TheGanulu, also speltKanolu, are anAboriginal Australian people of the state ofQueensland.
The Kanolu have often been confused with theGangulu (Kangulu), despite marked differences in their languages. For example, 'no' waskara for the former,kagu for the latter, and the Kanolu word for 'man' wasmari, in contrast to the Kangulu word for the same,bama.[1] The Ganula language is a dialect of theBidjara language.
The Kanolu are a people of theCentral Highlands Region. InNorman Tindale's calculations, their tribal lands extended over 12,000 square kilometres (4,700 sq mi). They lived around the eastern headwaters of theComet River fromRolleston northwards at least toBlackwater andupper Mackenzie River. Their eastern frontier lay nearDingo andDuaringa.[1]
Native memory spoke of many members of the people dying out around the 1830s, from a disease which affected the nose,[a] and some members of the group were seen to bear marks that might have indicated a smallpox epidemic.[2]
White settlement of Kanolu lands began around 1860. At the time their population was estimated at around 500. Within a decade, by 1869, their numbers had fallen to 300, and by 1879 it was thought no more than 200 survived. Thomas Josephson claimed that this drastic demographic decline was attributable to three factors. One was the effect of venereal disease introduced by settlers; secondly,consumption, and thirdlyinfanticide.[3]
Josephson was struck by the Kanolu's refusal to partake ofpork, an introduced meat which other Aboriginal peoples were known to eat.[2]