Kimberley (Western Australia)


The Kimberley is the northernmost of the nine regions of Western Australia. It is bordered on the west by the Indian Ocean, on the north by the Timor Sea, on the south by the Great Sandy and Tanami deserts in the region of the Pilbara, and on the east by the Northern Territory.
The region was named in 1879 by government surveyor Alexander Forrest after Secretary of State for the Colonies John Wodehouse, 1st Earl of Kimberley.

History

The Kimberley was one of the earliest settled parts of Australia, with the first humans landing about 65,000 years ago. They created a complex culture that developed over thousands of years. Yam agriculture was developed, and rock art suggests that this was where some of the earliest boomerangs were invented. The worship of Wandjina deities was most common in this region, and a complex theology dealing with the transmigration of souls was part of the local people's religious philosophy.
During the 18th century, Dutch explorers named the region of Kimberley and nearby Darwin variations of Van Diemen's Land after the VOC governor-general Anthony van Diemen. This should not be confused with the more general and prolonged use of the same name for Tasmania. The area is also not to be confused with Kimberley in South Africa, the site of a major diamond rush in the 19th century.
In 1837, with expedition support from the Royal Geographical Society of Great Britain, Lieutenants George Grey and Franklin Lushington and 12 men sailed on the schooner Lynher from Cape Town, South Africa. They reached Hanover Bay on 2 December 1837. The exploring party started inland on 19 January 1838. Leaders and men were inexperienced, their progress was delayed by the flooded country, and they abandoned many stores along the way. The party was constantly split up although they had to contend with large numbers of hostile Aboriginals. On 11 February, Grey was speared near the hip, during a skirmish with Indigenous Australians, and became critically ill, and left him with a lifelong limp, but, after two weeks, continued the exploration. The party found and named the Gairdner River, the Glenelg River, the Stephen and Whately ranges and Mount Lyell before returning to Hanover Bay in April. There they were picked up by and Lynher and taken to Mauritius to recuperate.
In 1879, Western Australian government surveyor Alexander Forrest led a party of seven from the west coast at Beagle Bay to Katherine, Northern Territory. Forrest explored and named the Kimberley district, the Margaret and Ord Rivers and the King Leopold Ranges, and located well-watered pastoral lands along the Fitzroy and Ord rivers. He subsequently set himself up as a land agent specialising in the Kimberley during a period to 1883 when over of land were taken up as pastoral leaseholds in the region.
In 1881, Philip Saunders and Adam Johns, in the face of great difficulties and dangers, found gold in various parts of the Kimberley. Early in 1881, the first five graziers, who called themselves the Murray Squatting Company, took up behind Beagle Bay and named it Yeeda Station. In 1883 they were the first men to shear sheep in the southern Kimberley. Additional Anglo-European settlement occurred in 1885 when ranchers drove cattle across Australia from the eastern states in search of good pasture lands. After gold was discovered around Halls Creek, many other erstwhile European miners arrived rapidly.
In the 1890s, the area was the site of an armed insurrection of indigenous people led by Jandamarra, a Bunuba warrior.
During World War II, when Australia was among the nations at war with the Axis powers, the Japanese invaded the nation with only a small reconnaissance party in The Kimberley on 19 January 1944; they were investigating reports that the Allies were building large bases in the region. Four Japanese officers were on board a small fishing boat. They investigated the York Sound region for a day and a night before returning to Kupang in Timor on 20 January. After returning to Japan in February, the junior officer, who had commanded the party, suggested using 200 Japanese prison inmates to launch a guerrilla campaign in Australia. No superior adopted his suggestion, and the officer was posted to other duties.
From 1983 to 2020 the Argyle diamond mine operated in the eastern part of the Kimberley.

Demographics

The 2011 estimated permanent population of Kimberley was 34,794 but it rises dramatically during winter when it attracts a seasonal population. On Census night in 2011, it was 50,113. The population is fairly evenly distributed, with only three towns having populations over 2,000: Broome, Derby, and Kununurra. Approximately 40% of the region's population is of Aboriginal descent.

Urban centres and localities

Indigenous languages

The Kimberley has been noted as a region of great linguistic diversity, rivalled in Australia only by the Top End. Depending on the geographical boundaries of The Kimberley, and the definition of what constitutes a "language", about 50–60 Aboriginal languages were once spoken in this region. The vast majority of these do not belong to the family of Pama-Nyungan languages. Four endemic, primary language families are recognised within the core Kimberley region:
Pama-Nyungan languages spoken in and around the Kimberley region include the Marrngu languages, the Yapa languages and the Western Desert languages. Non-Pama-Nyungan languages spoken around the Kimberleys include the Daly language Murrinh-Patha and Western Mirndi language Jaminjung.
Presently, many indigenous languages are no longer spoken daily. In addition to Australian English, post-contact languages spoken in the Kimberley include Aboriginal English, Kriol, Pidgin English and the Malay-based Broome Pearling Lugger Pidgin.

Politics

At the federal level, Kimberley is represented by the member for Durack. At the state level, the Kimberley electorate takes in all of the region and its towns.
The Kimberley region consists of the local government areas of Broome, Derby-West Kimberley, Halls Creek and Wyndham-East Kimberley.

Art

The Kimberley region is extremely rich in art, mainly that of Indigenous rock art. Considering the area's size, it is no surprise that there are tens of thousands of rock art examples coming from a variety of different cultural groups within the region. The diversity of peoples has allowed for many different art styles to develop with some of the most widely known examples being Wandjina and Gwion Gwion. In addition to the variation in styles, there are almost equally diverse fabrication techniques. The earliest form of Kimberley rock art was hand stencils, but techniques such as engraving, painting, scratchwork, pecking, drawing, and later beeswax applique have also been used. In addition to the varying styles and techniques, there are united visual depictions that reflect the changes and persistence within the cultural and natural environment.
The changing and expanding complexity of styles and techniques has caught the attention of many, paving the way for mass amounts of archaeological and anthropological research. Much of the artwork in the area has been gone over with similar or alternative methods to preserve the art, add to it, or enhance it. Rock shelters are some of the best locations for preservation. The oldest category known as the Irregular Infill Animal or the Naturalistic period is responsible for the region's life-size animal depictions. A rock shelter in Kimberley's northeastern territory is home to a perfect example of this, a two-meter-long kangaroo painting on the ceiling. This case was extremely rare as archaeologists found remains of mud wasp nests that could be used for dating. These nests were located both below and on top of the painting making them prime for determining an accurate age of the kangaroo art itself. They analysed samples from 6 of the nests and settled on a date between 17,500 years old and 17,100 years old, making the kangaroo rock art the oldest in Australia.
Based on oral accounts from Aboriginal people in the region it has been confirmed that many of the works that have been re-touched maintain a much deeper significance. There is a complex performative aspect that goes hand-in-hand with the art that remains today. The re-touching/re-marking actions are considered a performance and act as a retelling of the story behind the art. The performance is a way for people to reconnect with the cultural significance behind the work itself and maintain the connection from person to place. This process highlights indigenous beliefs about the land and the position that native people have within that space. Identity plays a major role in understanding the rock art in the region. Many different sectors within the Kimberley region allow for a dispersal of cultural thought and expression unique to the group in their respective areas. This differentiation of style may have been socially necessary, but there was a unifying aspect regarding the Wandjinas and the meaning behind them. They are seen throughout the region at many different sites and are the most repainted rock art in Kimberley. This is because indigenous groups believe in the power that Wandjina holds. Creation stories, migrational patterns, and clothing style of the figures emphasise their importance and integration into the sociocultural groups inhabiting the area.