Kanolu

The Kanolu were an indigenous Australian people of the state of Queensland.

Language

The Kanolu were often confused with the Kangulu, despite marked differences in their dialects. For example, 'no' was kara for the former, kagu for the latter, and the Kanolu word for 'man' was mari, in contrast to the Kangulu word for the same, bama.[1]

Country

The Kanolu were a people of the Central Highlands Region. In Norman Tindale's calculations, their tribal lands extended over 4,700 square miles (12,000 km2). They lives around the eastern headwaters of the Comet River from Rolleston northwards at least to Blackwater and upper Mackenzie River. Their eastern frontier lay near Dingo and Duaringa.[1]

History of contact

Native memory spoke of many members of the tribe dying out around the 1830s, from a disease which affected the nose,[lower-alpha 1] and some members of the group were seen to bear marks that might have indicated a smallpox epidemic.[2] White settlement of Kanolu lands began around 1860. At the time their population was estimated at around 500. Within a decade, by 1869, their numbers had fallen to 300, and by 1879 it was thought no more than 200 survived. Thomas Josephson claimed that this drastic demographic decline was attributable to three factors. One was the effect of venereal disease introduced by settlers; secondly, consumption, and thirdly infanticide.[3]

Lifestyle

Josephson was struck by the Kanolu's refusal to partake of pork, an introduced meat which other tribes were known to eat.[2]

Alternative names

  • Kanoloo.
  • Kanalloo.[1]

Some words

  • wondi. (tame dog)
  • kagargi. (wild dog)
  • yaboo. (father)
  • kika. (mother)
  • koin. (whiteman)[4]

Notes

  1. ↑ E. M. Curr glosses this by a note comparing the term current among the distant Watjarri(Cheangwa) for smallpox, namely moolya errillya-rilla-ya (stone in the nose).[2]

Citations

Sources

  • Josephson, Thomas (1887). "Head of the Comet River" (PDF). In Curr, Edward Micklethwaite. The Australian race: its origin, languages, customs, place of landing in Australia and the routes by which it spread itself over the continent. Volume 3. Melbourne: J. Ferres. pp. 96–99.
  • Tindale, Norman Barnett (1974). "Kanolu (QLD)". Aboriginal Tribes of Australia: Their Terrain, Environmental Controls, Distribution, Limits, and Proper Names. Australian National University Press. ISBN 978-0-708-10741-6.
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