Total population | |
---|---|
unknown | |
Regions with significant populations | |
Languages | |
Bunganditj language, English | |
Religion | |
Australian Aboriginal mythology, Christianity | |
Related ethnic groups | |
Ngarrindjeri, Dhauwurd wurrung, Bindjali, and Jardwadjali see List of Indigenous Australian group names |
The Buandig people (Boandik, Booandik, Bunganditj) are Indigenous Australians from the Mount Gambier region in western Victoria and south-eastern South Australia.
According to Christina Smith in her 1880 book on the Buandig people - The Boandik Tribe of South Australian Aborigines: A Sketch of Their Habits, Customs, Legends, and Language -
The largest clan, according to Smith, was the Booandik who occupied country from the mouth of the Glenelg River to Rivoli Bay North (Beachport), extending inland for about 30 miles. The other clans occupied country from between Lacepede Bay to Bordertown. The Buandig shared tribal borders with the Ngarrindjeri people of the Coorong and Murray mouth to the west, the Bindjali and Jardwadjali to the north and the Gunditjmara people to the east.
Anthropologist Norman Tindale argued in 1940 and again in 1974 that at the time of European settlement the Buandig were under territorial pressure from the Jardwadjali people to the north forcing the Buandig territorial boundary south from Gariwerd towards present day Casterton. However Professor Ian D. Clark counter claims that the ethnohistoric and linguistic evidence doesn't support Tindale's claims regarding the boundaries between the Buandig and Jardwadjali.
The Buandig spoke the Bungandidj language and called their language Drualat-ngolonung (speech of man), or Booandik-ngolo (speech of the Booandik).