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Amurdak

Indigenous Australian people

Summary

Indigenous Australian people

The Amurdak, people, also written Amarak and Ngamarak, are an Indigenous Australian people of the Cobourg Peninsula in the Northern Territory. The Amurdak people traditionally inhabited the coastal regions and hinterlands of the Cobourg Peninsula, including parts of the Garig Gunak Barlu National Park.

Language

Main article: Amurdak language

The language of the Amarak, Amurdak, is now virtually extinct, the last known speaker being Charlie Mungulda. It was also known as Wardadjbak, and belongs to the Iwaidja language family. It had two dialects, Urrik and Didjurra.

Country

The Amurdak's traditional lands extended over some 900 mi2 around the eastern coast of Van Diemen Gulf. Their northern extend lay beyond Murgenella Creek and in the vicinity of Cooper Creek, while their southern frontier was close to the East Alligator River.

Mythology

According to the widespread creation story of the Cobourg Peninsula dreamtime, the Amurdak (Umoriu) descended from Imberombera deposited who children at a place near Cooper Creek known as Mamul. One of the children was called Kominuuru, and, on leaving, she told them to speak Amurdak, and an edible bulb called amg.

Alternative names

  • Amarag, Amuruk, Amurag, Amurrak
  • Ngamurak, Ngamurag, Nga:mu:rak
  • Umoriu
  • Monobar (?)
  • A'moordiyu
  • Amardak
  • Amurdag
  • Amurtak
  • Amuruk
  • Mamurug
  • Namurug
  • Umoreo
  • Umorrdak
  • Wardadjbak
  • Woraidbug
  • Wureidbug

Notes

Citations

Sources

  • {{Cite book| title = Australian Languages: Their Nature and Development | author-link = Robert M. W. Dixon
  • {{Cite news| title = Researchers Say Many Languages Are Dying
  • {{Cite book| chapter = Amurdak | editor1-last = Simons | editor1-first = Gary F. | editor2-last = Fennig | editor2-first = Charles D.
  • {{Cite book| title = Native tribes of the Northern Territory of Australia | author-link = Walter Baldwin Spencer
  • {{Cite book| chapter = Amarak (NT) | author-link = Norman Tindale | chapter-url = http://archives.samuseum.sa.gov.au/tindaletribes/amarak.htm | archive-date = 20 March 2020 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200320020206/http://archives.samuseum.sa.gov.au/tindaletribes/amarak.htm
Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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