Badimaya

The Badimaya people (also written Badimia) are an Aboriginal Australian people from the Mid west region of Western Australia.

Country

Traditional Badimaya country was calculated by Tindale to encompass approximately 11,300 square miles (29,000 km²), and is bordered by the Western Desert language groups of the Tjuparn and the Wanmala to the east, the Noongar to the south-west and Watjarri to the north-west.[1][2]

This country covers Cue, Nannine and Mount Magnet to the north, Paynes Find to the south, Yalgoo to the southwest, and the northwest lay along the Sandford River.[3]

Language

Badimaya belongs to the Kartu branch of the Pama–Nyungan family.[4] It is a critically endangered language, however there is a strong language revival movement underway in the Badimaya community.[5]

Social organisation and customs

The Badimaya were reported to practise both circumcision and subincision.[3]

Notable people

• Julie Dowling

Alternative names and spellings

Names according to Norman Tindale:[3]

• Badimala
• Badimara
• Barimaia, Bardimaia, Badimaia
• Bidungu (Watjarri exonym, meaning "rockhole water drinkers," implying shiftlessness)
• Padimaia
• Parimaia
• Patimara
• Waadal
• Wardal

Notes

Citations

1. Bednall 2020.
2. George 2017.
3. Tindale 1974, p. 240.
4. Blevins 2001, p. 78.
5. "Irra Wangga Language Centre: Mid West languages: Badimaya". Bundiyarra Aboriginal Community Aboriginal Corporation. Retrieved 14 January 2020.

Sources

• "AIATSIS map of Indigenous Australia". AIATSIS.
• Bednall, James (compiler) (2020). Badimaya Dictionary: An Aboriginal language of Western Australia. Geraldton, W.A.: Bundiyarra-Irra Wangga Language Centre.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• Blevins, Juliette (2001). Nhanda: An Aboriginal Language of Western Australia. University of Hawaii Press. ISBN 978-0-824-82375-7.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• George, Ollie (2017). Bednall, James; Chiera, Susan; Sitorus, Rosie (eds.). Nganang badimaya wangga: yarns with Gami Ollie George. Geraldton, W.A.: Bundiyarra-Irra Wangga Language Centre. ISBN 978-0-648-06240-0.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
• "Tindale Tribal Boundaries" (PDF). Department of Aboriginal Affairs, Western Australia. September 2016.
• Tindale, Norman Barnett (1974). "Barimaia (WA)". Aboriginal Tribes of Australia: Their Terrain, Environmental Controls, Distribution, Limits, and Proper Names. Australian National University Press. ISBN 978-0-708-10741-6.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)