Kaantju
By Norman Tindale's reckoning, the Kaantju people (a.k.a. Ka:ntju, Ka:ndyu, Kandyu, Kantju, Kanju, Kanyu, Karnju, Karndheu, Karntju, Karnyu, Karnu, Kamdhue, Kamdheu, Gandju) occupied around 7800 square kilometres in the foothills of the Great Dividing Range around the headwaters of the Archer and Watson Rivers and the present-day town of Coen. Their territory covered the tableland between Ebagoola and Coen. It extended north to the heads of the Lockhart, Pascoe, and Batavia Rivers, south to the Edward River, east to the coastward slope of the Mcllwraith Range and west to the Geikie Range and the plateau's edge. Kaantju refers to the hook of the yuli (woomera).
To their west, the Wik people separated them from the Gulf of Carpentaria. Their other neighbours were the Bakanh and the Kunjen-speaking Olkola to the south, the Kuuku-yani, Umpila and Uutaalnganu to the east and the Kuuku-Yau and Yinwum to the north.
They spoke a dialect of Umpila, intermarried and held ceremonial gatherings with the Wik Ayabadhu people from the upper reaches of the Holroyd. They met the Wik-Mungkan at the junction of the Pretender and Holroyd.
Most of their tribal land was taken over for cattle stations after the Cape York telegraph line ran through their territory in the 1870s. The Kaantju set up camps along the line, near cattle stations, or retreated to parts of the range where they could hunt or fish relatively undisturbed.
Sources:
Norman Tindale, Aboriginal Tribes of Australia, p. 174
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaantju
Links to add:
Great Dividing Range
Archer River
Watson River
Coen
Ebagoola
Lockhart River
Pascoe River
Batavia River
Edward River,
Mcllwraith Range
Geikie Range
Wik
Olkola
Kuuku-Yau
Yinwum
Wik Ayabadhu
Wik-Mungkan
Pretender River
Holroyd River
Cape York telegraph line
