The Karrangpurru are an Aboriginal Australian people of the Northern Territory. They suffered severe population loss very early on in the period of colonial expropriations of their land.

Country

The Karrangpurru lived to the north of the Bilinara.[1] Tindale combines the Karrangpurru with the Bilinara, thus the estimated ancestral territory of the Karrangpurru is approximately 3,750 square miles (9,700 km2).[2][page needed]

History of contact

Karrangpurru lands were subsumed into the Victoria River Downs Station when it was established in 1883.[1] A combination of massacres and the impact of diseases introduced by whites penetrating their country effectively decimated the population.[3] The descendants of the survivors of the colonial period live in the community of Yarralin and town of Katherine.[citation needed]

Language

Nothing is known of their language, Karranga, since its many of its speakers were wiped out without any items from it being recorded.[3]

References

  1. ^ a b Meakins & Nordlinger 2014, p. 16.
  2. ^ Tindale 1974.
  3. ^ a b Meakins & Nordlinger 2014, p. 17.

Sources

  • Meakins, Felicity; Nordlinger, Rachel (2014). A Grammar of Bilinarra: An Australian Aboriginal Language of the Northern Territory. Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 978-1-614-51274-5.
  • Tindale, Norman Barnett (1974). Aboriginal Tribes of Australia: Their Terrain, Environmental Controls, Distribution, Limits, and Proper Names. Australian National University. ISBN 978-0-708-10741-6.
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