The Karrangpurru are an Aboriginal Australian people of the Northern Territory. They suffered severe population loss very early on in the period of colonial expropriations of their land.
Country[edit]
The Karrangpurru lived to the north of the Bilinara.[1] Tindale combines the Karrangpurru with the Bilinara, thus the estimated ancestral territory of the Karrangpurru is approximately 3,750 square miles (9,700 km2).[2][page needed]
History of contact[edit]
Karrangpurru lands were subsumed into the Victoria River Downs Station when it was established in 1883.[1] A combination of massacres and the impact of diseases introduced by whites penetrating their country effectively decimated the population.[3] The descendants of the survivors of the colonial period live in the community of Yarralin and town of Katherine.[citation needed]
Language[edit]
Nothing is known of their language, Karranga, since its many of its speakers were wiped out without any items from it being recorded.[3]
References[edit]
- ^ a b Meakins & Nordlinger 2014, p. 16.
- ^ Tindale 1974.
- ^ a b Meakins & Nordlinger 2014, p. 17.
Sources[edit]
- Meakins, Felicity; Nordlinger, Rachel (2014). A Grammar of Bilinarra: An Australian Aboriginal Language of the Northern Territory. Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 978-1-614-51274-5.
- Tindale, Norman Barnett (1974). Aboriginal Tribes of Australia: Their Terrain, Environmental Controls, Distribution, Limits, and Proper Names. Australian National University. ISBN 978-0-708-10741-6.