Walmadjari


The Walmadjari, also known as Tjiwaling, are an indigenous Australian people of the Pilbara region of Western Australia.

Name

The two names reflect different Walmadjari preferences. Their western bands accept Tjiwaling as an ethnonym for its it a designation peoples neighbouring them further west employ. The eastern bands prefer the Walmadjari autonym, or conversely, define themselves as the Wanaseka, as opposed to the Tjiwaling, side.)

Language

belongs to the Ngumpin–Yapa branch of the Pama-Nyungan language family.

Country

's estimation assigned the Walmadjari roughly of territory on the desert plateau south of the Fitzroy and Christmas Creek valleys and from Kunkadea, as far east as the Cummins Range. Their southern limits ran along the Canning Stock Route to Kardalapuru. Sometime in the latter half of the 19th century, a group of Walmadjari, who are called Ngainan, took over some Gooniyandi territory, the downs north of Christmas Creek between Mellon Spring and Landrigan Cliffs.

Alternative names