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).
Search MURA people®
Search MURA language®
Search OZBIB
Search Trove
Search Worldcat
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.
Marmion, Doug (Yamadji Language Centre). Badimaya Dictionary, ASEDA 615.
