Ngadjuri facts for kids

The Ngadjuri people are an Aboriginal Australian group. Their traditional lands are in the mid-north of South Australia. This area stretches from Gawler in the south up to Orroroo in the Flinders Ranges in the north.

What's in a Name?

The name Ngadjuri comes from two words: ŋadlu, which means 'we', and juri, meaning 'man'. So, the name means "we men".

Language of the Ngadjuri

The Ngadjuri language is part of a larger group called the Thura-Yura language family. Long ago, a linguist named Wilhelm Schmidt thought it was part of a different group called Miṟu languages, along with the languages of the Kaurna, Narungga, and Nukunu peoples.

Some words from the Ngadjuri language were written down by Samuel Le Brun in the late 1850s. He lived at Canowie Station and was interested in the local Aboriginal words. He shared his findings in a book in 1886. One important Ngadjuri word is cowie or kowi, which means 'water'. You can see this word in many local place names like Yarcowie, Canowie, Caltowie, Warcowie, and Booborowie.

Ngadjuri Country

The Ngadjuri people's traditional lands covered a large area, about 29,785 square kilometres (11,500 square miles). This land included towns like Angaston and Freeling in the south. It went north to Clare, Crystal Brook, Gladstone, and all the way to Carrieton and Orroroo in the Flinders Ranges.

Their land also reached Waukaringa and Koonamore to the northeast. The areas of Peterborough, Burra, and Robertstown were also part of Ngadjuri territory. The eastern edge of their land was near Mannahill.

Interestingly, the Ngadjuri territory matches where the peppermint gum tree grows. Because of this, the Kaurna people called them Wirameju, which means "peppermint gum forest people" in their language.

Other Names for the Ngadjuri

How They Lived Together

Before European settlers arrived, the Ngadjuri people lived in groups called "hordes." These groups moved around their land. Some of the known horde names include:

• Burra Burra
• Abercrombie
• Mimbara (the group living in the northern part of Ngadjuri land).

History with Settlers

When European settlers came to South Australia, the Ngadjuri people faced many challenges. They were a nomadic people, meaning they moved from place to place. Sadly, many Ngadjuri people died from European diseases like measles and smallpox. As settlers took over their land and water, the Ngadjuri people had to spread out.

Police were set up at Bungaree Station as early as 1842. The discovery of large copper mines at Kapunda and Burra in 1844 and 1845 brought many more settlers to their region. By 1852, about 70 Ngadjuri people were receiving food supplies from the settlers. Children enjoyed playing new games like marbles, rounders, and cricket. However, as farming grew, the main Ngadjuri community seemed to disappear over the next 20 years.

The Mimbara group, in the northern bushlands, managed to stay in their traditional ways until 1905. They were the last "wild" group of Aboriginal peoples of South Australia. They were later moved south to areas near Quorn, Riverton, and on Willochra Creek.

Ngadjuri Art

The Ngadjuri people used different art forms to share their culture and beliefs. They created petroglyphs (rock carvings), body art, and other designs. Examples of rock carvings can be found at Firewood Creek, near Burra, a place known as Kooringa in Ngadjuri language. Common designs include parallel lines, hand prints, and footprints of animals like kangaroos and emus.

Ngadjuri Culture

The Ngadjuri had special ways of burying their dead. Sometimes bodies were smoked or dried before burial. Many skeletons were found during the building of the Spalding railway line. Large groups of up to a hundred men would go on big possum hunts in the hills. While ceremonies were usually private events for men, by the 1860s, they sometimes allowed European spectators and asked for donations.

Ngadjuri Stories and Myths

The Ngadjuri people have many interesting myths and stories. One story tells of a time when the Barngarla and Kokata peoples, who were very hungry, moved from the Western Desert towards the Eyre Peninsula. This made the Ngadjuri people feel threatened.

The story goes like this: A woman with two dogs, one red and one black, came from the northwest. These dogs looked like humans. As they traveled through the Flinders Ranges near Mount Patawerta, they started killing and eating any humans they met. News of this danger spread quickly, and people fled. When the cannibal woman got close to the good camping grounds at Karuna (now Blinman), the Ganjamata hill people decided to fight back.

They chose two brave warriors, Kudnu (the jew lizard) and his brother Wulkinara. They set a trap for the woman and her dogs. Wulkinara told Kudnu to hide in a tree and make noise to get their attention, while he would hide in the bushes. The dogs didn't hear Kudnu at first, but when he yelled louder, the red dog jumped into the tree. Just then, Wulkinara threw his boomerang, and it cut the dog in half. Kudnu shouted again, and the black dog charged. Wulkinara threw his other boomerang and cut that dog in half too. Then they killed the woman.

The blood of the dogs created two special places. The red dog's blood formed the valuable red ochre deposit at Parachilna Gorge. The Ngadjuri people used this ochre for art and medicine. The black dog's blood formed a black wad, which was used to smear on young men during their initiation ceremonies and for dancing.

Another part of the story tells about the sun: After the woman and her dogs were killed, something amazing happened. The sun, which had always stayed in the sky, set in the west! This scared the tribespeople, and they cried out. They tried everything to make the sun rise again, but it wouldn't. Kudnu, however, was fast asleep. When his tired kinsmen also fell asleep, he woke up. He threw a boomerang north, then west, then south, but nothing happened. Finally, he threw his fourth boomerang eastwards. He listened carefully and watched it circle back from that direction. As it came closer, the sky began to light up, and day broke! He woke his people, who were so happy and gave him many gifts like rugs, spears, and clubs. In Ngadjuri stories, these gifts are still marked on the jew lizard's back.

Some people think this part of the story might be related to a solar eclipse that happened over the Parachilna Gorge area on March 13, 1793.

The Ngadjuri also have a version of the well-known Eagle and Crow myth: Crow and Eagle were hunting together. Crow was jealous because Eagle wouldn't share its food and was strong enough to smash the nests of jerboa rats. To get back at Eagle, Crow sharpened a bone from a kangaroo's leg and stuck it inside a jerboa nest. He told the bone to move when he spoke, to make it seem like many rats were inside. He then tricked Eagle, asking him to smash the nest so they could eat the contents. The bone made noises, convincing Eagle. Eagle stomped on the nest, and the bone pierced his foot, making him limp. Crow was delighted.

Eagle then tracked Crow and his family as they moved northeast to Titalpa and then west to Waruni. Eagle's wound got worse and pus streamed out, forming a white quartz reef that can still be seen today. It was raining, and Eagle reached a cave where Crow and his family were sheltering. They wouldn't let him in because his foot smelled. Eagle made a fire of porcupine grass at the cave entrance, and hearing the family choking inside, he left, sure they would suffocate. He then turned into a bird and swooped back three times to eat the "blackfellow Crows," but his father was always there, blocking him and giving him meat instead. From that day on, the eagle swoops to the earth for its prey, and the crow, descended from the smoked-out family, is black, even its eyes look smoky.

Native Title Rights

When European settlers first arrived in 1836 at Holdfast Bay (now Glenelg), the land was seen by the British government as empty. However, the law that set up the Province of South Australia (the South Australia Act 1834) actually said that the Aboriginal people owned the land. It stated that nothing should affect the rights of Aboriginal people to live on and enjoy the land they already occupied.

Even though the law guaranteed land rights for Indigenous people, the authorities and settlers often ignored it. The Indigenous people were considered British subjects, but their rights to their land were not respected.

See also

• History of Adelaide
• Mimbara Conservation Park