Panyjima people

The Panyjima, also known as the Banjima, are an Aboriginal Australian people of the Pilbara region of Western Australia.

Language

The Panyjima speak one of the Ngayarda sub-group of the Pama-Nyungan languages. The number of speakers was estimated in 2002 to be around fifty.

Country

According to Norman Tindale, the Panyjima held sway over 6,600 square miles (17,000 km²) of tribal territory. They dwelt on the upper plateau of the Hamersley Range and as far south as the Fortescue River. Their eastern frontier lay at Weeli Wolli Creek, near Marillana. Their southern limits lay around Rocklea and on the upper branches of Turee Creek, as ran east as far as the Kunderong Range.

History of contact

Before the period of contact with European, the highlander Kurrama pressured them out to shift east as far as Yandicoogina and the Ophthalmia Range, a movement which in turn drove the Mandara and Niabali eastwards.

Alternative names

• Bandjima (western tribal pronunciation)
• Mandanjongo ("top people", Nyamal exonym for plateau people such as the Panyjima and the Yindjibarndi)
• Panjima, Pand'imaTindale 1974, p. 255

Sources

• "AIATSIS map of Indigenous Australia". AIATSIS.
• Allam, Lorena; Wahlquist, Calla (10 June 2020). "BHP to destroy at least 40 Aboriginal sites, up to 15,000 years old, to expand Pilbara mine". The Guardian.
• McGregor, William (2002). Verb Classification in Australian Languages. Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 978-3-110-17141-9.
• "Tindale Tribal Boundaries" (PDF). Department of Aboriginal Affairs, Western Australia. September 2016.
• Tindale, Norman Barnett (1974). "Pandjima (WA)". Aboriginal Tribes of Australia: Their Terrain, Environmental Controls, Distribution, Limits, and Proper Names. Australian National University. ISBN 978-0-708-10741-6.