Norman Tindale referred to material by two early correspondents, Urquhart and O'Reilley, in a publication byE. M. Curr for details about the Wakabunga andtheir language, but the word-list is not considered to contain elements of this tongue, about which the general belief is that no information survives. It has been suggested byBarry Blake however,[1] that a word-list compiled in the Wakabunga domain by Curr's brother Montagu Curr,[2] belong to a Mayi dialect. From this it has been inferred that Wakabunga may have belonged to theMayi language family.
According to Norman Tindale they were related to theKalkatungu.[3] They were crocodile hunters, stalkingfreshwater crocodiles with spears on the upper Leichhardt.[4]
Curr, Montagu (1886)."Kamilaroi station, Leichardt River"(PDF). InCurr, Edward Micklethwaite (ed.).The Australian race: its origin, languages, customs, place of landing in Australia and the routes by which it spread itself over the continent. Vol. 2. Melbourne: J. Ferres. pp. 318–320.
Urquhart, F.; Joseph, O'Reilley (1886)."Seymour, Templeton and Cloncurry Rivers"(PDF). InCurr, Edward Micklethwaite (ed.).The Australian race: its origin, languages, customs, place of landing in Australia and the routes by which it spread itself over the continent. Vol. 2. Melbourne: J. Ferres. pp. 326–329.
