The Wilawila are an indigenous Australian tribe of the Kimberley region of Western Australia.
Name
Norman Tindale gave "wilawila" as the proper tribal ethnonym, but noted that, according to reports by the missionary Theodore Hernández, the same group appeared to bear an alternative ethnonym, namely "Taib", which Tindale took to be a Wilawila horde.
Country
According to Tindale, the Wilawila's tribal domains extended over 5,300 square miles (14,000 km2), along and around the Carson and middle Drysdale rivers, stretching from Mount Connelly as far south as the lower Gibb and Durack rivers.
Social organization
The Wilawila were divided into tribal subgroupings or clans/hordes, of which the following names survive.
- Taib (Carson river)
- Munumbara (Headwaters of the Forrest River)
- Kalari (Middle Drysdale River)
- Andedja (Southern tributaries of upper Forrest River)
- Piarngongo (Mount Beatrice)
Tindale also speaks of a Wilawila group, the Tjawurungari/Tawandjangango, on the Osborne Islands, speaking a lighter dialect of the language spoken by the Kambure.
Alternative names
Source: Tindale 1974, p. 261
Notes
Citations
Sources
