Yangman facts for kids

The Yangman were an Indigenous Australian people. They lived in the Northern Territory of Australia.

The Yangman Language

The Yangman people spoke the Yangman language. This language was very similar to the Wardaman and Dalabon languages. Today, only a few Mangarrayi people know some parts of the Yangman language. These people are descendants of Yangman individuals who worked at Elsey Station and near Mataranka long ago.

The last person known to speak Yangman fluently was Jimmy Daniels. He passed away in 1986. He helped a language expert named Francesca Merlan record about 500 Yangman words.

Yangman Country

Map showing the traditional lands of Aboriginal tribes in the Roper River area of Northern Territory, Australia.

According to a researcher named Norman Tindale, the Yangman people's traditional land covered about 14,500 square kilometers (5,600 square miles). This area was mostly a high, flat land between the Roper and Victoria river systems.

Their land reached south to Elsey Creek, which is south of Mataranka. It included areas around Warlock Ponds and went as far as Daly Waters. The Wardaman people lived to the west of the Yangman.