Kuringgai

"Ku-ring-gai" redirects here. For other uses, see Ku-ring-gai (disambiguation).

Kuringgai people
aka: Ku-ring-gai, Kuring-gai, and Guringai Kuringgai (AIATSIS), nd (SIL)
Sydney Basin bioregion
Hierarchy
Language family:	Pama–Nyungan
Language branch:	Yuin–Kuric
Language group:	Yora
Group dialects:	Darkinjung
Area
Bioregion:	Sydney Basin
Location:	Sydney, Central Coast, and Newcastle, New South Wales
Coordinates:
Notable individuals
Bungaree, Cora Gooseberry

Kuringgai (also spelled Ku-ring-gai, Kuring-gai, Guringai) (IPA: [ɢuriŋɡai]), a group of indigenous people of Australia, are those Australian Aborigines that were united by a common language, strong ties of kinship and survived as skilled hunter–fisher–gatherers in family groups or clans scattered along the coastal area of what is now known as the Sydney basin, in New South Wales, Australia. Their traditional territory spreads from the north of Sydney Harbour, through Lane Cove River, Middle Harbour, Pittwater, the Hawkesbury River, Broken Bay, Brisbane Water, and Central Coast to north of Tuggerah Lakes.

Etymology

The indigenous people identify themselves as Guringai. In 1892, ethnographer John Fraser used the term Kuringgai (Ku̇riġgai in his phonetic notation) to refer to the people inhabiting a large stretch of the central coastline of New South Wales:

The next great tribe is the Kuringgai on the sea coast. Their 'taurai' (hunting ground or territory) is known to extend north to the Macleay River, and I found that southwards it reached the Hawkesbury. then after, by examining the remains of the language of the natives about Sydney and southwards, and by other tests, I assured myself that the country thereabout was occupied by sub-tribes of the Kurringgai. [sic]

Fraser came up with the name Kuringgai being a conjunction of the native words Koori/Guri to mean black man and Ngai, meaning black woman, or belonging to.

Peoples

Fraser’s 1892 map. Kuringgai is marked VIII.

According to Fraser, the Kuringgai were bordered by the Wachigari and the Paikalyung to the north, the Kamalarai to the northwest, the Wiradhari to the west and the Murrinjari to the south.

However, Norman Tindale would later say in 1974 that "the Awabakal are the central one of a series of tribes to which the arbitrary term Kuringgai has been applied by Fraser." He divided the area Fraser labelled Kuringgai into several tribes, including the Tharawal, Eora, Dharuk, Darkinjang, Awabakal, Worimi, Birpai, Ngamba, and others.

The clan groups are the Garigal, Cammeragal, Borregegal, Awaba, Walkeloa with hundreds more.

Language

The Darkinjung (or Guringai) language is considered the main dialect of the Kuringgai; although there are notable variances in regional areas where multiple dialects exit and there is overlap with both the Dharuk and Awabakal languages.

Lifestyle

They were hunters and gatherers within their land. The Guringai lives were dictated by the seasons and the seasonal travels throughout their lands, with great ceremony.

The Guringai still live in their traditional homelands.

Notable people

Main articles: Bungaree and Cora Gooseberry

Today

A number of things have been named after the Kuringgai, including:

• Electoral district of Ku-ring-gai
• Hornsby Ku-ring-gai Hospital
• Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park
• Ku-ring-gai Creative Arts High School
• Ku-ring-gai Council
• Ku-ring-gai Creek
• Mount Ku-ring-gai
• Kuring-gai College of Advanced Education, subsumed in 1989 as part of the University of Technology, Sydney

External links

• Bibliography of Ku-ring-gai people and language resources, at the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies