Pakadji

The Pakadji people, also known by the southern tribal exonym as the Koko Yao (Kuuku Ya'u), were an Indigenous Australian group of Cape York Peninsula in northern Queensland.[1] The ethnonym Koko Ya'o is said literally to mean 'talk, speech' (koko/kuku) 'this way' (ya'o),[2] though this has been questioned.[lower-alpha 1]

Language

Pakadji is one of the Umpila group of dialects within the North Cape York Paman languages. They had a highly developed sign language, but used generally only one hand, with rapid movements, and little secondary reinforcement by physical or facial tics or gestures.[4]

Country

Pakadji territory embraced roughly an area of 1,300 sq. miles around Weymouth Bay, the Pascoe River, and Temple Bay. It reached northwards as far as Cape Grenville; and ran to the southeast at Cape Weymouth. Inland it extended to the Dividing Range.[1]

Lifestyle and economy

The Pakadji were one of the Kawadji, or sandbeach people. These coastal tribes basically exploited the rich food resources on and off the sea-line facing the Coral Sea. The year was divided into two seasons, the kawali or dry season that began with the onset of the south-east trade winds, from April through to November, and wullo wantjan/wullo waiyin ('when thunder cries') the season ushered in with the arrival of the northwest monsoon, beginning in late November/early December. In the kawali period they were often venture inland to harvest vegetables (mai'yi), yams (dampu) and bush honey, and construction materials like spear wood and weaving grasses.[5]

Ceremonies

Donald Thomson gained the confidence of the Pakadji while spending 4 months with them during the season in which their initiation ceremonies (Okainta) were held, and was permitted to be present during the rites.[2] He focused in particular on stories related to Iwayi (Old Man Crocodile).[6]

Some words
  • papa (mother).[7]

Notes
  1. Wood argues that Thomson's Demonstrative-based paradigm, though functional for several related languages, doesn't fit Kuku Wanju, and suggests that 'the names meant 'language which uses the form X' rather than 'like this'.'[3]

Citations
  1. Tindale 1974.
  2. Thomson 1933, p. 458.
  3. Wood 2016, p. 342.
  4. Kendon 1988, p. 45.
  5. Thomson 1933, pp. 457–458.
  6. Rigsby & Chase 2014, p. 326.
  7. Thomson 1933, p. 457 n.1.

References
  • Haddon, A. C. (2011) [First published 1935]. Reports of the Cambridge Anthropological Expedition to Torres Straits. 1. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-17986-7.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Kendon, Adam (1988). Sign Languages of Aboriginal Australia: Cultural, Semiotic and Communicative Perspectives. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-36008-1.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Rigsby, Bruce; Chase, Athol (2014). "The Sandbeach People and Dugong hunters of Eastern Cape York Peninsula: property in land and sea country". In Peterson, Nicolas; Rigsby, Bruce (eds.). Customary marine tenure in Australia. Sydney University Press. pp. 307–350. ISBN 978-1-743-32389-2.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Thomson, Donald F. (1933). "The Hero Cult, Initiation and Totemism on Cape York". Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland. 63: 453–537. JSTOR 2843801.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Tindale, Norman Barnett (1974). "Pakadji (QLD)". Aboriginal Tribes of Australia: Their Terrain, Environmental Controls, Distribution, Limits, and Proper Names. Australian National University Press. ISBN 978-0-708-10741-6.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Wood, Ray (2016). "The Kuku Yalanji example in Land and Language in Cape York Peninsula and the Gulf Country". In Verstraete, Jean-Christophe; Hafner, Diane (eds.). Land and Language in Cape York Peninsula and the Gulf Country. John Benjamins Publishing Company. pp. 337–360. ISBN 978-9-027-26760-3.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
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