Tindale's Catalogue of Australian Aboriginal Tribes
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Dalla (QLD)
LocationEsk to Nanango; east to Nambour, Palmwoods, Durundur, southeast to mountains near Brisbane; on the upper Brisbane River and the headwaters of the Mary River. Another name for them is Jinibara. Chiefly rain forest and rain forest margin dwellers. They were sedentary and lived in five principal hordes or small tribes speaking slight dialects and are all listed under the heading of Dalla. They are shown by numbers on the main map: 1. Dalla (Dalambara, Dallanbarah, Ngoera). 1.As a hordal group, Jinibara, on headwaters of Mary and Brisbane rivers. 2. Dungidau (Dungidau is probably language name). Area around Kilcoy. 3. Nalbo (Njalbo, Nalboo). Eastern slopes of mountains from Eumundi south to Beerwah and Coobalture. 4. Dungibara (Doongibarra, Doongiburra). Upper Pine River and Daguilar Range. 5. Garumga (Garumnga, Garumgma). West of Brisbane River to Crows Nest and Cooyar Range; south to Esk. The coastal people called these people collectively Jarbu, meaning generally 'inlanders.' The Dalla called the coastal people Mwoirnewar. According to Kabo, an aged man of the Dalambara horde, in 1938, their language name was Dal:a. In 1956 Gaiarbau of the southern horde used the term Jinibara for the whole tribe. This strictly is a hordal-type name. It seems that, at least in the eyes of several survivors who have been interrogated in recent years, their own hordal names were given preference, as if they were tribal terms, hence the divergences of opinion as to the most acceptable name. Each group differed a little in dialect. The most distinctive group was the Dungibara on the western tributaries of the Brisbane, north of Esk. The considerable differences in vocabulary suggest they were well on the way to being a separate tribe of the more usual Australian type. They held their ['du:r] or initiation ceremonies near their tribal boundary at Durundur until after it was occupied by white men.
Co-ordinates152°25/E x 26°55'S
Area3,000 sq. m. (7,800 sq. km)
ReferencesSimpson, 1844; Howitt, 1884, 1888, 1904; Lands-borough and Curr in Curr, 1887; Shirley, 1897; Mathews, 1898 (Gr. 6444); Tindale, 1938 MS, 1940; Winterbotham, 1956 MS; Elkin, 1964 (verb. comm.); Capell, 1965.
Alternative NamesDalla (['dal:a] = staghorn fern; said to be language term), Ngoera, Jarbu ('inlanders'-name given by Undanbi and other coastal tribes), Jinibara (a suggested alternative name that is of hordal type), Djunggidjau.
This information is reproduced from NB Tindale's Aboriginal Tribes of Australia (1974). Please be aware that much of the data relating to Aboriginal language group distribution and definition has undergone revision since 1974. Please note also that this catalogue represents Tindale's attempt to depict Aboriginal tribal distribution at the time of European contact.

Collection AA338 Dr Norman Barnett Tindale