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.

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.

Alternative names

• Mooroon
• Murnidja
• Mara (?)
• Kogara ('east')

Notes

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.