Wadjiginy

The Wadjiginy, also referred to historically as the Wogait, are an indigenous Australian people of the Northern Territory, specifically from just north of modern-day Darwin. The Wadjiginy are a saltwater people who describe themselves as wagatj 'beach-dwellers' from the Batjamalh word wagatj 'beach'.

Name

The standard early ethnographic literature referred to the Wadjiginy with numerous variations of the word Wogait, a term taken to mean 'sea folk' by early investigators but which actually covers several tribes such as the Emmiyangal which later research has shown to be imprecise. Their ethnonym is derived from wagatj, a Batajamalh term for 'beach'. The modern descriptor used among the tribe is Wadyiginy.

Country

The Wadjiginy territory was around Anson Bay, from the debouchment of the Daly River northwards as far as Point Blaze, and was estimated by Norman Tindale to range over roughly 200 square miles (520 km²). Their inland extension is estimated at 20 miles from the coast.

Alternative names

• Ami
• Amijangal
• Murinwargad (Murinbata term)
• Wagaidj, Wagite, Waggait, Waggite
• Wagatsch, Wa(o)gatsch
• Waggote, Waggute
• Wargad (Murinbata exonym)
• Wogite
• Worgait, Worgite, Worgaid, Wagait

Notes

Sources

• Basedow, Herbert (1907). "Anthropological notes on the Western Coastal tribes of the Northern Territory of South Australia". Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia. 31. Adelaide: 1–62 – via BHL.
• Dahl, Knut (1926). In Savage Australia: An Account of a Hunting and Collecting Expedition to Arnhem Land and Dampier Land (PDF). London: P. Allen & Sons. pp. 72–98.
• Eylmann, Erhard (1908). Die Eingeborenen der Kolonie Südaustralien (PDF). Berlin: D.Reimer – via Internet Archive.
• Foelsche, Paul (1895). "On the Manners, Customs, etc., of some Tribes of the Aborigines, in the neighbourhood of Port Darwin and the West Coast of the Gulf of Carpentaria, North Australia". The Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland. 24. Adelaide: 190–198. JSTOR 2842215.
• Ford, Lysbeth Julie (1990). The Phonology and Morphology of Bachamal (Wogait) (PDF) (MA thesis). Australian National University.
• Ford, Lysbeth Julie (1998). A description of the Emmi language of the Northern Territory of Australia (PDF) (Doctoral thesis). Australian National University.
• Mackillop, Donald (1893). "Anthropological notes on the aboriginal tribes of the Daly River, North Australia" (PDF). Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia. 17. Adelaide: 254–264 – via BHL.
• Marett, Allan; Barwick, Linda; Ford, Lysbeth Julie (2013). For the Sake of a Song: Wangga Songmen and Their Repertories. Sydney University Press. ISBN 978-1-920-89975-2.
• Stanner, W. E. H. (June 1934). "Ceremonial Economics of the Mulluk Mulluk and Madngella Tribes of the Daly River, North Australia. A Preliminary paper (continued)". Oceania. 4 (4): 458–471. doi:10.1002/j.1834-4461.1934.tb00122.x. JSTOR 27976164.
• Tindale, Norman Barnett (1974). "Wogait (NT)". Aboriginal Tribes of Australia: Their Terrain, Environmental Controls, Distribution, Limits, and Proper Names. Australian National University.