Humpy

The word humpy comes from the Jagera language (a Murri people from Coorparoo in Brisbane); other language groups would have different names for the structure. In South Australia, such a shelter is known as a "wurley" (also spelled "wurlie"), possibly from the Kaurna language.^[5][6][7] They are called wiltjas in Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara languages, mia-mia in Wadawurrung language.^[8][9]

They were temporary shelters made of bark, branches, leaves and grass used by Indigenous Australians.^[10] 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.

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  Aboriginal family and their temporary bark gunya (shelter), c. 1856
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  Aboriginal woman in front of bark gunya (shelter), Victoria, c. 1872
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  Two Aboriginal woman in front of bark gunya, c. 1850s
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  Temporary lean-to bark gunyah, c. 1888
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  Temporary lean-to bark gunyah, 1889
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  Aboriginal people at the entrance to their dwelling, Western Australia, c. 1876
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  Framework of a humpy in far western Queensland, 1937
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  Native Wurley, 1886
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  Bushman humpy, 1910s
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  Bark humpy, Brisbane, 1874

• Wiltja
• Wigwam
• Goahti

• State Library of Victoria photo of Aboriginal people and humpy