Wurango Explained

See also: Wurango language. The Wurango or Wurrugu are an indigenous Australian people of the Northern Territory.

Country

The Wurango's tribal lands encompassed about 500mi2 around the western end of the Cobourg Peninsula including Port Essington.

People

Crawford Pasco described the Wurango as he found them in 1838 as numerous, and of very good health since many reached the venerable age of 70.

Social organisation

Norman Tindale speculated that mentions of the Tji and Jalo in this area clearly referring to the Wurango probably denoted hordes. If so, then he classified their respective localities as follows:

• Tji, a Wurango horde located at the western end of the Peninsula.
• Ja:loa Wurango horde in Port Essington.

The following clan marriage sections are said to have existed:

• Manderojelli
• Manburlgeat
• Mandrowilli

Alternative names

• Auwulwarwak
• Ja:lo (ja:lo = 'no')
• (?) Limba-Karadjee (See Iwaidja)
• Wa:reidbug, Woreidbug
• Warooko
• Wurrunga, Wurrango
• Wuru:ku, U:ru:ku
• Yarlo

Source:

Some words

• naween (father)
• noyoke (mother)

Source:

Notes

Citations

Sources

• Web site: AIATSIS map of Indigenous Australia . 14 May 2024 . . .
• On the Aboriginal Tribes of the Northern Coast of Australia . Earl . G. Windsor . George Windsor Earl . . 1846 . 16 . 239–251 . 10.2307/1798232 . 1798232.
• Notes on the language of the Elcho Island aborigines . Jennison . J. C. . . 1927 . 51 . 177–192 .
• Book: Pasco, Crawford . Port Essington . 1886 . The Australian race: its origin, languages, customs, place of landing in Australia and the routes by which it spread itself over the continent . Curr . Edward Micklethwaite . Edward Micklethwaite Curr . J. Ferres . Melbourne . 1 . 268–269 . https://archive.org/download/australianracei01currgoog/australianracei01currgoog.pdf.
• Book: Tindale, Norman Barnett . Wurango (NT) . 1974 . Norman Tindale . Aboriginal Tribes of Australia: Their Terrain, Environmental Controls, Distribution, Limits, and Proper Names . . http://archives.samuseum.sa.gov.au/tindaletribes/wurango.htm . 978-0-708-10741-6.