Mamu people facts for kids

The Mamu are an Indigenous Australian people of the coastal rainforest region south of Cairns, in northern Queensland. They form one of 8 groups of the generically named Dyirbal tribes, the others being Yidinji, Ngajan, Dyirbal, Girramay, Warrgamay, Waruŋu and Mbabaram.

Language

Mamu had a special mother-in-law language, called Dyalŋuy (Jalnguy). Though sharing many words with Dyirbal, whereas in both languages the ordinary speech term for "foot" is jina, Dyirbal avoidance speech replaces it with jummbur whereas Mamu avoidance language uses winarra, for example.

Country

They inhabited the region from the Russell River and Cooper's point, north of Innisfail, westwards to Millaa Millaa and the Misty Mountains, and south as far as North Maria Creek.

History

The split between the Dyirbal and Mamu, to judge from the linguistic data, occurred relatively recently. When the Mamu first encountered white men, they imagined that they were meeting up with the reincarnated ghosts of their ancestors, and thus called them (guwuy:'spirit of a deceased person'). Massacres and disease such as measles, influenza and smallpox decimated the tribe.

In the late 1870s and early 1880s, European redcedar cutters and Chinese that were prospecting for gold arrived in the region. The Chinese often used Aboriginals as labourers, one of the key factors that led to the virtual extinction, save for a few remnants, of these rainforest peoples like the Mamu. The explorer Christie Palmerston, recalled that, while pushing out from Mourilyan Harbour in late 1883, he and his Melanasian manservant encounter a 'large mob' of 'cute creatures', Mamu aborigines, coming down the North Johnstone River who were unaware of 'the power of resistance the white man had'. He therefore made them submit to 'the usual ordeal' since reasoning was beyond them, and 'drilled them' with rifle-fire while his kanaka laid into them with a long bush knife, effecting 'terrible havoc'.

Social system

The Mamu tribes comprised 5 'hordes' or subgroups: Waɽibara, Dulgubarra, Bagiɽgabara, Dyiɽibara and Mandubara. The Waɽibara lived in the densely forested deep gorges of the Upper Johnstone River, as the word wari (deep gorge) reveals. The Dulgubarra lay in the thick scrub country (dulgu)further south down the Johnston. The Dyiɽibara lived near the present day town of Mourilyan. The Mandubara lived on the South Johnstone River. The Dulgubarra, or "The Cassowary Tribe", were distinguished by the red and yellow plumage adorning their head-dresses.

Native title

On 31 October 2013 the descendants of the Mamu people had their claim to native title in the area when the Federal Court Tribunal recognized their exclusive rights to over 75 square kilometres (29 sq mi) of land, and non-exclusive rights to roughly 645 square kilometres (249 sq mi) of land, extending from Kurrimine to Jogo and Millaa Millaa.

Some words

Mamu has some words that convey a whole concept requiring a phrase in English in just one verb

• wayngu: to be busy looking after one's children.
• ngulbuny: green (tree) ant. This is believed to have the same curative powers that it has among the Yidinji people.