Ngooraialum

Ngooraialum were an indigenous Australian tribal subgroup, one of 3 comprising the Ngurai-illam-wurrung,[1] though Norman Tindale placed them among the Taungurong. They inhabited land along the Goulburn River in central Victoria, north of Mitchellstown, at Murchison, above Toolamba, within 40 miles (64 km) of the Murray-Goldburn junction.[2][3] The heart of their land was Noorillim, which they called Waaring.

Map of the Ngooraialum lands

Language

The Ngooraialum spoke a dialect of Daungwurrung, a Kulinic language of the Pama-Nyungan language family, as did the Taungurong. Their ethnonym Nguraialum denotes the dialect they spoke.[4]

History

The Ngooraialum were first mentioned in 1840, when they visited the Mitchellstown depot in February of that year. At that time, their ngurungaeta was Weeng-her-bil.[lower-alpha 1] They were said to be numerous and in good condition, despite some skin diseases, and the names of 53 were registered in 1845.[3]

They were frequently in conflict with the neighbouring Bangerang,[5] Edward M. Curr, noting that a native from Swan Hill used a word used by the Ngooraialum 200 kilometres (120 mi) to the south-east, but not by the tribe in the intermediate area, developed a whole theory of the migration of all the tribes in Australia.[6]

Goulburn River at Murchison.

Today, many Ngooraialum in the Goulburn Valley live in the settlement of Rumbalara built in 1958 to replace a shanty town on the edge of Shepparton.

Alternative names
  • Ngurailum
  • Ngooralung-boola/Ngouraylung-bulla
  • Oorilim
  • Ooraialum
  • Wor-ile-lum-buluc
  • Woo-ril-lum/Woo-rai-lim/Wo-ra-lims/Woralim
  • Orilims[3]

Notes
  1. Or in a variant spelling Wang-her-bil

Citations
  1. Barwick 1984, p. 125.
  2. West 1962, pp. 2–3.
  3. Barwick 1984, p. 126.
  4. Tindale 1974.
  5. West 1962, p. 15.
  6. Furphy 2013, p. 145.

Sources
  • Barwick, Diane E. (1984). McBryde, Isabel (ed.). "Mapping the past: an atlas of Victorian clans 1835-1904". Aboriginal History. 8 (2): 100–131. JSTOR 24045800.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Furphy, Samuel (2013). "The Australian Race". Edward M. Curr and the Tide of History. Australian National University Press. pp. 145–156. ISBN 978-0-708-10741-6. JSTOR j.ctt2jbksj.14.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Smyth, Robert Brough (1878). The Aborigines of Victoria: with notes relating to the habits of the natives of other parts of Australia and Tasmania (PDF). Volume 1. Melbourne: J. Ferres, gov't printer.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Tindale, Norman Barnett (1974). "Taungurong (VIC)". Aboriginal Tribes of Australia: Their Terrain, Environmental Controls, Distribution, Limits, and Proper Names. Australian National University Press. ISBN 978-0-708-10741-6.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • West, Raymond (1962). Those Were the Days: A Story of Shepparton, Victoria, and to Some Extent, Its District. Waterwheel Press.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
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