The Dadi Dadi lands, according to Norman Tindale, extended over 2,300 square kilometres (900 sq mi), covering the area from Euston to 24 kilometres (15 mi) above the Murrumbidgee junction. Though mainly concentrated on the southern bank of the Murray River, they also ranged as far north as Benanee.[4] As part of the Murray–Darling basin, the area's history of human habitation goes back some 27,000-36,000 years.[5]
Social organization
The Dadi Dadi, much like the Latjilatji, were divided into two moieties, the Kailpara and Makwara,[6] with descent from the mother's side.
History of contact
Smallpox and other introduced diseases had already ravaged the Murray Valley aboriginal population before the actual establishment of colonial 'runs' or pastoral properties in the region.[7]Charles Sturt in 1830 described a particularly dire state of ill-health, ascribing it to leprosy.[8][9] During colonial times bodies were removed from five aboriginal burial sites by George Murray Black, along the New South Wales side of the Murray River[10] and are now part of the Murray Black Collection.[11] The repatriation of these bodies is now being sought by tribal groups.
Balme, J.; Hope, J. (1990). "Radiocarbon Dates from Midden Sites in the Lower Darling River Area of Western New South Wales". Archaeology in Oceania. 25 (3): 85–101. doi:10.1002/j.1834-4453.1990.tb00239.x. JSTOR 40386883.
Prince, Jordi Rivera (2015). Can the Repatriation of the Murray Black Collection be Considered an Apology? Colonial Institutional Culpability in the Indigenous Australian Fight for Decolonization. In Situ. pp. 9–13.
Radcliffe-Brown, A. R. (July 1930). "The Social Organization of Australian Tribes. Part II". Oceania. 1 (2): 206–246. doi:10.1002/j.1834-4461.1930.tb01645.x. JSTOR 40327321.
Ryan, Edward (2014). "Water for country, words for water: Indigenous placenames of north-west Victoria and south-west New South Wales" (PDF). In Clark, Ian D.; Hercus, Luise; Kostanski, Laura (eds.). Indigenous and Minority Placenames: Australian and International Perspectives. Australian National University Press. pp. 293–304. ISBN 978-1-925-02162-2.
Sturt, Charles (2011). Two Expeditions Into the Interior of Southern Australia, During the Years 1828, 1829, 1830, and 1831: With Observations on the Soil, Climate, and General Resources of the Colony of New South Wales. Vol. 2. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-108-03886-7.