Ngambri facts for kids
| Regions with significant populations | |
|---|---|
 Australia |
over 400 |
| Languages | |
| Walgalu | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Other Aboriginal Australians | |
The Ngambri are an Aboriginal people of the Walgalu nation who claim traditional ownership of the Australian Capital Territory area. Their traditional language is Walgulu (Guumaal). They are represented by the Ngambri Local Aboriginal Land Council.
The extent of recognised Ngambri territory, and of their distinction from the Walgalu, has been the subject of controversy. One reason for this is that Canberra, where Ngambri claims are made, lay close to the tribal boundaries that separated the Ngarigo from the Ngunawal.
Ngambri is also an Aboriginal name for a location in the southeast of Australia, near the centre of what is now Australia's capital city of Canberra. The area is close to Black Mountain along Sullivans Creek down to the Yeelamgigee, now Molonglo River.
Contents
Language
Research into the vocabularies collected in the 19th century by Mowle, Robinson, Eyre and Curr suggests the language spoken in the Canberra-Queanbeyan region to be a dialect, now called Nyamudy/Namadgi, of Ngarigu. The family groupings descending from speakers of this dialect included the Nammage, Nammitch, Yammoit and Ngemutch.
Traditional diet
Murnong, now rare in the ACT due to land development, were a staple in the diet of traditional Ngambri people. Ngambri people also ate grass trees, bulrushes, native raspberries, apple berries and native cherries.
For protein, the witchetty grub, Bogong moth, emu, koala, cod, platypus, echidna, brolga and bush turkey were all represented in the traditional Ngambri people's diet.
Locality
The Ngambri Aboriginal family, part of the Nyamudy clan, lived in the area of Sullivan's Creek extending from the Molonglo River to what is now Dickson, and incorporated the east of Black Mountain. This location settled by Europeans in October 1831 when John MacPherson was granted 640 acres (260 ha) of land. The homestead of the property was on the high ground above the river and called Springbank. MacPherson lived at Springbank with his wife Helen and their children, the first European family to live in what is now the Australian Capital Territory. One of their children, John Alexander MacPherson, was probably the first European boy born on the Limestone Plains.
The property to the east of Springbank was the larger Camberry station (Canberry), occupying what now is the suburbs of Acton and Turner.
People
The family who lived in the Ngambri location were part of the Wiradjuri people who lived on the Cowra Mission. and spoke a language similar to Wiradjuri spoken on the Cowra Plains. The Cowra Wiradjuri people, some 10,500 persons, consisted of many family groupings, in and around the Cowra Mission of NSW.
Extension of the name to the whole Canberra region
It has been claimed by some people claiming Ngambri descent that the name for Canberra is derived from the name of the "Ngambri" family rather than the name of the location. Hence they claim Canberra district is Ngambri territory. Others state the name Canberra came from Camberry/Canberry Cottage, the name given to the first European dwelling built by the property overseer who came from Cambridge, England. Latter it became the rectory of St John's Church and after some time to make it sound more classical was spelt 'Canberra'.
Government recognition
In 2005, in response to a question in the ACT Legislative Assembly about the status of the Ngambri people, the Chief Minister at the time, Jon Stanhope stated that "Ngambri is the name of one of a number of family groups that make up the Ngunnawal nation." He went on to say that "the Government recognises members of the Ngunnawal nation as descendants of the original inhabitants of this region: There is no specific recognition of the Ngambri group outside of this broader acknowledgement." The reason for the recognition of the Ngunnnawal as the traditional first people was due to many European part-Ngunnwal people living in Yass, during the 1920-30s moved to Canberra to obtain work during the development of that city. Much Later in 1996, the ACT Government under the Chief Minister Kate Carnell persuaded all indigenous people living in Canberra to unite to increase their chances of being awarded some native title rights.
In 2009, Chief Minister Jon Stanhope said the Ngunnawal people were the traditional owners of Canberra after five signs on the Canberra border were defaced to include the Ngambri name. Stanhope at the time said that "one family that previously identified as Ngunnawal now identifies as Ngambri" and "this is causing confusion and distress within the community." The reason for the break up of the recently formed 'new tribe' was it had been unsuccessful in obtaining any land rights.
As of 2022, the ACT government does not recognise Ngambri people as traditional owners of the ACT, but other groups do give acknowledgement such as the National Museum of Australia.
Disputes
Disputes over the traditional ownership of Canberra and the surrounding region
The comprehensive dislocation of Aboriginal populations, intertribal marriage and interracial relationships following European settlement has led to a high proportion of people identifying themselves as Indigenous Australians not knowing their traditional origins. Australian Bureau of Statistics records showed several Aboriginal families in the ACT were affected by the removal of mixed race children from their parents in the Stolen Generation era. Due to the geographical relocation, and intertribal marriages since the 1900s, of indigenous populations there are disputes between people who claim descent from the Ngambri family of the Nyanmudy/Namadgi, Ngarigo and Ngunnawal people, who all claim they are Canberra's traditional owners. A family who originally claimed to be Ngunnawal changed their argument claiming to be from the Ngamri family. The debate came to a head in April 2009 when five "Welcome to Canberra" signs on the Canberra border were defaced by replacing the words "Ngunnawal Country" with "Ngambri Country". The signs were quickly restored by the ACT Government, with the Chief Minister Jon Stanhope promising that the signs would be monitored closely in the future. However this action exacerbated the problem, with the result that the Government funded research into Aboriginal family histories. The conclusion was there was insufficient genealogical evidence to conclusively state the Ngambri were the sole traditional owners of the ACT region, and they were possibly just a family group of the Nyamudy/Namedjii tribe.
In 1974 Norman Tindale in his major work on Aboriginal tribal boundaries located the southern boundary of Ngunawal country close to the ACT boundary. Like much of his mapping this was disputed by reference to much earlier evidence. Later research showed this to be incorrect and the boundary was near Sutton on the Yass River. The unsettled dispute as to who were the first people of the Canberra district, is whether the Nyamudy/Namedjii were a separate tribe or part of the Ngarigo nation from the Monaro.
In December 2012, the Ngambri Local Aboriginal Land Council made three applications for native title:
- McQuoid Street, Queanbeyan, NSW;
- Karabar, Queanbeyan, NSW; and
- Erin Street, Queanbeyan, NSW.
For each application, the court determined that native title did not exist.
In 2013, an ACT Government genealogy report entitled Our Kin Our Country was released. The report, researched to settle the dispute of who were the first people, found that the Ngunnawall were not the original inhabitants of the ACT, however they did attend corroborees. The report concluded that evidence gathered from the mid-1700s onward was too scant to exclusively support any present day group's claims. It showed that the ACT land had been either part of the Ngarigo tribe territory, the Nyamudy territory, or split between the Nyamudy and Namadgi people. The question remains unanswered whether the Nyamudy/Namadgi tribe, the settler-named Limestone Blacks, occupied the whole Queanbeyan-Canberra-Namadgi area, or whether the Queanbeyan people were either part of the Ngarigo people of the Monaro.
In 2022, the Ngambri took the ACT government to the Supreme Court for recognition of their status as traditional owners.
Aboriginal Tent Embassy
In 2002, a group of Ngambri people burnt down a humpy and dismantled tents at the Aboriginal Tent Embassy. At the time, prominent Ngambri elder Matilda House said her people were "cleaning up the site and making it respectable so that when visitors do come here we will be proud". House had been closely involved with the tent embassy since it was founded in 1972 and remembers the four men who founded the embassy as heroes. House had a vision for the future of the tent embassy:
I'd like to see the tent embassy used for a place of education and proper understanding of protocols and the proper understanding of our identity. It could be achieved by looking at a proper way of having a place where Aboriginal people can do what they want and protest. But in a manner that will get the message across and (provide) a really good place for educating the rest of the community. Not this thing where buses will pull up and sometimes people get told the wrong story.
Notable people
- Onyong, leader of the Ngambri at the time of colonisation.
- Matilda House, prominent elder and activist.
- Shane Mortimer, a Ngambri-Guumaal elder and activist.
