Page:Native Tribes of South-East Australia.djvu/108

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
82
NATIVE TRIBES OF SOUTH-EAST AUSTRALIA
CH.

included the fall from the coast range to the sea, and their local organisation is as follows:—

Sub-tribes Clans.
Guyangal-Yuin
(South-Yuin)
(1) Thauaira,[1] east of Malagoota Inlet.
(2) Tadera-manji,[2] in the Bega district.
(3) Bugelli-manji, in the Moruya district.
Kurial-Yuin
(North-Yuin)
(4) Name not ascertained, in the Braidwood district.
(5) Name not ascertained, in the Ulladulla district.
(6) Gurungatta-manji, in the Lower Shoalhaven River district.

Not only are the Coast Murring divided into the "southerners" and "northerners," but they are also divided into those who live on the coast and those who live inland. The former are the Katungal, from Katung, "the sea," called by the whites "fishermen." Those who live inland from the sea are called Paiendra, from Paien, "a tomahawk," and are called by the whites "Waddymen," from the word "Waddy," an aboriginal term for a tree, and referring to their climbing trees in search of game for food. Those who live on the high mountains still further back are called the Bemeringal or mountaineers, from Bemering "a mountain." Perhaps strictly the Bemering include the people living on the Manero tableland, and even those on the high country as far as Kiandra, but not those on the fall thence to the north.

The Katungal commence at Moruya, and extend far up the coast including distant tribes. Yuin is also a general name for all the tribes from Merimbula to Port Jackson, and "maan" for those from Merimbula to Cape Howe. Beyond the most distant Bemeringal known to the Yuin, namely at Kiandra, there were tribes they called Woradjera and also Kunamildan, or "come by night," who had at times crossed the mountains and killed the Murring. The former are clearly the Wiradjuri, some of whom lived on the lower Tumut River.

Claims to particular tracts of country arose in certain of

  1. This clan takes its name from the language spoken by it.
  2. Manji means "there, at some place," and is therefore the same as the Kurnai word munju, " there at that place."