KAURNA INDIANS IN AUSTRALIA

THESE FOLKS ARE IN THEIR TRADITIONAL LANDS IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA. THE KAURNA CULTURE AND LANGUAGE WAS ALMOST COMPLETELY DESTROYED WITHIN A FEW DECADES OF EUROPEAN SETTLEMENT IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA IN 1836. EARLY RESEARCHERS HAVE ENABLED A MODERN REVIVAL OF BOTH LANGUAGE AND CULTURE. EARLY SETTLERS CALLED BANDS SEPARATE TRIBES. KAURNA WAS DERIVED FROM AN OLD WORD MEANING 'MEN AND PEOPLE'. IT WAS NOT WIDELY USED UNTIL THE 1920'S.

THEIR TERRITORY EXTENDED FROM CAPE JARVIS TO CRYSTAL BROOK. THEY HAVE FORESTS AND BEACH LANDS IN APPROXIMATELY 50 KM BY 200 KM. THEY HAVE SIX CLANS ALONG THIS AREA AS DETERMINED IN THE 30'S BY AN ETHNOGRAPHIC STUDY. THE KAURNA BUILT WURLIES OR SIMPLE HOMES OF TWIGS AND GRASS. SOME 400 FOLKS WOULD CAMP AT ONE PLACE. THEY ARE A HUNTER AND GATHERER SOCIETY. THEIR CUSTOM IS TO PRACTICE FIRE STICK FARMING. IN THIS PRACTICE THEY WOULD CLEAR THE FIELD FOR HUNTING PURPOSES. THE EUROPEAN SETTLERS SPOTTED THIS BURNING BEFORE THE KAURNA WERE DISPLACED. IT ALSO INCREASES GRASS GROWTH FOR THE EMU AND KANGAROO.

THIS TRADITION LED TO CONFLICT WITH THE EUROPEANS AS FIRE CAUSED DAMAGE TO GRASSLANDS. SOME FIRES BURNT FENCES AND SCATTERED LIVESTOCK. BY THE 1960'S THE FOOT HILLS DEVELOPMENT HAS BEEN RESTRICTED. SO NATIVE TREES AND BRUSH ARE REGENERATING TO A NATURAL CONDITION.
BY 1887 THE ITEMS OF TRADITIONAL KAUNA CULTURE ARE RARE AND NO LONGER PRACTICED. THESE ITEMS ARE IN SOUTH AUSTRALIAN MUSEUM. IN 1836 THEIR POPULATION WAS AROUND 500 WITH THE FIRST OFFICIAL CENSUS. THEIR ORIGINAL POPULATION BEFORE EUROPEANS WAS POSSIBLY 1000. IN 1830 MANY DIED FROM SMALLPOX EPIDEMICS SPREAD BY THE BRITISH. THE KAURNA MOVED FROM THE PLAINS TO THE FOOTHILLS AFTER BRITISH SETTLERS CAME. IN 1856 THEY HAD AN OUTBREAK OF TYPHOID FEVER. THE LAST SURVIVING KAURNA DIED IN 1931. HOWEVER THIS WAS NOT ACCURATE. THESE FOLKS LIVED IN FAMILY GROUPS OR BANDS. THESE TERRITORIES ARE PASSED FROM FATHER TO SON UPON INITIATION. THEY HAVE ACCESS TO THE COAST LINE FOR SEAFOOD AND PROVIDING FOOD CLOTHING AND PROTECTION. YERTA WAS A COMPLETE TERRITORY ABLE TO SUSTAIN A GROUP WITH ALL ECONOMIC NEEDS. A MAN CANNOT MARRY A WOMAN FROM THE SAME BAND. A WOMAN LIVES WITH HER HUSBANDS BAND. AROUND 12 THE GIRL'S COULD MARRY, BUT MEN HAD TO WAIT UNTIL 25. MEN FROM DISTANT TRIBES VISITED THEM THEY PRACTICED WIFE STEALING, A COMMON THING. THE MEN HAD INITIATION RITES. IN 1840 THE EARLY SETTLERS PUBLISHED KAURNA WORDLIST. THE SETTLERS LEARNED KAURNA AND ADVOCATED.

IN 1838 GERMAN MISSIONARIES ARRIVED TO LEARN ABOUT THEIR LANGUAGE AND TO CIVILIZE THEM. THEY BUILT A SCHOOL FOR THEIR CHILDREN TO READ AND WRITE IN KAURNA. THEY BURIED THEIR DEAD NEAR WATER. IN 2000 THE KAURNA YERTA CORPORATION LODGED A NATIVE CLAIM THAT COVERS 8,000 SQUARE KILOMETERS. AS OF 2010 THE DETERMINATION OF THEIR CLAIM IS ONGOING. SOME OF THEIR NEIGHBORS ARE CONTESTING THIS CLAIM.

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