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In Adelaide, 1840, a remarkable event occurred. Reverends Teichelmann and Schürmann published their work Outlines of a Grammar, Vocabulary, and Phraseology of the Aboriginal Language of South Australia. The amazing feature relates to its creation. Two German priests recorded essentially the language of the Kaurna people for the English speaking colonists to read. Indeed, these two remarkable men began teaching the Kaurna children in their own vernacular until forbidden to do so by the government.
Their book was originally self published. Advertisements in the local newspaper detailed the availability of this work. But interest was slight and copies sold slowly. If the Kaurna people were now subjects of the king, it was important that they deal in the king's English. The quicker they became black Europeans the better. So with the extinction of the Kaurna people, so too did the language die. |
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But we haven't forgotten the precious work of the two German priests nor of the vigorous language they recorded and unwittingly created an epitaph for the Kaurna people. Efforts are being made now to resurrect the language in the Adelaide region. While these efforts may be interesting for historical and cultural reasons, the imperative for learning the language has long since passed away. The good folk of Adelaide will not accept the learning of an ancient language as a substitute for English because of sentimental reasons. Even these attempts to revive the Kaurna language are beset with massive problems. The main being to express the ideas and concepts contained within the 250 million recorded English words so that Kaurna could be a functional language. Thus we look at the Kaurna language as a historical record of these people rather than a pathway to the future.
That doesn't mean learning Kaurna is not useful. Quite the contrary. Through the concepts expressed within the language, the people of the Adelaide region can learn how to manage their land better than is occurring at the moment. The problems of salination, dust storms, denuded hills and other issues that follow western civilisation need addressing. Since the Kaurna managed the lands given to them in trust for thousands of years without these problems emerging, hidden within these words are a way of life that builds the land up rather than denudes it as is happening at the moment. Within this language is a way of life that preserves the natural wonder of the Adelaide plains in a pristine form that provides both for the population and nature in a harmonic balance. Through the study of the language, we can learn what the wise people of the Kaurna practiced in terms of culture and economic management. Through adaptation to European civilisation, there is a possibility that the Kaurna may yet provide the answer to the current people on how to survive in this part of Australia and restore the ailing ecology of the land.
As Australians, it is our obligation to leave a land for our children and our children's children. The wisdom of the past tempered with the technology of today can move towards such a resolution. That is why the study of the Kaurna language is as important today as it was when it was banned by the settlers.
1. Every page will be headed and footed with a referenced alphabet allowing the reader to move between words commencing with differing letters. The alphabet will be presented like this:
2. Every page will have a search engine allowing you to find any word that is within the vocabulary. This is especially useful in finding English words. The description of these words will always be present in the Kaurna language.
To build an active language data base requires the ceaseless contributions of all people who have an acquaintance with Kaurna warra, both in the living and older form, or the curiosity of people who want to expand their understanding of this language for personal purposes. Your contribution is essential to keep this vital work relevant to our modern society.
| Location: | Cape Jervis to Port Wakefield along eastern shore of Gulf St. Vincent; inland to near Crystal Brook, Snowtown, Blyth, Hoyleton, Hamley Bridge, Clarendon, Gawler, and Myponga; from the east side of the Hummock Range to Red Hill where northern hordes were sometimes known as the Nantuwara. Inland the Jultiwira or stringy bark forests of the Mount Lofty Ranges marked their boundary. The Kaurna were the southernmost tribe to perform the initiatory rite of circumcision. Their territory was very correctly indicated as 2,800 square miles (7,200 sq. km.) with a population of 650 in the South Australian Register of 30 January 1842. Ivaritji, the last woman survivor, who died in 1931, provided much of our scanty knowledge of the Kaurna. A southern horde spoke a slight dialect at Rapid Bay. Tunkalilla Beach, 12 miles (20 km.) east of Cape Jervis, was given as the actual ['keinari] or boundary with the Ramindjeri. East (1889) incorrectly included the related Yorke Peninsula people, the Narangga, under his term Padnayndie. This is in the form Padnaindi, a hordal term for the folk living between Hamley Bridge and Crystal Brook. |
| Co-ordinates: | 138°30'E x 34°35'S |
| Area: | 2,800 sq. m. (7,200 sq. km) |
| References: | J. Stephens, 1839; Williams, 1839; Teichelmann, 1840; Teichelmann and Schürmann, 1840; Gell, 1842; South Australian Register, 1842; Cawthorne, 1844 MS, 1926; Moorhouse, 1844; Schürmann, 1844; Eyre, 1845; Behr, 1848; Wyatt, 1879; Mueller, 1882; E. Stephens, 1889; East, 1889; McKinlay in Howitt, 1904; Howitt, 1904; Howchin and Gregory, 1909; Strehlow, 1910; Parkhouse, 1936; Tindale, 1931 MS, 1936, 1940; Tindale and Mountford, 1936; Berndt, 1940; Tindale and Lindsay, 1963. |
| Alternative Names: | Kaura (misprint for Kaurna), Coorna, Koornawarra, Nantuwara ('Kangaroo speakers,' name given to northern hordes), Nantuwaru, Nganawara, Meljurna ('quarrelsome men,' said of northern hordes of Kaurna), Kurumidlanta (Pangkala term, lit. 'evil spirits'), Milipitingara (MS), Midlanta (another name given by Pangkala), Widninga (Ngadjuri term applied to Kaurna of Port Wakefield and Buckland Park), Winaini (horde north of Gawler), Winnay-nie, Meyu (['meju] = man), Wakanuwan (name applied by Jarildekald to this and some other tribes, including Ngaiawang), 'Adelaide tribe,' Warra (means 'speech' a name for language), Warrah, Karnuwarra ('hills language,' a northern dialect, presumably that of Port Wakefield), Jaitjawar:a ('our own language'), Padnaindi (horde name), Padnayndie, Medaindi (horde living near Glenelg), Medain-die, Merildekald (Tanganekald term also loosely given to Peramangk), Merelde (Ramindjeri term applied most frequently to the Peramangk but also to the Kaurna). |
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