Nyigina
Aboriginal people of Western Australia
title: "Nyigina" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["aboriginal-peoples-of-western-australia", "broome,-western-australia", "fitzroy-river-(western-australia)"] description: "Aboriginal people of Western Australia" topic_path: "geography/australia" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nyigina" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Aboriginal people of Western Australia ::
The Nyikina people (also spelt Nyigina and Nyikena, and listed as Njikena by Tindale) are an Aboriginal Australian people of the Kimberley region of Western Australia.
They come from the lower Fitzroy River (which they call mardoowarra).
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a8/Traditional_lands_of_Australian_Aboriginal_Tribes_around_Derby.png" caption="This map is indicative only.}}"] ::
Language
The Nyigina language is one of several eastern varieties of the Nyulnyulan languages, closely related to Warrwa and Yawuru. it was spoken by around 10 people.
Country
The Nyigina (Njikena) inhabited an area estimated at 11,300 mi2. The area is located on the lower Fitzroy River from Yeeda upstream to Noonkanbah, on both banks.
Education
The Nyigina, together with the Mangala people, run the Nyikina Mangala Community School, a school at Jarlmadangah in West Kimberley. The Nyigina-Mangala peoples also run another school, together with the Walmajarri, at Looma.
Native title
In 1998 the Nyigina people undertook legal proceedings to pursue their native title claims. One consisted of a Nyikina Mangala claim, which they shared with the Mangala while the other comprised the Nyikina- Warrwa pursued together with the closely related Warrwa people. The Shire of Derby settled an Indigenous land use agreement with the Indigenous plaintiffs, regarding the Nikina Mangala area, and set down a protocol that provided guarantees for surveying the Aboriginal cultural heritage before any development projects on the land could be undertaken. In 2014, after an 18-year legal battle, the Federal Court of Australia granted the Nyikina-Mangala petitioners native title over 26,000 km2 of territory, from King Sound through the Fitzroy Valley to the Great Sandy Desert.
Prominent people
- Daisy Loongkoonan was a Nyigina elder and artist.
- Butcher Joe Nangan was a Nyigina Mabanjarra, songman, and artist.
- Katie Rodriguez a former Catholic novice and pastoral worker
- Paddy Roe was a Nyigina elder who wrote about Nyigina culture and religion.
- Yoolya, also known as Fulgentius Fraser, who was evangelist and stockman.
Notes
Citations
Sources
- {{Cite news| title = After 18 years, Traditional Owners of the Fitzroy River get native title | publisher = Kimberley Land Council | url = http://www.klc.org.au/news-media/newsroom/news-detail/2014/05/29/after-18-years-traditional-owners-of-the-fitzroy-river-get-native-title | date = 29 May 2014 | ref =
- {{Cite web| title = AIATSIS map of Indigenous Australia | date = 14 May 2024 | publisher = AIATSIS | url = https://aiatsis.gov.au/explore/articles/aiatsis-map-indigenous-australia | ref =
- {{Cite book| title = A Grammar of Bardi | last = Bowern | first = Claire | author-link = Claire Bowern | year = 2012 | publisher = Walter de Gruyter | volume = 57 | series = Mouton Grammar Library | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=9jlEI4orI0wC&pg=PA9 | isbn = 978-3-110-27818-7
- {{Cite book| chapter = Prolegomenon to a Warrwa grammar of space | last = McGregor | first = William | year = 2006 | title = Grammars of Space: Explorations in Cognitive Diversity | editor1-last = Levinson | editor1-first = Stephen C. | editor2-last = Wilkins | editor2-first = David P. | publisher = Cambridge University Press | volume = 6 | series = Language Culture and Cognition | pages = 115–155 | chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=wi8McGUZglIC&pg=PA115 | isbn = 978-1-139-45839-9
- {{Cite web| title = Nyikina Mangala and Shire of Derby-West Kimberley Native Title Process Agreement Map | publisher = Geospatial Analysis & Mapping Branch, National Native Title Tribunal | url = http://www.atns.net.au/objects/pdfs/A001516.pdf | date = 25 October 2014
- {{Cite web| title = Tindale Tribal Boundaries | publisher = Department of Aboriginal Affairs, Western Australia | url = https://www.daa.wa.gov.au/globalassets/pdf-files/maps/state/tindale_daa.pdf | date = September 2016 | ref =
- {{Cite book | chapter =Njikena | last=Tindale |first=Norman Barnett |author-link=Norman Tindale |title=Aboriginal Tribes of Australia: Their Terrain, Environmental Controls, Distribution, Limits, and Proper Names | publisher=Australian National University | year=1974 | chapter-url=http://archives.samuseum.sa.gov.au/tindaletribes/njikena.htm | archive-date = 20 March 2020 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20200320020206/http://archives.samuseum.sa.gov.au/tindaletribes/njikena.htm | isbn=978-0-708-10741-6
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