Ngarrindjeri

The Ngarrindjeri actually comprised several distinct if closely related tribal groups, including the Jarildekald, Tanganekald, Meintangk and Ramindjeri,[2] who began to form a unified cultural bloc after remnants of each separate community congregated at Raukkan, South Australia (formerly Point McLeay Mission).

[4] The missionary George Taplin chose the term, spelling it as Narrinyeri,[5] as a generic ethnonym to designate a unified constellation of several distinct tribes, and bearing the meaning of "belonging to people", as opposed to kringgari (whites).

[11] According to David Horton's map "Aboriginal Australia", the Ngarrindjeri lands lie along the Coorong coastline, from Victor Harbor on the southern Fleurieu Peninsula in the north, to Cape Jaffa in the south.

Archaeology, particularly in excavations conducted at Roonka Flat, which affords one of the most outstanding sites for investigating "pre–European contact Aboriginal burial populations in Australia", has revealed that the traditional territory of the Ngarrindjeri has been inhabited since the Holocene period, beginning around 8,000 BCE down to around 1840 CE.

Originally the most heavily populated area in Australia, a smallpox epidemic had travelled down the River Murray before colonisation by Britain, possibly killing a majority of the Ngarrindjeri.

[14] Numbering only 6000 at the time of colonisation in 1836 due to the epidemic, they are the only Aboriginal cultural group in Australia whose land lay within 100 km (62 mi) of a capital city to have survived as a distinct people with a population still living on the former mission at Raukkan (formerly Point McLeay).

[16] George Taplin created the Raukkan mission on behalf of the Aborigines' Friends' Association (whose stated object was "the moral, spiritual, and physical well-being of the natives of this Province"[17]) in 1859.

[19] The community eventually struggled to survive due the subdivision of pastoral properties for farms, which resulted in a shortage of seasonal work, and the refusal of the South Australian Government to acknowledge their ownership of the land and to raise the size of their reserve.

The Ngarrindjeri achieved a great deal of publicity in the 1990s due to their opposition to the construction of a bridge from Goolwa to Hindmarsh Island, which resulted in a Royal Commission and a High Court case in 1996.

[22] However, in a case brought by the developers seeking damages for their losses, Federal Court judge Mr John von Doussa took issue with the findings of the Royal Commission, and in rejecting the claims, stated that he found Doreen Kartinyeri to be a credible witness.

Taplin gathered many more words from several dialects, including Yaraldi and Portawalun, from the people who congregated around the Point MacLeay mission (now Raukkan) on Lake Alexandrina, and his dictionary had 1668 English entries.

The straight section of river to Peindjalong (near Tailem Bend) resulted from Pondi fleeing in fear after being speared in the tail.

The twin peaks, large permanent sandhills of Mount Misery on the eastern shore of Lake Alexandrina are known as Lalangenggul or Lalanganggel (two watercraft) and represent where Ngurunderi brought his rafts ashore to make camp.

There was no mention of Thukabi in the anthropological record and this example was later used as evidence for the survival of Ngarrindjeri stories that were unknown to anthropologists in support of the secret women's business.

Their patrilineal culture and ritual practices were also distinct from that of the surrounding people which has been attributed by Aboriginal historian Graham Jenkin to their enmity with the Kaurna to the west, who practised circumcision[c] and monopolised red ochre, the Merkani (Ngarrindjeri for "enemy") to the east, who stole Ngarrindjeri women and were reputed to be cannibals[33] and to the north the Ngadjuri who were believed to send mulapi ("clever men", sorcerers) and, although not sharing a border, the Nukunu, who were thought to be sorcerers, incestuous and prone to commit rape.

[34] By way of contrast and due to a shared dreaming, the relationship between the Ngarrindjeri and the Walkandi-woni (the people of the warm north-east wind), their collective name for the various groups living along the River as far as Wentworth in New South Wales, was of significant mutual importance and the groups regularly met at Wellington, Tailem Bend, Murray Bridge, Mannum or Swan Reach to exchange songs and conduct ceremonies.

[37] Differing from most Australian Aboriginal communities, the fertility of their land allowed the Ngarrindjeri and Merkani to live a semi-sedentary life, moving between permanent summer and winter camps.

In May 1839, the Protector of Aborigines William Wyatt announced publicly, "it appeared that the natives occupy no lands in the especial manner" described in the instructions.

Bowing to the interests of prominent colonists and the Resident Commissioner who wanted to survey and sell the land without hindrance, Wyatt never recorded that sites were permanently occupied in his reports on Aboriginal culture and practices.

[36] The bulrushes, reeds and sedges were used for basket-weaving or making rope, trees provided wood for spears, and stones were fashioned into tools.

Before colonisation, there were extensive swamps and woodlands on the Fleurieu Peninsula, which provided habitat and food sources for a range of birds, fish, and other animals, including snake-necked turtles, yabbies, rakali, ducks and black swans.

[32] The Ngarrindjeri were well known to Europeans for their cooking skills and the efficiency of their camp ovens, the remains of which can still be found throughout the River Murray area.

Some species of fish, birds and other animals considered easily caught were reserved by law for the elderly and infirm, an indication of the abundance of food in Ngarrindjeri lands.

[42] According to Taplin, there were eighteen territorial clans or lakalinyeri that constituted the Ngarrindjeri "confederacy" or "nation", each of which was administered by about a dozen elders (tendi).

[citation needed] Norman Tindale's research in the 1920s and Ronald and Catherine Berndt's ethnographic study, which was conducted in the 1930s, established only 10 lakinyerar.

For example, Jaralde, Jaraldi, Jarildekald and Jarildikald were separate family groups names as were Ramindjari, Ramindjerar, Ramindjeri, Ramingara, Raminjeri, Raminyeri.