MILLMERRAN TRIBAL GROUPS

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The tribes of the Millmerran district were the Giabal, Bigambul, Kambuwal and Gambuwal.

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The Giabal covered a 7,300 sq km area bounded by the eastern slopes of the Range at Toowoomba, Dalby, Millmerran and Allora. Their alternative name Gomaingguru means "men of the Condamine".  Paiamba was probably their language.

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The Bigambul claimed a massive 26,000 sq km area incorporating the Moonie, Weir, McIntyre and Dumaresq catchment areas:  it was bounded in the north by Tara, in the east by Millmerran and Inglewood, in the west by St. George and Talwood, and in the south stretched into NSW south of Goondiwindi. (1)

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The Kambuwal traditional owners once roamed a vast area from Inglewood in the west, to Bonshaw in the south, Millmerran in the north and eastwards to the slopes of the Great Dividing Range.

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The Gambuwal:  Traditional boundaries of the Gambuwal people run south from Millmerran to Wallangarra and west to Stanthorpe. The Gambuwal population fell dramatically after the introduction of the Aboriginal Protection and Restriction on the Sale of Opium Act. 

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(1) A History of the Darling Downs Frontier: 1 – Conflict on the Condamine – Aborigines and the European Invasion by Maurice French