My greatest acknowledgement is to Murlawirrapurka, a great and wonderful Kaurna elder in the early days of Adelaide. I am trusting that this book will give credit to his magnificence.
Cast of Characters
Captain Collet Barker: Military Officer and explorer charged with finding the mouth of the River Murray as a possible harbour for the potential colony of Adelaide.
Captain Walter Bromley: First Protector of Aborigines in Adelaide.
John Brown: Emigration agent for South Australian Colonisation Commission.
James Cronk: Labourer from Tottenham who befriended Adelaide Aborigines.
Robert Cock: A Scotsman, early settler and explorer who was the only South Australian to offer the Aborigines recompense for loss of their way of life.
James Hurtle Fisher: Resident Commissioner.
Governor George Gawler: Second Governor of South Australia following John Hindmarsh, 1838.
Osmond Gilles: First colonial treasurer.
Robert Gouger.: Edward Wakefied’s secretary.
Governor George Grey: Third Governor of South Australia following George Gawler.
John Barton Hack: A wealthy Quaker who kept an eye on the welfare of the Adelaide Aborigines.
Captain John Hindmarsh. The first Governor of South Australia.
Sir John Jeffcott: The first Judge of the Adelaide colony.
Judge Henry Jickling: The second judge of the Adelaide colony following Sir John Jeffcott.
Colonel William Light: Surveyor General of the City of Adelaide.
John McLaren: Manager of the South Australian Company.
George Milner Stephen: Acting governor when George Gawler was called away.
Charles Moon: A sailor from the Buffalo.
George Stevenson: Private secretary to Governor John Hindmarsh and editor of the SA Register.
Robert Thomas: First Government printer.
Edward Gibbon Wakefield: Advocate of Systematic Colonisation.
Edward Wright MD: One of first doctors in the new colony.
Other Characters in the 20th Century Adelaide Story
Dr Hugh Birch: Medical superintendent at Parkside Mental Hospital 1954-1961.
Dr Bill Cramond: Medical superintendent at Parkside Mental Hospital following Dr Hugh Birch, 1961.
Charles Duguid: Started the South Australian Aborigines Advancement League in the 1930s and was a leading light well into the 1980s.
Sir Robert Menzies: Prime Minister of Australia from 1949 -1966.
Sir Thomas Playford: Premier of South Australia from 1938 -1965 and founder of the City of Elizabeth.
Other Characters in the Kaurna Story
William Cawthorne: Teacher and artist who sketched the scene in 1844 capturing this defining moment in Kaurna history, Murlawirrapurka’s last stand. Shields & spears of the natives on the battlefield is hanging in the Lounge Gallery of the Kaurna Building in the University of South Australia
Lillian Holt: Head of Taoundi College in Port Adelaide in the 1990s.
Samuel Klose: Lutheran missionary from Dresden who took over from Teichelmann and Schurmann.
Vincent Lingiari: A Gurindji from the Northern Territory who stood up to the Vestey brothers in Northern territory in the late 60s.
Uncle Lewis Yerlopurka O’Brien: Chief elder of the Kaurna people and direct descendant of Kudnarto. He wrote And the Clock Struck Thirteen, Wakefield Press, 2007.
Lowitja O’Donohue: He fought to become a nurse in the hallowed white halls of the Royal Adelaide Hospital.
Charlie Kumantjayi Perkins: An Arrente man from near Alice Springs and a trailblazer for Aboriginal rights.
Mongarawata: A Milmenrura man who was hung for the massacre of the survivors of the shipwreck in the Coorong, South Australia, in 1842.
Christian Teichelmann and Clamour Schurmann: the Lutheran missionaries who came to Adelaide in 1838 to teach the Aboriginal children at Piltawardli. Teichelmann was dubbed Kertamerru, like Kertamerru, Murlawirrapurka, first born son.
Yerricha and Wang Nucha: Yerricha should have been more correctly written as Yerraitya, which meant second born, and Wang Nucha as Wangutya, the seventh born male.
Kaurna Glossary
Banbabanbalya: where neighbouring clans gathered in Adelaide for discussions.
‘Birkibirki’: literally means ‘lots of little bits’ peas.
Jultiwirra: the stringy bark trees at the top of the gully which marked Permangk.
Kartanya: means first born girl, and Kudnarto third born girl.
Kadlitpina: an important Wirra man.
Karraundongga: the red gum spear place.
Kakirra: the moon
Karta: Kangaroo Island.
Kua Mullawirra: Kua Kertamerru Mullawirra now pronounced Murlawirra. Murlawirrapurka’s name when he finished his scarification rites.
Kalta: sleepy lizard.
Kamilya: my daughter’s daughter.
Kammammi: maternal grandmother.
Karndo Wirra: forest men, a northern Kaurna group.
Karra Wirraparri: red gum forest river
Kirilla: ‘the shine of the full moon’.
Kudlilla: cold season.
Kungurla: yabbies.
Kuri: a dance of Kadlitpinna’s people, the Kaurna Wirra.
Mari Yertabulti: the Eastern Cascades
Midlaitya: fifth born son.
Midlato: fifth born girl.
Milmenrura: one of the Ngarrindjeri clans.
Moorundie: the river people, hated enemy of the Kaurna.
Mudlunnga: a nose shaped protuberance where Kaurna hunters trapped emus, entered an inlet near Port Adelaide.
Murlawirrapurka: esteemed wise purka of the Tandanya group. Mullawirraburka was the original pronunciation and is on his commemoration brick at the migrant museum.
Narungga: peoples in the north and west of Adelaide. ‘Ngaityerli’: means ‘papa’.
Ngai wangandi marni’ Welcome, you are at home.
Ngaltingga: Aldinga, Murlawirrapurka’s home country.
Ngadjuri Ngarrindjeri clan in the south
Ngakallomurro: ‘parakeet ashes’, known to whites as the Magellanic Clouds
Ngano: