Yeidji


The Yeidji, otherwise commonly known as the Gwini, are an indigenous Australian people of the Kimberley area of Western Australia.

Name

In contemporary accounts, the Yeidji are often called Gwini people. Norman Tindale, writing in 1974, maintained that Gwini was a directional term meaning 'easterners' used by inlanders. The other term, Kujini means those in the coastal lowlands. There is no clear tribal name for several peoples in this area, and some confusing in the nomenclature and the several tribes, including also the Miwa are generally referred to as the Forrest River people, who, however are occasionally referred to as the Gwini/Yeidji.

Country

The Yeidji, according to Norman Tindale, controlled some of tribal territory, running from the coast of Cambridge Gulf along the Forrest River as far as the Milligan ranges. Its southern extension touched Steere Hills. The northernmost boundary lay at Mount Carty and the Lyne River. Their neighbours were the Wilawila to the west, the Wenamba to the northwest, the Wirngir to the east, and the Arnga on their southern border. The Guragona horde, though classified as a subgroup of the Wenamba, may have been a section of the Yeidji.

Alternative names