6. The Ngurai-illum Wurrung people
The Aboriginal people whose country included the Waranga area were known as the Ngurai-illum Wurrung people. Over the years since European colonisation, nearly 50 variations of this name have been used, such as Ngooraialum, Orilim, Woralim and Noorilim. However, Ngurai-illum Wurrung is the name generally accepted by descendants at this point in time and the one that will be used in these stories.
Wurrung means language (or lip, tongue, speech), so Ngurai-illum Wurrung means the language spoken by the Ngurai-illum people. Elements of the language were recorded over the years, or European interpretations of what those parts of the language meant. Language will be the subject of later stories in this series.
LINKS TO THE KULIN NATION
The Ngurai-illum Wurrung people were closely linked to what is termed the Kulin Nation. The term "nation" refers to the fact that all the Aboriginal people in the nation shared many similarities in language and culture, with regional variations. For instance, the Ngurai-illum Wurrung people shared much of their language with the Taungurung to their south, and it has been estimated that 75% of their vocabulary was shared with the Dja Dja Wurrung people to their south-west.
There are five or six language groups generally recognised within the Kulin Nation, which apart from sharing common language, also shared kinship ties, religious beliefs and rituals for some of the main events in people’s lives such as initiation and burial practices.
The specific groups in the Kulin Nation included the Boonwurrung, the Dja Dja Wurrung, the Wathaurong, the Taungurung and the Woiwurrung people. Together, the lands for which they were the custodians for covered roughly a third of Victoria – south to Port Phillip and Western Port Bays and to the west, well beyond the Loddon River.
CLANS OF THE NGURAI-ILLUM WURRUNG
Within the Ngurai-illum language group, it is generally recognised that there were three specific groups that we will refer to as clans. Put simply, a clan is a group of people linked by kinship and descent. Think successive generations on the family tree.
Although each of the three clans of the Ngurai-illum Wurrung people tended to be associated with a particular area, movement in response to seasonal food supplies, and for cultural reasons, would have meant that all three travelled widely.
In briefly introducing the clans, it needs to be noted that, like the name for the overall group (Ngurai-illum Wurrung), a host of different names have been used over the last 180+ years. This story will just refer to the name used in Ian Clark's 1990 work on languages and clans.1 In that work, he also lists all the variations in name that he came across in his research.
The three clans, and what Ian designates as their "approximate location", are the Benbedora balug (Elmore), Gunung willam (Campaspe River) and Ngurai-illum balug (Murchison). “Balug” means people, and “gunung willam” means “creek dwellers”.
At the same time as stating an approximate location, Ian cites all the locations where the clans were seen and mentioned in contemporary accounts. The clans obviously covered vast distances in their travels.
References: 1 Clark, Ian D, Aboriginal Languages and Clans: An Historical Atlas of Western and Central Victoria 1800-1900 (Monash Uni, 1990); Ecology and Heritage Partners, Wallan Structure Plan and Infrastructure Co-ordination Plan(2014)
