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A humpy, also known as a gunyah, wurley, wurly, wurlie, mia-mia, or wiltija, 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 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. They are called wiltjas in Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara languages, mia-mia in Wadawurrung language.

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.

Gallery

• Aboriginal family and their temporary bark gunya (shelter), c. 1856
• Aboriginal woman in front of bark gunya (shelter), Victoria, c. 1872
• Two Aboriginal woman in front of bark gunya, c. 1850s
• Temporary lean-to bark gunyah, c. 1888
• Temporary lean-to bark gunyah, 1889
• Aboriginal people at the entrance to their dwelling, Western Australia, c. 1876
• Framework of a humpy in far western Queensland, 1937
• Native Wurley, 1886
• Bushman humpy, 1910s
• Bark humpy, Brisbane, 1874
• and wurlie near Alice Springs (Mparntwe), c. 1930s.
• Aboriginal wurlie near Alice Springs, c. 1930s

See also

• Wiltja
• Wigwam
• Goahti

Notes

1. "Definition of gunyah". www.allwords.com.
2. Memmott, Paul (2007), Gunyah, Goondie and Wurley : the Aboriginal architecture of Australia (1st ed.), University of Queensland Press, ISBN 978-0-7022-3245-9
3. "Tents". One Planet. Retrieved 6 December 2012.
4. Cannot, Jack; Prince, Victor (1912), I'll build a gunyah for you : song, Allan & Co. Pty. Ltd, retrieved 7 January 2019
5. Peters, Pam, The Cambridge Australian English Style Guide, Cambridge University Press, 1996, p818
6. "A Bark Humpy. How to Build it?". The Queenslander. Queensland, Australia. 30 October 1930. p. 57. Retrieved 7 January 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
7. "Humpies and Gunyahs : Coloured Families on the Tweed". Sunday Mail. No. 550. Queensland, Australia. 10 December 1933. p. 7. Retrieved 7 January 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
8. Australian Indigenous tools and technology - Australia's Culture Portal Archived 2010-04-16 at the Wayback Machine
9. "Our People". Borough of Queenscliffe.
10. Australian National Research Council (1930). Oceania. University of Sydney. p. 288.

External links

• State Library of Victoria photo of Aboriginal people and humpy

v t e Hut dwelling designs and semi-permanent human shelters
Traditional immobile	Bahay kubo (Nipa hut) Barabara Beehive house Bothy Bunong Burdei Bure Cleit Clochán (beehive hut) Crotto Dugout Earth lodge Funco Girna Goahti Hogan Humpy Icelandic turf house Igloo Jacal Kapar Log cabin Maloca Menstruation Mitato Musgum mud huts Oca Orri Palloza Pit-house Qargi Qarmaq Quiggly hole Quinzhee Rondavel Roundhouse Ruka Sassi di Matera Shieling Sod house Sukkah Tongkonan Trullo Tukul Wigwam, wickiup and wetu Zemlyanka
Traditional mobile	Chum Lavvu Shepherd's hut Tipi Yaranga Yurt and ger Ger district
Open-air	Beach fale Cabana Chickee Gazebo Palapa Pergola Ramada Toguna
Modern	Beach hut Hexayurt Hopper hut Iris hut Logging camp Nissen hut Quonset hut Jamesway hut Romney hut Rondavel Slab hut Twynham hut Wilderness hut Alpine club hut Mountain hut Winter room
Related topics	Cabanes du Breuil Circular linhay Earth sheltering Shack Shed Skellig Michael Stilt house Tent Thatching Transhumance Tree house Vernacular architecture Village des Bories
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