Karajarri facts for kids

The Karajarri are an Indigenous Australian people who traditionally lived in the northern Pilbara region of Western Australia. Their land was mainly between the coast and the Great Sandy Desert. Today, most Karajarri people live in Bidyadanga, which is south of Broome. They shared borders with other Indigenous groups like the Yawuru, Mangarla, Nyigina, and Nyangumarta people.

Karajarri Language

The Karajarri people speak a language called Garadjeri. The first detailed description of its grammar was written by Gerhardt Laves in 1931. Garadjeri is part of the Marngu group within the larger Pama-Nyungan language family.

The Karajarri people recognize four different ways of speaking Garadjeri:

• Najanaja (or Murrkut) is spoken by Karajarri living near the coast.
• Nangu is spoken in the central inland areas.
• Nawurtu is spoken further east, inland.

The Yawuru language has borrowed many words from Garadjeri, especially for ceremonies and for naming local plants and animals. Sadly, in 2004, fewer than 20 people still spoke Garadjeri fluently.

Traditional Lands of the Karajarri

The traditional lands of the Karajarri people covered a large area. It stretched from Cape Villaret, south of Roebuck Bay, down to a spot north of Anna Plains Station. This area included a special meeting place called Manari. Their land also reached about 110 kilometers (70 miles) inland to the east.

Important Karajarri places that marked their boundaries included Lendjarkading, Redjarth, Undurmadatj, and Mount Phire (Paijara).

Karajarri Social Structure and Beliefs

The Karajarri people were traditionally divided into two main groups:

• The Naja (or Nadja) lived along the coast.
• The Nawutu (or Naudu) lived in the eastern plains and bushlands.

Leaders in the community were called pirrka, which means 'roots of a tree'. These were male elders who organized important ceremonies. They were also in charge of managing their land and looking after the community.

Karajarri people were also grouped into four main classes: panaka, purrungu, parrjari, and karimpa. These groups helped decide who could marry whom. They were linked to two main family lines called inara.

One inara group, represented by the barn swallow (wiyurr), included people like yourself, grandparents, siblings, cousins, and grandchildren. It also included people you could marry. The other inara group, represented by the fork-tailed swift (kitirr), included your parents, aunts, uncles, and great-grandparents. Both the kitirr and wiyurr birds were seen as signs that rain was coming.

The Karajarri believe in Pukarri (dream), which refers to the Dreamtime. This is a time when the landscape was created by ancestral beings. The stories from the Dreamtime are very important and guide how people live. Marriage and family relationships are also shaped by legends about "living waters."

Connection to Land and Water

The Karajarri lands are located in an area rich in underground water, known as the La Grange sub-basin. The land is also covered by a unique type of bushland called Pindan.

The Karajarri people see their world, called ngurrara (one's own country), as deeply connected to their mythology, language, and customs. This connection is shown in their ceremonies. They believe their language forms came from Dreamtime beings who traveled the land, speaking different tongues in different areas.

Like many other Indigenous groups in the region, the Karajarri believe their land comes from the 'Dreaming' (pukarrikarra). They see themselves as the protectors of this land. Since fresh water is scarce, the Karajarri relied on a system of wells, soaks (lirri), and springs, which they call 'living water' (karnangkul).

Managing these karnangkul waters involves respecting powerful snake-like beings called pulany or bulaing. These beings are believed to live in the waters and are responsible for refilling them. There are special ceremonies to ensure these water beings bring rain. People avoid camping near these sacred water sites. The presence of these water snakes is often shown by panyjin reeds, which are seen as the pulany's whiskers.

There is a special Karajarri song to encourage the ancestral serpent to return to the waters if a spring dries up. This song is meant to help refill the aquifer (underground water supply).

The first European survey of the area was done by Frederick Kennedy Panter. He reported that the Karajarri lands had many native wells, thick forests, and plenty of trees suitable for building. Panter described the Karajarri lands as having "40,000 acres of splendidly grassed land" and found the local people "quiet" and "friendly." The Karajarri call this rich spring country pajalpi.

History of Contact with Outsiders

The Karajarri had a special ceremony called milyankurl to welcome strangers and prevent problems. They called non-Indigenous people walanyu (strangers from beyond). This term also included hostile spirits and other Indigenous people from inland areas.

It is thought that sailors from East Asia visited their region before European explorers arrived. The Karajarri often traded with Asian workers on British pearling boats, including people from Timor, China, Malaysia, Java, and Japan. In Karajarri custom, a walanyu could become an accepted guest if they respected the pirrka (elders), were properly introduced, and exchanged gifts.

After Panter's report, the Roebuck Bay Pastoral Company was formed. They sent a ship, the Nile, with company representatives and police troopers to Karajarri territory. They set up a camp near Cape Vilaret and took over a local well, which was one of the few sources of fresh water on the coast.

Conflicts soon began as the Europeans tried to take over more wells and cut timber. The Karajarri resisted these attempts for several months, and some local people lost their lives.

An expedition led by James Richard Harding, along with Panter and William Henry Goldwyer, explored the pajalpi lands for farming. They found many wells, about 3-4 meters deep, spaced about a mile apart. The explorers met resistance from the Karajarri. In one day, they shot 18 Indigenous people who were defending their campsite at a small lake called Boolla Boolla, known to the Karajarri as Injitana. This site was a sacred Karajarri ceremonial place.

According to Karajarri tradition, the expedition had disrespected a sacred site (jinjarlkuriny), which was a permanent water place (jila) used for rainmaking. The Karajarri then attacked and killed the European men. The Nile ship left the area in January 1865, with the men still missing.

In the 1880s, Stock routes, like the de Grey-Kimberley stockroute developed by Nathaniel Buchanan, often followed Indigenous Dreamtime paths and sacred watering sites. Government inspectors noted that settlers who took over land often stopped Indigenous people from using the wells on their stations.

Eventually, the Karajarri and other regional tribes were forced to work as indentured laborers, especially after the Aborigines Act of 1905. Their knowledge of the land and water was very useful to the pastoralists (ranchers). In the 1930s, anthropologists Ralph Piddington and A. P. Elkin studied the water soaks and wells and their importance in Karajarri life.

Native Title and Conservation

After the important High Court Mabo ruling in 1992, which said that Australia was not an empty land (terra nullius) when Europeans arrived, the concept of native title was recognized. This meant Indigenous people could claim legal rights to their traditional lands.

The Karajarri people then began to gather evidence to officially claim their traditional lands. At the same time, a company called Western Agricultural Industries (WAI) was interested in the Karajarri lands. They wanted to use the abundant water for a huge irrigation project to grow cotton, sugar cane, and other crops.

However, a similar project nearby, the Camballin Irrigation Scheme, had turned the land into a dustbowl. Chemicals from fertilizers caused many fish-eating birds like pelicans and ibis to die, and kangaroos disappeared. The law still states that the waters themselves belong to the government, and Indigenous peoples only have the right to use them.

In 2014, the Karajarri Indigenous Protected Area was created. The Karajarri Rangers now use traditional methods like fire-stick farming to help the local plants and animals (known as biodiversity) thrive in the area.

Other Names for Karajarri

Books about Karajarri Life

• Liz Thompson, The Danger Seed: Lirrinngkirn Dreaming a Story from Karajarri Country, Pearson Education Australia, 2011