Dunghutti Ngaku
| Dunghutti people | |
|---|---|
| aka: Dhangadi, Boorkutti, Burgadi, Burugardi, Dainggati, Dainiguid, Dang-getti, Dangadi, Dangati, Danggadi, Danggetti, Danghetti, Dhangatty, Djaingadi, Nulla Nulla, Tang-gette, Tangetti, and Thangatti | |
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| 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 Yarrahapinni. area.
Norman Tindale estimated Dunghutti traditional lands to have encompassed some 3,500 square miles (9,100 km2). They took ion the area from Point Lookout southwards as far as the headwaters of the MacLeay River and he vicinity of the Mount Royal Range. To they east, their territory ran as far as the crests of the coastal ranges, while their inland extension to the west ran up to the Great Dividing Range and Walcha. The people to their north were the Gumbaynggirr. On their western flank were the Anēwan. The southern linguistic border is with Biripi.
An Aboriginal presence in the Dunghutti lands has been attested archaeologically to go back at least 4,000 years, according to the analysis of the materials excavated at the Clybucca midden, a site which the modern-day descendants of the Dunghutti and Gumbaynggirr claim territory. 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.
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.
Gatherings took place to celebrate ceremonies to mark special events in the lives of the people. The last great gathering took place towards the end of the nineteenth century. Other language groups from north and south of the Macleay gathered near Smoky Range not long before the last marked tree was cut down and taken to the Australian Museum for preservation. Dunghutti people were hunters and gathers, a group who shared a common language and who organised themselves into smaller groups regularly living together. They lived in harmony with the land and their pattern of life was governed by codes of conduct regarded as sacred, having been handed down through countless generations. Remnants of the ancient culture remain in Macleay valley — middens and a fish trap in the Limeburners Creek Nature Reserve and a Bora Ring at Richardsons Crossing just north of Crescent Head. Along the creeks and on the tablelands there are artefact scatters, scarred trees and axe-grinding grooves. Archaeological sites include burial sites at East Kunderang mythological sites include the landscape of the upper Apsley Gorge; and contact sites encompass the rugged falls country where Dunghutti people staged their final fight against white settlers, as well as sites along Kunderang Brook where brutal massacres took place.
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Wikipedia