The Kurnai of Gippsland
The Bunurong tribe, whose eastern bounds were at Anderson's Inlet, were there met by the Kurnai, also a coast tribe, which occupied almost the whole of what is now Gippsland. This great area, 200 miles in length by about 70 in width, lies between the sea-coast and the Dividing Range. It was divided into five portions, each of which was inhabited by a clan of the Kurnai. These five clans spoke three dialects, more or less unintelligible to each other. The dialects spoken were Nulit by the Brayakaulung, the Brataualung, and the Tatungalung, the Muk-thang or "excellent" speech by the Brabralung, and Thangquai or "broad" speech by the Krauatungalung.[1]
The clans were divided into lesser groups, each of which had a special name, derived in some cases from their principal locality, while in other cases it was the local group which gave the name to the locality. For instance, a large section of the Brataua clan lived on the upper waters of the Avon River, and were called Kutbuntaura or fire-carriers. This name was also that of their country, with the postfix wurk, meaning "land" or "country."
Such large sections were again divided and subdivided, each subdivision having its own tract of hunting and food ground, until the unit was a small group of kindred, frequently an old man, his sons, married or unmarried, with their respective wives and children. Such an instance was that of the Bunjil-baul,[2] or men of the island, who lived on Raymond Island in Lake King, and who not only claimed that island, but also all the swans' eggs laid upon it, as their own exclusive property. Although it was separated from the mainland, which was the country of the Brabralung, by merely a narrow channel, and from that of the Tatunga-
- ↑ Bra is "male" or "man," yak is "west," and lung "of" or "belonging to." Tatung is the sea, sometimes spoken of as gatching; gal is a possessive suffix. Muk is "good," thang is "speech," Krauat is "east."
- ↑ Bunjil is a designation applied to men of mature age, and always with a word which expresses some characteristic. For instance, one old man was called Bunjil-barlajan, being Bunjil-platypus, he being a great hunter of that creature. Baul is "island."
