Yinikutira facts for kids

The Yinikutira people, also known as the Jinigudira, are the traditional Aboriginal owners of the land along the Ningaloo Coast. This area is found on the Exmouth Peninsula in Western Australia. Today, much of their traditional land is part of the Cape Range National Park in the Gascoyne region.

Language of the Yinikutira

The Yinikutira people spoke a special form of the Thalanyji language. You can think of it like a unique dialect or way of speaking within the larger Thalanyji language family.

Yinikutira Country

The traditional lands of the Yinikutira covered about 5,180 square kilometers (2,000 square miles). This area included the North West Cape peninsula. It stretched down to the Exmouth Gulf and the Whaleback Hills. Their land also went southwest to Point Cloates.

Life of the Yinikutira People

Experts like Norman Tindale thought the Yinikutira were a separate group. However, Peter Austin believed they were a dialect group of the Thalanyji-speaking people.

Early explorers saw the Yinikutira using rafts to go out into the ocean for hunting. But their main way of getting food was from special fish traps. They built and looked after these traps in areas where the ocean tides came in and out. Their daily food mostly included fish, turtles, and dugongs. They often lived among the mangrove trees and would go out to sea on logs.

History of the Yinikutira

The Ningaloo Coast area was first written about by William Dampier in 1699. Later, in the 1790s, American whalers hunted sperm and humpback whales off the coast. They likely landed to get fresh meat and water.

In 1875, a ship called the Stefano was wrecked on the Ningaloo Reef. Two young men from the ship, Michele Bacich and Giovanni Iurich, were helped by the Yinikutira people. The Yinikutira gave them assistance and then a place to stay. After being sent back home, the two men wrote about their experiences. Their story also included some words from the language they learned.

In 1876, the first large farm, called a pastoral lease, was set up in the area. This was Minilya Station, which covered the entire Exmouth Peninsula. Later, parts of this land were divided. Thomas Carter then started the Yardie Creek Station on about 54,600 hectares (135,000 acres).

Sadly, after this time, the Yinikutira people seemed to disappear from historical records. Some people believe that local workers for pearlers and farmers started to take Indigenous people from their tribes. This practice, known as blackbirding, and new diseases brought by Europeans, likely caused a huge decline in the local tribes like the Yinikutira.

Today, no Indigenous people say they are direct descendants of the Yinikutira. The Yardie Creek Station was eventually bought back by the Western Australian Government in 1959. It then became part of the Cape Range National Park.

Burial Customs

The Yinikutira people had a special way of burying their dead. This custom was different from other groups who spoke the Thalanyji language.

Other Names for Yinikutira

• Inikurdira
• Jinigudera
• Jinigura
• Jiniguri
• Jarungura