Where do I live? An Introduction to Local Indigenous People, History and Culture. NGARRINDJERI PEOPLE OF THE COORONG REGION CONTENTS 03 About This Resource 04 Who are Ngarrindjeri People? 04 Ngarrindjeri Today 05 Land 05 Hindmarsh Island Bridge 06 Culture 07 Kinship 07 Language 08 First Contact 09 Frontier Violence 09 Missions and Reserves 10 Ngarrindjeri Organisations 11 References NGARRINDJERI PEOPLE 2 ABOUT THIS RESOURCE The ‘Where Do I Live?’ resources are designed to help For further information about Indigenous language you learn about the Indigenous custodians, culture, groups, including specific land boundaries or cultural language and history of the local area where you live, information, we recommend contacting your local highlighting that all Australians, Indigenous and Registered Aboriginal Party, visiting a local cultural centre non-Indigenous, are geographically connected by the or contacting your local council or state/territory land we live on. Understanding the cultural significance department of Aboriginal affairs. of the land you live on and the history that’s occurred We warmly invite feedback on our the ‘Where Do I there is one of the first steps you can take to end the Live?’ resources. If you’d like to contribute additional disconnect between Indigenous and non-Indigenous information, please don’t hesitate to contact our team Australians and contribute to a better shared future. [email protected] The information presented in the ‘Where Do I Live?’ resources has been collated from publicly available online and published sources. Where available, we’ve sourced this content directly from materials published by members of the relevant Indigenous people group. We’ve provided references where possible, however, we recognise the information contained in the ‘Where Do I Live?’ resources may be contested and it doesn’t claim to be definitive. NGARRINDJERI PEOPLE 3 NGARRINDJERI WHO ARE NGARRINDJERI NGARRINDJERI TODAY PEOPLE? Ngarrindjeri people are the direct descendants of the Today, several thousand people identify as Ngarrindjeri, original custodians of the Lower Murray, Coorong and living mostly in the Lower Murray and Coorong area.¹ Lakes region of South Australia. Well known Ngarrindjeri Many Ngarrindjeri people are actively involved in people include writer and inventor David Unaipon maintaining, protecting, sharing and celebrating (1872-1967), who features on the Australian 50 dollar Ngarrindjeri cultural heritage. note; singer and songwriter Ruby Hunter (1955-2010); Watch this short video “We Are Ngarrindjeri”, © 2014 and cultural leader and Aboriginal rights activist Tom Ngarrindjeri Regional Authority and Change Media Trevorrow (1954-2013). Ngarrindjeri community leader, Clyde Rigney, from Raukkan Community NGARRINDJERI PEOPLE 4 NGARRINDJERI LAND HINDMARSH ISLAND Ngarrindjeri land extends from Cape Jervis on the tip of BRIDGE Fleurieu Peninsula, north to Murray Bridge on the Murray Throughout the 1990’s, Ngarrindjeri people were involved River and south around Lake Alexandrina and along the in the Hindmarsh Island bridge dispute concerning a Coorong to Kingston.² proposed bridge connecting Hindmarsh Island to the The Raukkan Community Council was granted freehold mainland. A group of Ngarrindjeri women Elders opposed title to some Ngarrindjeri traditional land under the construction of the bridge on the grounds that the Aboriginal Lands Trust Act 1966 (SA) and Point McLeay proposed site was sacred for reasons relating to ‘Secret Community Council holds an Aboriginal Lands Trust Women’s Business’. lease for use and management of other Ngarrindjeri The dispute led to a royal commission in South Australia, traditional areas, including Raukkan Village. The lease which found claims of Secret Women's Business had expires in 2091.³ been fabricated. The bridge was completed in March As of August 2014, Ngarrindjeri people have an active 2001. But a Federal Court ruling later acknowledged the Native Title claim that was lodged in 1998.⁴ claims were not made up. In 2010, the Government of South Australia held a ceremony to endorse the finding that Secret Women's Business was genuine. Many Ngarrindjeri people still reject the bridge on cultural and moral grounds.⁵ NGARRINDJERI PEOPLE 5 NGARRINDJERI CULTURE gave his people the stories, meanings and laws associated Ngurunderi is one of the Ngarrindjeri people’s great with the lands and waters, and gave each clan their Ruwe ancestral Dreaming heroes. According to the Ngarrindjeri (country) and Ngarjtis (totem).⁶ ⁷ Dreaming, Ngurunderi travelled down the Murray River in a bark canoe, in search of his two wives. At that time Watch this short video “Everything Is Connected - the river was only a small stream. A giant cod fish, Ponde, Ngarrindjeri Dance” © 2014 Ngarrindjeri Regional swam ahead of Ngurunderi, widening the river with sweeps Authority and Change Media of its tail. Ngurunderi chased Ponde, trying to spear it from his canoe. At last, Ngurunderi and his brother-in-law, Watch this short video “Everything Is Connected - Nepele, caught Ponde at the place where the fresh and Ngarrindjeri Weaving” © 2014 Ngarrindjeri Regional salt water meet. They cut him up into many pieces, and Authority and Change Media created a new species of fish from each piece. As Ngurunderi travelled throughout the land in search of his wives, he created landforms, waterways and life. He Goolwa Beach, South Australia NGARRINDJERI PEOPLE 6 NGARRINDJERI KINSHIP LANGUAGE According to Ngarrindjeri culture, all elements of the Colonial policies and practices discouraged and even environment are part of the kinship system. People have banned Indigenous Australians from speaking their a spiritual connection to particular places and particular languages. Consequently, many Indigenous Australian species of animals and plants, known as Ngarjtis (totems). languages have been partially or completely lost. George Taplin, a missionary among the Ngarrindjeri Whilst there are no fluent speakers of the Ngarrindjeri people from 1859-1879, recorded 18 Ngarrindjeri clans language today, Ngarrindjeri people are working hard to (or Laklinyerar). According to Taplin, each of these clans revive the Ngarrindjeri language, using it for speeches, had their own dialect, tract of land and totem.⁸ songs, poems and other public performances.¹⁰ By contrast, Ronald and Catherine Berndt’s later ethnographic work identifies ten distinct Ngarrindjeri groups: Yaraldi, Tangani, Ramindjeri, Malganduwa, Marunggulindjeri, Naberuwolin, Potawolin, Wakend, Walerumaldi and Wonyakaldi. Each group is made up of many clan groups, with a total of 77 clan groups, each with its own distinct dialect.⁹ Coorong, South Australia NGARRINDJERI PEOPLE 7 NGARRINDJERI FIRST CONTACT Because of the richness of the natural resources in the occupation of their lands and waters.¹⁴ However, as in Coorong area and the sustainable land management the other colonies, tensions over land occurred between practiced by Ngarrindjeri people, this region supported Ngarrindjeri people and settlers, sometimes resulting in one of the highest density populations in Australia prior violence, and the Crown’s plan to protect Aboriginal people to European arrival (between 6,000 and 8,000 people).¹¹ ¹² in South Australia ultimately yielded to the perceived need to protect settlers and their property.¹⁵ Contact between Ngarrindjeri people and Europeans began around 1810, when sealers operating from Kangaroo Island kidnapped Ngarrindjeri women and introduced venereal diseases. Soon after, other introduced diseases such as smallpox took a heavy toll on the Ngarrindjeri population.¹³ The first Europeans to arrive on Ngarrindjeri Country had been ordered by the King of England to make Treaties with Ngarrindjeri people for the use, purchase and Goolwa Beach, South Australia NGARRINDJERI PEOPLE 8 NGARRINDJERI FRONTIER VIOLENCE MISSIONS AND RESERVES MARIA MASSACRE POINT MCLEAY MISSION (RAUKKAN) In July 1840, the Milmenrura clan of the Ngarrindjeri In 1859, the Aborigines' Friends Association established people encountered 26 survivors from the shipwrecked a Christian Mission at Point McLeay, administered by Maria, which had hit a reef south of the Coorong. They George Taplin. Taplin was interested in Ngarrindjeri culture negotiated to take the survivors towards the nearest and society, and learned the Ngarrindjeri language to settlement, Encounter Bay. However, conflict soon erupted use in preaching and Bible translation. However, Taplin and all 26 shipwreck survivors were killed. Accounts vary adhered to the contemporary view that Ngarrindjeri as to whether this was because the Milmenrura people people must adopt Christianity and European ways had reached their territorial boundary and ceased to and abandon their own civilisation. Consequently, he offer their assistance, or because sailors were abusing contributed to undermining Ngarrindjeri social structure, Milmenrura women. Colonial authorities retaliated violently, further weakened traditional discipline and provoked indiscriminately killing several Milmenrura people, and two strong opposition from many Ngarrindjeri leaders.¹⁷ Aboriginal men were officially hanged for the crime.¹⁶ Nevertheless, by the time Taplin arrived, Ngarrindjeri Elders were already struggling to retain their lives and culture.¹⁸ The Mission provided a refuge for some Ngarrindjeri people who’d been dispossessed and persecuted. By helping Ngarrindjeri people become literate in English and to acquire western trades, Taplin enabled