Yorke Peninsula
Narungga people have always lived on Yorke Peninsula.
Their country extends as far north as Port Broughton and east to the Hummock Ranges. Their neighbours were the Kaurna of the Adelaide Plains and the Nukunu to the north. The Narungga nation was made up of four clans, the Kurnara in the north of the peninsula, Windera in the east, Wari in the west and Dilpa in the south.
The Narungga managed and preserved the lands. They used fire to clear old grasses and promote fresh plant growth. Freshwater rock holes were covered with slabs of stone or brushwood to keep the water clean and to prevent animals from drinking from them. Track ways were maintained through the thick mallee forests, linking places and people throughout the peninsula.
Ceremony played an important role in their lives. Corroborees and meetings were held to settle disagreements, for initiation, marriage, trade, or to share stories and experiences. For instance, the rain corroboree, or Munga corroboree, would be sung and danced to break a drought. Large meetings would be held at various places such as Bubladowie Waterhole (Pupuldawi) and Weavers Lagoon.
The Narungga had uses for a wide variety of plants and animals. Roots, seeds and native fruits formed a signifi cant part of their diet. Clothing was made from wallaby, kangaroo and possum skins while wood and roots were used as spears, digging sticks and shields, and for constructing shelters and housing.
Fishing and hunting nets were made from a reed, Buntu Buntu, which women would prepare over several days; picking it, drying it and rolling it into string. Their expertise at fi shing was admired by many of the early European settlers with butterfish, salmon, mullet and snapper traded for tobacco and other supplies.
The peninsula is criss crossed with stories of the dreamtime with particular locations relating to the exploits of various ancestral beings. Budera, Ngarna the powerful club thrower, Curlew the Owl, Bulgawan the wicked old woman and Madjitju the bat man were some of the beings who lived on the peninsula during the dreamtime. On a trip to Marion Bay you might come across the small mud huts of the Illawari, the little people, and see the bones of Badara lying in the middle of a salt lake. At Point Yorke you might hear the evil spirit Wainjira breaking on the rocks.
The area has many attractions, reefs rich in shell fish, good fishing and hunting, a wealth of bush foods and perhaps, most importantly, reliable fresh water which could be obtained from a series of wells and springs along the coast. The soaks would later become the main water supply for the Point Pearce Mission.
Adelaide was established in 1835 and it wasn't long before European settlers were moving onto Yorke Peninsula in search of good farming land. The early settlers needed fresh water for their sheep and cattle and began fencing off the waterholes. Native bush foods were slowly replaced with pasture grasses, mallee forests were cleared and the land was fenced to keep in the stock. When copper was found near Kadina in 1859, many more settlers arrived on the peninsula and within ten years all but the most unsuitable farming land had been taken from the Narungga people.
The Yorke Peninsula Aboriginal Mission committee was established in Moonta in the early 1860s and Reverend W Julius Kuhn, a Moravian missionary began teaching Narungga children in a wool shed near town. The committee began petitioning the government for a more permanent settlement and in 1868 the Point Pearce Aboriginal Mission was established.
By 1878, ten years after the establishment of the Point Pearce Mission, its acreage had been increased, the population had grown considerably and crops were being harvested. The settlement was like a small township with cottages and houses, wool sheds, workshops, a church and large underground stone tanks. The Point Pearce community was largely self-sufficient, and most of the building on the mission was done by the residents themselves. Buildings remain today and include the office, the former school, the hospital and several houses.
Aboriginal Cultural Tours
For an amazing insight into this rich cultural heritage, join Aboriginal Cultural Tours.
Download Map
See the fascinating Aboriginal Language Group map of Yorke Peninsula [PDF .99 mb].
