The term 'Kaurna' was used by scholars for the Aboriginal people from the Adelaide area from the early 1900s. These people seemed to have been pushed out of Adelaide by the city's development. In 1836 there were 300 Kaurna people, the remnants of a much larger population reduced by smallpox and other diseases. In 1839 there was a group of Lutheran Missionaries teaching Kaurna literacy.

Now the descendants of these people are found on nearby mission settlements at Point Pearce on the Yorke Peninsula and Point McLeay near the Murray Mouth.

The Kaurna seem to have moved between the coast in summer months, for coastal berries and various sea life, including turtles, and the foothills in the colder weather which had better shelter and firewood. The inland areas also contained more mammals to hunt, and creeks and swamps contained fish and other water life.

The local people undertook periodic burning, which drove out game for hunting, and also encouraged certain kinds of edible plants such as yam daisies, thistles and cresses, as well as increasing the kind of plants eaten by hunted animals. They had well established travelling tracks, which were taken over by Europeans, and now are reflected in some road routes.

Their religious traditions and language set these people apart from most of their neighbours. In these fields they were more like northern groups. The Adelaide settlement attracted Aboriginal people from further afield, and also drove out the original groups, leaving a vacuum that other Aboriginal groups moved into, muddying the oral traditions of the area.

The Tandanya Aboriginal Cultural Institute in Adelaide was established in 1989.

Sources:
The Encyclopedia of Aboriginal Australia,

Clarke, Philip A Adelaide as an Aboriginal Landscape Aboriginal History Vol 15 Nos 1-2 1991 p 54-72 ML Q572.9901/117

Schwab, Jerry Ambiguity, style and kinship in Adelaide Aboriginal identity In: Being Black 1988 ML 305.89915./31

References:
Aboriginal People of the Adelaide Plains Education Technology Centre Education Department, Adelaide, 1981

Amery, Robert Encoding New Concepts in Old Languages: A case study of the Kaurna... Australian Aboriginal Studies 1993 No 1 p 37-47

Cawthornes, W.A. Sketch of the Aborigines of South Australia 1991

Clarke, Philip A. Adelaide Aboriginal Cosmology Journal of the Anthropological Society of South Australia Vol 28 No 1-2 1990 p 1-10

Foster, Robert The Aborigines Location in Adelaide: South Australia's first 'mission' to the Aborigines Journal of the Anthropological Society of South Australia Vol 28 No 1-2 1990 p 11-37

Gara, Tom A Bibliography of the Kaurna Anthropological Society of South Australia Journal Vol 28 No 2 1990 p 143-164

Gara, Tom The Life of Ivaritji (Princess Amelia) of the Adelaide Tribe Anthropological Society of South Australia Journal Vol 28 No 1 p 64-104 Kaurna People, The Education Department of South Australia, Adelaide, 1989

O'Brien, Lewis The Cultural Significance of the Onkaparinga River Kaurna Higher Education Journal April 1992 No. 2 p 67-70

Rann, Mike South Australian Aboriginal Languages Kaurna Higher education Journal April 1992 No 2 71-73

Ross, Betty Aboriginal and Historic Places around Metropolitan Adelaide and South Coast, Anthropological Society of South Australia, Adelaide, 1984 Testimony to Gawler in Davis, Jack Paperbark: A collection of Black Australian writings Univeristy of Queensland Press, St Lucia, 1990

Tindale, Norman The wanderings of Tjirbruki: A tale of the Kaurna people of Adelaide Records of the South Australian Museum Vol 20 1987 p 5-13

Contacts:

Kaurna Heritage Committee

[Acting Deputy Chairperson Georgina Williams (08) 384 9555]