as one of the two most densely populated areas on the Australian continent. The peoples of K'gari were generally classified into three distinct units: Ngulungbara, Butchulla and Dulingbara, each composed of several clan groups, and, altogether, making up 19 subgroups. The Ngulungbara were in the northern sector, the Butchulla in the strict sense occupied the middle of the island, while the Dulingbara lay south. The Dulingbara and Ngulungbara claimed a separate, distinct tribal status. History of contact Archaeological and radiocarbon studies of a lead weight containing fragments of Loisels pumice unearthed on the island identify the lead component as of French provenance, and the pumice suggests that the object may have arrived on the beach between 1410 and 1630 C.E., the first date prior to Ferdinand Magellan's circumnavigation of the world. Matthew Flinders was the first white person to land on the island, at Bool Creek on Sandy Cape in July 1802 and made short contact with the Ngulungbara horde. In 1836 survivors of the shipwreck of a brig, the managed to make their way south and landed up on the island. Eliza Fraser, the late captain's wife, managed to survive among the local islanders for several weeks. The island began to be occupied by white people in 1849. At that time, the Indigenous population of the 19 clans was estimated to be around 2,000. Within three decades (1879), their numbers had dropped to around 300–400, a collapse attributed by an informant of the then Chief Commissioner of Brisbane to shootings by the Australian native police, and the effects of venereal disease and alcohol introduced by white people. The main remnant of the Butchella people, regarded as hostile to settlers, was transferred to Yarrabah sometime around 1902, and to Barambah station. Native title In 2014 an Australian Federal Court granted Native title rights to K'gari to the Butchulla people. Alternative names Badjela Badtala Badyala Batyala (exonym used by the Wakawaka for the coastal Butchulla) Bidhala (Kabikabi exonym for coastal Butchulla) Butchulla Dulingbara Ngulungbara Patyala Thoorgine (native toponym for the island) Source: Notes Citations Sources Aboriginal peoples of Queensland Fraser Island South East Queensland