Tindale's Catalogue of Australian Aboriginal Tribes
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Pitapita (QLD)
LocationBoulia district and 50 miles to south and west; north to about Fort William. Under this name is sometimes grouped an indeterminable series of subtribes or hordal groups. Roth is the principal authority. He suggests tribal fragmentation and reintegration as having been formerly in progress; the situation may be comparable with that in the 'Murngin' area of Arnhem Land and the Daly River district. The arrival of subincision as an initiation rite may have been the disruptive force in this area and not external (non-Australian) forces as perhaps in Arnhem Land. Among the groups not indicated on the map-Boinji, Kwokwa, Tinkatinki, and Weelko-one or more of these are hordes; other peripheral ones about which there is more information, are shown on the map; this area of Australia is one of the least understood in terms of tribal distribution. They all practiced the rites of circumcision and subincision.
Co-ordinates139°45'E x 22°45'S
Area2,700 sq. m. (7,000 sq. km)
ReferencesEglinton in Curr, 1886; Parry-Okeden, 1897; R., W. H., 1897; Roth, 1897 (2 papers), 1906; Giglioli, 1911; Tindale, 1940 and MS; Yallop, 1969; Blake, 1969 MS.
Alternative NamesPittapitta, Bitta Bitta, Wangkapit:a, Wangkahicho, Wangkahichs (typographical error).
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 AA105 Dr Henry Kenneth Fry

Collection AA338 Dr Norman Barnett Tindale