Humpy

For the John Williamson album, see Gunyah (album). For the chess player, see Koneru Humpy.

A humpy, also known as a gunyah,^[1][2][3][4] wurley, wurly, wurlie, mia-mia, or wiltija, is a small, temporary shelter, traditionally used by Australian Aboriginal people. These impermanent dwellings, made of branches and bark, are sometimes called a lean-to, since they often rely on a standing tree for support.

A 19th-century engraving showing Aboriginal people and a humpy

Aboriginal winter encampments in wurlies, South Australia, c. 1858

Aboriginal camp, Victoria, c. 1858

Different types of Aboriginal shelters, Queensland.

Etymology

The word humpy comes from the Jagera language (a Murri people from Coorparoo in Brisbane); other language groups would have different names for the structure. In South Australia, such a shelter is known as a "wurley" (also spelled "wurlie"), possibly from the Kaurna language.^[5][6][7] They are called wiltjas in Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara languages, mia-mia in Wadawurrung language.^[8][9]

Usage

They were temporary shelters made of bark, branches, leaves and grass used by Indigenous Australians.^[10] Both names were adopted by early white settlers, and now form part of the Australian lexicon. The use of the term appears to have broadened in later usage to include any temporary building made from any available materials, including canvas, flattened metal drums, and sheets of corrugated iron.

In Dark Emu, Bruce Pascoe argues that contrary to popular perception of Aboriginal dwellings being only temporary, some gunyahs in the Channel Country could accommodate up to 50 people and formed part of permanent agricultural communities.^[11]

Gallery

• 
  Aboriginal family and their temporary bark gunya (shelter), c. 1856
• 
  Aboriginal woman in front of bark gunya (shelter), Victoria, c. 1872
• 
  Two Aboriginal woman in front of bark gunya, c. 1850s
• 
  Temporary lean-to bark gunyah, c. 1888
• 
  Temporary lean-to bark gunyah, 1889
• 
  Aboriginal people at the entrance to their dwelling, Western Australia, c. 1876
• 
  Framework of a humpy in far western Queensland, 1937
• 
  Native Wurley, 1886
• 
  Bushman humpy, 1910s
• 
  Bark humpy, Brisbane, 1874
• 
  [Aboriginal people] and wurlie near Alice Springs (Mparntwe), c. 1930s.
• 
  Aboriginal wurlie near Alice Springs, c. 1930s

See also

• Wiltja
• Wigwam
• Goahti