The Nyawigi people, also spelt Nyawaygi , Nywaigi , or Nawagi , are an Aboriginal Australian people whose original country was around Halifax Bay in Far North Queensland .
7-480: They may also have inhabited Orpheus Island . An early record suggested that the Nyawa -(Nowa) in this term denoted 'no', and comparative linguistics has observed the –gi form a comitative suffix , but the last speakers could not confirm this speculative derivation of the ethnonym. One of the last to be interviewed was a centenarian, Long Heron. The Nywaigi are a coastal people occupying 50 miles of coastland to
14-725: A depth of some 15 kilometres. To their north, bounded on the west by the Toobanna, Frances Creek and Waterview Creek, over the Herbert River at Halifax and Ingham , were the Biyaygiri . To the west was Warrongo country. Their southern boundary lay at the Seaview Range. Other neighbours include the Warrgamay . In Norman Tindale 's estimation, the total extent of their land was 2,300 square miles (6,000 km) in
21-595: A distinctive dialect. The Nyawagyi had four sections: (a) wungu ; (b) gurguɽu ; (c) gurgila=gurgiŋ ; (d) gaɽbawuɽu . The marriage rules laid down that Orpheus Island Orpheus Island National Park is a national park on Orpheus Island , in North Queensland , Australia. The Aboriginal (possibly Nyawaygi ) name for this island is Goolboddi Island . It is one of the Palm Islands group , 1,189 km (739 mi) northwest of Brisbane , as
28-471: Is Pelorus Island 800 metres (2,600 ft) to the north; both are in the Shire of Hinchinbrook . Besides Orpheus Island, the national park also includes Albino Rock, which is located 2.6 kilometres (1.6 mi) east of Great Palm Island (usually known as Palm Island). Orpheus Island is a continental island . Prior to the arrival of Europeans, Orpheus Island was inhabited by an Aboriginal people , probably
35-483: Is located on the island. Since 2000, St Michael's Grammar School (of St Kilda, Victoria ) has run a marine biology project each June. Since 2018 Reef Ecologic has run an annual reef restoration and leadership workshop at the research station. The group published a research paper on findings from citizen scientists on a rare, large coral bommie at Orpheus Island in 2021 A citizen science database using iNaturalist has recorded over 700 observations of 334 species with
42-721: The Nyawigi people. The name "Orpheus" was given to the island in 1887 by Lieutenant G. E. Richards , referring to HMS Orpheus , a Royal Navy ship which was wrecked off the coast of New Zealand in 1863. In 1960 it was declared a national park. In 2002 the island was bought by Jim Wilson who had developed the Freycinet Lodge in Tasmania, and bought off him in 2011 by Chris Morris, the Computershare mogul. A research station , operated by James Cook University ,
49-577: The area to the southwest of the Herbert River , mainly on the rainforested high Sea View Range , running southeast as far as Harveyside and the Reid River . The Warrgamay lay around the sclerophyll forest to their east on the coast, though, according to Robert M. W. Dixon , the Nyawagyi did access part of the sea-coast in the vicinity of Ingham . The Nyawagyi comprised 7 tribes, with the affix bara indicating belonging, and all probably speaking
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