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EXTRACTS FROM :—

TWO REPRESENTATIVE TRIBES OF QUEENSLAND - John Mathew

T. Fisher Unwin; London; 1910

PREFACE

For over six consecutive years up to 1872 I lived in the country of
the Kabi tribe and was in constant touch with Kabi and Wakka natives.
Subsequently I was in occasional touch with them until 1876, when I
removed to Melbourne. I renewed my acquaintance by a three months' visit
in 1884, and in October 1906 I again visited the Kabi territory and inter-
viewed natives.

THE COUNTRY OF THE KABI AND WAKKA TRIBES

As is the case with nearly all the tribes in teh east and south-east
of Australia, the Kabi and Wakka tribes are so named from negatives in the
respective dialects. The reason for this mode of nomenclature appears to
be the fact that these negatives, by their frequent repetition, are more
conspicuous to member of alien tribes than any other words. The Kabi
people employ other negatives as well, viz., wa and bar, but kabi is distin-
ctive of them.

The territory of the Kabi coincided approximtely with the basin of the
Mary River but extended along the coast beyond that basin both to the north
and the south. Its coast-line extended from near the 27th parallel north-
ward to about the mouth of the Burrum River, a distance of some 175 miles ;
measured across the land, the distance from point to point would be about
130 miles. The maximum width, measured westward from Double Island Point,
is 85 miles. In addition to the mainland, there was Fraser or Great Sandy
Island, about 85 miles long with an average breadth of 12 miles, so that
the Kabi country altogether had an area of about 8,200 square miles. I
was informed by the natives that at one time it embraced the whole of the
bunya country. If this were the case, encroachments had been made by
neighbouring tribes on the west and south-west.

South of the Kabi, and having much in common with it, was the Turubul
(Ridley) or Turrbal (Petrie) tribe of the Brisbane River. At the Kabi
limits on the north, from the coast westward to Walla on the Burnett, the
Wokkari tribe came in, and west of its territory the domain of the Gurang
Gurang began.

The country of the Wakka Wakka lay to the west of the Kabi. It took
in a small part of the Dawson basin, extended over a great part of the
basin of the Burnett, its boundary passing eastward by about Coonambula,
including Gaynday, and meeting the northern Kabi boundar at Walla. It
also included the upper waters of the Brisbane, where it marched with the
Turubul. To the west of the Wakka the Tarumbol or Dawson River natives
were located. The Wakka country was roughy triangular in outline, the
Creek on the south to Walla on the Burnett, a distance of about 125 miles.
The perpendicular would run west near the 26th parallel of latitude for a
distance of about 80 miles, so that the area would be about 5,000 square
miles.

Although the Kabi and Wakka dialects are largely distinct, especially
as regards nouns and adjectives, yet the two tribes followed very much the
some customs, they were very friendly and intermarried freely, the class
restrictions being the same for both.

This territory of both tribes was generally hilly. At the head waters
of the Mary and Brisbane Rivers it was mountainous and, in places, even
picturesque. It was in almost all season well watered with flowing rivers
and creekds, and the vegetation was abundant. In the Kabi country there are
extensive scrubs, especially on the higher elevations, where there is a
great variety of plant-life, one of the most beautiful and conspicuous
?atures being the graceful bunya tree, the Araucaria Bidwillii. The
kernels in the flakes of the cones of this tree formed a palatable,
(over)