Garrwa people facts for kids

The Garrwa people, also known as Karawa or Garawa, are an Aboriginal Australian group. They traditionally lived in the Northern Territory of Australia. Their lands stretched from east of the McArthur River near Borroloola all the way to Doomadgee and the Nicholson River in Queensland.

Language

The Garrwa people speak the Garawa language. It belongs to the Garrwan language family, along with the Waanyi language. The Garawa language used to have two main ways of speaking, called dialects: a "heavy" eastern one called Guninderri, and a "light" western one. Experts still discuss how it fits into the larger Pama-Nyungan language family of Australia. It has some unique features not often seen in other Australian languages.

Country and Lifestyle

Norman Tindale, a famous researcher, estimated that the Garrwa lands covered about 16,300 square kilometers (6,300 square miles). They were mostly an inland group, living about 65 kilometers (40 miles) from the coast of the Gulf of Carpentaria. Their land was rocky, stretching from the Robinson River area to the Foelsche River. It went south to the headwaters of the Robinson River and Seigalls Creek. To the east, their land reached past Calvert Hills to Wollogorang, near the Queensland border.

Today, the Garrwa people feel a strong connection to the area along the Gulf of Carpentaria coastline in Queensland, especially around the Wearyan and Robinson Rivers. Other groups, like the Binbinga and Wilangarra, sadly disappeared after European settlers arrived.

The Garrwa lived in different environments, from tropical areas with mangroves in the north to drier, semi-desert areas with sandstone gorges in the south. Depending on the season, they would travel to the Bukalara (Barkly Tableland). They saw themselves as "freshwater people," different from the "saltwater peoples" who lived closer to the ocean. They gathered food from rivers and creeks, like crayfish, turtles, and water plants. They also hunted land animals such as kangaroos, echidnas, and possums.

The historian Tony Roberts described the Garrwa lands based on the journals of Ludwig Leichhardt, an explorer. Leichhardt traveled through an old Aboriginal trade route near the Robinson and Wearyan rivers. He wrote about many signs of an active and organized community. He saw traps for emus and fish, well-used paths, large living areas with strong homes, and clean water wells. He also noted a clever way they removed poison from cycad nuts, which allowed them to eat them. This showed that the Garrwa people were industrious and lived in a well-developed society, very different from the common ideas of "primitive" people at that time.

Social Groups

The Garrwa people were organized into different family groups, called clans. One clan that is known is the Wulungwara, who lived around Wollongorang.

History of Contact

When European settlers began to arrive, some Garrwa people moved closer to the coast, reaching as far as Tully Inlet. There, they started to mix with the Yanyuwa people.

In 1916, copper was found in the Redbank area, which was Garrwa land. The Redbank Copper Mine was then built. Sadly, pollution from the mine's waste has made nearby Hanrahan's Creek poisonous. This pollution has spread to other wetlands and even affected important sacred Aboriginal sites, like Moonlight Falls.

Trading

The Garrwa people were skilled at making special kulunja knife blades from quartzite rock. This rock was mined about 10 kilometers (6 miles) south of the modern Redbank Copper Mine. These knives were very valuable and were used for trading with other groups. For example, they traded these knives to get young wives from the Lardil people of Mornington Island.

Alternative Names

• Karawa
• Karrawar
• Garawa
• Kurrawar
• Korrawa
• Grawa
• Leearawa
• Kariwa
• Wulungwara
• Wollongorang (a place name)