Jari/nyeri was the tribe's word for "no", it being customary for the Murray tribes of this area to be identified by the negative used in their respective languages.[2]
The Jarijari language has been classified as belonging to the Lower Murray Areal Group, together with Kureinji,[3] and to be similar to that spoken by the Watiwati,[4] but reports are contradictory and may not be speaking of the same people.
The Blandowski Expedition (1856-1857) was one of the first documented European encounters with the people. Blandowski described the Yarree as his "good friends".[7] Notably one of William Blandowski's 1857 illustrations depicted traditional Jari Jari recreation. Peter Beveridge, in his 1883 account "The Aborigines of Victoria and Riverina" recorded some of the tribe's dreamtime beliefs, associated with these Murray tribes of which the Jarijari were one.[8]
Blandowski ended his account with a general statement on the recent state of these Murray riverine tribes:
On the whole I have but to make the most deplorable statements concerning our natives. Extermination proceeds so rapidly, that the regions of the Lower Murray are already depopulated, and a quietude reigns there which saddens the traveller who visited those districts a few years ago.[9]
Tandan or dew-/jewfish, in Jarijari called kenaru, was considered a great delicacy, and its consumption by young men was forbidden.[11]
Bony bream (Nematalosa erebi). Blandowski who was the first to identify it scientifically,[12] called this Megalope Caillentassart, - manur in Jarijari. This was a tribal staple throughout June–July, except for women, for whom it was taboo, since it was thought to have aphrodisiacal properties, given its nourishing adiposity. It was also a grave marker, positioned in a way that pointed in the direction of the presumed murderer.[11]
Turruitja Achenson,orturrultje. Both a Murray and billabong species.[13]
Jerrina Dobreensis,orjorrin. Mainly fished from billabongs.[13]
Poko. Only the Jarijari term was given for this species of nigh transparent, greenish spotted trout, which however was not specific to the Murray, but also found in the Yarra River.[13]
Uteranka Irvingioruterank. Also a Yarra fish, not unknown to the Murray, though rare there. Preyed on largely by other fish.
Oristes Macquariensis,oryaturr. This was a major staple of thed Jarijari, even in winter where it would be hunted at night by firelight when the flooding led the cod to 'sleep' in the nooks of logs along the bank. In summer, the Jarijari would dive to the bottom of the Murray to spear it.[14]
^Humphries writes:He was certainly overly enthusiastic in his naming of the four life history stages of silver perch as different species (although he placed them all in the genus Cernua, and mentioned that they were difficult to distinguish from each other). But because the aborigines had different names for them, because they occupy different habitats during each stage, and even professional fish systematists have commonly made the same mistake with other species, this offence is certainly pardonable.' (Humphries 2003, p. 164)
^However Humphries glosses this too as a 'silver perch'. It was named afterDr Richard Eades (1809–1867), a physician at Melbourne Hospital and one of the cofounders of the Philosophical Institute.' (Humphries 2003, p. 161)
