Koonibba facts for kids
Quick facts for kids KoonibbaSouth Australia |
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 Koonibba
Location in South Australia
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| Established | 1901 (Mission) 28 January 1999 (locality) |
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| Postcode(s) | 5690 | ||||||||||||||
| Time zone | ACST (UTC+9:30) | ||||||||||||||
| • Summer (DST) | ACST (UTC+10:30) | ||||||||||||||
| Location |
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| LGA(s) | District Council of Ceduna | ||||||||||||||
| Region | Eyre Western | ||||||||||||||
| County | Way | ||||||||||||||
| State electorate(s) | Flinders | ||||||||||||||
| Federal Division(s) | Grey | ||||||||||||||
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| Footnotes | Location Adjoining localities |
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Koonibba is a special place in South Australia. It's a community where many Aboriginal people live. It's about 586 kilometres (364 mi) northwest of Adelaide, the state capital. It's also about 38 km (24 mi) northwest of Ceduna and 5 km (3.1 mi) north of the Eyre Highway.
This community grew around the Koonibba Mission, which was active from 1901 to 1975. Koonibba is also famous for its Koonibba Football Club, which started in 1906 and is the oldest Aboriginal football club still playing today. In 2019, a cool rocket testing site called the Koonibba Test Range was built here.
Contents
A Look Back: Koonibba's History
How the Koonibba Mission Started
Koonibba was once an Aboriginal mission. It was set up in 1901 by the Lutheran Church. They bought 16,000 acres (6,500 ha) of land in 1899 to start it. The mission was built near the traditional lands of the Wirangu, Mirning, and Kokatha peoples.
A school was quickly built within a year, and a church followed in 1903. Two Aboriginal men, Thomas Richards and Mickey Free (Michael Free Lawrie), helped build the church. Aboriginal people came to the mission looking for work and were paid for it. However, to get wages, food, and housing, they first had to become Christians.
In 1914, a special home for children, the Koonibba Children's Home, was opened.
Changes Over Time at the Mission
After World War I ended in 1918, the mission stopped growing wheat. Instead, they started raising sheep, which needed less work. Because of this, many people moved away to find jobs elsewhere.
August Bernhard Carl Hoff was in charge of the mission from 1920 to 1930. During his time and later, he collected a list of words from the Wirangu, Kokatha, and Pitjantjatjara languages. His son published this list in 2004.
In 1931, the Lutherans decided to sell the mission land. They didn't ask the people living there what they thought. The residents asked if they could work the land themselves, but their request was not accepted. No one bought the land, and farming stopped in 1993. The church continued to control the lives of the residents until 1958, when the residents protested by walking off the mission.
In 1963, the South Australian Government took over the mission, turning it into an Aboriginal reserve. In 1975, control was given to the Aboriginal Land Trust. As of 2020, the land is leased to the local Aboriginal corporation, the Koonibba Aboriginal Community Council, which now manages the community.
The "Koonibba Lutheran Children's Home" was mentioned in the 1997 Bringing Them Home report. This report talked about places where Indigenous children were sadly taken away from their families, which led to what is known as the Stolen Generations.
The Modern Locality of Koonibba
The official boundaries for the area called Koonibba were set on January 28, 1999. The Eyre Highway forms part of the southern edge of the area. In 2013, a small part of Koonibba that was inside the Yumbarra Conservation Park was moved to a new area called Yumbarra. This was done to make sure the entire conservation park was in one place.
Life in Koonibba Today
Who Lives in Koonibba?
As of 2016, Koonibba and a nearby part of Yumbarra had a population of 149 people. About 87% of these residents are Indigenous Australians.
The community has its own public school, called the Koonibba Aboriginal School.
Sports and Community Life
The Australian rules football club, the Koonibba Football Club, was formed way back in 1906. It's the oldest Aboriginal football club still playing today! They play in the Far West Football League.
In February 2019, a general store opened in Koonibba. This was a big deal because it meant locals could get fresh groceries right in their community for the first time in 40 years!
There are also plans to create new tourist attractions. These will focus on the history of the community. Cultural artefacts that are currently stored at the South Australian Museum might be brought back to Koonibba. This would help the community feel proud and offer a great learning experience for visitors.
Important Buildings
The Our Redeemer Lutheran Church from the old Koonibba Lutheran Mission is still standing. It's listed on the South Australian Heritage Register because it's an important historical building.
Koonibba Test Range: Rockets in the Outback!
Between 2019 and 2020, a private space company called Southern Launch built the Koonibba Test Range. They worked closely with the Koonibba Community Aboriginal Corporation to make sure everyone agreed. This site is used by companies, universities, space agencies, and other groups to launch and recover rockets and their special equipment (called payloads).
It's amazing to know that the Koonibba site is the world's largest privately owned rocket test range! It's also the first one in the world approved by an Indigenous community to launch rockets from their land. The very first launches happened on September 19, 2020, with small rockets carrying small fake payloads. In 2024, it was announced that the biggest satellite ever launched from Australian soil would be fired from this location!
Koonibba in Books and Films
Mazin Grace is a book by Dylan Coleman. It's a fictional story based on her mother's life as a Kokatha child growing up in Koonibba during the 1940s and 1950s. The book even has a list of Aboriginal English and Kokatha words used throughout the story. It won an award in 2011 and was recognized for other literary prizes.
Dylan Coleman also wrote and helped direct a short film called Secret Pretty Things (Jija Mooga Gu). This film is also based on her mother's experiences growing up in Koonibba. It was shown for the first time at the Adelaide Film Festival in October 2020.
Museum Collection
Pastor Hoff's son, Lothar, was born at Koonibba Mission. After his father passed away in 1971, Lothar inherited his father's collection of photographs and rare Kokatha and Wirangu artefacts. In 2008, Lothar gave this important collection to the South Australian Museum so it could be preserved and shared.
Famous People from Koonibba
Here are some notable people connected to Koonibba:
- Bart Willoughby OAM (born 1960), a talented musician who started the band No Fixed Address.
