Wunambal


The Wunambal are an indigenous Australian people of the northern Kimberley region of Western Australia.

Country

The Wunambal were a people of York Sound. Norman Tindale estimated their tribal domains to encompass roughly, running north along the from Brunswick Bay, as far as the Admiralty Gulf and the Osborne Islands. Their inland extension reached about 25–30 miles, as far as the divide of the King Edward River. They were at Cape Wellington peninsula, Port Warrender, and somewhat further east. The Worrorra lay to the south; the Ngarinjin to their west, while on their north western frontier were the Kambure.

Social organization

The Wunambal were organized into hordes:
A tribe with an ethnonym identical to that of the Carson river Wilawila, known also as the Tjawurungari/Tawandjangango, inhabited the Osborne Islands. They spoke a dialect variety of the language spoken by the Kambure.

People

The Wunambal were called 'perhaps among the most venturesome of Australian aborigines.' They learnt part of the craft of building rafts that could withstand the high rips and tides of the sea, the latter rising as much as 12 metres, from Malay visitors in order to make sailing forays out to reefs and islets in the Cassini and Montalivet archipelagoes, and as far as the northerly Long Reef. The Wunambal bands who excelled in this were the Laiau and the Wardana.

Alternative names