95-517: The Kaurna people ( English: / ˈ ɡ ɑːr n ə / , Kaurna : [ɡ̊auɳa] ; also Coorna , Kaura , Gaurna and other variations) are a group of Aboriginal people whose traditional lands include the Adelaide Plains of South Australia . They were known as the Adelaide tribe by the early settlers. Kaurna culture and language were almost completely destroyed within a few decades of
190-507: A dialect of the Kadli language, along with Ngadjuri , Narungga , and Nukunu , and "Nantuwara", with kadli meaning "dog" in these varieties. However this name has not gained wide acceptance and is not recorded as a language in the AIATSIS AUSTLANG database. Luise Hercus and J. Simpson (2002, 2006) classify Kaurna as within the subgroup of Thura-Yura languages . The name "Kaurna"
285-512: A "natural" condition that would not have existed at the time of European occupation. Items of Kaurna material culture, such as traditional objects, spears, boomerangs and nets etc. are extremely rare. Interest in collecting and conserving Kaurna culture was not common until their display at the 1889 Paris Exhibition spurred an interest in Indigenous culture, by which time the Kaurna traditional culture
380-511: A Kaurna language program was introduced into Kaurna Plains School in 1992. Elizabeth City High School and Elizabeth West Adult Campus introduced the teaching of the language in 1994, and other schools have followed suit. TAFE courses to train Kaurna language teachers were developed by Mary-Anne Gale. Kaurna linguistics courses have been taught at the University of Adelaide since 1997. and both Kaurna and non-Kaurna have been studying and speaking
475-636: A Kaurna/ Narungga man also known as Vincent Buckskin, who was Young South Australian of the Year in 2011, is a teacher of Kaurna language and culture. Kaurna language Kaurna ( / ˈ ɡ ɑːr n ə / or / ˈ ɡ aʊ n ə / ) is a Pama-Nyungan language historically spoken by the Kaurna peoples of the Adelaide Plains of South Australia . The Kaurna peoples are made up of various tribal clan groups, each with their own parnkarra district of land and local dialect. These dialects were historically spoken in
570-498: A bed of grass. An elderly woman was lying on her side, draped in a fishing net and wrapped in a Kangaroo skin cloak. The grave was topped with a layer of grass covered by marine sponges. Similar to a Peramangk dreamtime legend, the Kaurna regard the 35 miles from the Mount Lofty Ranges to Nuriootpa as the body of a giant called Nganno (often pronounced Nunoo) who was killed there after attacking their tribe. The peaks of
665-416: A federal government grant, is under way to revise the spellings. Amery has been overseeing much of the work. It is intended that the final version will be released in print and in electronic form, including a phone app . In 2021, a printed Kaurna dictionary was published, as well as a Ngarrindjeri one. Amery and his wife, Ngarrindjeri linguist Mary-Anne Gale, have helped to drive the project. There has been
760-536: A growing number of Kaurna speakers in the 21st century. The first students of courses specially tailored to the teaching of Aboriginal language , run by Tauondi Aboriginal College in Port Adelaide , enabling those who have learnt the language to pass on their skills to communities, graduated in July 2021. With the teachers and students often in the older age group, by July 2022 two of the first graduates had died. There
855-468: A practice which supports community. A legend recounted variously by Unaipon and Milerum concerns a culture hero called Tjilbruke has topographical features that locate it in Kaurna territory. In Tindale's version Tjilbruke is associated with the glossy ibis ; the name actually refers to the blue crane . The "Tjilbruke Dreaming Tracks" have been mapped from the Bedford Park area ( Warriparinga ), down
950-771: A serious drop in numbers in the early 1830s (and possibly again in 1889) due to a smallpox epidemic which is thought to have originated in the eastern states and spread along the Murray River as Indigenous groups traded with each other. This devastated their lives in every way. An outbreak of typhoid, due to pollution by Europeans of the River Torrens , lead to many deaths and a rapid population decline, though accurate figures were not recorded. Many contracted other diseases against which they lacked immunity, such as measles , whooping cough , typhus , dysentery and influenza. The groups lost their identities as they merged with others, and
1045-480: A sketch grammar , hundreds of phrases and sentences along with English translations, traditional songlines , and textual illustrations of differences among dialects. They also created Kaurna translations of six German hymns as well as the Ten Commandments . Other Europeans such as William Wyatt , William Williams , William Cawthorne and Matthew Moorhouse were interested in the people and learnt some of
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#17328515558371140-470: A speech to the local Indigenous population through a translator, William Wyatt (later third interim Protector of Aborigines ), assisted by Williams and Cronk. Gawler actively encouraged the settlers to learn Kaurna, and advocated using the Kaurna names for geographic landmarks. In October 1838 two German missionaries , Christian Teichelmann and Clamor Schürmann , arrived on the same ship as Gawler in 1838, and immediately set about learning and documenting
1235-454: A woman always lived with her husband's band following her marriage. Each band was also composed of two exogamous moieties , the Karuru and Mattari, which traced their descent matrilineally to an ancestral totemic being. All the children of a marriage would take their mother's moiety as children were considered to have "inherited" their "flesh and blood" from their mothers alone. Marriage within
1330-413: Is a need for more funding and more teachers. Kaurna Warra Pintyanthi (meaning "creating Kaurna language") is a group developing and promoting the recovery of the Kaurna language. It was established in 2002 by two Kaurna elders , Lewis Yerloburka O'Brien and Alitya Wallara Rigney , and linguist Robert Amery . The group now includes other Kaurna people, teachers, linguists and language enthusiasts. It
1425-644: Is a region of South Australia , north of the Adelaide Plains and south of the Far North and the outback . It is generally accepted to extend from Spencer Gulf east to the Barrier Highway , including the coastal plain, the southern part of the Flinders Ranges , and the northern part of the Mount Lofty Ranges . The Temperate Grassland of South Australia cover most of the area. The main Indigenous group in
1520-528: Is a table of some of these cases. Kaurna has 3 numbers: singular , dual (-rla, -dla) and plural (-rna). Efforts to reintroduce Kaurna names, beginning in 1980 with the naming of Warriappendi School, in 1980 by Auntie Leila Rankine , have been made within the public domain. Since the Adelaide City Council drew up a Reconciliation Vision Statement in 1997, they committed to a dual naming project, working with Kaurna Warra Pintyanthi, to cover
1615-525: Is available on the Council website. Between 1980 and 2012, around 1000 entities were assigned Kaurna names, including people, pets, organisations, buildings, parks, walking trails, an allele (a hereditary gene or chromosome), brand names, and the Kari Munaintya tram and Tindo solar bus. Some place names are known from historical sources, but not officially used as yet, such as Patpangga ( Rapid Bay ) "in
1710-479: Is based on The Kaurna People (1989). Many Kaurna people grew up in Bukkiyana (Point Pearce mission) and Raukkan (Macleay mission) and experienced some aspects of Narungga and Ngarrindjeri culture, and gradually started reclaiming Kaurna skills and Dreaming stories. The Kaurna Aboriginal Community and Heritage Association ( KACHA ) is recognised as the representative body for all Kaurna people. Starting life as
1805-404: Is known of Kaurna rites and mythology as colonial written records are fragmentary and rare. Physically, the Kaurna practised chest scarification and performed circumcision as an initiatory rite and were the southernmost Indigenous language group to do so. Waterfall Gully has been linked to initiation rites. Historical accounts of Kaurna burial rites are unreliable as any gathering of Kaurna
1900-404: Is managed by the Kaurna people. Kaurna had not been spoken as a native language since the Kaurna people had been pushed out of their traditional lands since the colonisation of South Australia in the 19th century, with the population in decline due to various factors. Ivaritji ( c. 1849 – 1929) was the last known speaker, but it was probably last only widely spoken in the early 1860s. In
1995-566: Is unknown. Due to the large number of remains which continues to grow and that many are unknown, a way to return these ancestors to Country, such as a memorial park, needed to be found. In 2021, a new 2 ha (4.9-acre) burial site was built in the cemetery to accommodate the repatriated remains of Kaurna people, called Wangayarta , in Evanston South . It was designed by a group that included elders Uncle Jeffrey Newchurch, Aunty Heather Agius, Uncle Major "Moogy" Sumner , and many others, and
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#17328515558372090-589: The Adelaide Hills , and the Warriparinga Living Kaurna Cultural Centre in Marion , and claiming that they were owed nearly $ 50 million in rent. The South Australian Government rejected the claim. The Kaurna people were a hunter-gatherer society, who changed their dwellings according to climatic conditions: in summer they would camp near the coastal springs fishing for mulloway . With
2185-509: The Adelaide city centre and North Adelaide , and other sites of significance to the Kaurna people in 1997. The naming process, which assigned an extra name in the Kaurna language to each place, was mostly completed in 2003, and the renaming of 39 sites finalised and endorsed by the council in 2012. On 1 August 2019, the remains of 11 Kaurna people were laid to rest at a ceremony led by elder Jeffrey Newchurch at Kingston Park Coastal Reserve , south of Adelaide . John Carty, Head of Humanities at
2280-600: The British colonisation of South Australia in 1836. However, extensive documentation by early missionaries and other researchers has enabled a modern revival of both language and culture. The phrase Kaurna meyunna means "Kaurna people". The early settlers of South Australia referred to the various indigenous tribes of the Adelaide Plains and Fleurieu Peninsula as "Rapid Bay tribe", "the Encounter Bay tribe", "the Adelaide tribe",
2375-454: The Bureau of Meteorology . In the northern portion forecasts are published for: Hawker , Port Augusta and Ororroo . Towns for which forecasts are published in the southern region are: Port Pirie , Jamestown , Crystal Brook , Clare , Roseworthy and Snowtown . 33°S 138°E / 33°S 138°E / -33; 138 This South Australia geography article
2470-722: The Fleurieu Peninsula , and efforts have been made to preserve and commemorate it where possible. Munaitjerlo is an ancestral being who created the Moon and stars before himself becoming the Sun. The word Munaitjerlo was believed by Teichelmann to also refer to the Kaurna Dreamtime itself. The mythology of the Mura-Muras, ancestral beings who created landscape features and introduced laws and initiation, can be found in southwest Queensland ,
2565-564: The Northern Territory and in the Flinders Ranges through to Eyre Peninsula in South Australia. As it is known that the Kaurna shared a common Dreaming with these peoples it is likely they shared the Mura-Muras as well. By way of contrast, the travels of Tjilbruke are well known from Norman Tindale 's research. The Kaurna seasonal calendar is divided into four seasons, roughly equivalent to summer, autumn, winter and spring: From
2660-493: The South Australia Act 1834 which enabled the province of South Australia to be established, acknowledged Aboriginal ownership and stated that no actions could be undertaken that would "affect the rights of any Aboriginal natives of the said province to the actual occupation and enjoyment in their own persons or in the persons of their descendants of any land therein now actually occupied or enjoyed by such natives". Although
2755-561: The South Australian Museum , said that the museum was "passionate" about working with the Kaurna people to repatriate their ancestors , and would also be helping to educate the community about what it means to Aboriginal people. The Museum continues to receive further remains of Aboriginal people from overseas museums, in addition to the large amount of remains it already has. While many of these ancestral remains may be returned to Country by their families, who many of these people were
2850-612: The Thura-Yura branch of the Pama–Nyungan languages . The first word lists taken down of the Kaurna language date to 1826. A knowledge of Kaurna language was keenly sought by many of the early settlers. William Williams and James Cronk were the first settlers to gain a working knowledge of the language, and to publish a Kaurna wordlist, which they did in 1840. When George Gawler , South Australia's third Governor, arrived in October 1838, he gave
2945-855: The Tjilbruke Track Committee based at the South Australian Museum, it was renamed as the Kaurna Heritage Committee before growing into KACHA, which encompasses broader issues than cultural heritage concerns, including rebuilding the language and culture. The Kaurna Yerta Aboriginal Corporation represents Kaurna people, and was involved in the creation of the Wangayarta memorial park and burial site in 2021. There are at least two groups of Kaurna traditional dancers in South Australia: Many places around Adelaide and
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3040-606: The city centre and North Adelaide , including the five public squares and Adelaide park lands . Victoria Square , in the centre of Adelaide city, is now also known as Tarntanyangga , all 29 Parks around the city have been assigned a Kaurna name, and the River Torrens is now also named Karrawirra Parri . The renaming of 39 sites was finalised and endorsed by the council in 2012. Others include Piltawodli (now Pirltawardli ), " brushtail possum home"; Warriparringga ( Warriparinga ) "windy river place". The full list of square and park names, along with meanings and pronunciations,
3135-470: The federal government and the Kaurna people, with formal recognition coming after the Federal Court judgement, 18 years after lodgement. This was the first claim for a first land use agreement to be agreed to in any Australian capital city. The rights cover Adelaide's whole metropolitan area and includes "17 parcels of undeveloped land not under freehold". Some of the land is Crown land , some belongs to
3230-666: The 1850s, there were few remaining Kaurna in the Adelaide area. In 1850 the children (mostly from the Murray River area, but including a few Kaurna) at the Native School (which had been on Kintore Avenue since 1846) were transferred to the Poonindie Native Training Institution near Port Lincoln , on the Eyre Peninsula , over 600 kilometres (370 mi) away. Moorhouse resigned as Protector in 1856, and in 1857
3325-537: The 1970s onwards, a number of elders and community leaders led a cultural revival, and were responsible for introducing Kaurna perspectives into the SA education curriculum, establishing the Tjilbruke Dreaming Track and other initiatives. These people included Lewis O'Brien , Gladys Elphick , Alitya (Alice) Rigney , and Georgina Williams of the South Australian Museum . Much of its Aboriginal Studies curriculum
3420-468: The 1980s, Kaurna people who had moved back into the Adelaide Plains area began to learn and use their language again. Robert Amery , head of Linguistics at the University of Adelaide , who has devoted much of his life and career to Indigenous languages, in particular Kaurna: "After more than 25 years of painstaking effort, there are now several Kaurna people who can conduct a conversation in Kaurna without resorting to English too quickly, and we are seeing
3515-592: The Aboriginal presence, and Womadelaide is held each year in Botanic Park without acknowledgement of the Aboriginal encampments 150 years ago on the same land. There is a tradition of performing corroborees and dances dating back to the 1840s, including the "Grand Corroboree" at the Adelaide Oval in 1885 and corroborees at the beaches of Glenelg and Henley Beach around the turn of the century. This huge omission in
3610-576: The Act guaranteed land rights under force of law for the Indigenous inhabitants, it was ignored by the South Australian Company authorities and squatters, who interpreted the Act to mean "permanently occupied". In 2000, a group called Kaurna Yerta Corporation lodged a native title claim on behalf of the Kaurna people. The claim covers over 8,000 square kilometres (3,100 sq mi) of land stretching from Cape Jervis to Port Broughton , including
3705-585: The Adelaide area took place without any conflict. The population again severely declined upon the arrival of Anglo-European colonial settlers with South Australia Governor Captain John Hindmarsh as Commander-in-chief in December 1836 at Holdfast Bay (now Glenelg ). According to an entry in the South Australian Register (30 January 1842), the Kaurna population numbered around 650. They had suffered
3800-490: The Fleurieu Peninsula have names either directly or partially derived from Kaurna place names, such as Cowandilla , Aldinga , Morialta and Munno Para . Some were the names of the Kaurna bands who lived there. There are also a few Kaurna names hybridised with European words. The Adelaide City Council began the process of dual naming all of the city squares, each of the parks making up the parklands which surround
3895-434: The Kaurna also used this as a weapon against the colonists by lighting fires to deliberately destroy fences, survey pegs and to scatter livestock. Due to this regular burning by the time the first Europeans arrived, the foothills' original stringybark forests had been largely replaced with grassland. Since the late 1960s, restrictions on foothills subdivision and development have allowed regeneration of native trees and bush to
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3990-426: The Kaurna and Ramindjeri people were reduced to very few. In the 1840s, Murray River people invaded, stealing women and children, while the government suppressed the Kaurna attempts at self-defence. Some Kaurna moved north to join other tribes. The Colonisation Commissioners had promised to protect the Aboriginal people and their property as well as making provision for their subsistence, education and advancement, with
4085-514: The Kaurna and prominent in the early settlers' accounts. She was responsible for identifying locations of cultural significance in the city, such as the lake in the Adelaide Botanic Garden and Victoria Square/Tarndanyangga , and Whitmore Square has been given her name in honour of the prior occupation of the land by the Kaurna people. Unlike the rest of Australia, South Australia was not considered to be terra nullius . The enactment of
4180-630: The Kaurna people while the language was dormant. The Kaurna Warra Karrpanthi Aboriginal Corporation (KWK) was registered in 2013 to support the reclamation and promotion of the language of the Kaurna nation, including training and teaching. In 2022 a dictionary written by Rob Amery and co-authors Susie Greenwood and Jasmin Morley was published. It includes not only the words included on the handwritten lists made by Teichelmann and Schürmann 160 years earlier, but also 4,000 new words that were created in consultation with local elders and Kaurna speakers. The cover
4275-405: The Kaurna were vastly outnumbered by the colonists, who numbered 117,727. Adults were also relocated from the city to places such as Willunga , Point McLeay , and Point Pearce in the 1860s. In 1888 a German missionary reported that there was "scarcely one remaining". Some of the Kaurna people settled at Point McLeay and Point Pearce married into local families, and full-blood Kaurna still lived at
4370-888: The Kouwandilla tribe, "the Wirra tribe", "the Noarlunga tribe" (the Ngurlonnga band) and the Willunga tribe (the Willangga band). The extended family groups of the Adelaide Plains, who spoke dialects of a common language, were named according to locality, such as Kawanda Meyunna (North men), Wirra Meyunna (Forest People), Pietta Meyunna (Murray River people), Wito Meyunna (Adelaide clan's former name), Tandanya (South Adelaide people), etc. – but they had no common name for themselves. The name Kaurna
4465-489: The Mount Lofty Ranges and Mount Bonython are jureidla (conserved in the toponym Uraidla ), namely his "two ears". There are other traditional stories connected to the two peaks Mt Lofty and Mt Bonython, one story concerning two men and another referring to the two moiety groups of the Kaurna. The general theme of these stories surrounding the two peaks is the importance of community and the notion of unselfishness as
4560-659: The Ranges; some on the Waterfall Gully . Although Governors Hindmarsh (1836–1838) and Gawler (1838–1841) had orders to extend the protection of British law to the people and their property, the colonists' interests came first; their policy of "civilising" and "protecting" the Indigenous people nonetheless assumed a peaceful transfer of land to the settlers. All land was offered up for sale and bought by settlers. The Lutheran missionaries Christian Teichelmann and Clamor Schurmann studied Kaurna language and culture, and were able to inform
4655-593: The area are the Ngadjuri people. During the early colonial era, particularly in the 1850s and 1860s, disputes and conflicts occurred between settlers and the Aboriginal people. The Ngadjuri people now hold native title rights over the area. The extreme south west of the Mid North region is a part of the traditional lands of the Kaurna people. The area was settled as early as 1840 (South Australia settlement began in 1836) and provided early farming and mining outputs for
4750-478: The area bounded by Crystal Brook and Clare in the north, Cape Jervis in the south, and just over the Mount Lofty Ranges . Kaurna ceased to be spoken on an everyday basis in the 19th century and the last known native speaker, Ivaritji , died in 1929. Language revival efforts began in the 1980s, with the language now frequently used for ceremonial purposes, such as dual naming and welcome to country ceremonies. Robert M. W. Dixon (2002) classified Kaurna as
4845-402: The authorities of their exclusive ownership of land inherited through the paternal line. Gawler reserved several areas for the Kaurna people, but the settlers protested and these areas were subsequently sold or leased. Within ten years, all of the Kaurna and Ramindjeri lands were occupied by Europeans. Wild fauna disappeared as European garden practices were introduced and grazing animals destroyed
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#17328515558374940-465: The bulbs, lilies and tubers that the Kaurna had tended for food. Elders no longer had authority; their entire way of life had been undermined. The Kaurna may have numbered several thousand before European contact, but were down to about 700 by the time of the formal establishment of the colony in 1836. Initially, contacts began with the arrival of sealers and whalers in the 1790s. Sealers established themselves on Kangaroo Island as early as 1806, and raided
5035-405: The bundle being used as a pillow at night. Burial by bodies of water was common with the use of sandy beaches, sand dunes and banks of rivers. A large number of graves have been found on Glenelg beach and at Port Noarlunga . Similarly, an unusually complex burial at Kongaratti was found. The grave was rectangular and lined with slate , the base was also lined with slate which had been covered with
5130-423: The coastline and ran extensively inland. The coastline was essential for seafood hunting and the inland territories provided food, clothing and protection for the people during bad weather. The pangkarra were also grouped into larger areas of land called yerta . As all the members of a band were related, marriage between a man and a woman within the same band was forbidden. Bands were patrilineal and patrilocal :
5225-405: The colonists as "King John"), was one of Lutheran missionaries Christian Teichelmann and Clamor Schürmann 's main sources. Encounter Bay Bob , as his name suggests, came from Encounter Bay (Victor Harbor) and was most likely a fully initiated elder Ramindjeri man. Thus "Meyunna" is probably an endonym and would linguistically be preferable as the name for this language group, as suggested in
5320-472: The entire Adelaide metropolitan area. The Ramindjeri people contested the southern portion of the original claim. In March 2018 the determination was made and the Kaurna were officially recognised as the traditional owners of the land from "Myponga to Lower Light". An Indigenous land use agreement for the area was finalised on 19 November 2018. The agreement was among the South Australian government ,
5415-468: The entire Bible, their recorded vocabulary of over 2,000 words was the largest wordlist registered by that time, and pivotal in the modern revival of the language. Kaurna territory extended from Cape Jervis at the bottom of the Fleurieu Peninsula to Port Wakefield on the eastern shore of Gulf St Vincent , and as far north as Crystal Brook in the Mid North . Tindale claimed clans were found living in
5510-490: The exception of ⟨rd⟩ /ɾ/ . Pre-stopped consonants are preceded by ⟨d⟩ . Below are the consonants of Kaurna (Amery, R & Simpson, J 2013 ). Kaurna places primary stress on the first syllable. Kaurna has relatively free word order . Kaurna uses a range of suffixed case markers to convey information including subjects, objects, spacio-temporal state and other such information. These sometimes have variations in pronunciation and spelling. Below
5605-453: The first semi-native speakers of Kaurna emerging". Kaurna is now frequently used to give Welcomes to Country . Sustained efforts to revive the language in from 1989 included the writing of several Kaurna songs originally written in the Ngarrindjeri , Narungga and Kaurna languages. A second songbook, Kaurna Paltinna , was published in 1999. Following one-off workshops in 1990 and 1991,
5700-671: The first wordlist of the language, containing 168 words, after calling in at the Gulf St Vincent en route to Western Australia in 1826, before the colony of South Australia had been established. His sources were listed as Harry and Sally. Schürmann and Teichelmann, who ran a school at Piltawodli , gained most of their knowledge of the language from three respected elders : Mullawirraburka ("King John" / "Onkaparinga Jack"), Kadlitpinna ("Captain Jack") and Ityamaiitpinna ("[King Rodney"). The two missionaries recorded around about 3000 words,
5795-476: The fledgling colony. Farming is still significant in the area, particularly wheat , sheep and grapevines . Grapes are grown in the Clare Valley and Southern Flinders Ranges wine regions . Copper was formerly mined at Kapunda and Burra . For the purposes of weather districts, the Mid North region is divided horizontally into "Flinders" for the northern portion and "Mid North" for the southern portion by
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#17328515558375890-403: The history books has been described as "strategic forgetting" by anthropologist W. E. H. Stanner . The last surviving person of full Kaurna descent, a woman called Ivaritji (Amelia Taylor or Amelia Savage) died in 1929. Born in Port Adelaide in the late 1840s, her name means "gentle, misty rain" in the Kaurna language. Her father, Ityamai-itpina , known as "Rodney", was one of the leaders of
5985-404: The language. The records, including an extensive vocabulary and grammar, compiled by Teichelmann and Schürmann in the 1840s have proven valuable in projects to reconstruct the language. The Kaurna Learners' Guide ( Kulurdu Marni Ngathaitya ) was published in 2013, and Kaurna radio shows have been broadcast since 2012. The Kaurna Dictionary Project at the University of Adelaide , funded by
6080-496: The language. In December 1839, they opened a school at Piltawodli (in the west Park Lands north of the River Torrens ) where the children were taught to read and write in Kaurna. Schurmann and Teichelmann (and later Samuel Klose ) translated the Ten Commandments and a number of German hymns into Kaurna, with Schürmann attempting to 'Christianize' and 'civilize' the people. Although they never achieved their goal of translating
6175-638: The language; several wrote about the "Adelaide Tribe" in their memoirs. Williams created a list of 377 Kaurna words, published in the Southern Australian on 15 May 1839 and republished in The South Australian Colonist on 14 July 1840. His work entitled A vocabulary of the language of the Aborigines of the Adelaide district, and other friendly tribes, of the Province of South Australia
6270-403: The mainland for Kaurna women, both for the sexual opportunities and the workforce they could supply in skinning the sealers' prey. Wary of Europeans from their experience with sealers, the Kaurna generally stayed aloof when the first colonists arrived. The timing was important. Summer was a period when the Kaurna traditionally moved from the plains to the foothills, so that the initial settlement of
6365-470: The means to develop the property or make farming a viable option for the Kaurna. Many Kaurna people worked for the settlers and were well thought of, but the work was seasonal and the rewards inadequate, and their tribal obligations were not understood by their employers. Grey started the use of rations to maintain the peace and to persuade the people to send their children to school. According to Moorhouse, "almost whole tribes" had disappeared by 1846, and by
6460-663: The mid-1990s. However, they are now universally known as the Kaurna people. Library of Congress Subject Headings gives the following variant names (all followed by "language"): Adelaide; Coorna; Gauna; Gaurna; Gawurna; Kaura; Kawurna. The Endangered Languages Project names the following alternatives: Kaura, Coorna, Koornawarra, Nganawara, Kurumidlanta, Milipitingara, Widninga, Winnaynie, Meyu, Winaini, Winnay-nie, Wakanuwan, Adelaide tribe, Warra, Warrah, Karnuwarra, Jaitjawar:a, Padnaindi, Padnayndie, Medaindi, Medain-die, Merildekald, Merelde, Gaurna, Nantuwara, Nantuwaru, Meljurna, Midlanta. French explorer Joseph Paul Gaimard recorded
6555-436: The missions and scattered in the settled districts in the late 19th century, despite the wide belief that the "Adelaide tribe" was extinct by the 1870s. Rations continued to be supplied in Adelaide and from ration depots in the country. Although the office of Protector was restored in 1861, the government did not play an active role in Aboriginal affairs, leaving their welfare to the missionaries. A Select Committee reported that
6650-529: The neighbouring Ramindjeri tribe asserts a historical territory including the whole southern portion of the Fleurieu Peninsula and Kangaroo Island , extending as far north as Noarlunga or even the River Torrens . This overlaps with a significant portion of the territory claimed by both the Kaurna and the neighbouring Ngarrindjeri to the east. However, linguistic evidence suggests that the Aboriginal people encountered by Colonel Light at Rapid Bay in 1836 were Kaurna speakers. The Berndts' ethnographic study, which
6745-545: The onset of winter, they would retire to the woodlands, often using hollowed out fallen redgums along creeks, with bark extensions as shelters. Sudden downpours could quench their fires, the maintaining of which was old women's work, with deadly consequences. At times they would have to impose themselves on otherwise despised tribes, such as the Ngaiawang and Nganguruku to trade goods like their cloaks, quartz flints and red ochre in order to obtain firesticks. Among their customs
6840-419: The original name for Adelaide. The annual Tarnanthi Festival of Contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art takes its name from the Kaurna word meaning "to rise, come forth, spring up or appear". Many prominent South Australian place names are drawn from the Kaurna language: English-Kaurna hybridised placenames include: Possible Kaurna placenames include: Mid North The Mid North
6935-503: The police and new settlers, also sharing their language, culture and beliefs with the missionaries. An early settler in Marryatville , George Brunskill , reported that the "local Blacks" were harmless, did not steal, and returned borrowed items promptly. Much goodwill was shown on both sides, but as the settler numbers grew, their drunkenness, violence, exploitation and failure to practise the reciprocity expected in Aboriginal culture soured
7030-504: The position was abolished. The Kaurna people had to accept colonial domination more quickly than in other regions, and they mostly chose to co-exist peacefully with the settlers. Most, however, resisted the "civilising" policies of the government and the Christian teachings of the missionaries. Being so small in number by the 1850s, some were absorbed into the neighbouring Narungga or Ngarrindjeri groups, and some married settlers. By 1860
7125-413: The post of Protector of Aborigines set up with this aim. William Wyatt was followed by the first official appointment in the role, Matthew Moorhouse , who held the post from 1839 to 1856. He reported in 1840 that many Kaurna were friendly and helpful, and that by 1840, about 150 spoke at least some English. Many Kaurna men, such as Mullawirraburka ("King John") and Kadlitpinna ("Captain Jack") helped
7220-565: The race was doomed to extinction. Some Aboriginal people (Kaurna and others) moved around and sometimes visited the city, camping in Botanic Park , then called the Police Paddocks. In 1874, 18 men and women were arrested and charged as "vagrants", and after a 14 days' imprisonment were sent back to Goolwa and Milang . Running battles between the police and similar groups continued for decades. History books about Adelaide have largely ignored
7315-539: The relationships. After a few incidents involving the executions of Aboriginal men after the murders of settlers, sometimes on flimsy evidence, and a blind eye turned to violence against Indigenous people, the situation escalated. The Maria massacre of shipwrecked people on the Coorong led to further violent clashes and harsh penalties were imposed to protect the settlers. Missionaries Teichelmann and Schurmann, Protector Moorhouse and Sub-Protector Edward John Eyre questioned
7410-468: The same moiety was forbidden. Girls became marriageable at puberty , usually around 12 years of age. Conversely, men were only allowed to marry after the age of 25. Sexual relations were relatively free and uninhibited, regardless of marital status. Kaurna ownership of property was communal; the reproductive organs were seen no differently from any other form of property, and thus adultery was practically ubiquitous. The visitation of men from distant tribes
7505-459: The site of the Adelaide city centre . Kaurna people also resided in the suburb of Burnside , and an early settler of the village of Beaumont described the local people thus: At every creek and gully you would see their wurlies and their fires at night ... often as many as 500 to 600 would be camped in various places ... some behind the Botanic Gardens on the banks of the river; some toward
7600-585: The south"; Pattawilyangga (Patawalonga, Glenelg ) "swamp gum foliage"; and Yertabulti ( Port Adelaide ). Public artworks, beginning in 1995 with the Yerrakartarta installation outside the Intercontinental Hotel on North Terrace, Adelaide , have also incorporated words, phrases and text drawn from the Kaurna language, and the universities and other organisations have also taken on Kaurna names. The Tandanya National Aboriginal Cultural Institute uses
7695-560: The state government and some is private land owned by corporations. Justice Debra Mortimer said it would be "the first time in Australia that there [had] been a positive outcome within the area of (native title) determination". In 2009, a group called Encompass Technology wrote to the Governor of South Australia on behalf of the Kaurna people, asserting sovereignty over the Marble Hill ruins in
7790-610: The use of a foreign legal code against the Indigenous peoples, and Moorhouse complained of police hostility towards Aboriginal people, but Governor George Grey stood firm, and martial law was applied even where there had been little previous contact with the settlers. Moorhouse and Grey gave up trying to settle the local Aboriginal people as farmers, and discouraged settlement at Pirltawardli . The 1847 Vagrancy Act restricted their free movement. Teichelmann tried to establish an Aboriginal mission settlement at Happy Valley , about 20 kilometres (12 mi) south of Adelaide, but he lacked
7885-562: The vicinity of Snowtown , Blyth , Hoyleton , Hamley Bridge , Clarendon , Gawler and Myponga . The stringy bark forests over the back of the Mount Lofty Ranges have been claimed as a traditional boundary between Kaurna and Peramangk people. Tunkalilla Beach (keinari), 20 kilometres (12 mi) east of Cape Jervis, is the traditional boundary with the Ramindjeri . This is the most widely cited alignment of Kaurna territorial boundaries. However, according to Ronald and Catherine Berndt
7980-498: The vowel. Historically, Kaurna has had ⟨e⟩ and ⟨o⟩ used varyingly in older versions of its orthography, but these are not reflected in the phonology of the language. The consonant inventory of Kaurna is similar to that of other Pama-Nyungan languages (compare with Adnyamathanha , in the same Thura-Yura grouping). In the orthography, dental consonants are followed by ⟨h⟩ and palatals by ⟨y⟩ , and retroflex consonants are preceded by ⟨r⟩ , with
8075-462: Was conducted in the 1930s, identified six Ngarrindjeri clans occupying the coast from Cape Jervis to a few kilometres south of Adelaide. The Berndts posited that the clans may have expanded along trade routes as the Kaurna were dispossessed by colonists. A main Kaurna presence was in Tarndanyangga ("red kangaroo place") near the River Torrens and the creeks that flowed into it, an area that became
8170-655: Was created from a series of workshops funded by a University of Adelaide grant in 2000, and is hosted by the department of linguistics at the University of Adelaide. KWP-run language classes through both the Kaurna Plains School and the university. KWP has created a uniform dialect of the language, making new words such as mukarntu ( mukamuka brain + karntu lightning), meaning "computer", and other words for things such as modern appliances, transportation, cuisine, and other common features of life that have changed for
8265-461: Was designed by Kaurna artist Katrina Karlapina Power. Entitled Kaurna Warrapiipa, Kaurna Dictionary , the dictionary contains translations both ways (Kaurna and English ). and is published by Wakefield Press . Kaurna has three different vowels with contrastive long and short lengths (a, i, u, a:, i:, u:), and three diphthongs (ai, au, ui). The three main vowels are represented by ⟨a⟩, ⟨i⟩ and ⟨u⟩ respectively, with long vowels indicated by doubling
8360-585: Was no longer practised. Many hundreds of objects were sent to the Paris exhibition and these were never returned to Australia. The Kaurna collection held by the South Australian Museum contains only 48 items. In September 2002, a Living Kaurna Cultural Centre was opened at Warriparinga in the southern suburbs area of Adelaide. The Kaurna people lived in family groups called bands, who lived in defined territories called pangkarra which were "passed" from father to son upon his initiation. Pangkarra always had access to
8455-448: Was not recorded until 1879, used by Alfred William Howitt in 1904, but not widely used until popularised by Norman B. Tindale in the 1920s. Most likely, it is an exonym introduced from the Ramindjeri or Ngarrindjeri word kornar meaning "men" or "people". Kaurna meyunna , meaning Kaurna people, is often used in greetings and Welcome to Country or Acknowledgement of Country ceremonies. Kaurna'war:a (Kaurna speech) belongs to
8550-483: Was not widely used until popularised by South Australian Museum Ethnographer Norman B. Tindale in the 1920s. The term "Kaurna" was first recorded by Missionary Surgeon William Wyatt (1879: 24) for "Encounter Bay Bob's Tribe". At the same time he recorded "Meeyurna" for " Onkaparinga Jack 's Tribe". Kaurna most likely derives from kornar , the word for "people" in the neighbouring Ramindjeri/ Ngarrindjeri language . Mullawirraburka (Onkaparinga Jack, also known to
8645-428: Was seen as a good opportunity to enhance the gene pool . The practice of milla mangkondi or wife stealing was also common, for the same reason. Although this custom was hated by some victims, as arranged marriages were the norm, some women saw it as an opportunity to choose their own partners and actively encouraged a preferred suitor; all Kaurna bands are said to have engaged in the practice regularly. Very little
8740-494: Was self-published in 1839, to be sold in London as well as Adelaide. Others who recorded some knowledge of Kaurna included James Cronk, Walter Bromley , George Augustus Robinson , Hermann Koeler, Louis Piesse, Edward Stephens and James Chittleborough. In the 19th century, there was also a Kaurna-based pidgin used as a contact language. The former range of the language was mapped by Norman Tindale and later Robert Amery , and
8835-603: Was supported by the Kaurna Yerta Aboriginal Corporation. The memorial site is in the shape of the Kaurna shield, to protect the ancestors now buried there. In November 2021, the South Australian Museum apologised to the Kaurna people for having held 4,600 Aboriginal remains over the past 165 years, and buried the first 100 remains of their ancestors at the site. A second round of burials took place in June 2022. Jack Kanya Kudnuitya Buckskin (born c. 1986 ),
8930-464: Was the practice of fire-stick farming (deliberately lit bushfires for hunting purposes) in the Adelaide Hills , which the early European settlers spotted before the Kaurna were displaced. These fires were part of a scrub clearing process to encourage grass growth for emu and kangaroo . This tradition led to conflict with the colonists as the fires tended to cause considerable damage to farmland. In an official report, Major Thomas O'Halloran claimed
9025-409: Was thought to be for a funeral. As soon as a person died the body was wrapped in the clothes they had worn in life. The body was then placed on a wiralli (crossed sticks that form the radii of a circle) and an inquest was held to determine cause of death. The body was then buried. Children under four years were not buried for some months, but were wrapped and carried by their mothers during the day with
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