, the Noongar behaved cautiously in dealing with the Europeans. They were frightened by the decay and battle that the whites brought home. They lived in large family groups and their lifestyle included respect and awe for the land that fed them.
When the first English settlers arrived in the Swan River area in 1829 and Captain James Stirling declared the local tribes to be British subjects, Yagan rose to become a leader of the Noongar. Although the Noongar initially maintained a friendly relationship with the settlers, divisions and misunderstandings arose as the land grabbing continued and the attacks and counter-attacks escalated. An example of such a misunderstanding was the Noongar practice of setting fires in early summer, which the settlers mistakenly viewed as a hostile act. Conversely, the Noongar viewed the settlers' livestock as fair game, with which they replaced the dwindling supply of native animals that the settlers arbitrarily shot. Yagan was often implicated when the Noongar stole food or killed settlers in revenge for Noongar's death. He warned the neighboring whites several times that for every Noongar killed by the whites the life of a white man would be taken. He was eventually murdered and is now considered to be one of the first indigenous resistance fighters .
As of August 1838, ten captured Aborigines were sent to Rottnest Island . After a brief period of both settlers and prisoners occupying the island, the Colonial Secretary declared in June 1839 that the island would become a penitentiary for Aboriginal people, and from 1838 to 1931 Rottnest Island was used as a prison for captive Aboriginal people to go overseas to transfer. To “ pacify ” the Aboriginal population, men were arrested and chained for killing cattle with spears, burning the bush or burying vegetables on their land. It is believed that there were 369 Aboriginal graves on the island, five of which were hanged . Except for a brief period between 1849 and 1855 when the prison was closed, around 3,700 Aboriginal men and boys, many of them Noongar, were held in captivity.
From 1890 to 1958, the Noongar life and lifestyle were governed by the Native Welfare Act . Up to a third of the population lived in two state concentration camps , Moore River Native Settlement and Carrolup (now Marribank). An estimated 10% to 25% of the Noongar children were in those years by force "adopted", which is why today by the Stolen Generation ( Stolen Generations ) talks.
language
The website of the Federation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Languages (FATSIL) states that only five of the original 13 dialects of the Noongar have survived. The word Noongar means something like "human being".
Some small word lists were recorded in the early days of the Swan River Colony, e.g. B. Robert Lyons work A Glance at the Manners and Language of Aboriginal Inhabitants of Western Australia from 1833. The serious documentation of the Noongar language began in 1842 with A Descriptive Vocabulary of the Language of the Aborigines by George Fletcher Moore, which was published in 1884 as part Republished by Moore's Diary of Ten Years Eventful Life of an Early Settler in Western Australia . This work contained an extensive list of Noongar words. The first modern linguistic study of the Noongar was carried out by Gerhardt Laves in 1930 on the Goreng variety near Albany , but his material was lost for many years and was only recently rediscovered. Beginning in the 1930s and more intensely since the 1960s, Wilfrid Douglas learned and studied the Noongar and later produced a grammar , dictionary and other materials. More recently, the Noongar themselves have appeared more frequently as researchers; Rose Whitehurst created the Noongar Dictionary while working for the Noongar Language and Culture Center .
Today the Noongar, with its few speakers, is one of the endangered languages , even if there has been increased interest in recent years. Concerned people established the Noongar Language and Culture Center , which has now grown with offices in Bunbury , Northam and Perth . However, the language commonly known today as Noongar bears a questionable resemblance to what Indigenous Australians spoke before white settlement, and the original Noongar language is listed as extinct under the ISO 639-3 ( nys ) code . The Ethnologue lists Noongar and Neo-Noongar (a term coined by Wilfrid Douglas for the English spoken by the Noongar ) as equivalent, suggesting that Noongar is a variety of English - apparently a misinterpretation by Douglas. For comparison, the introduction to this document is presented in both Noongar and English. Research and development in Kurongkul Katitijin by the self-proclaimed "Noongar at research" Leonard Collard from the Kurongkul Katitijin School of Indigenous Australian Studies at Edith Cowan University in Perth.
Visitors to Western Australia will notice the many place names that end in -up , such as Joondalup, Nannup, or Manjimup . The suffix means something like “place of” in the Noongar language. The name Ongerup z. B. translated means “place of the male kangaroo”.
Many words regularly differ from one dialect to another, e.g. B. crosses (s) vs. quenda (w) ( bandi rats ) or kep (s) vs. kapi (w) (water).
The words from the Noongar, which were adopted into Western Australian English or English, include the name Kylie , which translates as boomerang , or the word gidgie or gidgee for "spear".
Culture
The Noongar live in many cities in the southwest, as well as in the centers of Perth, Bunbury, Geraldton, Esperance and Albany. Many rural Noongar have developed long-term relationships with Whitefella farmers and carried on the tradition of hunting kangaroos, gathering food in the bush and telling their children stories about the land. In some areas in the southwest, bushtucker tours are organized for visitors, during which they can taste typical Noongar foods: kangaroo, emu , jam or condiment from quandong , bush tomatoes , pate from witchetty grub , bush honey .
In Perth, the Noongar believe that the Darling Scarp represents the body of Wagyl - a snake-like creature from Dreamtime that meandered across the land, creating rivers like the Swan River, streams and lakes.
Mount Eliza, also in Perth, was an important place for the Noongar. In this hunting ground they drove the kangaroos together and over the cliff to deliver meat for the gathering clans. In this context, “clan” refers to a group of local ancestry, larger than a family, but family members through common ancestors. At the foot of Mount Eliza there is a sacred place where the Wagyl supposedly rested on its travels. This is also where the former Swan Brewery is located, which led to clashes between Noongar groups who wanted the land back and the owners who wanted to develop the place. There was a Noongar protest camp here between the late 1990s and early 2000s.
The Noongar culture is particularly pronounced in the written word. The drama of Jack Davis are in several Australian states to the curriculum of the schools. Kim Scott won the Miles Franklin Award in 2000 for his novel Benang . describes itself as the response to the Aboriginal community's need for positive self-esteem expressed through art. The theater society strives for the development of the community and wants to produce "exciting, authentic and culturally appropriate indigenous theater".
Many local governments in the Southwest have agreements or commitments with the Noongar to secure important places and respect the culture. The older ones are asked more often to deliver a “welcome to the country” and there have been initial attempts to incorporate the Noongar language into the general curriculum.
classification
Noongar tribal law limits the possibilities of intercultural marriage .
The "Western Australia Atlas of Human Endeavor: 1829-1979" divides the system of the Noongar classification into four types:
Perth
- matrilineal moieties and clans
- These include Amangu, Yued, Wadjuk, Pinjareb, Wilmen, Ganeang, and Wardandi.
- The groups are divided into Manitjmat (White Cockatoo) and Wardungmat (Australian Raven), the affiliation being determined by the mother. Both groups are exogamous .
Biblical men
- Patrilineal moieties and groups of local ancestry
- These include Biblemen and Mining.
- The groups are divided like in the Perth type, but the affiliation is determined by the father.
Nyakinyaki
- The sectional levels are similar to the Western Desert type, both patrilineal groups of local ancestry.
- These include Balardong and Nyakinyaki.
- The skin groups are Birranga ( bee eater ) and Djuak (holy kingfisher )
Wudjari
- They were similar to the Nyakinyaki, but had patrilineal totemic ancestry units .
- These include Goreng and Wudjari.
Groups of local origin ( local descent groups ) are mostly patrilineal. Members are linked to a named ancestor by lineage and mythological elements. They are always exogamous and associated with specific territories that they collectively hold in trust for eternity.
Totemic descent groups are similar, but the mythological meaning is much more pronounced in the myths of the people involved. In this case, the members must not be genealogically related and the groups are almost always exogamous. With patrilineal clans, territory is always important; it is less important for matrilineal groups because women often move away from their matrilineal areas.
"Moieties" classify every person in the world into two categories, which are mutually exclusive and always exogamous. They can be patrilineal or matrilineal (determined by the father or the mother).
Alternative generation levels ( alternate generation levels ) classify a person in the same generation level as grandparents and grandchildren. Parents and children also share the same level. This model is endogamous .
In sectional systems ( Sectional system , often as skin called) is a person born to a named four groups (where outsiders can also be assigned as an adult one system). These groups are always exogamous.
Daisy Bates says that every Noongar is placed on the same shift as their mother and no Noongar is allowed to marry anyone from any other shift. It differentiates between the following layers:
- Ballaroke
- Tdondarup
- Ngotak
- Nagarnook
- Nogonyuk
- Mongalung
- Narrangur
Early observers of the Noongar culture were sometimes confused by some aspects of this system. Sir George Gray designated the layers e.g. B. incorrectly as a family name . The fact that a Noongar can refer to any relative of the same generation and class as a brother or sister and any older woman of the same class as a mother caused confusion.
Seasons of the Noongar
The Noongar feel closely connected to the earth and divide the year into six seasons , in which they move to other habitats and eat appropriate seasonal foods.
| Surname | Months | climate | particularities |
|---|---|---|---|
| Birak | December January | dry and hot | Bushland burned to drive animals outdoors for easier hunting |
| Bunuru | February March | hottest time of year, hardly any rain | Moving to estuary for fishing |
| Djeran | April May | cooler weather | Fishing and gathering of onions and grain |
| Makuru | June July | Cold fronts from the lower southwest coast move north and ensure a humid climate | Moved inland to hunt after the rain replenished water supplies |
| Djilba | August September | coldest time of year with clear days and nights or warmer, rainy and windy periods; when it gets warmer at night, there are more sunny days | Gathering roots and hunting for emus, kusus and kangaroos |
| Kambarang | October November | Warming accompanied by longer dry spells and fewer cold fronts on the coast; Peak of the wildflower season | Moving to the coast, hunting frogs , turtles and freshwater crabs |
economy
Since the Noongar have been urbanized or concentrated in large regional locations, studies have shown that the direct economic impact of their community in Western Australia has been between $ 500 million and $ 700 million annually.
The Noongar, like other Aborigines, are in disputes over native titles with the state government.
Current topics
As a result of the Stolen generation and problems integrating into modern Western society, today's Noongar face many difficult issues. In 1996 the Noongar Men of the SouthWest Congregation presented the following issues as major problems of the fellowship:
- alcohol and drugs
- nutrition
- Language and culture
- domestic violence
- Relationships between father and son
Many of these problems were not unique to the Noongar, but in many cases they did not receive adequate government support. The report, released after that meeting, also said that Noongar men die 20 years earlier than non-Aboriginal people and are three times more likely to go to hospital.
The Noongar still have large families and many families struggle to cope with the available structures of protected buildings in Western Australia. The government has allocated certain areas specifically for Noongar communities, such as: B. the Swan Valley Nyungah Community.
The Noongar deal with their own problems e.g. B. through the Noongar Patrol System, an initiative for an Aboriginal Advancement Council. It was set up to discourage young Aboriginal people from aggressive behavior and to reduce the likelihood of conflicting with the law. Most people in Perth associate this with patrolling the Northbridge amusement center. The patrol relies on mediation and advice with indigenous young people in order to prevent asocial or aggressive behavior by young people when visiting the city at night.
See also
Individual evidence
- ^ Museum of South Australia ( Memento of the original from October 26, 2005 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English)
- ^ Neville Green: Broken spears: Aborigines and Europeans in the Southwest of Australia . Focus Education Services, Perth, Western Australia 1984. ISBN 0-9591828-1-0
- ↑ Noongar website ( Memento of the original from June 20, 2005 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English) pdf
- ↑ Noongar website ( Memento of the original from May 6, 2005 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English)
- ↑ Kiangardarup (English)
- ↑ Greenleft org ( Memento of the original from April 21, 2005 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ FATSIL
- ^ A b Wilfrid H. Douglas: The Aboriginal Languages of the South-West of Australia. Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies, Canberra 1976. ISBN 0-85575-050-2
- ↑ Ethnologue: Noongar (English)
- ↑ Ethnologue: English (English)
- ↑ Herdsa ( Memento of the original from August 21, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English)
- ↑ Albanygateway (English)
- ↑ Yaakin ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ RM Berndt et al .: Western Australia: An atlas of human endeavor, 1829-1979. The Education Committee WAY79, Education and Lands and Surveys Department of Western Australia, 1979
- ↑ George Gray: Journals of Two Expeditions of Discovery in North-West and Western Australia, Volume 2, T. and W. Boone, London 1841 [1]
- ↑ Impact on Noongar Community ( Memento of the original from August 21, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ AFHO ( Memento of the original of February 18, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English) pdf
Web links
- AusAnthrop - resources for research
- South West Aboriginal Land & Sea Council
- Indigenous People of Australia
- Culture, Race and Identity: Australian Aboriginal Writing (PDF document)
- Designing a Virtual Reality Nyungar Dreamtime Landscape Narrative (PDF document; 419 kB)
- Language of the Noongar
- Orthography in the Noongar dictionary