A humpy, also known as a gunyah, wurley, wurly, wurlie, mia-mia, or wiltija, is a small, temporary shelter, traditionally used by Australian Aboriginal people. These impermanent dwellings, made of branches and bark, are sometimes called a lean-to, since they often rely on a standing tree for support.
Etymology
The word humpy comes from the Jagera language (a Murri people from Coorparoo in Brisbane); other language groups would have different names for the structure. In South Australia, such a shelter is known as a "wurley" (also spelled "wurlie"), possibly from the Kaurna language.567 They are called wiltjas in Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara languages, mia-mia in Wadawurrung language.89
Usage
They were temporary shelters made of bark, branches, leaves and grass used by Indigenous Australians.10 Both names were adopted by early white settlers, and now form part of the Australian lexicon. The use of the term appears to have broadened in later usage to include any temporary building made from any available materials, including canvas, flattened metal drums, and sheets of corrugated iron.
In Dark Emu, Bruce Pascoe argues that contrary to popular perception of Aboriginal dwellings being only temporary, some gunyahs in the Channel Country could accommodate up to 50 people and formed part of permanent agricultural communities.11
Gallery
See also
Notes
External links
References
"Definition of gunyah". www.allwords.com. http://www.allwords.com/word-gunyah.html ↩
Memmott, Paul (2007), Gunyah, Goondie and Wurley : the Aboriginal architecture of Australia (1st ed.), University of Queensland Press, ISBN 978-0-7022-3245-9 978-0-7022-3245-9 ↩
"Tents". One Planet. Retrieved 6 December 2012. http://www.oneplanet.com.au/tents.html ↩
Cannot, Jack; Prince, Victor (1912), I'll build a gunyah for you : song, Allan & Co. Pty. Ltd, retrieved 7 January 2019 https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/34768258 ↩
Peters, Pam, The Cambridge Australian English Style Guide, Cambridge University Press, 1996, p818 ↩
"A Bark Humpy. How to Build it?". The Queenslander. Queensland, Australia. 30 October 1930. p. 57. Retrieved 7 January 2019 – via National Library of Australia. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article23130901 ↩
"Humpies and Gunyahs : Coloured Families on the Tweed". Sunday Mail. No. 550. Queensland, Australia. 10 December 1933. p. 7. Retrieved 7 January 2019 – via National Library of Australia. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article97703505 ↩
Australian Indigenous tools and technology - Australia's Culture Portal Archived 2010-04-16 at the Wayback Machine http://www.cultureandrecreation.gov.au/articles/indigenous/technology/ ↩
"Our People". Borough of Queenscliffe. http://boroughqueenscliffeducation.weebly.com/our-people.html ↩
Australian National Research Council (1930). Oceania. University of Sydney. p. 288. /wiki/Australian_National_Research_Council ↩
https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-how-our-new-archaeological-research-investigates-dark-emus-idea-of-aboriginal-agriculture-and-villages-146754 https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-how-our-new-archaeological-research-investigates-dark-emus-idea-of-aboriginal-agriculture-and-villages-146754 ↩