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Wayilwan

Aboriginal Australian people of New South Wales

The Wayilwan (also rendered Weilwan or Wailwan; also known as Ngiyambaa Wayilwan and Ngemba Wayilwan) are an Aboriginal Australian people of the state of New South Wales. They are a clan of the Ngiyambaa (nee-yam-bar) nation.

01Name

The Wayilwan ethnonym is derived from their word for "no" in the Ngiyambaa language, (wayil/weil/wail).

Like other Ngiyampaa people such as the Wangaaypuwan, they also referred to themselves according to their home country.

02Language

The Wayilwan spoke the dialect of Ngiyambaa called "Ngiyambaa Wayilwan" and as such also called themselves "those who speak Ngiyampaa the Wayilwan way".

03Country

Wayilwan country covered 5,000 square miles (13,000 km2), running along the southern bank of the Barwon River from Brewarrina to Walgett, and along Marra Creek and the Castlereagh, Marthaguy, and Macquarie rivers. Their southern frontier was at Quambone and in the vicinity of Coonamble.

04Social organisation

The Wayilwan were divided into kin groups, one of which is known: the Waiabara.

05Alternative names

  • Ngemba (name of their language)
  • Ngemba (name of their language)
  • Ngiumba (name of their language)
  • Ngiyambaa (name of their language)
  • Ngiyambaa Wayilwan (those who speak Ngiyambaa the Wayilwan way)
  • Waal-won
  • Wahoon (misprint)
  • Wailwan
  • Wailwun
  • Wali
  • Waljwan
  • Wallwan
  • Weilwan
  • Weilwun
  • Wilawun
  • Wile Wan
  • Wilwan
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Sources and credits

This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article Wayilwan, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.

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