Humpy

A humpy, also known as a gunyah, wurley, wurly, wurlie, mia-mia, or wiltja, is a small, temporary shelter, traditionally used by Australian Aboriginal people. These impermanent dwellings, made of branches and bark, are sometimes called a lean-to, since they often rely on a standing tree for support.

A humpy, also known as a gunyah, wurley, wurly, wurlie, mia-mia, or wiltja, is a small, temporary shelter, traditionally used by Australian Aboriginal people. These impermanent dwellings, made of branches and bark, are sometimes called a lean-to, since they often rely on a standing tree for support. ==Etymology== The word humpy comes from the Turrubal language (a Murri people from now-inner Brisbane, e.g. Coorparoo, Nundah). Other languages had different names for the structure. In South Australia, such a shelter is known as a "wurley" (also spelled "wurlie"), possibly from the Kaurna language. They are called wiltjas in Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara languages; mia-mia in Wadawurrung language around Melbourne. ==Usage== They were temporary shelters made of bark, branches, leaves and grass used by Indigenous Australians. Both names were adopted by early white settlers, and now form part of the Australian lexicon. The use of the term appears to have broadened in later usage to include any temporary building made from any available materials, including canvas, flattened metal drums, and sheets of corrugated iron. In Dark Emu, Bruce Pascoe argues that contrary to popular perception of Aboriginal dwellings being only temporary, some gunyahs in the Channel Country could accommodate up to 50 people and formed part of permanent agricultural communities. ==Gallery== File:Aboriginal family group, Eugene Von Guerard, ca. 1859.jpg|Aboriginal family and their temporary bark gunya (shelter), File:Aboriginal woman in front of bark gunya (shelter), Johns Album ca. 1872.jpg|Aboriginal woman in front of bark gunya (shelter), Victoria, c. 1872 File:Two Aboriginal woman in front of bark gunya (shelter) wrapped in traditional pelt cloaks, John Hunter Kerr. ca. 1850s.jpg|Two Aboriginal woman in front of bark gunya, c. 1850s File:Aboriginals under temporary bark gunya (shelter), ca. 1888.jpg|Temporary lean-to bark gunyah, c. 1888 File:Aboriginal temporary bark gunyah (shelter), ca. 1870.jpg|Temporary lean-to bark gunyah, 1889 File:Four Aboriginal people at the entrance to their dwelling, Western Australia, Gustav Riemer ca. 1876.jpg|Aboriginal people at the entrance to their dwelling, Western Australia, c. 1876 File:Humpy, Gunyah, south west Queensland. part of scenes of far western Queensland, Fred McKay gulf patrol, 1937 - (John Flynn?) (19306853893).jpg|Framework of a humpy in far western Queensland, 1937 File:Native Wurley.jpg|Native Wurley, 1886 File:StateLibQld 1 113072 Bushman with his dog and horse outside a humpy, Hughenden district^, 1910-1920.jpg|Bushman humpy, 1910s File:StateLibQld 2 239273 Bark humpy on Cleveland Road, Brisbane, 1874.jpg|Bark humpy, Brisbane, 1874 File:Govers 067.tif|[Aboriginal people] and wurlie near Alice Springs (Mparntwe), c. 1930s. File:Govers 193.tif|Aboriginal wurlie near Alice Springs, c. 1930s ==See also== Wiltja Wigwam Goahti ==Notes== ==External links== State Library of Victoria photo of Aboriginal people and humpy

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