Girai Wurrung
| Regions with significant populations | |
|---|---|
| Languages | |
| Girai Wurrung, English | |
| Religion | |
| Australian Aboriginal mythology, Christianity | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
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Gulidjan, Djargurd Wurrung, Djab Wurrung and Wada wurrung see List of Indigenous Australian group names |
The Girai wurrung (also spelled Kirrae Wuurong) are Indigenous Australian people who traditionally occupied the territory between Mount Emu Creek and the Hopkins River up to Mount Hamilton, and the Western Otways from the Gellibrand River to the Hopkins River.
The Giray language (Girai wurrung meaning literally 'blood lip language') spoke a dialect of the Warnabool language, which belongs to the Kulinic branch of the Pama-Nyungan language family.James Dawson and his daughter Isabella took down extensive vocabulary lists of it and related dialects. A dictionary of the language has been compiled recently.
Girai territory covered some 1,900 sq. miles, extending from Warrnambool and the Hopkins River eastwards to the coastal town of Princetown, and inland as far as Lake Bolac and Darlington; east to beyond Camperdown. The tribes on their borders were, to the north, the Djab wurrung and Wathaurong, to their west were the Dhauwurd wurrung and the Djargurd Wurrung. On their eastern flank were the Gulidjan and Gadubanud.
The first white to visit Girai territory was the explorer Edward Eyre. As pastoralists began to penetrate their region and squatter|take up squatting runs for their livestock, the Giray responded by waging a frontier guerilla war to hinder the expropriations. The Framlingham Aboriginal Reserve was established in Girai wurrung territory bordering the Gunditjmara (Dhauwurd wurrung) people.
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