Our Country.
Ngarluma people believe the world came into existence during a time when the earth was soft — known in Yindjibarndi as ‘the Ngurranyujungkamu’. Manggan (creative beings) used supernatural force to shape the hills, rivers, seas and landforms.
The Manggan used different languages wherever they travelled, and the landscape features they created became imbued with what they heard. This allowed for communication with the landscape in those languages with the connection also extending to living things — plants and trees, birds, mammals and all kinds of life took on this essence.
This creation story explains why different areas of Country are associated with specific languages.
The Ngarluma language was laid down as the language of the plains and the coast
The Yindjibarndi language was laid down by beings who shaped the country on the tableland along the Fortescue River
Neighbouring languages such as Kariyarra, Panyjima, Kuruma and Mardhuhunera were also positioned in the western Pilbara during the Ngurranyujungkamu.
Approximately 30,000 years ago...
the first human populations were born in these lands. They too were imbued with language and just as this is Ngarluma land, the first people of this land are Ngarluma people.
Present day Ngarluma people are the descendants of those people who have belonged to these lands since time immemorial.