Bednall (2014:103) says that there are at least two varieties of Badimaya, spoken in the north and south of Badimaya country respectively, though they do not have particular names - it is all Badimaya language.
Badimaya was traditionally spoken across the large region spanning Lake Moore, Ningham Station and Paynes Find in the south, to Mt Magnet, Wynyangoo Station and Kirkalocka Station in the north. Badimaya country is bordered by Tjupan A31 and Wangkatja A103 to the east, Noongar W41 to the south-west and Wajarri A39 to the north-east (Bundiyarra - Irra Wangga LC and Yamaji Languages AC 2014: 7).
A large area around Lake Moore - Ninghan Station - Paynes Find. The traditional area of the Badimaya includes a large area south-west of the area recorded by Tindale (1974), although Tindale does indicate 'disputed territory' in this region. However, the territory around Lake Moore/Ninghan is attested, as my informant, Mr Joe Benjamin, can trace site ownership back three generations. Today, the Madimaya are scattered in towns throughout the Murchison Region in Mullewa, Cue, Mingenew, Mt Magnet, Yalgoo, Carnarvon, and Meekatharra. There are many people remaining of Badimaya descent, but if they speak a traditional language, it is usually Watjarri, otherwise known as the 'Murchison' or 'Yamadyi' language, which has become the dominant language of the region (Dunn 1988:20).
At Cue, Nannine, Mount Magnet; southwest almost to Yalgoo, northwestern boundary is on Sandford River divide (Tindale 1974).
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Speaker numbers were measured differently across the censuses and various other sources listed in AUSTLANG. You are encouraged to refer to the sources.
Speaker numbers for ‘NILS 2004’ and ‘2005 estimate’ come from 'Table F.3: Numbers of speakers of Australian Indigenous languages (various surveys)' in 'Appendix F NILS endangerment and absolute number results' in McConvell, Marmion and McNicol 2005, pages 198-230 (PDF, 2.5MB).
Dunn, Leone. 1988. Badimaya, a Western Australian language. In Papers in Australian Linguistics 17, eds P Austin et al., 19 - 149. Canberra: Pacific Linguistics.
Bednall, James, Gloria Fogarty. 2014. Badimaya to English dictionary: an Aboriginal language of Western Australia. Geralton, WA : Bundi-yarra-Irra Wangga Language Centre, Yamaji Languages Aboriginal Corporation.
Marmion, Doug and Yamaji Language Centre,1995. Badimaya Dictionary, AILEC 0615.
