Kaurna

[11] 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 the language.

[12] 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.

[14] Although they never achieved their goal of translating 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.

However, according to Ronald and Catherine Berndt 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[16][17] or even the River Torrens.

[17] 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 the site of the Adelaide city centre.

[21] The Lutheran missionaries Christian Teichelmann and Clamor Schurmann studied Kaurna language and culture, and were able to inform the authorities of their exclusive ownership of land inherited through the paternal line.

Wild fauna disappeared as European garden practices were introduced and grazing animals destroyed the bulbs, lilies and tubers that the Kaurna had tended for food.

[24] 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).

[25] They had suffered a serious drop in numbers in the early 1830s (and possibly again in 1889)[2] 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.

[2] 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 Kaurna men, such as Mullawirraburka ("King John") and Kadlitpinna ("Captain Jack") helped the police and new settlers, also sharing their language, culture and beliefs with the missionaries.

[30] 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 the relationships.

[31] 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.

[33] Teichelmann tried to establish an Aboriginal mission settlement at Happy Valley, about 20 kilometres (12 mi) south of Adelaide, but he lacked the means to develop the property or make farming a viable option for the Kaurna.

[43] 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.

The enactment of 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".

The claim covers over 8,000 square kilometres (3,100 sq mi) of land stretching from Cape Jervis to Port Broughton, including the entire Adelaide metropolitan area.

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.

[56] Among their customs 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.

In an official report, Major Thomas O'Halloran claimed the Kaurna also used this as a weapon against the colonists by lighting fires to deliberately destroy fences, survey pegs and to scatter livestock.

Since the late 1960s, restrictions on foothills subdivision and development have allowed regeneration of native trees and bush to a "natural" condition that would not have existed at the time of European occupation.

[c] 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.

[64] 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.

[84] 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.

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.

[80] The impetus for his work stems from when he was just 19, and having become the second in his family to have finished Year 12, and started at university, received the news that his sister Mary, who had moved to Darwin, had committed suicide.

[95][96][97][98] As of 2023[update] Buckskin works at Tauondi Aboriginal College in Port Adelaide as a cultural adviser and mentor,[89] and is frequently called upon to perform Welcomes to Country.

[75] After his death, Rob Amery, head of KWP, wrote on his staff web page: "This has been a great loss to the team who relied on Steve for so much - role model, mentor, Kurraka in the Pirltawardli Puppet Show, performer, editor, camera operator, cultural advisor, etc.".

[99] "The Portrait of Stephen Goldsmith" is a mural Wright Street, Adelaide city centre, by Jimmy C (James Cochran) with Eizabeth Close, painted in 2018.

Uncle Stevie's son Jamie is a well-known yidaki player and dancer with the Taikurtinna group, who has also been honoured by a mural painted by Jimmy C, in Frank's Lane.