Prior to European settlement

In the year 1788, there were well over 500 Indigenous language groups (often incorrectly referred to as ‘tribes’) living in defined areas throughout Australia. Many of these language groups still exist today. The traditional lands of the Nyiyapali, Banyjima and Innawonga peoples covered hundreds of kilometres including areas now designated as major towns, National Parks, pastoral and mining leases. The people of these three language groups maintain a strong culture by continuing their unique relationship with their lands that dates back more than 18,000 years.

Hunter Gatherers

Indigenous people lived a hunter and gatherer life where the men hunted the large animals such as kangaroos and emus and the women and children hunted smaller animals and collected fruits, berries and other plants. To maintain their “healthy country” family groups would only stay in an area for a certain time and only hunt and harvest specific foods. This sustainable approach ensured there would always be sufficient food for the next season.

Different Boundaries

A common misunderstanding amongst mainstream Australia was that Indigenous people did not own land and just wandered around. This myth has come about because Indigenous people did not mark out their lands in ways that were obvious to Europeans.

There were no fences or barriers as in the traditional European way of marking land ownership and so the Europeans concluded that no one owned the land. In fact, Indigenous people had their own way of dividing areas into traditional lands by using geographic boundaries such as rivers, lakes and mountains. The knowledge about boundaries was then passed down by the Elders to the younger people through songs, dance, art and storytelling.

Native Title

In the Pilbara, Aboriginal people were able to remain on their traditional land by working on pastoral stations until 1966. Few indigenous people left their country, except those children who were removed by the authorities. When native title became a possibility, the boundaries of each language group became a recognized geographical reality as claims were registered with the National Native Title Tribunal. One such claim, the Innawonga-Banyjima-Nyiyapali native title claim was made by a ‘culture block’ of closely related groups, signified by the name chosen for their representative body, ‘Gumala’, meaning ‘All Together’.

Click here to view the original language group boundaries.