Baradha

Baradha country lies inland from Queensland’s central coast, occupying roughly 2,500 square miles around the Connors River from Killarney north toward Nebo. The land reaches west to the Bombandy area and sits between coastal Koinjmal country and Barna territory farther inland, with Wiri neighbours to the north. Rivers, hills and the approaches to the ranges shape a country that people crossed through kinship and shared rights to country rather than through fixed settlement alone.

The Barada people speak a Maric language belonging to the Pama-Nyungan family. Their social world was ordered by Yangurru and Wudhurru phratries, each containing male and female sections that governed marriage and affiliation. These categories were applied to natural phenomena as well as people, so the landscape was understood through the same relations that organized society. The Thararburra and Toolginburra kin groups were associated with particular parts of this country, including Cardowan; the latter name derives from the Barada word for hill.