Turrbal facts for kids

The Turrbal are an Aboriginal Australian people. They come from the area around Brisbane, Queensland. The name "Turrbal" often refers to the language they speak. The group itself was also known as Mianjin, Meanjin, or Meeanjin. Mianjin is also the Turrbal word for the central part of Brisbane. The Turrbal people's traditional lands stretched from the North Pine River in the north to the Logan River in the south. They went inland as far as Moggill. This large area includes the modern city of Brisbane.

What Does the Name Turrbal Mean?

The name Turrbal is an exonym. This means it was given to them by others. It likely comes from the word turr or dhur. This word means "bora ring". A bora ring is a special ceremonial ground. The ending -bal means "those who say". So, Turrbal means "those who say turr or dhur for a bora ring". This was different from other tribes who used the word bool. German missionaries first heard this name in 1841. They were led by native guides from Nundah.

The Turrbal Language

Turrbal is one of four dialects. These dialects belong to the Durubalic branch. This branch is part of the larger Pama-Nyungan languages family. Turrbal was spoken from Gold Creek and Moggill. It was spoken north to North Pine and south to the Logan River. Tom Petrie grew up among the Turrbal people. His family was one of the first European families in Brisbane. Tom learned the Turrbal language and other local dialects very well.

Turrbal Traditional Lands

The Turrbal people's traditional lands were very large. They covered about 1,300 square miles (3,367 square kilometers). These lands were around the Brisbane River. They stretched from the Cleveland shore area of Moreton Bay. They went inland to the Great Dividing Range near Gatton. To the north, they reached near Esk. The Turrbal people lived specifically in what is now the Brisbane CBD. This area was called Mianjin.

Other Aboriginal groups lived nearby. The Gubbi Gubbi and Wakka Wakka were to the north. The Dalla were to the northwest. The Ngugi lived on Moreton Island. Even though the land belonged to the whole tribe, the Turrbal also had a system of private ownership. Some people owned specific parts of a river. They could even own certain trees or shrubs. Tom Petrie described this system:

Though the land belonged to the whole tribe, the head men often spoke of it as theirs. The tribe in general owned the animals and birds on the ground, also roots and nests, but certain men and women owned different fruit or flower-trees and shrubs. For instance, a man could own a bonyi (Araucaria bidwilli) tree, and a woman a minti (Banksia amula), dulandella (Persoonia Sp.), midyim (Myrtus tenuifolia), or dakkabin (Xanthorrhoea aborea) tree. Then a man sometimes owned a portion of the river which was a good fishing spot, and no one else could fish there without his permission.

Turrbal History and Legacy

The explorer John Oxley first saw the Turrbal people in 1824. He said they were "about the strongest and best-made muscular men I have seen in any country".

Many modern roads in Brisbane follow old Turrbal tracks. For example, Waterworks Road from Ashgrove is built on a Turrbal path. This path led to Mount Coot-tha. Turrbal people went to Mount Coot-tha to gather honey (ku-ta). This place was important for the honey-bee dreaming story. Similarly, Old Northern Road from Everton Hills follows another Turrbal track. This track led to a special Bunya feast. This feast happened every three years in the neighboring Wakka Wakka country.

Many Brisbane suburbs and places have names from Turrbal words:

• Woolloongabba comes from woolloon-capemm ("whirling water") or woolloon-gabba ("fight talk place").
• Toowong comes from tuwong. This is the sound the Pacific koel bird makes.
• Bulimba means "place of the magpie-lark".
• Indooroopilly comes from nyindurupilli ("gully of leeches") or yindurupilly ("gully of running water").
• Enoggera is a changed version of yauar-ngari ("song and dance").

Hunting and Gathering Food

The Turrbal people used many local animals and plants for food. They ate food from the sea and rivers. They also ate food from the land and many different vegetables.

Vegetables and Fruit

• They gathered pencil yam (tarm) from scrub areas. This yam could be found almost a meter underground.
• Shoots from the tops of cabbage-tree palm (binkar) and king palm (pikki) were eaten as vegetables.
• A type of swamp fern called bangwal (Blechnum species) was a favorite food. It was eaten like bread with fish or meat.
• A freshwater rush called yimbun (Typha angustifolia) was also gathered. Once prepared, it tasted like arrowroot.
• The Moreton Bay chestnut (mai), a root called bundal (Alocasia macrorrhizos), Canavalia Obtusifolia beans (yugam), and zamia nuts were eaten. These were poisonous raw. They were made safe by long soaking after cracking. Then they were roasted. Mai was pounded into a cake. The word mai was later used for European bread.
• Geebung (dulandella) was enjoyed raw. Two types of wild fig, ngoa-nga and nyuta, were also eaten.
• White myrtle berries (midyim) were found on sandy islands. Like the dubbul berry, they were a sweet treat.
• Dogwood gum (denna) was also highly valued.
• The breadfruit (winnam) was chewed and sucked.

Meats

• They ate many kinds of snakes: the carpet snake (kabul); the black snake (tumgu); brown snake (kuralbang) and death-adder (mulunkun).
• They hunted two types of goanna: the larger giwar and the smaller barra.
• The echidna (kagarr), tortoises (binkin), and turtle (bowaiya) were also part of their diet.
• Two types of kangaroo were hunted: the groman (old man kangaroo) and the murri.
• Forest possum (kupi) and scrub possum (kappolla) were hunted.
• Koalas (dumbripi) were also highly valued.
• The large black flying squirrel (panko), the small grey squirrel (chibur), and the quoll (mibur) were eaten.
• The flying fox (gramman) was also eaten.
• The dingo (mirri) was not eaten. Dingo pups were taken to be tamed as pets.
• Birds hunted included scrub turkey (wargun), emu (ngurrun), black swan (marutchi), native ducks (ngau'u), quail (duwir), parrots (pillin), and cockatoos (kaiyar). Cockatoos were valued for their yellow topknots (billa billa). Men used these for special decorations.

They often looked for goanna (magil) eggs. These eggs could be found near ant nests in soft soil. The Turrbal sometimes hunted marine animals. These included dugongs (yangon), porpoises (talobilla), tailor fish (punba), and mullet (andakal).

Other Names for Turrbal

The Turrbal people were also known by other names. These include Turubul, Turrubul, Turrubal, Terabul, Torbul, and Turibul (Tindale, 1974, p. 169). Ngundari may have been a smaller group or clan within the Turrbal people.

Notable Turrbal People

• Maroochy Barambah is a respected elder of the Turrbal people. She is also a well-known performing artist.

See also

• Jagera people