Bigambul

The Bigambul are an Indigenous Australian tribe living in the border region of Queensland and New South Wales. The name of this tribe is derived from the Bigambul word "biga" or "pika" which translates in English to "yes".

The Bigambul are also known as: Bigabul, Pikambul, Bigambal, Bigambel, Bee-gum-bul, Bigumble, Pikumbul, Pukumbal, Bigambel, Pikum-bul, Pickum-bul, Begumble, Pickumble, Peekumble, Pickumbil, Wigal-wollumbul and Wee-n gul-lam bul.

The Bigambul people originally inhabited a 26,500 square kilometer area east of Nindigully, Qld., on Weir and Moonie rivers, north to Tara; at Talwood, Qld.; on MacIntyre River from east of Boomi to Texas; at Yetman, Boggabilla, and at Middle Creek, N.S.W.cite web
last=Tindale|first=Norman
title=Norman B. Tindale's Catalogue of Australian Aboriginal Tribes
year=1974
accessdate=2006-03-26
url=http://www.samuseum.sa.gov.au/archives/hdms/aa338/tindaletribes/bigambul.htm] The full extent of this area is shown on maps [http://www.aiatsis.gov.au/aboriginal_studies_press/aboriginal_wall_map/map_page/map_detail-f4 F4] and [http://www.aiatsis.gov.au/aboriginal_studies_press/aboriginal_wall_map/map_page/map_detail-f3 F3] of the Aboriginal Australia Wall Map.cite web
last=Horton|first=David
title=Aboriginal Australia Wall Map
year=1994
publisher=Aboriginal Studies Press
accessdate=2006-03-27
url=http://www.aiatsis.gov.au/aboriginal_studies_press/aboriginal_wall_map]

The Bigambul have a cultural connection with the Northern Kamilaroi people and these tribes regularly participated in joint ceremonies at Boobera Lagoon.cite web
last=Copeland
first=Mark
year=1999
url=http://www.aic.gov.au/conferences/hcpp/copland.pdf
title= The Native Police at Callandoon - a blueprint for forced assimmilation?
accessdate=2006-03-27]

The Bigambul people actively opposed European colonisation of their territory. From the early 1840s they mounted a 14 year guerilla campaign to expel the settlers. The Bigambul leadership understood the importance of economics in warfare and they specifically targeted horses and cattle rather than just the settlers themselves. The campaign was initially successful with 17 selections being abandoned in Macintyre region in 1843, of which only 13 were re-occupied when Europeans returned 3 years later. The economic war was so successful that it is recorded that one selection was making a loss of £150 per year until 1849. The tide of the campaign turned in 1848 when the Governor set aside £1000 to form the Native Police and appointed Frederick Walker to command them. Walker took the battle to the Bigambul, attacking them in their camps with his stated objective being their annihilation. By 1851 the economic war was effectively over, land values in the area doubled and the wages paid by settlers to employees were halved. Most of the work done on selections in the area was performed by Aborigines in return for food rations. By 1854 only 100 of the Bigambul people were left alive.

On 23 February 2001 the Bigambul people lodged a successful native title claim over 24,188 square kilometers of land in South Western Queensland.cite web
url=http://www.nntt.gov.au/applications/claimant/QC01_6.html
title=National Native Title Tribunal: Bigambul People Claimant application
accessdate=2006-03-26]

References