Indigenous names
The words 'Indigenous', 'Aboriginal' and 'Torres Strait Islander' refer to groups of people collectively, rather like you can use the word 'European' to describe people of different nationalities.
It's quite OK to refer to Indigenous people in this way even though most think of themselves in terms of the local tribe or clan group to which we belong.
Before the British arrived 1788, Australia was far more culturally diverse than Europe, with around 270 different languages spoken. Although descendants of most of these groups are alive today, many of the languages have been lost.
To get an idea of the diversity have a look at the map of Indigenous Australia:
David R Horton, creator,
© Aboriginal Studies Press, AIATSIS and Auslig/Sinclair, Knight, Merz, 1996This map indicates only the general location of larger groupings of people which may include smaller groups such as clans, dialects or individual languages in a group. Boundaries are not intended to be exact. The views expressed in this publication are those of the author and not those of AIATSIS. For more information about the groups of people in a particular region contact the relevant land councils. NOT SUITABLE FOR USE IN NATIVE TITLE AND OTHER LAND CLAIMS
The map may not be 100% accurate for your area but it shows you that Indigenous people are not one, single group, as many people believe.
Diversity of Names
Many groups from central and northern Australia still use skin-group names to describe themselves. Others use regional names which include descendents of all the language groups in a given region. More generally Indigenous people have chosen general names to identify themselves and these names are now owned and used by Indigenous people such as Murri or Koori.
Names you may hear Indigenous people use to describe themselves include:
Torres Strait Islanders - People from the Torres Strait use the name of their island community to describe themselves, for example, Murray, Yam and Badu.
Murri - An Indigenous person living in Queensland and northern New South Wales
Koori - An Aboriginal person from Victoria and southern New South Wales.
Palawah - An Aboriginal person from Tasmania.
Nunga - An Aboriginal person from the southern part of South Australia.
Koorie - An Aboriginal person from the south eastern area of Australia.
Anangu - An Aboriginal person from the northern west part of South Australia and nearby areas of Western Australia and the Northern Territory.
Wongatha - An Aboriginal person from the Western Australian Goldfields region (though some see this as one of many skin groups in the area)
Nyoongar - An Aboriginal person from the south west of Western Australia.
Yamatji - An Aboriginal person from the Gascoyne region in Western Australia
Indigenous people use the name of the land they come from so a Nyoongar person now living in the Goldfields is still a Nyoongar. Many Indigenous people identify with more than one group reflecting their diverse ancestry. For example, a woman may describe herself as a Nyoongar/Yamatji woman because her descendants came from different parts of Western Australia.
Exceptions to what is described here happen however because some Indigenous people prefer to be called by their specific traditional group only such as Kaurna for example and not to be named by the general term "Nunga".
Previous Next