Ngurelban tribal territory takes in an estimated 3,000 sq. miles of land. According to
Norman Tindale, it runs along the
Campaspe River,[a] has its northern boundary edging on
Echuca, its western frontier probably not beyond
Gunbower. It extended south of
Tatura along the
Goulburn River to Old Crossing (Mitchellstown), and north of
Seymour.[3]
Social organisation
Ngurelban were organised according to three
groups or clans:[3]
Pimpandoor to the northwest, at
Colbinabbin, known for keeping their distance and for having a relationship of tense rivalry with other groups;
By the late 1830s the pressure of the effects of grazing on their pastoral lands from livestock introduced by squatters had started to create serious problems for the Ngurelban. In 1839 one of them, Moonin Moonin, complained that:
Jumbuck and Bulgana (sheep and cattle) were eating and destroying Aboriginal game pastures and staples like yams and mirr-n'yong roots.'[4]
^There is possibly some confusion in these reports. Barkwick wrfites:'Tindale's 1974 description of a 'Ngurelban tribe' on the Campaspe merges Tuckfield's report with Curr's and Howitt's descriptions of clans speaking a different language at and east of the Campaspe.'[2]