A description of the Yugumbir dialect of Bandjalang

Yugumbir is the Bandjalang dialect spoken in the Logan and Albert River basins. The tribal territory extended as far north as Jimboomba (10 miles south of Brisbane) and south to the Macpherson Range. A map is shown in Figure 1. Discussion of the exact extent of the territory, and of the naming of the tribe, is left until Chapter 7. At present, Aboriginals resident at Wooden bong Aboriginal Station, N.S.W., recognise the names Yugumbir, Minjangbal and Manaldja:li as referring to this dialect. In 1913 a typescript on this language, entitled "Grammar, Vocabulary, and Notes of the Wangerriburra Tribe" by John Lane in collaboration with John Allen (a part Aboriginal of the Yugumbir tribe) was published as an appendix to the report of the Protector of Aboriginals for that year. The vocabulary, checked and revised, was later published in "Vocabularies of Four Representative Tribes of South Eastern Queensland" by F. J. Watson. This vocabulary contained nearly 900 entries. The grammar of Allen and Lane has some useful noun morphology, but by its own admission is very sketchy on the verbs. The main informant for this present paper was Joe Culham, who was one of the last speakers of the dialect. He was born in Beaudesert, was living at Woodenbong Aboriginal Station at the time the data was collected, and died in early 1968. His father was the last "king" of the Manaldja:li tribe. Aboriginals at Woodenbong