Wakaya people

A Wakaya man

The Wakaya are an Aboriginal Australian people of the Northern Territory.

Country

Norman Tindale's estimate of the Wakaya's territory assigns them some 15,000 square miles (39,000 km^2).[1]

Language

Further information: Wakaya language

The Wakaya language is now extinct.[2]

Social economy

The Wakaya were one of the Australian peoples, the others being the Watjarri, Wanman, Pitjantjatjara, Ngadadjara and Alyawarre, who are known to have harvested purslane seeds, and threshed them within stone circles for the oily nutrients they provided.[3]

Land

In 1980 the Wakaya people lodged a land claim along with the Alyawarre people for land somewhere near the remote outstation of Purrukwarra. As a result, they were handed back 1,874 square kilometres (724 sq mi) on 22 October 1992, while the Alyawarre were given 2,065 square kilometres (797 sq mi), both of which were only small parts of the original claim.[4]

Alternative names

• Wagaja, Waggaia
• Wagai, Waagai
• Wagaiau, Waagi
• Warkya
• Wogaia, Worgaia, Worgai, Workaia, Warkaia
• Workia, Workii, Woorkia
• Lee-wakya
• Akaja ( Kaytetye exonym)
• Ukkia, Arkiya[1]

Notes

Citations

1. Tindale 1974, p. 236.
2. "C16: Wakaya". AIATSIS Collection (AUSTLANG). 26 July 2019. Retrieved 22 August 2020.
3. Tindale 1974, p. 95.
4. "From the days of whips and guns now we have our land back". Central Land Council, Australia. 22 October 1992. Retrieved 22 August 2020.

Sources

• Tindale, Norman Barnett (1974). "Wakaja (NT)". Aboriginal Tribes of Australia: Their Terrain, Environmental Controls, Distribution, Limits, and Proper Names. Australian National University Press. ISBN 978-0-708-10741-6.