Marrithiyal people
The Marrithiyal, also written Marrithiel, are an Aboriginal Australian people whose traditional territory lay south of Darwin from Litchfield National Park and extend to the Daly River in the Northern Territory. They are also known as the Berringen people to represent their affiliation and deep connections across the neighbouring South Western Daly region.
History
Their traditional grounds lay south-west of Darwin, in the heart of Litchfield National Park, in an area which is known as Woolaning, Rakula. Like a dozen other tribes, as the white invasion got underway in the 1880s, the local tribes travelled between Litchfield and the Western Daly region with their remnants either dispersed or crammed into smaller outstations. Many Marrithiel, as the tribe spread out into a variety of locations, some shifting to neighbouring lands, others taking up jobs in Darwin, or working as stockmen on their country Mt. Litchfield cattle station, or drifting into the Port Keats mission station.Strong alliances existed between the Marrithiyal-Marringar cluster, bundled together as a coalition of neighbouring tribes, sharing ceremony, songlines and resources.
W. E. H. Stanner, who described them as a "powerful tribe" in the 1930s, originally spent some 6 weeks among the Marrithiyal in 1932, finding it somewhat difficult to enter into friendly relations with them – troubles with the local police over the killing of a prospector accounting for their diffidence – though he eventually managed to gain their confidence and was allowed to be present and observe two complete circumcision ceremonies.