Kaiadilt facts for kids
The Kaiadilt are an Aboriginal Australian people from the South Wellesley Islands in Queensland, Australia. They originally lived on Bentinck Island. They also traveled to Sweers and Allen Islands to fish and hunt. Today, most Kaiadilt people live on Mornington Island. However, some have moved back to Bentinck Island.
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The Kayardild Language
The Kayardild language is a unique language. It is part of the Tangkic languages family. Unlike most Australian languages, Kayardild adds endings to nouns to show tense. This means nouns can show if something happened in the past, present, or future. This is very rare in languages around the world!
The name Kayardild comes from ka (meaning 'language') and yardild (meaning 'strong'). So, it means 'strong language'.
A linguist named Nicholas Evans studied Kayardild. He found that its grammar challenged old ideas about how languages work. For a long time, experts thought that nouns never showed tense. But Kayardild proved them wrong!
In 1982, about 40 people spoke Kayardild. By 2005, only seven fluent speakers were left. The last speaker of the original Kayardild language passed away in 2015.
Kaiadilt Lands
The Kaiadilt people lived on Bentinck Island. This island, along with its surrounding reefs, covers about 180 square kilometers. Their land stretched west to Allen Island.
Kaiadilt History
The Kaiadilt people mostly stayed on Bentinck Island. They had little contact with traders from other islands, like the Makassans. This is different from many other Aboriginal groups in northern Australia. There are very few words from Malay or Buginese languages in Kayardild. However, some old records show that visitors harvested tamarind and teak. Old clay pots have also been found. The Kaiadilt were usually shy with strangers.
The first European to visit the island was Matthew Flinders. He was the captain of HMS Investigator in 1802.
In 1934, Sweers Island became an Aboriginal reserve. In 1946, a severe drought hit the area. Then, in 1948, a huge cyclone caused a massive tidal wave. After these events, missionaries and the Queensland Government moved the Kaiadilt people to Mornington Island.
This move greatly harmed the Kaiadilt culture and language. Children were kept in dormitories, away from their parents and families. This meant that the language and traditional stories were not passed down. On Mornington Island, the Kaiadilt lived in a separate area. They faced Lardil people who did not allow them to use fishing grounds. Conditions were very tough. For several years, all babies were stillborn, creating a missing generation.
From the late 1960s, the Kaiadilt began to return to their own islands.
Getting Land Rights Back
In 1994, the Kaiadilt Aboriginal Land Trust received a special land grant. This meant they officially owned their traditional lands. In 1996, they made a native title claim. This claim covered Bentinck and Sweers Islands and the sea around them.
In 2004, the Federal Court ruled in their favor. The Kaiadilt people were given rights to the sea up to five nautical miles from their islands.
People and Society
The Kaiadilt people had a very high population density for an Aboriginal group. This means many people lived in a small area. A lot of Kaiadilt people (43%) have B-group blood. This is rare among other Aboriginal Australians. Many Kaiadilt children also have blond hair.
Their society was divided into eight kin groups called dolnoro.
Some Kayardild Words
Here are a few words from the Kayardild language:
- duljawinda ('car') – This literally means 'ground-runner'.
- wadubayiinda ('tobacco') – This word combines wadu (smoke) with bayii- (to be bitten). It means 'that by which the smoke is bitten'.
Life and Environment
The Kaiadilt people lived well on Bentinck Island. The area has many reef-building corals and different types of shellfish. Early visitors found over 400 kinds of shellfish. For the Kaiadilt, Bentinck Island was Dulkawalnged, meaning 'the land of all'. Sweers and Allen islands were Dangkawaridulk, meaning 'lands void of men'.
Even though the soil was poor, many types of vegetables grew there. The island had small eucalyptus trees, casuarina trees, and pandanus plants.
The Kaiadilt lived by fishing and gathering seafood. They moved around based on the weather and seasons. Women gathered foods like small rock oysters (tjilangind), mud cockles (kulpanda), and crabs from the shore. Men hunted for sharks, turtles, and dugong. They also used rock fish traps (ngurruwarra). These traps are found all along Bentinck's coastline and on Sweers Island. After the monsoon rains, rivers brought rich silt into the Gulf. This helped marine grasses grow, which dugongs eat.
Kaiadilt Mythology
The anthropologist Norman Tindale first wrote down Kaiadilt myths in 1942. Their stories tell of a mysterious being called "he who walks behind." This being led the Kaiadilt to find water at Berumoi, on the northern tip of Bentinck Island.
The Kaiadilt believe that the mythical creatures Bujuku (a black crane) and Kaarrku (a seagull) taught them how to build the rock fish traps.
Other Names for Kaiadilt
- Bentinck Islanders
- Gaiardilt
- Gajadild
- Kaiadil
- Maldanunda (from mala/malda, meaning 'sea')
- Malununde, Malununda (a Lardil name for Bentinck Island)
- Mardunung, Madunun
- Marlanunda
Notable People
- Mirdidingkingathi Juwarnda Sally Gabori, a famous artist.
