Ngarrindjeri: Difference between revisions

{{Short description|Australian Aboriginal group}}

{{cleanup lang|date=December 2022}}

{{Use Australian English|date=July 2018}}

[[File: Ngarrindjeri Nation Flag.svg|250px|thumb|Ngarrindjeri flag]]

[[File:LowerLakes2004.jpg|thumb|250px|Ngarrindjeri culture is centred around the lower lakes of the [[Murray River]].]]

The '''Ngarrindjeri''' people are the traditional [[Aboriginal Australian]] people of the lower [[Murray River]], eastern [[Fleurieu Peninsula]], and [[the Coorong]] of the southern-central area of the state of [[South Australia]]. The term ''Ngarrindjeri'' means "belonging to men",{{sfn|Tindale|1974}} and refers to a "tribal constellation". The Ngarrindjeri actually comprised several distinct if closely related tribal groups, including the [[Jarildekald people|Jarildekald]], [[Tanganekald people|Tanganekald]], [[Meintangk people|Meintangk]] and [[Ramindjeri]],{{sfn|Berndt|Berndt|Stanton|1993|p=xvii}} who began to form a unified [[cultural bloc]] after remnants of each separate community congregated at [[Raukkan, South Australia]] (formerly Point McLeay Mission).

A descendant of these peoples, Irene Watson, has argued that the notion of Ngarrindjeri identity is a cultural construct imposed by settler colonialists, who bundled together and conflated a variety of distinct Aboriginal cultural and kinship groups into one homogenised pattern, now known as Ngarrindjeri.{{sfn|Watson|2014|p=75}}

Sources disagree as to who the Ngarrindjeri were.{{sfn|Bell|1998|p=458}} The missionary [[George Taplin]] chose the term, spelling it as ''Narrinyeri'',{{sfn|Harris|1990|p=373}} 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).{{sfn|Berndt|Berndt|Stanton|1993|p=19}} Etymologically, it is thought to be an abbreviation of ''kornarinyeri'' ("belonging to men/human beings", formed ''narr'' (linguistically plain or intelligible) and ''inyeri'', a suffix indicating belongingness.{{sfn|Taplin|1879|p=34}} It implied that those outside the group were not quite human.{{sfn|Berndt|Berndt|Stanton|1993|p=19}} Other terms were available, for example, ''Kukabrak'',{{efn|The Berndts identified the Kukabrak as dwelling in the Lower Murray, Lakes and coastal areas {{harv|Berndt|Berndt|Stanton|1993|p=22}}}} but Taplin's authority popularised the other term.{{sfn|Berndt|Berndt|Stanton|1993|p=21}}

Later [[ethnographer]]s and [[anthropologist]]s have disagreed with Taplin's construction of the tribal federation of 18 ''lakinyeri'' ([[clan]]s).{{sfn|Taplin|1879|p=34}}{{sfn|Pate|2006|p=239}} [[Ian D. Clark (historian)|Ian D. Clark]] has called it a [[Invented tradition|"reinvention of tradition"]]. [[Norman Tindale]] and [[Ronald Murray Berndt]] in particular were critical both of Taplin and of each other's reevaluation of the evidence.{{sfn|Bell|1998|p=458}} According to Tindale, a close evaluation of his material suggests that his data pertains basically to the Jarildekald/Yaralde culture,{{sfn|Tindale|1974|p=212}} and he limited their borders to [[Cape Jervis]], whereas Berndt and his wife [[Catherine Berndt]] argued that the Ramindjeri component lived in proximity to [[Adelaide]].{{sfn|Bell|1998|p=458}} The Berndts argued that, despite cultural links, there was no political unity to warrant the "nation" or "confederacy".{{sfn|Berndt|Berndt|Stanton|1993|p=xxvii}}

==Country==

According to David Horton's map "Aboriginal Australia", the Ngarrindjeri lands lie along the [[Coorong]] coastline, from [[Victor Harbor, South Australia|Victor Harbor]] on the southern [[Fleurieu Peninsula]] in the north, to [[Cape Jaffa]] in the south.{{sfn|Horton|1996}} According to the map, the lands extend inland just north of [[Murray Bridge, South Australia|Murray Bridge]], receding to a {{convert|15|to|20|km|abbr=on|adj=on}} wide coastal strip west of the [[Murray River]] lower lakes, but extending further inland in the south to a point near the state border at [[Coonawarra, South Australia|Coonawarra]]. The lands include both of the Murray lower lakes, [[Lake Alexandrina (South Australia)|Lake Alexandrina]] and [[Lake Albert (South Australia)|Lake Albert]].

[[File:Ngarrindjeriland.png|thumb|right|250px|Approximate historical extent of Ngarrindjeri territory]]

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|Holocene period]], beginning around 8,000 BCE down to around 1840 CE.{{sfn|Pate|2006|p=226}}

[[Whaling|Whalers]] and [[Seal hunting|sealers]] had been visiting the South Australian coast since 1802 and by 1819 there was a permanent camp on Karta, [[Kangaroo Island]]. Many of these men were escaped convicts, sealers, and whalers who had brought Tasmanian Aboriginal women with them but they also raided the mainland for women, particularly [[Ramindjeri]]. Originally the most heavily populated area in Australia, a [[smallpox]] epidemic had travelled down the River Murray before [[British colonisation of South Australia|colonisation by Britain]], possibly killing a majority of the Ngarrindjeri. Funeral rites and cultural practices were disrupted, family groups merged and land use became altered. Songs from the time tell of the smallpox that came out of the [[Crux|Southern Cross]] in the east with a loud noise like a bright flash. In 1830 the first exploratory expedition reached the Ngarrindjeri lands and [[Charles Sturt]] noted that the people were already familiar with firearms.{{sfn|Simons|2003|pp=18–19}}

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 {{convert|100|km|mi|abbr=on}} 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).{{Citation needed|date=July 2010}} ''Pomberuk'' (Ngarrindjeri for crossing place), on the banks of the Murray in [[Murray Bridge, South Australia|Murray Bridge]] was the most significant Ngarrindjeri site. All 18 lakinyeri (tribes) would meet there for [[corroboree]]s. Around {{convert|22|km|mi|abbr=on}} further down the river was ''Tagalang'' ([[Tailem Bend, South Australia|Tailem Bend]]), a traditional trading camp where lakinyeri would gather to trade [[ochre]], weapons and clothing. In the 1900s, Tailem Bend was assigned as a government ration depot supplying the Ngarrindjeri.

The Ngarrindjeri were the first [[Aboriginal South Australians|South Australian Aboriginal people]] to work with Europeans in large-scale economic operations, working as farmers, whalers and labourers.{{sfn|Jenkin|1979|p=50}} As early as 1836 it was reliably reported that Aboriginal crews were working at the whaling station at [[Encounter Bay]], and that some boats were worked by entirely Aboriginal crews, and the Ngarrindjeri were employed in the processing of whale oil in exchange for meat, gin and tobacco, and reportedly treated as equals.{{sfn|Russell|2012|p=34}}

[[George Taplin]] created the [[Raukkan, South Australia|Raukkan]] mission on behalf of the [[Aborigines' Friends' Association]] (whose stated object was "the moral, spiritual, and physical well-being of the natives of [[British colonisation of South Australia|this Province]]"<ref name=Bartlett>C. E. Bartlett ''A Brief History of the Point McLeay Reserve and District'' Aborigines' Friends' Association, 1959.</ref>) in 1859. This established a settlement of the Ngarrindjeri people of the [[Coorong District Council|Coorong region]] at the mission, with some escaping the [[Australian frontier wars|frontier wars]] that had decimated their population. The land was small,{{efn|Originally, the land was only {{cvt|180| ha}}, but it was expanded to {{cvt|688| ha}} in 1872.}} but the Ngarrindjeri people thrived for a generation by the use of commerce. They mastered a series of trades, such as [[saddlery]], [[blacksmith]]ing, carpentry, [[stonemason]]ry, and baking, and also established a fishing enterprise and a wool-washing plant. Many Aboriginal people became Christians during their settlement.{{sfn|Broome|2019|p=87}} They also survived by working seasonally in pastoral properties and received donations.{{sfn|Broome|2019|p=91}} 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 [[Government of South Australia|South Australian Government]] to acknowledge their ownership of the land and to raise the size of their reserve. In 1890, the wool-washing plant closed due a new [[irrigation]] scheme built on the upper [[Murray River]], that reduced the river's downstream flow.{{sfn|Broome|2019|p=91}}

Following the [[colonisation of South Australia]] and the encroachment of Europeans into Ngarrindjeri lands, [[Pomberuk]] remained until the 1940s, the last traditional campsite with the remaining Aboriginal occupants forced to leave in 1943 by the new land owners, the [[Hume Pipe Company]], and resettled by the local council and South Australian government.{{sfn|Ngarrindjeri Regional Authority}}

After hearing that the Aboriginal settlement was to be cleared, [[Ronald Berndt|Ronald]] and his wife [[Catherine Berndt]], who were researching Aboriginal culture in the area, approached the last [[Chief Protector of Aborigines]], [[William Penhall]], and obtained a verbal promise that the clearance would not proceed as long as the senior Ngarrindjeri elder, 78-year-old Albert Karloan (Karloan Ponggi), was living. Shortly after the Berndts left to return to [[Sydney]], Karloan was given an eviction order effective immediately. Adamant that only death would separate him from his land, Karloan travelled to [[Adelaide, South Australia|Adelaide]] to seek help, but returned to his former home in Pomberuk on 2 February 1943. He died the following morning.{{sfn|Berndt|Berndt|Stanton|1993|p=7}}

===Hindmarsh Island bridge controversy===

{{main|Hindmarsh Island bridge controversy}}

The Ngarrindjeri achieved a great deal of publicity in the 1990s due to their [[Hindmarsh Island bridge controversy|opposition to the construction]] of a bridge from [[Goolwa, South Australia|Goolwa]] to [[Hindmarsh Island]], which resulted in a [[Hindmarsh Island Royal Commission|Royal Commission]] and a [[High Court of Australia|High Court]] case in 1996. The Royal Commission found that claims of "secret women's business" on the island had been fabricated.{{sfn|Brunton|1998}} 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.{{sfn|Bell|2008|p=18}} <blockquote>The evidence received by the Court on this topic is significantly different to that which was before the Royal Commission. Upon the evidence before this Court I am not satisfied that the restricted women's knowledge was fabricated or that it was not part of genuine Aboriginal tradition.{{sfn|Bell|2010|p=15}}</blockquote>

As a result of the Australia-wide [[2000s Australian drought|1995–2009 drought]], water levels in Lakes Albert and Alexandrina dropped to the extent that traditional burial grounds, which had been under water, were then exposed.{{sfn|ABC News|2008}}

==Language==

{{main|Ngarrindjeri language}}

The first linguistic study of [[Ngarrindjeri language|Ngarrindjeri dialects]] was conducted by the Lutheran [[missionary]] H.A.E. Meyer in 1843.{{sfn|Meyer|1843|pp=1–121}} He collected 1750 words, mainly from the Ramindjeri dialect at [[Encounter Bay, South Australia|Encounter Bay]]. 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, South Australia|Lake Alexandrina]], and his dictionary had 1668 English entries. Other linguistic data gleaned since has enabled the compilation of a modern Ngarrindjeri dictionary containing 3,700 items.{{sfn|Hobson|2010|pp=395–396}} It is now classified, together with Yaralde, as one of the five languages of the [[Lower Murray languages|Lower Murray Areal group]].{{sfn|Dixon|2002|p=xxxvi}}

==Culture==

===The Dreaming===

Many sites of [[The Dreaming|Dreaming]] significance are located along the River Murray. Near the confluence of the Murray River with [[Lake Alexandrina (South Australia)|Lake Alexandrina]] is ''Murungun'' (Mason's Hill), home to a [[bunyip]] called [[Muldjewangk]]. An ancestral hero named ''Ngurunderi'' chased an enormous [[Murray cod]] named ''Pondi'' from a stream in central [[New South Wales]]. In fleeing, Pondi created the River Murray, and contiguous lagoons from its flailing tail. ''Kauwira'' ([[Mannum, South Australia|Mannum]]) is where ''Ngurunderi'' forced ''Pondi'' to turn sharply south. 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. ''Ngurunderi'' cut up ''Pondi'' at Raukkan, throwing the pieces into the water, where each piece became a species of fish.{{sfn|Clarke|2003|p=393}}

While an established Dreaming existed, the various family groups each had their own variations. For example, some said ''Ngurunderi'' created the fish on the coast, other family groups believe he created them where the river enters Lake Alexandrina and some said that it was where the fresh water meets the salt. They also shared some Dreaming stories with tribes in New South Wales and Victoria.{{sfn|Simons|2003|p=26}}

In the late 1980s, the Dreaming stories were collected and one related to a creation story involving ''Thukabi'', a turtle. 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 [[Hindmarsh Island bridge controversy|secret women's business]].{{sfn|Simons|2003|pp=44–45}}

The [[bunyip]] appears in Ngarrindjeri dreaming as a water spirit called the Mulyawonk, which would get anyone who took more than their fair share of fish from the waterways, or take children if they got too close to the water. The stories conveyed practical messages to ensure long-term survival of the Ngarrindjeri, embodying care for country and its people.<ref name=salleh2021/>

===Customs===

The Ngarrindjeri have their own language group and, apart from groups living along the river, share no common words with neighbouring peoples. 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]]{{efn|The Kaurna called the Ngarrindjeri the ''Paruru''. The word was Kaurna for both "un-circumcised" and "animal".}} and monopolised red [[ochre]], the Merkani (Ngarrindjeri for "enemy") to the east, who stole Ngarrindjeri women and were reputed to be cannibals{{sfn|Jenkin|1979}}

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.{{sfn|Berndt|Berndt|Stanton|1993|pp=20–22}}

By way of contrast and due to a shared [[Dreaming (spirituality)|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, New South Wales|Wentworth]] in [[New South Wales]], was of significant mutual importance and the groups regularly met at [[Wellington, South Australia|Wellington]], [[Tailem Bend, South Australia|Tailem Bend]], [[Murray Bridge, South Australia|Murray Bridge]], [[Mannum, South Australia|Mannum]] or [[Swan Reach, South Australia|Swan Reach]] to exchange songs and conduct [[Aboriginal ceremony|ceremonies]].{{sfn|Berndt|Berndt|Stanton|1993|pp=20–22}} In 1849 the Rev. [[George Taplin]] observed a mustering of 500 Ngarrindjeri warriors, and was told by another resident that as many as 800 had gathered seven years earlier.{{sfn|Taplin|1879|p=43}}

Each of the eighteen lakinyeri had their own specific funeral customs; some smoke dried bodies before being placed in trees, on platforms, in rock shelters or buried depending on local custom. Some placed bodies in trees and collect the fallen bones for burial. Some removed the skull, which was then used for a drinking vessel.{{sfn|Fforde|Hubert|Turnbull|2004}} Some family groups peeled the skin from their dead to expose the pink flesh. The body was then called ''grinkari'', a term that they used to refer to the Europeans in the first years of settlement.{{sfn|Simons|2003|p=19}}

===Lifestyle===

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.{{sfn|Fforde|Hubert|Turnbull|2004}} In fact, one of the major problems encountered by Europeans was the determination of the Ngarrindjeri to rebuild their camps on land claimed for grazing. Unlike the rest of Australia, the

[[Letters Patent establishing the Province of South Australia]] of 1836, following the ''[[South Australia Act 1834]]'' (or ''Foundation Act''), which together 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".{{sfn|Ngadjuri Walpa Juri Lands and Heritage Association|n.d.}} This effectively guaranteed the [[Australian Aboriginal land rights|land rights of Aboriginal people]] under force of law; however, this was interpreted by the colonists as simply meaning Aboriginal peoples could not be dispossessed of sites they permanently occupied. In May 1839, the [[Protector of Aborigines]] [[William Wyatt (settler)|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.{{sfn|Fforde|Hubert|Turnbull|2004}}

===Crafts and tools===

The [[bulrush]]es, [[Reed (plant)|reeds]] and [[sedge]]s were used for [[basket-weaving]] or making [[rope]], trees provided wood for [[spear]]s, and [[stone tool|stones were fashioned into tools]].<ref name=salleh2021/> The Ngarrindjeri were widely known as "outstanding craftsmen" specialising in [[basketry]], matting and nets with records indicating that nets of more than {{convert|100|m|ft}} long were used to catch [[emu]]s. It was claimed by colonists that the nets they made for fishing were superior to those used by Europeans.{{sfn|Jenkin|1979|pp=14–15}} The nets, made by chewing the roots of [[Typha|bulrush]] (''Typha shuttleworthii'') until only the fibre remained which was spun into threads by the women to be then woven into nets by the men, were "considered to be a sort of fortune to its owner".{{sfn|Krefft|1865|pp=361–362}}

==Nutrition==

The people were sustained by the flora and fauna for [[bush tucker|food]] and [[bush medicine]]. Before colonisation, there were extensive [[swamp]]s and [[woodland]]s on the Fleurieu Peninsula, which provided habitat and food sources for a range of birds, fish, and other animals, including [[snake-necked turtle]]s, [[cherax|yabbies]], [[rakali]], ducks and [[black swan]]s. Flora included the native [[Orchidaceae|orchid]] ([[leek orchid]]), [[Hibbertia|guinea flower]] and [[swamp wattle]] (Wirilda).<ref name=salleh2021>{{cite web | last=Salleh | first=Anna | title=Indigenous knowledge project could help save endangered Fleurieu Peninsula wetlands | website=ABC News|publisher=[[Australian Broadcasting Corporation]] | date=27 May 2021 | url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2021-05-28/indigenous-knowledge-values-relearnt-from-elders-and-scientists/100152406 | access-date=30 May 2021}}</ref>

A wide range of foods were subject to ''ngarambi'' ([[taboo]]) prohibitions. In regards to ngaitji (family group totems), eating them was not ngarambi but depended on the family groups' own attitude. Some family groups banned eating them, some could eat them only if they had been caught by members of another family group and some had no restrictions. Once dead the animal was no longer considered ngaitji which is Ngarrindjeri for "friend". A ngaitji was not actually sacred in the western sense but considered a "spiritual advisor" to the family group. Other foods were ngarambi but had no supernatural sanctions and these relied on attitudes to the species. Male dogs were friends of the Ngarrindjeri so were not eaten while female dogs were not eaten because they were "unclean". Snakes were not eaten because of the "feel of their skin". Some bird species considered to act cruelly to other animals were ngarambi and [[Australian magpie|magpies]] were because they warned other birds to flee if any were killed. Some bird species were ngarambi because they were the spirits of people who had died. Birds became narambi during nesting season and the [[malleefowl]] was ngarambi because its eggs were considered more valuable for food although there were no penalties for violation. Foods with supernatural sanctions were limited to [[bat]]s, [[Ninox|white owls]] and certain foods that were ngarambi only to women or to pregnant women. A separate category of ngarambi was young boys going through initiation. They were themselves considered ngarambi and any food they caught or prepared was ngarambi to all women who were even forbidden to see or smell it. Violation, whether accidental or deliberate, resulted in physical punishments including spearings that applied not only to the woman but to her relatives. Taplin in 1862 noted that ngarambi prohibitions were regularly being broken by children due to European influence and in the 1930s Berndt recorded that most ngarambi had been forgotten and if known, ignored.{{sfn|Berndt|Berndt|Stanton|1993|pp=22–26}}

==Social organisation ==

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''). Each clan's ''tendi'' in turn would convene to elect a ''rupulli'', or chieftain of the entire Ngarrindjeri confederacy. Taplin construed this as a centrally administered, hierarchical government representing tribal estates (''ruwe''), and one which was delegated to administer eighteen independent territories.{{sfn|Pate|2006|p=238}}

===Ngarrindjeri ''lakinyeri''===

Taplin's list of 18 ''lakinyeri''{{sfn|Taplin|1879|p=34}}{{sfn|Pate|2006|p=239}}{{efn|Taplin's original list may be examined in {{harvnb|Woods|Taplin|1879|p=2}}}} Each lakinyeri had its own ''nga:tji/ngaitji''.{{efn|Taplin glosses the meaning of this term as "friend". {{harv|Taplin|1879|p=35}}}} was further finessed by [[Alfred William Howitt]], drawing on information he obtained from Taplin, and listing 20.{{sfn|Howitt|1904|p=131}} The following reproduces Howitt's version of that list with, where possible, the location and [[Totem#Totemism|totem]].

! Clan mame

| ''[[Ramindjeri]]''.

| [[Encounter Bay]];{{efn|Unaipon adds [[Cape Jervis]] {{harv|Unaipon|2001|p=145}}}}

| ''wirulde/tangari''. [[acacia|wattle gum]]

| [[Goolwa, South Australia|Goolwa]] to the Coorong.{{sfn|Smith|Wobst|2005|p=245}}

| ''manguritpuri''. [[Australian pelican|pelican]] or ''nori''.

| ''Kandarlindjeri''.

| ''Lungundaram''.

| East side of Murray Mouth

| (seaside men)

| [[Lake Alexandrina (South Australia)|Mundoo Island in Lake Alexandrina]]

| ''turi/tettituri''. [[Eurasian coot|coot]]

| ''Pankindjeri''{{efn|Taplin wrote ''parkindjeri'', corrected by Brown. {{harv|Brown|1918|p=251}}}}

| [[Coorong, South Australia|Coorong]] east of [[Lake Albert (South Australia)|Lake Albert]]

| ''Kanmerarorn''.

| [[Coorong National Park|Coorong]] between the Pakindjeri and Ngrangatari

| [[Jarildekald people|''Kaikalabindjeri'']].

| Southern/ eastern shores of [[Lake Albert (South Australia)|Lake Albert]]

| (a) ''ngulgar-indjeri'' [[Myrmecia (ant)|bull ant]];(b) ''pingi'', water-weed

| ''Mungulindjeri''

| Eastern side of Lake Albert

| ''Rangulindjeri''.

| Western shore of Lake Albert

| ''Karatinderi''.

| ''Piltindjeri''.

| (a) ''maninki''. ([[Chtonobdella limbata|leeches]]); (b) ''pomeri'', ([[Eel-tailed catfish|cat-fish]]).{{efn|Brown adds a third totem:(c) ''kalkalli''. ([[Lace monitor|lace-lizard]]). {{harv|Brown|1918|p=251}}}}

|-

| ''Talk-indyeri''

|

| ((a(fulness) (b)Artemis sp.

| (a)? leech/? catfish? (b) ''tiyawi'' lace lizard.

|-

| ''Wulloke''

|

| (wood sparrow)

| ?leech, ?catfish? lace lizard?

|-

| ''Karowalli''

| North of Lake Alexandrina

| (gone over there)

| ''wayi'' [[Demansia psammophis|whipsnake]]

|-

| ''Punguratpula''.

| Western side of Lake Alexandrina around [[Milang, South Australia|Milang]]

| (place of bulrushes)

| ''peldi''. [[musk duck]]

|-

| ''Welindjeri''.

| Northern shore of Lake Alexandrina

| (belonging to, or by, itself)

| ''nakare'' [[Pacific black duck|black duck]]; ''ngumundi'' [[red-bellied black snake|red belly black snake]]

|-

| ''Luthindjeri''

| [[River Murray]]

| (belonging to the sun rising)

| ''kungari'' [[black swan]]; ''ngeraki''; ''kikinummi'' grey bellied black snake

|-

| ''Wunyakulde''

| River Murray

| corruption of ''walkande'' (north)

| ''nakkare'' black duck

|-

| ''Ngrangatari'' / ''Gurrungwari''

| [[Lacepede Bay]];

| (at the southeast/southwest)

| ''waukawiye'' [[kangaroo rat]]

Every member of a lakinyeri is related by blood and it is forbidden to marry another member of the same ''lakinyeri''. A couple also may not marry a member of another lakinyeri if they have a [[great-grandparent]] (or closer relation) in common.{{citation needed|date=March 2018}}

* ''Malganduwa'' – No references before Berndt. No family groups identified.

* ''Marunggulindjeri'' – No references before Berndt. Two family groups.

* ''Naberuwolin''. – No references before Berndt. No family groups identified, may be related to Potawolin.

* ''Potawolin'' – Also spelt Porthaulun and Porta'ulan. [[David Unaipon]] said this was the language name and that the lakinyeri was called Waruwaldi. No family groups identified but recorded by Radcliffe-Brown (1918: 253)

* ''Ramindjeri''. – Also spelt Raminyeri, Raminjeri, Raminderar or Raminjerar (ar = plural), also known as Ramong and Tarbana-walun. 27 family groups.

* ''Tangani''. – Also spelt Tangane, Tanganarin, Tangalun and Tenggi. 19 family groups confirmed and eight recorded but not located. The Kanmerarorn and Pakindjeri lakinyeri named by Taplin are recorded as Tangani family group.

* ''Wakend''. – Also spelt Warki, Warkend, also known as Korowalle, Korowalde and Koraulun. One family group.

* ''Walerumaldi''. – Also spelt Waruwaldi (see Potawolin) Two family groups.

* ''Wonyakaldi''. – Also spelt Wunyakulde and Wanakalde. One family groups.

* ''Yaraldi''. – Also spelt Yaralde, Jaralde and Yarilde. 14 family groups. In the 1930s, the ''ruwe'' (land) of six of these family groups extended along the coast from Cape Jervis to a few kilometres south of Adelaide, land traditionally believed to be [[Kaurna]]. The Rev. George Taplin recorded in 1879 that the Ramindjeri occupied the southern section of the coast from Encounter Bay, some 100&nbsp;km south of Adelaide, to Cape Jervis but made no mention of any more northerly Ngarrindjeri occupation. Berndt posits that Ngarrindjeri family groups may have expanded along trade routes as the Kaurna were dispossessed by colonists.{{sfn|Berndt|Berndt|Stanton|1993|p=312}}

Some lakinyeri may have disappeared and others may have merged as a result of population decline following colonisation. Additionally, family groups within the lakinyerar would use the local dialect or their own family groups name for lakinyeri names, also leading to confusion. For example, Jaralde, Jaraldi, Jarildekald and Jarildikald were separate family groups names as were Ramindjari, Ramindjerar, Ramindjeri, Ramingara, Raminjeri, Raminyeri. Several of these are also used as names for the lakinyerar.{{sfn|Status of Indigenous Languages in South Australia|2002}} Family groups could also change their lakinyeri, Berndt found that two Tangani family groups who lived close to a Yaraldi family group had picked up their dialect and were thus now considered to be Yaraldi.{{sfn|Berndt|Berndt|Stanton|1993|p=32}}

The Ngarrindjeri Regional Authority (NRA) is the peak representative body of the Ngarrindjeri people.{{sfn|NRA}}

==Notable people==

[[File:David Unaipon.jpg|thumb|David Unaipon]]

* [[Ian Abdulla]] (1947–2011), artist

* [[Poltpalingada Booboorowie]] (Tommy Walker), a popular Adelaide personality in the 1890s

* [[Harry Hewitt]], early Australian rules footballer and cricketer

* [[Ruby Hunter]], musician

* [[Doreen Kartinyeri]] (1935–2007), elder and historian

* [[Natascha McNamara]], academic and activist

* [[Moogy Sumner]] {{post-nominals|country=AUS|AM}}, elder, dancer, environmental activist

* [[David Unaipon]], inventor and author, featured on the Australian [[Australian fifty-dollar note|$50 note]]

* [[James Unaipon]], first Aboriginal deacon

* [[Warrulan]], taken to England as a child and died there aged about 19, in 1855

* The [[Deadly Nannas]], musical group from the Murray Bridge area

* ''kondoli'' (whale){{sfn|Bell|1998|p=xiii}}

* ''kringkari, gringari'' (white man){{sfn|Bell|1998|p=xiii}}

* ''muldarpi/mularpi'' (travelling spirit of sorcerers and strangers){{sfn|Bell|1998|p=xiii}}

===Animals extinct since colonisation===

* ''maikari''. [[Eastern hare-wallaby]]

* ''rtulatji''. [[Toolache wallaby]]

* ''wi:kwai''. [[Pig-footed bandicoot]]

Source: {{harvnb|Hobson|2010|p=398}}

==Notes==

==Sources==

| last = Amery | first = Rob | year = 2016

}}

| last = Bell | first = Diane | year = 1998

| author-link = Diane Bell (anthropologist)

| url = https://archive.org/details/ngarrindjeriwurr0000bell | url-access = registration

| page = [https://archive.org/details/ngarrindjeriwurr0000bell/page/208 208]

}}

| last = Bell | first = Diane | year = 2008

| author-link = Diane Bell (anthropologist)

| editor-last = Bell | editor-first = Diane | editor-link = Diane Bell (anthropologist)

| chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=CZqvDgw94TUC&pg=PA18

}}

*{{Cite book| chapter = Ngarrindjeri Women's Stories: Kungun and Yunnan

| last = Bell | first = Diane | year = 2010

| author-link = Diane Bell (anthropologist)

| chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=UQxyIwwtlfcC&pg=PA15

}}

*{{cite book| title = A World that was: The Yaraldi of the Murray River and the Lakes, South Australia

| author1-link = Ronald Berndt

| author2-link = Catherine Berndt

| url = https://archive.org/details/worldthatwasyara0000bern | url-access = registration

}}

*{{cite book| title = Aboriginal Australians: A History Since 1788

| last = Broome | first = Richard | year = 2019

| author-link = Richard Broome

| publisher = [[Allen & Unwin]]

| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=SMGlDwAAQBAJ

| isbn = 978-1760528218

*{{Cite journal | title = Notes on the social organization of Australian tribes

| author-link = Alfred Radcliffe-Brown

| date = July–December 1918 | volume = 48 | pages = 222–253

| doi = 10.2307/2843422 | jstor = 2843422

}}

*{{Cite book| title = The Divide of Hindmarsh

}}

*{{Cite book| chapter = Australian Aboriginal Mythology

| last = Clarke | first = P.A. | year = 2003

| title = Mythology. Myths, Legends, & Fantasies

| editor1-last = Parker | editor1-first = Janet

| editor2-last = Stanton | editor2-first = Julie

| publisher = Global Book Publishing

| url = https://www.academia.edu/attachments/41917724/download_file?s=work_strip

| pages = 382–401

| isbn = 978-0-785-81790-1

}}

| last = Dixon | first = Robert M. W. | year = 2002

| publisher = [[Cambridge University Press]]

| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=MSqIBNJtG0AC&pg=PR36

}}

| work = ABC News

| date = 31 May 2008 | access-date = 22 October 2010

| editor1-last = Fforde | editor1-first = Cressida

| editor2-last = Hubert | editor2-first = Jane

| editor3-last = Turnbull | editor3-first = Paul

}}

*{{cite book| title = One Blood: 200 Years of Aboriginal Encounter with Christianity: a Story of Hope

| last = Harris | first = John | year = 1990

| publisher = [[Albatross Books]]

| isbn = 978-0-867-60095-7

}}

*{{Cite book| title = Re-awakening Languages: Theory and Practice in the Revitalisation of Australia's Indigenous Languages

| last = Hobson | first = John Robert | year = 2010

| author-link = Alfred William Howitt

| publisher = [[Sydney University Press]]

| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=V-ku44jjLEQC&pg=PA395

| isbn = 978-1-920-89955-4

}}

*{{cite map| title = Aboriginal Australia

| last = Horton | first = David R

| publisher = Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies

| url = https://trove.nla.gov.au/work/34356544?selectedversion=NBD23139661 | via = [[Trove]]

| date = 1996

}}

| last = Howitt | first = Alfred William | year = 1904

}}

| last = Jenkin | first = Graham | year = 1979

| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=ZN6eAAAAIAAJ

}}

*{{Cite journal | title = On the Manners and Customs of the Aborigines of the Lower Murray and Darling

| last = Krefft | first = Gerard

| author-link = Gerard Krefft

| journal = [[Royal Society of New South Wales|Transactions of the Philosophical Society of New South Wales]]

| year = 1865 | volume = 1862-1865 | pages = 357–374

| doi = 10.5962/p.345642 | s2cid = 253362944 | url = https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/73082#page/365/mode/1up

| doi-access = free

}}

*{{Cite journal | title = Lakun Ngarrindjeri Thunggari: Weaving the Ngarrindjeri Language Back to Health

}}

| last = Meyer | first = Heinrich August Edward | year = 1843

| url = https://archive.org/download/vocabularylangu00meyegoog/vocabularylangu00meyegoog.pdf

}}

| last = Ngadjuri Walpa Juri Lands and Heritage Association | year = n.d.

}}

| date= June 2009

| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170315112044/https://www.murraybridge.sa.gov.au/webdata/resources/files/20091026_-_appendix_1005-1-2.pdf

| archive-date=15 March 2017

}}

*{{Cite web| title = Ngarrindjeri Regional Authority

| publisher = [[Government of South Australia]]

| url = https://www.aigi.com.au/resource/ngarrindjeri-regional-authority/

| ref = {{harvid|NRA}}

| url = http://www.samuseum.sa.gov.au/ngurunderi/ng8htm.htm | url-status = dead

| last = Pate | first = F Donald | year = 2006

| chapter-url = http://www.flinders.edu.au/ehl/fms/archaeology_files/department/staff%20files/pate/pate_2006.pdf

}}

| last = Russell | first = Lynette | year = 2012

}}

| last = Simons | first = M. | year = 2003

| isbn = 0-7336-1348-9

}}

}}

*{{Cite book| chapter = The Narrinyeri

| last = Taplin | first = George | year = 1878

| orig-year = First published 1873

| title = The Native Tribes of South Australia

| publisher = E.S. Wigg & Son | location = Adelaide

| url = https://digital.library.adelaide.edu.au/dspace/bitstream/2440/15080/1/Narrinyeri.pdf

| pages = 1–156

}}

*{{Cite book| title = The Folklore, Manners, Customs, and Languages of the South Australian Aborigines

| last = Taplin | first = George | year = 1879

}}

*{{Cite book| chapter = From the banks of the Murray River, where it enters Lake Alexandrina to the Embouchure of that river and Lacepede Bay

| last = Taplin | first = George | year = 1886

| author-link = George Taplin

| title = The Australian race: its origin, languages, customs, place of landing in Australia and the routes by which it spread itself over the continent

| editor-last = Curr | editor-first = Edward Micklethwaite | editor-link = Edward Micklethwaite Curr

| publisher = J. Ferres | location = Melbourne

| volume = 2 | pages = 242–271

| chapter-url = https://archive.org/download/cu31924026093827/cu31924026093827.pdf

}}

| last = Tindale | first = Norman Barnett | year = 1974

}}

| last = Unaipon | first = D. | year = 2001

}}

| last = Watson | first = Irene | year = 2014

}}

*{{Cite journal | title = 'Bad Aboriginal' Anthropology: A Reply to Ron Brunton

| date = August 1997 | volume = 13 | issue = 4 | pages = 5–8

| doi = 10.2307/2783419 | jstor = 2783419

}}

*{{Cite book| title = The Native Tribes of South Australia

| last1 = Woods | first1 = James Dominick

| last2 = Taplin | first2 = George

| year = 1879

| publisher = E.S.Wigg

| url = https://archive.org/download/nativetribessou00taplgoog/nativetribessou00taplgoog.pdf

}}

==Further reading==

*{{cite journal | title = Dorothy Ann Wilson v Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs

| last = Tehan | first = Maureen

| journal = [[Melbourne University Law Review]]

| year = 1996 | volume = 26 | pages = 1212–1226

| url = http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/MelbULawRw/1996/26.html

}}

*{{official website|https://www.aigi.com.au/resource/ngarrindjeri-regional-authority/|Ngarrindjeri Regional Authority}}

{{authority control}}