Dunghutti people | |
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aka: Dhangadi, Boorkutti, Burgadi, Burugardi, Dainggati, Dainiguid, Dang-getti, Dangadi, Dangati, Danggadi, Danggetti, Danghetti, Dhangatty, Djaingadi, Nulla Nulla, Tang-gette, Tangetti, and Thangatti (AIATSIS), nd (SIL) | |
Hierarchy | |
Language family: | Pama–Nyungan |
Language branch: | Yuin–Kuric |
Language group: | Yora |
Group dialects: | Dunghutti |
Area | |
Location: | Mid North Coast, New South Wales |
Rivers | |
Urban areas | |
Notable individuals | |
The Dunghutti are an Aboriginal group whose traditional lands lie in the Macleay Valley, which extends from the eastern extremity at the Mid North Coast to the Northern Tablelands in the west around the Yarrahapinni area.
Dunghutti country includes the main towns of Kempsey, Bellbrook, South West Rocks, Crescent Head, and Walcha. From evidence found in the area, the Dunghutti people's territory extends over the entire Macleay River valley including the Oxley Wild Rivers National Park. The Dunghutti occupied the upper catchment of the Macleay River system. Above the river valleys, the Anaiwain tribal group occupied the Tablelands. Archaeological evidence of camp sites have been found on the upper terraces of the Macleay and Apsley rivers.
To the north Dunghutti share a border with Gumbaynggirr and to the west Anaiwan (Naganyaywana). The southern linguistic border is with Biripi language.
The Dunghutti people have been living in the Macleay Valley for at least 6,000 to 9,000 years going by the dating of the Clybucca midden in the Gumbaynggirr territory. However it is probably longer because the sea level rose to about current levels 6,000 years ago and would have drowned archeological evidence of previous coastal settlements.
In the Clybucca area are ancient camp sites with shell beds in the form of mounds which are up to 2 metres (6 ft 7 in) high. These are places where kitchen waste was placed in orderly fashion and the accumulation of these middens was started some 11,000 years ago and abandoned when the sea began to recede. Food was plentiful especially in the lower Macleay. Climate accounted for movement. The people in the colder climates of the upper Macleay could easily move into warmer places on the floor of the valley during winter. There are significant sites remaining in the Dunghutti land away from ground which has been cultivated. Stone implements have been found which give evidence of antiquity. Spears, boomerangs, shields, digging sticks, water and food carriers have been collected. In the colder areas cloaks were made from possum skins. Sacred sites were marked with carved trees and stone arrangements.