Marrithiyeli

The Marrithiyal, also known as the Berringen people, are an Aboriginal Australian people whose traditional country lay south of Darwin, reaching from the Litchfield ranges to the Daly River. Their language belongs to the Western Daly group of non-Pama-Nyungan tongues; the autonym Marrithiyal is said to combine marri, meaning speech, with thiel, the paperbark tree that filled their homeland's forests.

Closely allied with the neighbouring Marringar, they shared ceremonies, songlines and resources, and told their own Dreamtime version of the rainbow serpent, which stole a wife from a flying fox and was speared in revenge.