Native name: Pabaju | |
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 Admiralty Plan No. 1937. Plan drawn in 1862 showing site on Albany Island advised for the proposed Cape York Station, and the best position for the township on the mainland opposite. |
TheDjagaraga orGudang (Pantyinamu/Yatay/Gudang/Kartalaiga and other clans) are anAustralian Aboriginaltribe, traditionally lived in the coastal area from Cape York to Fly point, including alsoPabaju (Albany Island),[1] in theCape York Peninsula, Queensland. In the early period of white settlement as the Somerset tribe, after the settlement ofSomerset established on their lands in 1863.
The namesYatay,Gudang andKartalaiga appear to be exonyms fromKalau Lagau Ya (the Western and Central Torres Strait Islanders), respectivelyyadai "words",gudalnga ("mouthy") andkatalaiga "green frog person"; the totem of the Kartalaiga was the green frog.
They spokeGudang language, alt. Djagaraga, which according toKenneth L. Hale's classification, was one of 10 languages of a northern Paman subgroup.[2]
The Djagaraga were divided up intohordes, of which four, according to Tindale, are thought to be registered, though some of these are now counted as distinct tribes.
Nonie Smith states that their 'relations with theWestern Torres Strait Island people theKaurareg were 'so close that despite their distinct identity they could be regarded almost as an outpost of the latter.'[4] They also shared trade, kin and ritual links with their eastern coastal tribal neighbour, theUnduyamo Some recent scholarship, basing its inferences on the density of ceremonial rock structures throughout the territory of the Gudang and Unduyamo, speculates that they may have functioned as ceremonial masters for rites of initiation and the magical increase of natural species also for the Torres Strait peoples with whom they had close relations of trade, marriage and religion.
According to Dr. Creed, large numbers of the Djagaraga were killed off by theYadhaykenu within living memory.[a]