Miyan people facts for kids
The Miyan, or Mian, were an indigenous people of the state of Queensland.
Name
The ethnonym mian signifies 'man' in their language.
Country
The Miyan were a people of Central West Queensland, with, according to Norman Tindale, some 5,000 square miles (13,000 km2) of tribal territory running north from the lower Belyando River to the southern headwaters of Cape River and Mount Douglas. Their land took in Bulliwallah and their western frontier lay around the Dividing Range. Their southern boundary was around Lake Galilee and Labona.
Social organization
The Miyan were divided into Band societyhordes, of which the following are known:
- Munkibura (See however Ilba)
- Wokkelburra (located near Bulliwallah)
- Koombokkaburra
- Pegulloburra
- Oncooburra
Hunting
The Miyan technique for hunting kangaroos was to capture them by nets. With regard to the emu, the following report survives:
'Emu are speared in dry weather when water remains in but few holes. Having found by the tracks those commonly frequented, the Black, provided with a spear, ascends some tree near at hand, from which he suspends a bunch of emu feathers with a string. When the birds come to water, he imitates their cry, and they, with the curiosity so characteristic of them, proceed to examine the bnunch of feathers, when the Black hid among the boughs overhead spears one of them.'
History of contact
Miyan lands were first subject to colonial occupation in 1862, at which date their population was estimated to be around 400 people. Within a little over two decades, their numbers had been halved, according to one observer simply through their adoption of the white habit of consuming tobacco and salt beef. After white settlement, numerous children died of colds and fever. One Miyan tribesman who helped out on stations, rejoined his clan, which happened to be at the time on a cattle-run. The white proprietor ordered them top be 'dispersed', and the youth was shot dead. A fifteen-year-old girl was mortally wounded by another white 'dispersal' when her groups accidentally set fire to grass on a river-bank, where they were fishing on their own land.
Alternative names
- Koombokkaburra
- Munkibura
- Oncooburra
- Pegulloburra
- Wokkelburra
- Wokkulburra ( from their word, wak:ul, for 'eel').
Some words
- knagana ('forbidden', the word for the law banning the consumption of certain foods for certain classes of people)
- knurra (wild dog)
- meearew (whiteman)
- waddey/yabboo (father)
- wandi (tame dog)
- yanga (mother)
