Larrakia elder shares the rich history of Mindil Beach

ABC NEWS (Australia)

More traditional First Nations place names are being used in Australia. The ABC’s ‘this place’ project aims to explain the rich cultural heritage and origins behind the names of towns, cities and regions across the nation. In Darwin, Larrakia elder Juwayning Lorraine Williams, shares the stories passed down by her father about Mindil Beach.

Transcript

00:00I'm a Larrakia woman of this country. My Larrakia name is Jouanning, and Jouanning means

00:16perma crab. My language is Golumergan language, and that term Larrakia is a term we now use,

00:23but in the old days we referred to ourselves as Golumergan people. Golumergan is also our

00:29language. This place here is called Mindal Beach, or Mindal-gwa, or Mindaleng-gwa,

00:35is all the big names for it. So in Golumergan language, Mindal actually means shoulder.

00:41So they say it's the shoulder of the ancestor. So the ancestor is Darabarungalina, and all

00:47around Darwin it's all different body parts to do with Darabarungalina. The name that's

00:52being used now for Darwin area is called Garamela, but Garamela is the beautiful white rock that

00:58you see around in Darwin. Mindal Beach is also a place where the Tiwi and Larrakia people

01:04fought. They say that this is where the Tiwi actually came to get wives, and they fought

01:09over wives, and they were stolen from here. So that's one of the stories from this area

01:13here. This place here at Mindal is actually really important to us because it was a burial

01:18site back in the old days. When we bury our dead, there's always ceremony to do with it.

01:24For the Pukamani Poles, the Tiwi would have danced. For any of the Larrakia people,

01:29Larrakia would have danced, but as part of the funeral ceremony. World War II time was

01:34also used for the servicemen that passed away in the war. They were buried there temporarily

01:40and then taken back to Adelaide River for a proper burial. Our old people lived all through

01:47this area and hunted all through this area, and we still do today. The term to say goodbye

01:55is the term we use is Nagar, but that means I'm going.

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