Jaru

The Djaru, or Jaru, are an Aboriginal people of the southern and south-eastern Kimberley in Western Australia, divided into several local groups. Their language is a Ngumbin tongue of the Pama-Nyungan family, kin to Walmajarri.

It distinguishes single, dual and plural pronouns, has no noun genders and relatively free word order, and pairs a small set of verbs with preverbs. It also has a hunting sign vocabulary, directions given by pointing the lips, and an avoidance register, the so-called mother-in-law speech, built around a single neutral verb.

On their country stands Wolfe Creek Crater, which the Djaru call Kandimalal; Dreaming stories explain its round rim as the passage of a rainbow serpent from the earth, or as the place where the evening star fell.