Koara: Difference between revisions
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==History of contact== |
==History of contact== |
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Estimates of the pre-contact Kuwarra population range from 250 to several hundred. By 1980, aboriginals with Kuwarra descent numbered a mere 60 people.{{sfn|Liberman|1980|p=122}} The dispersion and detribalization of aboriginal tribes in this area followed in the wake of three successive waves of immigration, beginning with the [[Western Australian gold rushes|Coolgardie and Kalgoorlie gold rushes]], and concluding with the discovery of uranium deposits and the development of Laverton and [[Agnew, Western Australia|Agnew]], in the 1960s and 70s.{{sfn|Liberman|1980|pp=122-123}} |
Estimates of the pre-contact Kuwarra population range from 250 to several hundred. By 1980, aboriginals with Kuwarra descent numbered a mere 60 people.{{sfn|Liberman|1980|p=122}} The dispersion and detribalization of aboriginal tribes in this area followed in the wake of three successive waves of immigration, beginning with the [[Western Australian gold rushes|Coolgardie and Kalgoorlie gold rushes]], and concluding with the discovery of uranium deposits and the development of Laverton and [[Agnew, Western Australia|Agnew]], in the 1960s and 70s.{{sfn|Liberman|1980|pp=122-123}} |
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The indigenous people living in and around the [[Yeelirrie Station|Yeelirrie district]] had their continuity and transmission of cultural across generations severely compromised by the [[Stolen Generations|government practice of seizing their half-caste children to be raised elsewhere]], so that the latter would 'grow up' unaffected by their traditional identities. One technique devised by people like the Kuwarra who had [[half-caste]] children in their family camps was to rub the offspring with charcoal ash from burnt [[sandalwood]], to make them pass as of pure tribal descent. At times, if a pastoralist vouchsafed that they worked on his property, they could escape the meshes of the round-up law. Such forced removals persisted down to the late 1970s. {{sfn|Lioberman|1980|pp=123-124}} |
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Those who managed to find employment on pastoral stations were often taken on as [[indentured labour|indentured labourers]] and were paid a pittance. A law was passed forbidding any white, other than station owners, to approach groups of aboriginals at a distance under |
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five [[Chain (unit)|chains]]. To escape bondage under such conditions, some endeavoured, when WW2 broke out, to enlist in the army, but pastoralists could overturn this by arguing they were needed on the property. Their nomadic movements were drastrically disrupted, again, when a 1940 law ruled that no native person could cross over below the [[Latitude|20th parallel of latitude]] unless he could obtain a signed medical certificate and written permission fromn the government minister. {{sfn|Liberman|1980|p=124}} |
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==Alternative names== |
==Alternative names== |
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Revision as of 18:00, 6 November 2017
The Koara people, more recently spelt Kuwarra, are an Indigenous Australian people living in the Kuwarra Western Desert region of Western Australia. Most of the present-day Kuwarra may be found in Meekatharra, Cue and Wiluna.[1]
Country
Norman Tindale calculated that the Koara tribal lands embraced roughly 18,100 square miles (47,000 km2), extending westwards from Mount Morgans and Leonora west to Mount Ida, taking in the areas of Lake Barlee, and Sandstone, and its northwestern boundary was west of Sandstone. The northern limits ran to Gidgee, Mount Sir Samuel and Lake Darlot. The eastern frontier lay around Mount Zephyr.[2][3]
History of contact
Estimates of the pre-contact Kuwarra population range from 250 to several hundred. By 1980, aboriginals with Kuwarra descent numbered a mere 60 people.[4] The dispersion and detribalization of aboriginal tribes in this area followed in the wake of three successive waves of immigration, beginning with the Coolgardie and Kalgoorlie gold rushes, and concluding with the discovery of uranium deposits and the development of Laverton and Agnew, in the 1960s and 70s.[1]
The indigenous people living in and around the Yeelirrie district had their continuity and transmission of cultural across generations severely compromised by the government practice of seizing their half-caste children to be raised elsewhere, so that the latter would 'grow up' unaffected by their traditional identities. One technique devised by people like the Kuwarra who had half-caste children in their family camps was to rub the offspring with charcoal ash from burnt sandalwood, to make them pass as of pure tribal descent. At times, if a pastoralist vouchsafed that they worked on his property, they could escape the meshes of the round-up law. Such forced removals persisted down to the late 1970s. [5]
Those who managed to find employment on pastoral stations were often taken on as indentured labourers and were paid a pittance. A law was passed forbidding any white, other than station owners, to approach groups of aboriginals at a distance under five chains. To escape bondage under such conditions, some endeavoured, when WW2 broke out, to enlist in the army, but pastoralists could overturn this by arguing they were needed on the property. Their nomadic movements were drastrically disrupted, again, when a 1940 law ruled that no native person could cross over below the 20th parallel of latitude unless he could obtain a signed medical certificate and written permission fromn the government minister. [6]
Alternative names
- Go:ara, Goara.
- Guwara.
- Konindja (exonym used by eastern tribes)
- Konindjara.
- Waula. ( 'northerners' for the Waljen).[2]
Notes
Citations
- ^ a b Liberman 1980, pp. 122–123.
- ^ a b Tindale 1974, p. 245.
- ^ Walis 1996.
- ^ Liberman 1980, p. 122.
- ^ Lioberman 1980, pp. 123–124.
- ^ Liberman 1980, p. 124.
Sources
- "Koara native title claim WC95/1: current land tenure" ([cartographic material]) (Provisional draft, claimed interests ed.). Midland, W.A.: WALIS Land Claims Mapping Unit. 1996. Retrieved 19 August 2017 – via Trove.
- Liberman, Kenneth (Spring 1980). "The Decline of the Kuwarra People of Australia's Western Desert: A Case Study of Legally Secured Domination". Ethnohistory. 27 (2): 119–133. doi:10.2307/481223. JSTOR 481223.
{{cite journal}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help) - Tindale, Norman Barnett (1974). "Koara (WA)". Aboriginal Tribes of Australia: Their Terrain, Environmental Controls, Distribution, Limits, and Proper Names. Australian National University Press. ISBN 978-0-708-10741-6.
{{cite book}}: Invalid|ref=harv(help)