The Marrithiyal, also written Marrithiel, are an Aboriginal Australian people whose traditional territory lay 100 to 130 miles (160 to 210 km) south of Darwin from Litchfield National Park and extend to the Daly River in the Northern Territory. They are also known as the Berringen (Berinken, Brinken) people to represent their affiliation and deep connections across the neighbouring South Western Daly region.[1][2][3]
Their traditional grounds lay south-west of Darwin, in the heart of Litchfield National Park, in an area which is known as Woolaning, Rakula. Like a dozen other tribes, as the white invasion got underway in the 1880s, the local tribes travelled between Litchfield and the Western Daly region with their remnants either dispersed or crammed into smaller outstations. Many Marrithiel, as the tribe spread out into a variety of locations, some shifting to neighbouring lands, others taking up jobs in Darwin, or working as stockmen on their country Mt. Litchfield cattle station, or drifting into the Port Keats mission station.[4]
Strong alliances existed between the Marrithiyal-Marringar cluster, bundled together as a coalition of neighbouring tribes, sharing ceremony, songlines and resources.[5]
W. E. H. Stanner, who described them as a "powerful tribe"[3] in the 1930s, originally spent some 6 weeks among the Marrithiyal in 1932, finding it somewhat difficult to enter into friendly relations with them – troubles with the local police over the killing of a prospector accounting for their diffidence – though he eventually managed to gain their confidence and was allowed to be present and observe two complete circumcision ceremonies.[6]
Marrithiyal is classified as one of the Western Daly Languages Areal group,[7] one of the prefixing non-Pama–Nyungan languages, exhibiting a distinctive phonemic inventory rare among Australian tongues.[8] The Marrithiyal recognize three dialect variants: Marri Ammu, Marridan, and Marrisjabin,[9] and at last count (2006) had an estimated 80 surviving speakers, though slightly earlier the figure had been put at over 100. Most now speak a variety of Kriol.[1] The autonym Marrithiyal has been conjectured to be derived from a combination of the words marri (speech) and thiel, meaning paperbark,[10][3] reflecting the fact that their homeland was rich in paper-bark forests. It was considered, by both whites and natives in the area, as particularly euphonious, especially compared to the 'rougher' sounding language of the Wagiman further west up river.[4]
In the Marrithiyal version of the Dreamtime story of the rainbow serpent, the serpent, lacking a wife, stole one from a flying fox who had two. The latter retaliated by spearing the rainbow serpent who plunged into the water, while the flying fox soared up to the sky. It is one variation on a story which has many different versions in this area.[11]
The suburb of Brinkin in Darwin is named after this group.[12]