It’s been a while since I’ve written anything on this blog, because I’ve been writing for publication (about the Faithfull Massacre and other frontier conflict).
Late last year, I was asked by the Professional Historians Association to review an amazing book, Marguerita Stephens’ The Years Of Terror, Banbu-deen – Kulin and Colonists at Port Phillip, 1835-1851.The review is published on-line, and you can read it by clicking the book title. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the Kulin history of greater Melbourne.
A couple of months after writing this review, I caught up with author Marguerita Stephens at the Star Hotel in Yackandandah. We talked for hours, and we could have talked for twice as long. She told me that she didn’t think she had another book in her. I am still hoping this isn’t the case, but it’s understandable given the enormity of this book, and that she has also completed the monumental task of transcribing the journals of Assistant Aboriginal Protector William Thomas (published in four volumes by the Victorian Aboriginal Corporation of Languages in 2014). These major achievements are enough for any historian in one lifetime. Anyway, if you’re looking for a great read, do yourself a favour.
A small comparative table of languages compiled by Assistant Protector of Aborigines William Thomas in Melbourne in the 1840s (State Library NSW).
This post was prompted by a reader, who had a good question regarding Aboriginal languages, and his question has prompted me to provide some basic information about Aboriginal languages in North-East Victoria. I am not a linguist, but I will tell you what I know using lay-person’s terms.
The reader’s question was: ‘Do Aboriginal languages and dialects have a similar structure to modern languages, as in rules of grammar? Do the languages include verbs, adjectives, adverbs, pronouns?’
The answer is Yes! Aboriginal languages do have all the word categories and complex rules of grammar, syntax, and so on, that one would expect of any language. However, not all Aboriginal languages were well-recorded (often, only vocabularies focussing on nouns were recorded), so sometimes, some of this information has been lost. This said, it is amazing what linguists can infer from fragmented records.
Reviving languages
In North-East Victoria, and across Victoria in general, many if not most languages are still being researched from historical information, and dictionaries are being compiled and/or added-to as we speak (sometimes ‘new’ words are found in historical sources). There were still people speaking fluently in a range of Aboriginal languages in North-East Victoria during the Gold Rush of the 1850s and during the Kelly Gang’s time in the 1870s. However, eventually, virtually all Victorian languages were considered at some point ‘dead’ languages, because they had no surviving speakers. Fortunately, now many languages are being revived. (For example, I’m told Bill Forshaw at Uni Melb is currently compiling a new Dhudhuroa dictionary, and he will be workshopping with Dhudhuroa and Waywurru people on country soon). This situation of language revival often means that there is no fixed, conventional way to spell many words. In time, Aboriginal communities may arrive at conventional ways of spelling their own languages, and in some places this is already happening. For example, as I understand it from my Wiradjuri-speaking friend Cate, Wiradjuri language no longer uses the letter J. It uses Y, as in Wiradyuri. This is a relatively new convention.
The spelling of Aboriginal language words is, however, always varied in the historical records, and remains somewhat varied even in many contemporary texts (perhaps with the exception of very commonly used words). However, if you read a lot, you will recognise the same word spelled in a different form: most readerz can understan a woord no matta how differdently it iz speled! The more you read, the more you will recognise that English-speaking people spelled the same Aboriginal language sound in different ways: P/B, T/D, and J/Dj/Dy are common examples of different recordings of the same sound. And as for vowels in European transcriptions of Aboriginal words, these are extremely variable! All of us know Wagga Wagga could be written as ‘Wogga Wogga’. In historical texts you may also see, for instance, Bangerang (as in the people) spelled Pangerang; and Pangerang spelled as Panguran or even Pingerine. The name is the same; attempts to write it down have varied.
Pama-Nyungan, the ancient language
Aboriginal languages in North-East Victoria (and indeed 90% of Australia) have a common ancestral language family called Pama-Nyungan. This means that many words across different Aboriginal languages have a common root form, just as many words in English and the Romance family of languages have common roots derived from ancient Latin. For this reason there are also words which are found across many different Aboriginal languages that are essentially the same word, such a murra for hand, and gunu/koon-na for excrement. (These are not to be confused with words which were specific to certain languages, spread after colonisation by English-speaking people, speaking pidgin-Aboriginal-English to each other and other Aboriginal people: words such as gunyah, corroboree, bunyip and boomerang, which all belong to specific languages, but were spread by Europeans.)
Borrowingwords
Common words found across many languages should not be confused with words which have been subject to ‘borrowing’ from one language to another. Aboriginal people were (and often still are) multi-lingual, and so in any conversation (and hence in any recorded Aboriginal language, such as a historical collection of vocabulary words), one is likely to find words borrowed from another language – generally from the language(s) of neighbouring language groups with whom people of a particular language group had kin-relations, trade relations or other socio-political affiliations. For example, Dhudhuroa and Waywurru people intermarried and some of their communities were closely intertwined, so the word for ‘wife’ is virtually the same in both languages, having been borrowed from one language into the other at a depth of time.
Dialects
Languages also had dialectal differences across their geographical range. For example, in central Kulin languages, if I was in Melbourne, I’d say willum for camp, but if I travelled over the Great Dividing Range, I’d say yellum.
Shibboleths
Sometimes language differences across the one language were deployed more deliberately: one group might use a small number of words unique to their group to differentiate and identify themselves from another group which spoke the same language. For example, a Kailtheban person from the Goulburn River speaking Yorta Yorta might have a few choice words which were different from Moitheriban Yorta Yorta speakers of the Murray River, because while they were from the same united language group, they are also different locals group, and have their own identity. In linguistics, these are referred to as ‘shibboleths’: a way of speaking (a pronunciation, or the use of particular words or expressions) that are used by one set of people to identify another person as a member, or a non-member, of a particular group.
Translating the meaning of words
The more Aboriginal languages you read in context, the more you will also discover how many words also have a nuanced meaning. This should be news to no-one (!!), but unfortunately, existing dictionaries do not yet always capture the nuanced meaning of words, often giving only a very simple English translation. For example, the central Kulin word murnmurndik, or morodellick has been translated simply as ‘girl, young woman’, but in context it can mean something more akin to ‘pretty maiden’, and it also is the name of the constellation Pleiades (coincidentally, in English referred to as the ‘Seven Sisters’, referring to seven divine sisters from Greek mythology). This richness of meaning in Aboriginal vocabularies exists, but it is still in the process of being rediscovered.
Code-shifting
Aboriginal people also practiced what linguists call ‘code-shifting’: the process of shifting from one linguistic code to another, depending on the social context or conversational setting. A Western Waywurru person speaking among Taungurung people (Taungurung being a central Kulin language) might described themselves as Pallangon-illum, using the suffix derived from the Kulin word willum meaning ‘camp’, as in ‘the people from Pallangon camp’. However, the same western Waywurru among Wiradjuri or Dhudhuroa speakers might prefer to says they are Pallangan-middah, from the Wiradjuri (and other languages to the north) word midda(ng), meaning ‘singular or one’, as in ‘we are people of Pallangan who consider themselves to be as one.’ Dhudhuroa people preferred a vowel ending, hence they would pronounce it middah, but Taungurung people might say Pallangan-middang, and keep the ‘ng’ on the end, acknowledging the Waywurru preference for the northern suffix, but preferring themselves to pronounce it with a consonant-ending more akin to their own way of speech. Code-switching is a ‘vibe’ that tells you about the social context in which people were speaking.
Some final comments…
If you read enough snippets of language from across North-East Victoria, sometimes in old ethnographic or anthropological papers, sometimes in collected vocabularies, and sometimes finding it in old newspaper articles, journals, reminiscences or books (often only one or two words at a time), you will find evidence of everything I have mentioned: common and wide-spread words, pidgin words, borrowed words, code-switching and multi-lingual vocabularies. You might think, in the midst of all of this speech, that it would be impossible for anyone to distinguish one language from another, and yet humans have this incredible facility for recognising languages. Of course, the technical side of identifying and classifying Aboriginal languages is… errr… more technical, and you would have to ask a linguist how that cake is baked.
Until the age of 18 years, I spent my whole life living on Bunurong country (except for a year in NYC). From a young age, I knew that my parent’s first home was in Murrumbeena, that planes departed from Tullamarine, that the rollerskating rink was in Moorabbin, that my Dad’s Gucci lace-ups (one and only pair!!) came from Toorak, and the jam on my toast was from Monbulk. To get to the beach house, one had to drive through Mooraduc and Tuerong, passing signs for Tooradin and Tootgarook, and that my grandparents lived at the Dandenong mountain, which is not so far from Mooroolbark. All of these Kulin names (some are place names, and some commemorate Kulin individuals like Murrum-murrum-bean and Tully-marine) sounded fantastic to me as a kid, and still do. I’m biased towards central Kulin languages as a result. Maybe you too are already biased to the sounds of an Aboriginal language, but you don’t realise it yet. Maybe you’ll figure it out.
To help you, the Victorian Aboriginal Corporation for Languages map is not perfect, but it’s pretty solid. [My comments based in more recent research are that Bangerang speak Yorta Yorta (and Yorta Yorta has dialectical variation across its range), Ngurai-illam speak Taungurung (with dialectical variation), Mogullumbidj speak Dhudhuroa, and Gundungerre (Jaithmathang/Yaitmathang) speak the same language as Ngarigu (with dialectical variation).]
Historically, and even now, there seems to have been a lot of confusion around Aboriginal ‘tribal’, language and group names in North East Victoria. This blog post provides assistance in understanding the meaning of various names you may encounter when learning about local Aboriginal history. It reflects a historical understanding of the situation at the time of European contact, rather than the present day situation.
Mount Bogong seen from the Tawonga Gap in Dhudhuroa country
LANGUAGE NAMES
Before we start, firstly, this post has names written in bold, for quick reference.
Secondly, I up-dated a few spellings in this post on 7 November 2025, to reflect current linguistic and community thinking. (This does not makes them authoritative.)
Thirdly, there are a few basic ideas which are good to understand:
Aboriginal languages were not written languages. Therefore the spelling of most language names (and indeed Aboriginal words and names) is not fixed. Spellings may have changed and continue to change over time; and in the present day may vary depending on the person or group writing it. Despite differences in spelling, the name itself is always fundamentally the same name, so it pays to read with a flexible mindset which identifies and accepts varied spellings.
There are two main conventions for naming languages in North East Victoria (and around Melbourne). The first is to combine the word in that language for ‘No’ with the word pertaining to speech or lips/mouth, commonly (mainly in Kulin languages) <wurrung> or <wurru>. The second is simply to reduplicate the word in that language for ‘No.’ However, not every language name conforms perfectly to these models, at least in a way that can be easily understood.
Within language groups, there were always smaller localised groups of people. The naming convention is to have the name, and add some form of a suffix to it indicating that it is a group of people. This convention exists across Victoria, although the suffixes vary (eg: in central and western Victoria, the common suffix is -gundij which may also appear as -goondeet). While anthropologists do not like to use the term ‘clan’ to describe local groups, these days many Aboriginal people (at least in Victoria) do use ‘clan’.
Aboriginal people often had kin relations from, and trade and alliance relationships with, other language groups. Therefore, most Aboriginal people in North East Victoria would have spoken multiple languages, and used loan-words from nearby languages when speaking their first language. It pays to read with a flexible mind, as the use of language in any given situation may reflect a complex social reality rather than adhere strictly to the language spoken in that particular area.
I will follow up on the geographical areas associated with certain languages in the next blog post.
Finally, this blog post is not fully footnoted, although some general references are provided. I hope to provide more footnoted material on this blog as I continue to write, although the content in this post is pulled from written reports which are extensively footnoted.
Dhudhuroa (Duduroa)
Dhudhuroa (and its equally valid alternative spelling ‘Duduroa’) is a language name. Dhudhuroa language is a distinct and separate ‘language isolate’. It was originally identified and studied by ethnographer and linguist R. H. Mathews (1909), and more recently by linguists Julie Reid and Barry Blake (2002), and currently by Bill Forshore (University of Melbourne). It is unrelated to neighbouring Waywurru, although it did use Waywurru loan-words (and vice versa). Most Dhudhuroa words have vowel endings.
See: Barry Blake and Julie Reid, ‘The Dhudhuroa language of northeastern Victoria: a description based on historical sources,’ Aboriginal History, 2002, Vol. 26, pp: 177-210.
Waywurru (Waveru, Waveroo)
Waywurru (and its less commonly used spellings ‘Waveru’ or ‘Waveroo’) is a language name. Waywurru language is a distinct and separate ‘language isolate’. It has been identified and studied as such by linguists Julie Reid and Barry Blake (1999), and most recently by linguistic anthropologist Anthony Jefferies (2023). It is unrelated to Dhudhuroa, although it did use Dhudhuroa loan-words (and vice versa). Waywurru language has also been described as Pallanganmiddang / Pallanganmiddah, which technically is not a language name (for the explanation, keep reading). Most Waywurru words have vowel endings.
See: Barry Blake and Julie Reid, ‘Pallanganmiddang: a language of the Upper Murray,’ Aboriginal History, 1999, Vol. 23, pp:15-30.
Minyambuta (Minjambuta)
This is a synonym for Waywurru language. It is a language name. This correlation was first identified by Ian Clark (‘Aboriginal languages in North-east Victoria – the status of “Waveru” reconsidered’, Journal of Australian Indigenous Issues, 2011), and is confirmed by Anthony Jefferies (2023).
In my paper ‘Mogullumbidj: First People of Mount Buffalo,’ (Victorian Historical Journal, Vol. 91, Number 1, June 2020, pp.17-38), I explained that Minyambuta was first described by R.H. Matthews as a ‘dialect of Dhudhuroa’, but this was a misinterpretation of information Matthews collected from his informant Neddy Wheeler, who was born a Dhudhuroa-speaker, but who spent a good proportion of his time in Waywurru country with Waywurru people. I think I also suggested it may have been a ‘language strategy’, but in my recent research, and in that done at the same time by Anthony Jefferies, we learned that Waywurru people were very close to their Dhudhuroa neighbours in terms of intermarriage, initiations, ceremony and so on; and so it is natural that vocabularies which were collected in the 19th century reflect this close relationship.
See: Jacqui Durrant and Anthony Jefferies, Ngurai-ilam, Waywurru and Dhudhuroa: Their socio-political identity and interrelationships, country and ancestors, independent unpublished five volume report commissioned by Holding Redlich Lawyers with funding from the State of Victoria, 2023.
(The use of the letter ‘J’ in the alternate spelling is due to Norman Tindale’s preference for an international phonetic alphabet which was popular with linguists in the 1970s.)
Yorta Yorta
Yorta Yorta is a language name. It is a distinct and separate ‘language isolate’. Yorta Yorta speakers are also a distinct and separate nation. In early records, the name ‘Yorta Yorta’ rarely appears; and the name Bangerang (Pangerang) is generally used in its place – although not necessarily as a language name per se, but instead usually referring to a conglomerate of smaller local groups which spoke Yorta Yorta. However, today Yorta Yorta is the commonplace language name. Yorta Yorta language originally had dialectal variations associated with the different groups who spoke it. Yorta Yorta language has been studied extensively by linguists Heather Bowe and Stephen Morey, and their book, The Yorta Yorta (Bangerang) language of the Murray Goulburn, Including Yabula Yabula , 1999 (available by free download) is a great resource.
Taungurung
Taungurung (Daung-wurrung) is a language name. It belongs to the Eastern Kulin language group (as opposed to the larger Western Kulin language group), and is one of the language groups included within what is often referred to as the ‘Kulin Nation‘ (or ‘Kulin confederacy.’). (‘Kulin’ is the word in those languages for ‘man’.) The Kulin Nation also includes the other language groups Woi-wurrung, Bunurong (Boon-wurrung), Wathaurong (Wada-wurrung) and Djadja-wurrung. There is a lavish dictionary of Taungurung language (Taungurung, Liwik-nganjin-al Ngula-dhan | Our Ancestors Language, Yaawinbu Yananinon | Enjoy the Journey) by Aunty Lee Healy. Most Taungurung words have consonant endings.
Wurrundjeri (Woi-wurrung)
Wurrundjeri is a name originally derived from one of the localised groups of people who spoke Woi-wurrung language. Woi-wurrung is the main language of the Melbourne area; although because the only survivors who spoke Woi-wurrung as their first language were from the Wurrundjeri local group of people (of the Yarra Valley), the modern-day convention is for the name ‘Wurrundjeri’ to refer to both the language and its people. Technically, Wurrundjeri people speak Woi-wurrung. Woi-wurrung is very close to Taungurung. Most Woi-wurrung words have consonant endings.
Wurrundjeri should not to be confused with the Wiradyuri language group of southern inland New South Wales.
See: Barry J. Blake, ‘Woiwurrung, the Melbourne Language,’ in R. M. W. Dixon and Barry J. Blake, The Handbook of Australian Languages, Volume 4, The Aboriginal Language of Melbourne and other Grammatical Sketches, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, 1991, pp.31-122.
High Country Language(HCL)
Scholars are unsure of the over-arching name used by Aboriginal people for this mutually-intelligible group of closely related dialects, hence the tentative name ‘High Country Language’. The Yaitmathang group of Omeo, Benambra and the Bogong High Plains spoke the southern-most dialect of Snowy Mountains Language, being one of four groups whose language shared ‘virtually the same grammar and most of their vocabulary.’ The other three groups were the Ngarigo (Ngarigu) language of the Monaro High Plains and Snowy Mountains, the Nyamudy, popularly Namwich, or the Limestone Plains people of Canberra, and the Wolgal of the north-western Snowy Mountains, eg: Tooma, Tumbarumba (whose Dhudhuroa neighbours/relatives called them ‘Wolgalu’). The High Country Language belongs to the in-land Yuin family of languages. (‘Yuin’ is the word in this language for ‘man’.) The Snowy Mountains Language group has been recently studied by linguist Harold Koch (Australian National University), who is writing a book about this language.
Kandangora (Kŭndūng-orūr)
The name Kandangora (seen elsewhere in context as ‘Gundanora’ and ‘Kuntungera’) appears in Alfred Howitt’s field notes [see below] (‘Kŭndūng-orūr’) as the name of the ‘language’ (potentially, language dialect) spoken by the Yaitmathang. With the addition of the suffix <mittang> added to it, Kandangora-mittung was ascribed by Alfred Howitt in The Native Tribes of South-East Australia (1904) as the a local group name belonging to the people at Omeo/Benambra. However, ‘Kandangora-mittung’ it does not appear in any of the primary source materials with this suffix attached, and it should be considered that Howitt erroneously added the suffix <mittung>, denoting a local group, to suit his own purposes. (This is a slightly complex discussion unsuited to this blog post, and an issue I am still openly considering.)
Kandangora and its variants should not be confused with Gandangara, the language spoken around Goulburn, New South Wales.
A. W. Howitt, ‘Notes on the Maneroo and Ngarigo’, Papers of A.W. Howitt (Alfred William), A. W. Howitt, ‘Notes on the Maneroo and Ngarigo’, Papers of A.W. Howitt (Alfred William), MS9356, Box 1050, Folder 2(c), State Library of Victoria.
Wiradyuri
Wiradyuri is a massive language group of the inland slopes of New South Wales. Historic vocabularies collected in the 19th century show it was spoken along the Murray River at Albury and Howlong.
There’s a terrific Wiradyuri dictionary: A new Wiradjuri dictionary, compiled by Stan Grant Senior and John Rudder.
LOCAL GROUP NAMES (‘CLAN’ NAMES)
Waywurru language-speaking local groups
Waywurru local group names have the suffix <midhang> (variants -mittung, -middang, -middah). This suffix means ‘a group of people’, but in several languages (eg: Wiradjuri, Gandangara) the word <midhang> actually means ‘single’ or ‘one’. Hence, in the context of local group names, the suffix means ‘a group, forming a single body of people’. This suffix is also used by contiguous local groups speaking southern-Wiradyuri, High Country Language, and Dhudhuroa.
Pallangan-midhang – colloquially known as the ‘Ovens River tribe’.
In some primary source materials, Pallangan-mittang is also seen with the Taungurung (and broadly Eastern Kulin) suffix <ilam> instead of <midhang>. This is because Pallangan-midhang people married into the nearest Taungurung-speaking local groups, Yarran-ilam, Yowan-ilam and Ngurai-ilam.
Early vocabularies of Waywurru were labelled ‘Pallangan-middah’ or similar because the people recording the language confused the language name with that of the group of people speaking it. Thus Barry Blake and Julie Reid’s 1999 study of Waywurru language using historical sources calls it ‘Pallanganmiddang’. Since the journals of the Chief Protector of Aborigines, George Augustus Robinson, have become more readily available, scholars now understand the language to be Waywurru (thanks mainly to the work of Diane Barwick in the 1980s and Marie Fels in the 1990s).
Dhurra-midhang (Tarere-midhang) – colloquially known as the ‘Little River tribe’ [ie: Kiewa River].
Spellings include: Tare.rer.mit.tum, Tare.ro.mit.um, Thar-a-mirttong, Thurumatong, Tharamattay, and possibly Tang.ger.rer.mit.tum.
Dhudhuroa language-speaking local groups
Dyinning-midhang – colloquially known as the ‘Mitta Mitta tribe’, ie: Mitta Mitta River and Tallangatta, Upper Murray.
Mogullum-bidj – colloquially known as the ‘Buffalo River tribe’, or ‘Mount Buffalo tribe’.
This name does not fit the conventional naming pattern of the region. However, it is always named, or listed in context, as being a local group name. The suffix <bidj> (sometimes written as <bitch> in primary sources), is most likely a version of the Kulin word <biik> commonly written in Melbourne as <bek>, referring to a patch of country or a place. (Merri-bek Council in Melbourne uses this term.) This suggests that Mogullum-bidj is the named used by Kulin speakers for the group.
Dodora – Alfred Howitt (1904) added the <midhang> suffix onto this local group name, writing it is ‘Theddora-mittung’. However, the name never appears in early primary source materials with this suffix attached. Nevertheless, it is always named, or listed in context, as being a local group name. There was never a colloquial name for these people other than ‘Dodora’ or ‘Dodoro’.
High Country Language-speaking local groups
Yaitmathang (Yait-midhang) – colloquially known as the ‘Omeo tribe’ (Omeo historically meaning Lake Omeo).
There are a number of Snowy Mountains Language speaking groups, which mostly share the suffix <mittang>. In context <mathang> is a variant of this suffix. However, for this post I am only listing the group associated with the upper Mitta Mitta Valley, Yaitmathang.
Sometimes you will see Yaitmathang spelled ‘Jaitmaithang’. Once again, the use of the letter ‘J’ in the spelling is due to Norman Tindale’s preference for an international phonetic alphabet which was popular with linguists in the 1970s. It is not seen in old spellings of the name.
Taungurung-speaking local groups
Taungurung local group names have one (and in the primary sources, only one) of two suffixes. The first is <ilam> (illam, illum) meaning ‘camp’. The second is <bulluk> meaning a group of people. A number of Taungurung <ilam> and <bulluk> are identified and listed in various secondary sources, but the list below is are the groups which are known most concretely. Each group could have its own history written, and two in particular – Yowung-ilam and Nira-bulluk – were powerful, influential groups in the early colonial period. Meanwhile, Yarran-ilum-born Birdarak (Tommy Banfield) was a fierce political advocate in the late 19th century.
Yarran-illam – colloquially known as the ‘Marangan tribe’, after the name of the large waterhole at Benalla which now forms Lake Benalla.
This is a local group of the middle Broken River Valley including Benalla and Lima. (However, Benalla now falls with the Registered Aboriginal Party area of Yorta Yorta). It was led by King Michie until his death in 1853, and later by his son Birdarak, Tommy Michie (also known as Tommy Banfield and ‘Punch’). Birdarak was one of three men named as a ngurungaeta (leader, head man) by the great Wurrundjeri leader William Barak.
Yowung-illam – colloquially known by the old European name for the Delatite River, the ‘Devil’s River tribe’.
This is a local group of the upper Broken River and Delatite River Valleys including Mansfield and Lake Eildon. Yowung-ilam were an influential local group, often identified in the primary source materials as somewhat separate to Taungurung.
Warring-illam – a local group situated on the Goulburn River around Yea and Murrundindi River.
Buthera-bulluk – a local group situated on the south side of the middle Goulburn River around Seymour.
Nira-bulluk – colloquially known as the ‘Puckapunyal tribe’ (among other names).
This is a local group situated around Broadford, Puckapunyal, Kilmore and Pyalong. In the early colonial period they were led by the famous Billy Hamilton (‘Yabbee’).
Natterak-bulluk – a local group situated on the Upper Coliban and Campaspe Rivers.
Ngurai-illam – a local group occupying the middle Goulburn River including Avenel, Mangalore, Tabilk, Rushworth, Murchison and Euroa. ‘Ngurai’ refers to cumbungi or bull-rushes.
Ngurai-ilam appears in some resources as ‘Ngurai-ilam-wurrung’ which should imply they are a separate language group. Research by Anthony Jefferies (2023) shows that they spoke Taungurung, although perhaps a slightly different dialect of Taungurung to those further east. Today some Ngurai-ilam regard themselves as separate to mainstream Taungurung. Regardless of their status, the name ‘Ngurai-ilam-wurrung‘ never appears in the primary source materials. And on their own, Ngurai-ilam was a local group.
Ngurai-ilam shared a close social and political relationship with their immediate western neighbours Benbedore, and together these two groups had a different social and political outlook to other Taungurung-speaking clans, mainly due to their geographic situation on the edge of Yorta Yorta country, which in turn necessitated them having to negotiate and maintain an uneasy alliance with these powerful non-Kulin-neighbours to their north.
In the mid-19th century Ngurai-ilam were led by the well-known King Charles Tattambo, who is buried in the Murchison Cemetery with his wife Mary and son Captain John.
Benbedore (Pimpandoor, Binbandurr)
Ngurai-ilam’s closest neighbour to the west, Benbedore was a local group centred on the Colbinabbin Plains. In context, they are always reported as a local group (clan), although in the original primary source materials dating from the 19th century, they are never named with the suffix -ilam or -bulluk (-balluk) attached to their name, which may in turn differentiate them from the majority of Taungurung-speaking groups. Benbedore and Ngurai-ilam shared a close social and political relationship.
Yorta Yorta-speaking local groups
Yorta Yorta-speaking local groups generally have the suffix <ban> or <pan>. ‘Bangerang’ was a name which was either applied to the whole of Yorta Yorta speaking local groups; or, depending on circumstance, was applied specifically to two local groups: Wongatpan and Towroonban (around Barmah and lower Moira respectively) whom were regarded as ‘properly Bangerang’ by author E. M. Curr. These two groups were surrounded by Yorta Yorta speakers on all sides, and were historically among the most staunch defenders of the Yorta Yorta country, culture and language. However, each Yorta Yorta group has quite an independent identity.
While Curr (E. M. Curr, Recollections of Squatting in Victoria, then called the Port Phillip District (from 1841-1851), George Robertson, Melbourne, 1883.) may be a controversial author for some, eight of his listed Yorta Yorta local groups are mirrored by well-respected teacher and activist Thomas Schadrach James in a letter written to R. H. Mathews in 1897. All of Curr’s local groups are also found in the journal of Chief Protector of Aborigines, George Augustus Robinson, in a list written by him in 1843.
Curr’s list:
Angootheraban – around Cobram, Yarrawonga
Toolinyagan – colloquially ‘Ulupna tribe’, and Strathmeron
Kailtheban – Shepparton, literally ‘people of Kaiela’ (of the Goulburn River).
Wollithiga – Echuca, lower Campaspe River
Wangatpan – Barmah, ‘head-quarters were at Wongat, as they called the country just at the junction of the river Murray and the Baala or Broken Creek’ (E. M. Curr, 1883)
Towroonban – Nathalia, Kotupna
Moitheriban – Moira Lake, Barmah Forest, colloquially known as the ‘Moira tribe’.
Boongatpan – Yeilima?
Ngarrimowro – Barmah Forest (mainly NSW side of Murray River) (now referred to as Yalaba Yalaba)
Pikkolatpan – Tocumwal (and mainly NSW side of Murray River)
Note: I have not forgotten about Kwat Kwat (Quart Quart), but this is a complex topic which requires a discussion of the work of anthropologist Norman B. Tindale, who literally put them on the map, over the top of some of the named groups already mentioned in this post.
Circa 1840 