Surf Wiki
Save to docs
geography/australia

From Surf Wiki (app.surf) — the open knowledge base

Nyigina

Aboriginal people of Western Australia

Nyigina
Summary

Aboriginal people of Western Australia

The Nyikina people (also spelt Nyigina and Nyikena, and listed as Njikena by Tindale) are an Aboriginal Australian people of the Kimberley region of Western Australia.

They come from the lower Fitzroy River (which they call mardoowarra).

This map is indicative only.}}

Language

The Nyigina language is one of several eastern varieties of the Nyulnyulan languages, closely related to Warrwa and Yawuru. it was spoken by around 10 people.

Country

The Nyigina (Njikena) inhabited an area estimated at 11,300 mi2. The area is located on the lower Fitzroy River from Yeeda upstream to Noonkanbah, on both banks.

Education

The Nyigina, together with the Mangala people, run the Nyikina Mangala Community School, a school at Jarlmadangah in West Kimberley. The Nyigina-Mangala peoples also run another school, together with the Walmajarri, at Looma.

Native title

In 1998 the Nyigina people undertook legal proceedings to pursue their native title claims. One consisted of a Nyikina Mangala claim, which they shared with the Mangala while the other comprised the Nyikina- Warrwa pursued together with the closely related Warrwa people. The Shire of Derby settled an Indigenous land use agreement with the Indigenous plaintiffs, regarding the Nikina Mangala area, and set down a protocol that provided guarantees for surveying the Aboriginal cultural heritage before any development projects on the land could be undertaken. In 2014, after an 18-year legal battle, the Federal Court of Australia granted the Nyikina-Mangala petitioners native title over 26,000 km2 of territory, from King Sound through the Fitzroy Valley to the Great Sandy Desert.

Prominent people

  • Daisy Loongkoonan was a Nyigina elder and artist.
  • Butcher Joe Nangan was a Nyigina Mabanjarra, songman, and artist.
  • Katie Rodriguez a former Catholic novice and pastoral worker
  • Paddy Roe was a Nyigina elder who wrote about Nyigina culture and religion.
  • Yoolya, also known as Fulgentius Fraser, who was evangelist and stockman.

Notes

Citations

Sources

  • {{Cite news| title = After 18 years, Traditional Owners of the Fitzroy River get native title
  • {{Cite web| title = AIATSIS map of Indigenous Australia
  • {{Cite book| title = A Grammar of Bardi | author-link = Claire Bowern
  • {{Cite book| chapter = Prolegomenon to a Warrwa grammar of space | editor1-last = Levinson | editor1-first = Stephen C. | editor2-last = Wilkins | editor2-first = David P. | chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=wi8McGUZglIC&pg=PA115
  • {{Cite web| title = Nyikina Mangala and Shire of Derby-West Kimberley Native Title Process Agreement Map
  • {{Cite web| title = Tindale Tribal Boundaries
  • {{Cite book | chapter =Njikena | chapter-url=http://archives.samuseum.sa.gov.au/tindaletribes/njikena.htm | archive-date = 20 March 2020 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200320020206/http://archives.samuseum.sa.gov.au/tindaletribes/njikena.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.

aboriginal-peoples-of-western-australia broome,-western-australia fitzroy-river-(western-australia)
Want to explore this topic further?

Ask Mako anything about Nyigina — get instant answers, deeper analysis, and related topics.

Research with Mako

Free with your Surf account

Content sourced from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This content may have been generated or modified by AI. CloudSurf Software LLC is not responsible for the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of AI-generated content. Always verify important information from primary sources.

Report