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The original inhabitants of the Kimberley
region still make up about 40 per cent of the population.
Their total numbers are growing, but rapid development in
the region has brought even larger numbers of people from
other places.
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A
local aboriginal girl from Nyul Nyul (Dampier Peninsula)
on the Derby marsh. |
Almost all the indigenous people stay
in the region all their lives; others, especially people
of European origin, come and go. Even long-termers tend
to retire to cooler regions.
Outsiders have been coming to the Kimberley for
hundreds of years. ‘Macassans’
from islands of what is now Indonesia had a long history
of coastal fishing and trade before the arrival of Dampier.
Dutch, Portuguese and French explorers
visited parts of the coast. However, the sovereignty of
the indigenous people was unchallenged until the mid-nineteenth
century, when the region began to be divided up and settled
by white people bringing cattle and sheep to the savannah
pastures.
Rich pearling off the coast brought Japanese pearl
divers to Broome and the adjacent coast, along
with Koepangers from neighbouring islands
such as Timor. They came as indentured labourers, but some
eventually settled and here.
Chinese men came to work in the region,
many to seek their fortune in the gold fields around Halls
Creek. Some stayed in the region to become valued market
gardeners or to open businesses.
Trade with neighbouring countries was hampered by lack
of roads and limitations of transport. ‘Afghan’
traders — most of whom came from India —
brought goods and introduced camels, which often replaced
horses as major carriers, even for Europeans. Some camel
drivers settled in the Kimberley.
Because most of these migrant workers and settlers were
men, they often formed relationships, some transient, others
longer term, with indigenous women. Men of European extraction
seldom acknowledged their mixed-race offspring, whereas
those of Asian and Pacific island origin typically married
their girl friends and raised families.
 TOP
This page is a work in progress. EK invites anyone wishing
to contribute information about one or other of the ethnic
groups in the Kimberley to send it to:
Postal Address:
P.O. Box 2281
Broome 6725
Western Australia
Email: envrkimb@broome.wt.com.au
Banner illustration by Jimmy
Pike
© Environs Kimberley 2003
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