Wik Epa

The Wik Epa, also spelt Wikepa, are an Aboriginal Australian people, one of the Wik peoples of the Cape York Peninsula of northern Queensland.

Languages

Main article: Wikepa language

Wikepa was one of the Wik languages. According to Peter Sutton, Wikepa or Wikiita were used by an older generation of Cape Keerweer people to denote the dialect employed by two clans in the area of the middle Kirke River, and bore the strongest similarities to those spoken by the Wikmean clan.^[1]

Country

The Wikepa were a small group associated with the land, estimated at by 300 square miles (780 km²), around Cape Keerweer.^[2]

People

The Wikepa were close to extinction by the post-war period, with only a small number known to be dwelling at an Aurukun mission in 1958.^[2]

Alternative names

• Wik-Eppa^[2]
• Wik-Iita^[1]

References

1. Sutton 1979, p. 37.
2. Tindale 1974, p. 189.

Sources

• "AIATSIS map of Indigenous Australia". AIATSIS. 14 May 2024.
• McConnel, Ursula H. (September 1939). "Social Organization of the Tribes of Cape York Peninsula, North Queensland". Oceania. 10 (1): 54–72. doi:10.1002/j.1834-4461.1939.tb00256.x. JSTOR 40327744.
• McConnel, Ursula H. (June 1940). "Social Organization of the Tribes of Cape York Peninsula, North Queensland (Continued)". Oceania. 10 (4): 434–455. doi:10.1002/j.1834-4461.1940.tb00305.x. JSTOR 40327867.
• Sutton, Peter (1979). Wik: Aboriginal society, territory and language at Cape Keerweer, Cape York Peninsula, Australia (PDF) (PhD thesis). University of Queensland.
• Tindale, Norman Barnett (1974). "Wikepa (QLD)". Aboriginal Tribes of Australia: Their Terrain, Environmental Controls, Distribution, Limits, and Proper Names. Australian National University. ISBN 978-0-708-10741-6.