Murunitja

The Murunitja are an indigenous Australian people of Western Australia located within the Goldfields-Esperance region.

Name

The ethnonym Murunitja appears to derive for a word murun, meaning a "stout person", referring to the characteristic build of the tribe.^[1]

Language

The Murunitja language is closely related to Mirnung and Ngadjunmaya.

Country

Murunitja country covered about 11,000 square miles (28,000 km²) from the northern edge of the Nullarbor Plain at Naretha to Loongana. They also ranged as far as Rawlinna and the Walawuluna Rockhole.^[1]

Alternative names

• Mooroon
• Murnidja
• Mara (?)
• Kogara ('east')^[1]

Notes

Citations

1. Tindale 1974, p. 249.

Sources

• "AIATSIS map of Indigenous Australia". AIATSIS. 14 May 2024.
• "Tindale Tribal Boundaries" (PDF). Department of Aboriginal Affairs, Western Australia. September 2016.
• Berndt, R. M. (September 1941). "Tribal Migrations and Myths Centring on Ooldea, South Australia". Oceania. 12 (1): 1–20. doi:10.1002/j.1834-4461.1941.tb00343.x. JSTOR 40327930.
• Berndt, R. M.; Johnston, T. Harvey (March 1942). "Death, Burial, and Associated Ritual at Ooldea, South Australia". Oceania. 12 (3): 189–208. doi:10.1002/j.1834-4461.1942.tb00357.x. JSTOR 40327948.
• Tindale, Norman Barnett (1974). "Murunitja (WA)". Aboriginal Tribes of Australia: Their Terrain, Environmental Controls, Distribution, Limits, and Proper Names. Australian National University. ISBN 978-0-708-10741-6. Archived from the original on 20 March 2020.