Ngaro people
Encyclopedia
The Ngaro People were a seafaring Australian Aborigine group of people that inhabited the Whitsunday Islands
and coastal regions of Queensland
from at least 7000 BC until 1870. Ngaro society was destroyed by warfare with traders, colonists, and the Australian Native Police
. The Native Police Corps
forcibly relocated the remaining Ngaro survivors in 1870 to a "mission" settlement on Palm Island
and the lumber mills of Brampton Island to be "employed" as laborers.
means "miss," "can't see," or "vanishing" in Maori
and Tahitian
, modern Polynesian languages
of the south pacific near Australia. As a proper noun, the name "Ngaro" appears in the names of Polynesian tribes as far away as Manihiki
Island.
The Vanishing People would be an appropriate name for the Ngaro, considering the small amount of archaeological and historical information about the lifestyle of the Ngaro and their society. Their culture endured repeated onslaught, first by rising sea levels 9,000 years ago, then by the arrival of Europeans. Eventually the Ngaro succumbed to the guns, germs, and steel
of western explorers.
The Ngaro may have inhabited the region prior to 7000 BC, but no archaeological evidence of their presence has been found. This may be due to their migration from another region of Australia or because the rapidly rising sea level during that period washed away their coastal settlements, midden
s, and burial sites. The rising sea level would have left only their more recent settlements, or their mountain settlements on islands such as Hook Island
where they inhabited the higher terrain to take advantage of shelter (caves), fresh water (a waterfall from the cliffs in Nara Inlet, Hook Island
) and accessible food below (oysters, clams, muscles, abalone). Over thousands of years until 4000 BC the sea level rose several metres and the coastline moved inland more than 100 miles, from beyond the Great Barrier Reef. This has left the ancient inland mountain tops as the islands of the Whitsunday Islands
. The prehistoric coastal plains known by the Ngaro would have been near what we now call the Great Barrier Reef
. Oral history indicates that the Ngaro continued to visit the Great Barrier Reef by bark canoes even after it became a hazardous journey to a remote ocean destination more than 40 miles from their coastal settlements.
The earliest archaeological evidence of the Ngaro people has been found on Hook Island
where two inlets protected by steep cliffs would have been welcome shelter for Ngaro canoes. Near the aborigine caves still visible in the steep slopes of Nara Inlet there are mounds, or midden
s, of oyster-like shells discarded by the Ngaro thousands of years ago. The shells do not resemble the modern oysters and clam species presently found on the coast, attesting to their age. The age of aboriginal paintings in several of the caves has been authenticated by experts who analyzed the pigments and minerals in them with carbon dating.
Though much about the lifestyle of the Ngaro has vanished with the rising sea level and demise of their settlements and campsites, the cave paintings shown here remain as evidence of their presence and their humanity. However, the meaning of these paintings remains a mystery. Some tour operators hint at the possibility that the ladder-like paintings are an engineering drawing or map showing how to build a ladder to reach caves higher in the cliff which are the burial sites of prominent Ngaro elders. To some it appears to be the curved trunk of a palm tree, perhaps even a plant species that was important to the Ngaro and is no longer present in the region or extinct. If domesticated coconut palms were ever seen by the Ngaro, their value as a food source would not have been missed. The domesticated coconut palm would have reached Borneo
by a land bridge before the sea levels rose. The coconuts may have reached the Ngaro people or their ancestors by floating on the strong currents where the Indian and Pacific oceans meet. As a sea-faring people, the Ngaro would have been among the first of the Australian aborigine tribes to learn of coconuts and coconut trees and incorporate them into their diet and culture.
The painting of a hashed oval shape is often presumed to be a sea turtle shell, a prominent food source for the Ngaro and Australian aborigines of the mainland. However it may represent the fruit of the pandanus plant
and its seed. The cyad nut of the pandanus plant requires chopping (perhaps hash marks in the cave painting are instructions to chop up the large seed), and heating (perhaps the wavy lines at the bottom of the painting represent fire) in order to break down deadly poisons. The crushed, cooked nut produces an edible flour which can be roasted into a bread-like food similar to Australian damper
or flatbread
. Information about poisonous plants, their uses, and their preparation would be critical to the survival of the Ngaro, and worthy of the effort required to produce a long-lasting cave painting to serve as a reminder to subsequent generations.
in sewn paperbark canoe
s that sometimes utilized outriggers. They fished for sea turtle
s and shellfish and even large sea mammals such as small whales from these canoes. This was only possible due to their development of barbed harpoon
technology that enabled the Ngaro to kill their prey by exhausting them rather than bleeding them to death, which would attract shark
s to compete for the catch. Ngaro oral accounts are consistent throughout the historical record in their description of seasonal visits to the Great Barrier reef in their canoes.
In the case of the Ngaro People, extensive written historical records from explorers are available in addition to modern written records. As a seafaring people in the tropical regions of the east coast of Australia, they were one of the first people encountered by James Cook and other explorers when they arrived in Australia from the east. In addition, oral and written history is available from the descendants of the Ngaro people, some of whom are still alive today. Sometimes these accounts differ and it cannot always be determined if second-hand stories relayed through history orally were intended as fiction (dream-time story) or factual. Often they are both, like many myths. For example some aboriginal dream time stories describe the creation of rivers by monstrous snakes while at the same time describing in detail the geography of the river in relation to nearby mountain peaks accurately. When viewed in this light, many researches have found greater consistency in the oral history offered by the Ngaro descendants than can be found in the first-hand written accounts by European explorers and researchers. This consistency check has been performed by comparing oral accounts within the Ngaro population, by comparing Ngaro stories to those of neighboring tribes, and by comparing oral accounts to the archaeological evidence that can be found.
, the Ngaro's main source of notoriety at their peak as a society. The quarry there is one of the largest aborigine quarries in Australia. The unique stone found there was valued as a knife blade and for ceremonial purposes. It was likely traded with neighboring tribes as well as used locally for shellfish harvesting and cleaning, fishing, warfare, and wooden canoe or shelter construction.
Nara Inlet on Hook Island
is the site of the oldest evidence of Ngaro settlement. This inlet is used in modern times as one of the few shelters adequate for safety during a cyclone
. The Ngaro people likely preferred it for similar reasons and for its plentiful caves to shelter themselves and their fires during the rainy season. Mounds of the remains of ancient shellfish species, midden
s, lie near many of the caves. Within the caves themselves are ancient Ngaro paintings. The Ngaro paintings are different from many other aboriginal paintings for their apparent non-figurative nature. Though some interpretations of the two types of drawings common in the area are often offered by both archaeologists and tourists. The oblong, hashed round drawings might be interpreted as a sea turtle shell as viewed from the inside after the flesh had been consumed. The ladder-like drawings may be instructions on the ladder structure required to reach some of the least accessible caves where revered elders may be buried. The "ladders" might also represent the spine
of a man. Many other aborigine groups paint the animals of their area as if their flesh and skin were transparent—with key organs and bones visible. Of course both drawings may simply represent the most fundamental of closed shapes—an imperfect circle, and a rectangle, combined with one of the most common of doodling backgrounds or textures—hashing with horizontal and/or vertical lines.
Whitsunday Islands
The Whitsunday Islands are a collection of continental islands of various sizes off the central coast of Queensland, Australia, situated between just south of Bowen and to the north of Mackay, some north of Brisbane. The island group is centred on Whitsunday Island, while the group's commercial...
and coastal regions of Queensland
Queensland
Queensland is a state of Australia, occupying the north-eastern section of the mainland continent. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Australia and New South Wales to the west, south-west and south respectively. To the east, Queensland is bordered by the Coral Sea and Pacific Ocean...
from at least 7000 BC until 1870. Ngaro society was destroyed by warfare with traders, colonists, and the Australian Native Police
Native Police Corps
An Australian Native Police Corps was first established in 1842 in the Port Phillip District of the Australian colony of New South Wales...
. The Native Police Corps
Native Police Corps
An Australian Native Police Corps was first established in 1842 in the Port Phillip District of the Australian colony of New South Wales...
forcibly relocated the remaining Ngaro survivors in 1870 to a "mission" settlement on Palm Island
Palm Island, Queensland
Palm Island is an Aboriginal community located on Great Palm Island, also called by the Aboriginal name "Bwgcolman", an island on the Great Barrier Reef in North Queensland, Australia The settlement is also known by a variety of other names including "the Mission", Palm Island Settlement or Palm...
and the lumber mills of Brampton Island to be "employed" as laborers.
The Vanishing Ngaro
The word NgaroNgaro
Ngaro is mentioned as a delicacy of the dead in a Māori legend from the far north of the North Island of New Zealand. Te Atarahi was five days and five nights in Te Reinga, the place from where the spirits of the dead leap into the underworld. His seemingly dead body was found by two women who...
means "miss," "can't see," or "vanishing" in Maori
Maori language
Māori or te reo Māori , commonly te reo , is the language of the indigenous population of New Zealand, the Māori. It has the status of an official language in New Zealand...
and Tahitian
Tahitian language
Tahitian is an indigenous language spoken mainly in the Society Islands in French Polynesia. It is an Eastern Polynesian language closely related to the other indigenous languages spoken in French Polynesia: Marquesan, Tuamotuan, Mangarevan, and Austral Islands languages...
, modern Polynesian languages
Polynesian languages
The Polynesian languages are a language family spoken in the region known as Polynesia. They are classified as part of the Austronesian family, belonging to the Oceanic branch of that family. They fall into two branches: Tongic and Nuclear Polynesian. Polynesians share many cultural traits...
of the south pacific near Australia. As a proper noun, the name "Ngaro" appears in the names of Polynesian tribes as far away as Manihiki
Manihiki
Manihiki is an island in the Cook Islands known as the Island of Pearls. It is a triangular atoll north of Rarotonga.- History :Polynesians are believed to have lived on Manihiki since at least 900 or 1000 AD. Kupe was the first to explore Aotea Roa. Kupe came from Manihiki, also known as...
Island.
The Vanishing People would be an appropriate name for the Ngaro, considering the small amount of archaeological and historical information about the lifestyle of the Ngaro and their society. Their culture endured repeated onslaught, first by rising sea levels 9,000 years ago, then by the arrival of Europeans. Eventually the Ngaro succumbed to the guns, germs, and steel
Guns, Germs, and Steel
Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies is a 1997 book by Jared Diamond, professor of geography and physiology at the University of California, Los Angeles . In 1998 it won the Pulitzer Prize for general non-fiction and the Aventis Prize for Best Science Book...
of western explorers.
The Ngaro may have inhabited the region prior to 7000 BC, but no archaeological evidence of their presence has been found. This may be due to their migration from another region of Australia or because the rapidly rising sea level during that period washed away their coastal settlements, midden
Midden
A midden, is an old dump for domestic waste which may consist of animal bone, human excrement, botanical material, vermin, shells, sherds, lithics , and other artifacts and ecofacts associated with past human occupation...
s, and burial sites. The rising sea level would have left only their more recent settlements, or their mountain settlements on islands such as Hook Island
Hook Island
Hook Island is one of the Whitsunday Islands off the coast of the Australian state of Queensland. The island is almost uninhabited, quite rugged and almost completely contained within a section of the Whitsunday Islands National Park...
where they inhabited the higher terrain to take advantage of shelter (caves), fresh water (a waterfall from the cliffs in Nara Inlet, Hook Island
Hook Island
Hook Island is one of the Whitsunday Islands off the coast of the Australian state of Queensland. The island is almost uninhabited, quite rugged and almost completely contained within a section of the Whitsunday Islands National Park...
) and accessible food below (oysters, clams, muscles, abalone). Over thousands of years until 4000 BC the sea level rose several metres and the coastline moved inland more than 100 miles, from beyond the Great Barrier Reef. This has left the ancient inland mountain tops as the islands of the Whitsunday Islands
Whitsunday Islands
The Whitsunday Islands are a collection of continental islands of various sizes off the central coast of Queensland, Australia, situated between just south of Bowen and to the north of Mackay, some north of Brisbane. The island group is centred on Whitsunday Island, while the group's commercial...
. The prehistoric coastal plains known by the Ngaro would have been near what we now call the Great Barrier Reef
Great Barrier Reef
The Great Barrier Reef is the world'slargest reef system composed of over 2,900 individual reefs and 900 islands stretching for over 2,600 kilometres over an area of approximately...
. Oral history indicates that the Ngaro continued to visit the Great Barrier Reef by bark canoes even after it became a hazardous journey to a remote ocean destination more than 40 miles from their coastal settlements.
The earliest archaeological evidence of the Ngaro people has been found on Hook Island
Hook Island
Hook Island is one of the Whitsunday Islands off the coast of the Australian state of Queensland. The island is almost uninhabited, quite rugged and almost completely contained within a section of the Whitsunday Islands National Park...
where two inlets protected by steep cliffs would have been welcome shelter for Ngaro canoes. Near the aborigine caves still visible in the steep slopes of Nara Inlet there are mounds, or midden
Midden
A midden, is an old dump for domestic waste which may consist of animal bone, human excrement, botanical material, vermin, shells, sherds, lithics , and other artifacts and ecofacts associated with past human occupation...
s, of oyster-like shells discarded by the Ngaro thousands of years ago. The shells do not resemble the modern oysters and clam species presently found on the coast, attesting to their age. The age of aboriginal paintings in several of the caves has been authenticated by experts who analyzed the pigments and minerals in them with carbon dating.
Though much about the lifestyle of the Ngaro has vanished with the rising sea level and demise of their settlements and campsites, the cave paintings shown here remain as evidence of their presence and their humanity. However, the meaning of these paintings remains a mystery. Some tour operators hint at the possibility that the ladder-like paintings are an engineering drawing or map showing how to build a ladder to reach caves higher in the cliff which are the burial sites of prominent Ngaro elders. To some it appears to be the curved trunk of a palm tree, perhaps even a plant species that was important to the Ngaro and is no longer present in the region or extinct. If domesticated coconut palms were ever seen by the Ngaro, their value as a food source would not have been missed. The domesticated coconut palm would have reached Borneo
Borneo
Borneo is the third largest island in the world and is located north of Java Island, Indonesia, at the geographic centre of Maritime Southeast Asia....
by a land bridge before the sea levels rose. The coconuts may have reached the Ngaro people or their ancestors by floating on the strong currents where the Indian and Pacific oceans meet. As a sea-faring people, the Ngaro would have been among the first of the Australian aborigine tribes to learn of coconuts and coconut trees and incorporate them into their diet and culture.
The painting of a hashed oval shape is often presumed to be a sea turtle shell, a prominent food source for the Ngaro and Australian aborigines of the mainland. However it may represent the fruit of the pandanus plant
Pandanus
Pandanus is a genus of monocots with about 600 known species. They are numerous palmlike dioecious trees and shrubs native of the Old World tropics and subtropics. They are classified in the order Pandanales, family Pandanaceae.-Overview:...
and its seed. The cyad nut of the pandanus plant requires chopping (perhaps hash marks in the cave painting are instructions to chop up the large seed), and heating (perhaps the wavy lines at the bottom of the painting represent fire) in order to break down deadly poisons. The crushed, cooked nut produces an edible flour which can be roasted into a bread-like food similar to Australian damper
Damper (food)
Damper is a traditional Australian soda bread prepared by swagmen, drovers, stockmen and other travelers. It consists of a wheat flour based bread, traditionally baked in the coals of a campfire. Damper is an iconic Australian dish...
or flatbread
Flatbread
A flatbread is a simple bread made with flour, water, and salt and then thoroughly rolled into flattened dough. Many flatbreads are unleavened: made without yeast or sourdough culture: although some flatbread is made with yeast, such as pita bread....
. Information about poisonous plants, their uses, and their preparation would be critical to the survival of the Ngaro, and worthy of the effort required to produce a long-lasting cave painting to serve as a reminder to subsequent generations.
A Seafaring People
The Ngaro were unique in their seafaring culture and technology. The Ngaro traveled among the Whitsunday IslandsWhitsunday Islands
The Whitsunday Islands are a collection of continental islands of various sizes off the central coast of Queensland, Australia, situated between just south of Bowen and to the north of Mackay, some north of Brisbane. The island group is centred on Whitsunday Island, while the group's commercial...
in sewn paperbark canoe
Canoe
A canoe or Canadian canoe is a small narrow boat, typically human-powered, though it may also be powered by sails or small electric or gas motors. Canoes are usually pointed at both bow and stern and are normally open on top, but can be decked over A canoe (North American English) or Canadian...
s that sometimes utilized outriggers. They fished for sea turtle
Sea turtle
Sea turtles are marine reptiles that inhabit all of the world's oceans except the Arctic.-Distribution:...
s and shellfish and even large sea mammals such as small whales from these canoes. This was only possible due to their development of barbed harpoon
Harpoon
A harpoon is a long spear-like instrument used in fishing to catch fish or large marine mammals such as whales. It accomplishes this task by impaling the target animal, allowing the fishermen to use a rope or chain attached to the butt of the projectile to catch the animal...
technology that enabled the Ngaro to kill their prey by exhausting them rather than bleeding them to death, which would attract shark
Shark
Sharks are a type of fish with a full cartilaginous skeleton and a highly streamlined body. The earliest known sharks date from more than 420 million years ago....
s to compete for the catch. Ngaro oral accounts are consistent throughout the historical record in their description of seasonal visits to the Great Barrier reef in their canoes.
More than an Academic Interest
The legal system in Australia has recently become an important arbiter of disputes regarding the archaeological record of territorial boundaries. This is due to the governmental compensation of modern aborigines for the loss of their ancestral lands. Aborigines are preferentially hired for national forest and tourism jobs in the areas in which their ancestors lived. This hiring practice serves to preserve much of the lore and knowledge of the aborigine people as the youth have reason to learn from their elders their skills and traditions. Land grants are also based on ancestral territorial boundaries, furthering the nonacademic interest in tribal boundaries and linguistic variations between tribes.Aboriginal Oral History vs. European Written History
Research into aboriginal people requires resolving differences in three sources:- Local (aboriginal) oral tradition of surviving elders at the time of the research
- Second-hand accounts of oral information written or recorded in audio by locals and descendants
- Written historical record of explorers, colonists, and researchers that traveled to the area of interest when the people of interest still thrived.
In the case of the Ngaro People, extensive written historical records from explorers are available in addition to modern written records. As a seafaring people in the tropical regions of the east coast of Australia, they were one of the first people encountered by James Cook and other explorers when they arrived in Australia from the east. In addition, oral and written history is available from the descendants of the Ngaro people, some of whom are still alive today. Sometimes these accounts differ and it cannot always be determined if second-hand stories relayed through history orally were intended as fiction (dream-time story) or factual. Often they are both, like many myths. For example some aboriginal dream time stories describe the creation of rivers by monstrous snakes while at the same time describing in detail the geography of the river in relation to nearby mountain peaks accurately. When viewed in this light, many researches have found greater consistency in the oral history offered by the Ngaro descendants than can be found in the first-hand written accounts by European explorers and researchers. This consistency check has been performed by comparing oral accounts within the Ngaro population, by comparing Ngaro stories to those of neighboring tribes, and by comparing oral accounts to the archaeological evidence that can be found.
Notable Ngaro Settlement Sites
South Mole Island is the site of a stone quarryQuarry
A quarry is a type of open-pit mine from which rock or minerals are extracted. Quarries are generally used for extracting building materials, such as dimension stone, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, and gravel. They are often collocated with concrete and asphalt plants due to the requirement...
, the Ngaro's main source of notoriety at their peak as a society. The quarry there is one of the largest aborigine quarries in Australia. The unique stone found there was valued as a knife blade and for ceremonial purposes. It was likely traded with neighboring tribes as well as used locally for shellfish harvesting and cleaning, fishing, warfare, and wooden canoe or shelter construction.
Nara Inlet on Hook Island
Hook Island
Hook Island is one of the Whitsunday Islands off the coast of the Australian state of Queensland. The island is almost uninhabited, quite rugged and almost completely contained within a section of the Whitsunday Islands National Park...
is the site of the oldest evidence of Ngaro settlement. This inlet is used in modern times as one of the few shelters adequate for safety during a cyclone
Cyclone
In meteorology, a cyclone is an area of closed, circular fluid motion rotating in the same direction as the Earth. This is usually characterized by inward spiraling winds that rotate anticlockwise in the Northern Hemisphere and clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere of the Earth. Most large-scale...
. The Ngaro people likely preferred it for similar reasons and for its plentiful caves to shelter themselves and their fires during the rainy season. Mounds of the remains of ancient shellfish species, midden
Midden
A midden, is an old dump for domestic waste which may consist of animal bone, human excrement, botanical material, vermin, shells, sherds, lithics , and other artifacts and ecofacts associated with past human occupation...
s, lie near many of the caves. Within the caves themselves are ancient Ngaro paintings. The Ngaro paintings are different from many other aboriginal paintings for their apparent non-figurative nature. Though some interpretations of the two types of drawings common in the area are often offered by both archaeologists and tourists. The oblong, hashed round drawings might be interpreted as a sea turtle shell as viewed from the inside after the flesh had been consumed. The ladder-like drawings may be instructions on the ladder structure required to reach some of the least accessible caves where revered elders may be buried. The "ladders" might also represent the spine
Vertebral column
In human anatomy, the vertebral column is a column usually consisting of 24 articulating vertebrae, and 9 fused vertebrae in the sacrum and the coccyx. It is situated in the dorsal aspect of the torso, separated by intervertebral discs...
of a man. Many other aborigine groups paint the animals of their area as if their flesh and skin were transparent—with key organs and bones visible. Of course both drawings may simply represent the most fundamental of closed shapes—an imperfect circle, and a rectangle, combined with one of the most common of doodling backgrounds or textures—hashing with horizontal and/or vertical lines.