Ngai wangandi
marni nabudni Kaurna yertaanna
The Adelaide Plains of
This welcome message:
Ngai wangandi marni nabudni Kaurna yertaanna
is in Kaurna language (pronounced garna)
and translates to:
First let me
welcome you all to Kaurna country
Introduction
Indigenous
people owned and occupied the whole of the Australian continent prior to the
arrival of Europeans.
The Kaurna people lived on this land for many
thousands of years and were made up of independent groups living within their
own lands but who came together for trade, social, ceremonial and religious
reasons.
They lived
in a narrow corridor along the eastern shore of Gulf St Vincent: Cape Jervis to Port Wakefield; inland to near Crystal
Brook, Snowtown, Blyth, Hoyleton, Hamley Bridge,
Clarendon, Gawler, and Myponga; from the east side of the Hummock Range to Red
Hill. Inland the Jultiwira or stringy bark forests of
the
This territory was 2,800 square miles (7,200 sq. km.) with a population
of 650 in the South Australian Register of
They were
united by one basic language.
Their
movements were in rhythm with the seasonal changes based on religious and
ceremonial events as well as climate and food supply. The Kaurna seem to have moved between the
coast in summer months, for coastal berries and various sea life,
including turtles, and the foothills in the colder weather which had better
shelter and firewood. The inland areas also contained more mammals to hunt, and
creeks and swamps contained fish and other water life. They had
well-established travelling tracks, which were taken over by Europeans, and now
are reflected in some road routes.
They undertook periodic burning, which drove out game for hunting. There
are reports from the time of the first European settlers of sightings of fires
burning in the hills near
The Kaurna were the southernmost tribe to
perform the initiatory rite of circumcision.
The basic
unit was the extended family of between 10-18 people with each family having a
well-defined home territory called the 'pangkarra'
which was able to support the family in normal seasons. Families were grouped
to form local groups. All the members of family groups were able to travel the
wider territory, called the 'yerta'. Usually 6 or 8
adjoining family groups shared the use of a yerta.
Within the area
recognised as that of the Kaurna people there were
quite a number of yerta-based groups.
The Kaurna were a
dignified and gentle people who lived lightly off the land. Older people gave
leadership within family groups and every person was valued in this society.
All things were shared as needed. They built a rich culture of song, dance and
story.
The Kaurna people were pushed out of
In 1839 there was a group of Lutheran Missionaries teaching Kaurna literacy in a school on the banks of the
Today descendants of the Kaurna live across
the metropolitan area of
Cultural Revival
In recent years the descendants of the Kaurna
have been undertaking a cultural revival. This has included both language and
ceremony revival.
It means the red gum (karra) forest (wirra)
river (parri) and was recorded by Lutheran
missionaries in 1838 as the Kaurna name for the
river.
After three years of research, the Adelaide City Council agreed last
night to ask the Geographic Names Advisory Committee to formally assign the
dual name.
The
A Kaurna elder, Mr Lewis O'Brien, said local
Aborigines welcomed the dual names. "I think it's all these things that
are helping. It's a very easy step, people need easy steps sometimes," he
said.
The
Tjilbruke Walking Trail
This path follows the Aboriginal legend of Tjilbruke
who carried the body of his slain nephew down the coast from where the city of
At Signal Point Interpretive Centre, in Goolwa, there is an opportunity to
learn of how these skilled and successful hunters and crafts people of the
eastern Fleurieu lived at one with nature.
FURTHER
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Sources:
The Encyclopedia of Aboriginal
Clarke, Philip A Adelaide as an Aboriginal Landscape Aboriginal History
Vol 15 Nos 1-2 1991 p 54-72 ML Q572.9901/117
Schwab, Jerry Ambiguity, style and kinship in
References:
Aboriginal People of the Adelaide Plains, Education Technology Centre
Education Department,
Amery, Robert Encoding New Concepts in Old Languages: A case study of
the Kaurna... Australian Aboriginal Studies 1993 No 1 p 37-47
Cawthornes, W.A. Sketch of the Aborigines of
Clarke, Philip A. Adelaide Aboriginal Cosmology Journal of the
Anthropological Society of
Foster, Robert The Aborigines Location in Adelaide: South Australia's
first 'mission' to the Aborigines Journal of the Anthropological Society of
South Australia Vol 28 No 1-2 1990 p 11-37
Gara,
Tom A Bibliography of the Kaurna
Anthropological Society of
Gara,
Tom The Life of Ivaritji
(Princess Amelia) of the
O'Brien, Lewis The Cultural
Significance of the
Rann,
Mike South Australian Aboriginal Languages Kaurna
Higher education Journal April 1992 No 2 71-73
Ross, Betty Aboriginal and Historic Places around Metropolitan
Adelaide and South Coast, Anthropological Society of South Australia,
Adelaide, 1984 Testimony to Gawler in Davis, Jack Paperbark: A collection of
Black Australian writings Univeristy of
Queensland Press, St Lucia, 1990
Tindale, Norman The wanderings of Tjirbruki: A tale of the Kaurna
people of