Bailgu
indigenous Australian people of the Pilbara region of Western Australia
The Bailgu are an Aboriginal Australian people of the Pilbara region of Western Australia.
Country
Bailgu traditional lands extended over 6,300 square miles (16,000 km2), according to Norman Tindale's estimate, covering the upper Fortescue River, and taking in Roy Hill and eastwards beyond the Goodiadarrie Hills. Their northern extension ran as far as the Chichester Range scarp the Nullagine River divide. The eastern border ran to the western headwaters of the Oakover Davis rivers. Their neighbours further down the Fortescue were the Niabali. Their boundary with the Yindjibarndi lay at Mandanaladji.
History of contact
According to oral traditions handed down by the Bailgu, before the advent of the whites, they were dislocated from the salt marshs on the Fortescue river by pressure from the Panyjima tribe, which drove them further east. This narrative appears to be corroborated by the fact that among western tribes they were known as the Mangguldulkara (people of the marshes).
Notable people
Notable people with Bailgu heritage include:
Ambelin Kwaymullina, author and academic
Jill Milroy, indigenous studies educator
Sally Morgan, author and artist
Alternative names
Bailgo, Balgu, Palgu, Balju, Balgoo
Bailko
Baljgu, Balju
Boolgoo
Mangguldulkara (exonym used of them by western tribes)
Pailgu, Pailgo
Pal'gu, Bailju
Paljarri
Pulgoe
Source: Tindale 1974, p. 239.
“Bailgu” enters the record as indigenous Australian people of the Pilbara region of Western Australia. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Bailgu, indigenous and Australian can confirm, complicate or overturn.
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This entry incorporates text from “Bailgu” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.