The Adnyamathanha (Pronounced: ) are a contemporary
Aboriginal Australian
Aboriginal Australians are the various Indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, such as Tasmania, Fraser Island, Hinchinbrook Island, the Tiwi Islands, and Groote Eylandt, but excluding the Torres Strait Islands ...
people of the northern
Flinders Ranges
The Flinders Ranges are the largest mountain range in South Australia, which starts about north of Adelaide. The ranges stretch for over from Port Pirie to Lake Callabonna.
The Adnyamathanha people are the Aboriginal group who have inhabi ...
,
South Australia
South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. It covers some of the most arid parts of the country. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories ...
, formed as an aggregate of several distinct peoples. Strictly speaking the
ethnonym
An ethnonym () is a name applied to a given ethnic group. Ethnonyms can be divided into two categories: exonyms (whose name of the ethnic group has been created by another group of people) and autonyms, or endonyms (whose name is created and used ...
Adnyamathanha was an alternative name for the
Wailpi, but the grouping also includes the
Guyani,
Jadliaura,
Pilatapa and sometimes the
Barngarla
The Barngarla, formerly known as Parnkalla and also known as Pangkala, are an Aboriginal people of the Port Lincoln, Whyalla and Port Augusta areas. The Barngarla are the traditional owners of much of Eyre Peninsula, South Australia.
Languag ...
peoples. The origin of the name is in the words "adnya" ("rock") and "matha" ("group" or "group of people").
Adnyamathanha
The Adnyamathanha (Pronounced: ) are a contemporary Aboriginal Australian people of the northern Flinders Ranges, South Australia, formed as an aggregate of several distinct peoples. Strictly speaking the ethnonym Adnyamathanha was an alternativ ...
is also often used as the name of their traditional language, although the language is more commonly called "yura ngarwala" by Adnyamathanha people themselves (roughly translated as "our speech"), and they refer to themselves as "yura". There is a community of Adnyamathanha people at
Nepabunna
Nepabunna, also spelt Nipapanha, is a small community in the northern Flinders Ranges in north-eastern South Australia, about north of Adelaide. It is located just west of the Gammon Ranges, and the traditional owners are the Adnyamathanha peopl ...
, just west of the
Gammon Ranges
Gammon may refer to:
People
* Archer T. Gammon (1918–1945), United States Army soldier and Medal of Honor recipient
* James Gammon (1940–2010), American actor
* James Gammon (engraver) (), English engraver
* Kendall Gammon (born 1968), Ame ...
, which was established as a
mission station
A Christian mission is an organized effort for the propagation of the Christian faith. Missions involve sending individuals and groups across boundaries, most commonly geographical boundaries, to carry on evangelism or other activities, such as ...
in 1931. The Adnyamathanha people have run
Nantawarrina IPA, the first
Indigenous Protected Area
An Indigenous Protected Area (IPA) is a class of protected area used in Australia; each is formed by voluntary agreement with Indigenous Australians, and declared by Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islander representative organisations ...
in Australia, since 1998.
Country
According to
David Horton's map "Aboriginal Australia" (largely based on that of
Norman Tindale
Norman Barnett Tindale AO (12 October 1900 – 19 November 1993) was an Australian anthropologist, archaeologist, entomologist and ethnologist.
Life
Tindale was born in Perth, Western Australia in 1900. His family moved to Tokyo and lived ther ...
), the Adnyamathanha lands lie on the west banks of
Lake Frome
Lake Frome / Munda is a large endorheic lake in the Australian state of South Australia to the east of the Northern Flinders Ranges. It is a large, shallow, unvegetated salt pan, long and wide, lying mostly below sea level and having a total s ...
and extend south and west over the northern
Ikara-Flinders Ranges National Park and northwards over the
Vulkathunha-Gammon Ranges National Park. The people today describe their lands as "from the Northern Flinders south to
Port Augusta
Port Augusta is a small city in South Australia. Formerly a port, seaport, it is now a road traffic and Junction (rail), railway junction city mainly located on the east coast of the Spencer Gulf immediately south of the gulf's head and about ...
and as far east as
Broken Hill
Broken Hill is an inland mining city in the far west of outback New South Wales, Australia. It is near the border with South Australia on the crossing of the Barrier Highway (A32) and the Silver City Highway (B79), in the Barrier Range. It is ...
".
On the northern edges of the Adnyamathanha tribal lands are the
Diyari
The Diyari (), alternatively transcribed as Dieri (), is an Indigenous Australian group of the South Australian desert originating in and around the delta of Cooper Creek to the east of Lake Eyre.
Language
Diyari is classified as one of the K ...
lands, on the western edges are the
Kokatha
The Kokatha, also known as the Kokatha Mula, are an Aboriginal Australian people of the state of South Australia. They speak the Kokatha language, close to or a dialect of the Western Desert language.
Country
Traditional Kokatha lands extend ov ...
lands. To the south are the
Barngarla
The Barngarla, formerly known as Parnkalla and also known as Pangkala, are an Aboriginal people of the Port Lincoln, Whyalla and Port Augusta areas. The Barngarla are the traditional owners of much of Eyre Peninsula, South Australia.
Languag ...
(also sometimes included in the Adnyamathanya group),
Nukunu
Nukunu are an Aboriginal Australian people of South Australia, living around the Spencer Gulf area. In the years after British colonisation of South Australia, the area was developed to contain the cities of Port Pirie and Port Augusta.
Name
Bot ...
, and
Ngadjuri
The Ngadjuri people are a group of Aboriginal Australian people whose traditional lands lie in the mid north of South Australia with a territory extending from Gawler in the south to Orroroo in the Flinders Ranges in the north.
Name
Their ethno ...
. To the east are the
Malyangapa
The Malyangaapa are an Indigenous Australian Tribe of people who live in the far western areas of the state of New South Wales.
Language
The Malyangapa spoke a dialect of the Yarli language.
Country
Malyangaapa country extends over some with i ...
.
On 30 March 2009, the Adnyamathanha people were recognised by the
Federal Court of Australia as having
native title
Aboriginal title is a common law doctrine that the land rights of indigenous peoples to customary tenure persist after the assumption of sovereignty under settler colonialism. The requirements of proof for the recognition of aboriginal title, ...
rights over about running east from the edge of
Lake Torrens
Lake Torrens ( Kuyani: ''Ngarndamukia'') is a large ephemeral, normally endorheic salt lake in central South Australia. After sufficiently extreme rainfall events, the lake flows out through the Pirie-Torrens corridor to the Spencer Gulf.
Is ...
, through the northern Flinders Ranges, approaching the South Australian border with
New South Wales
)
, nickname =
, image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, es ...
.
Nantawarrina, the first Indigenous Protected Area in Australia, was established in 1998, with extensive work done by
Indigenous ranger
The Indigenous ranger projects were introduced by the Australian Government in 2007 as part of its Working on Country program. Indigenous rangers are Indigenous Australians who combine traditional knowledge with conservation training in order to p ...
s to restore the land and protect the native
flora and fauna
In biology, an organism () is any living system that functions as an individual entity. All organisms are composed of cells (cell theory). Organisms are classified by taxonomy into groups such as multicellular animals, plants, and fungi ...
since then.
In 2016
Ikara-Flinders Ranges National Park was renamed from Flinders Ranges National Park in recognition of its Adnyamathanha heritage. The word ''ikara'' means "meeting place" in
Adnyamathanha language
The Adnyamathanha language (pronounced ), also known as yura ngarwala and other names, and Kuyani, also known as Guyani and other variants, are two closely related Australian Aboriginal languages. They are traditional languages of the Adnyamat ...
, and refers in this instance to
Wilpena Pound
Wilpena Pound – also known by its Adnyamathanha language, Adnyamathanha name of Ikara, meaning "meeting place" – is a natural amphitheatre of mountains located north of Adelaide, South Australia, Australia in the heart of the Ikara-Flinders ...
(situated within the park), a traditional meeting place of the Adnyamathanha people.
People
The ethnonym Adnyamathanha was, according to Tindale, an alternative name for the
Wailpi, but the grouping also includes the
Guyani (Kuyani),
Jadliaura (Yardliyawara),
Pilatapa, and, according to the people themselves, the
Pangkala
The Barngarla, formerly known as Parnkalla and also known as Pangkala, are an Aboriginal people of the Port Lincoln, Whyalla and Port Augusta areas. The Barngarla are the traditional owners of much of Eyre Peninsula, South Australia.
Languag ...
(Barngarla) peoples.
The name Adnyamathanha means "rock people" (Dwayne Johnson), with "adnya" meaning "rock" and "matha", a "group" or "group of people", in the
Adnyamathanha language
The Adnyamathanha language (pronounced ), also known as yura ngarwala and other names, and Kuyani, also known as Guyani and other variants, are two closely related Australian Aboriginal languages. They are traditional languages of the Adnyamat ...
, and is a term referring to the Lakes Culture societies living in that area. They share a common identity, which they get from their ancestors; this common bond is their language and culture which is known as ''Yura Muda''. Adnyamathanha people often refer to themselves as "yura", and non-Aboriginal people as "udnyu".
Language
Adnyamathanha is a member of the
Thura-Yura language family and the only one which still has fluent native speakers.
Mythology and astronomy
The origins of the Adnyamathanha are told through
creation stories
A creation myth (or cosmogonic myth) is a symbolic narrative of how the world began and how people first came to inhabit it., "Creation myths are symbolic stories describing how the universe and its inhabitants came to be. Creation myths develop ...
, passed down from generation to generation. The primordial
creator figure of the
rainbow serpent
The Rainbow Serpent or Rainbow Snake is a common deity often seen as the creator God, known by numerous names in different Australian Aboriginal languages by the many different Aboriginal peoples. It is a common motif in the art and religion ...
is, among them, known as ''akurra''.
The
Pleiades
The Pleiades (), also known as The Seven Sisters, Messier 45 and other names by different cultures, is an asterism and an open star cluster containing middle-aged, hot B-type stars in the north-west of the constellation Taurus. At a distance ...
(Seven Sisters) are known to them as the ''Makara'', seen as a group of
marsupial
Marsupials are any members of the mammalian infraclass Marsupialia. All extant marsupials are endemic to Australasia, Wallacea and the Americas. A distinctive characteristic common to most of these species is that the young are carried in a po ...
-like women with pouches, while the
Magellanic Clouds
The Magellanic Clouds (''Magellanic system'' or ''Nubeculae Magellani'') are two irregular dwarf galaxies in the southern celestial hemisphere. Orbiting the Milky Way galaxy, these satellite galaxies are members of the Local Group. Because bo ...
are known as ''Vutha Varkla'', seen as two male lawmen also known as the ''Vaalnapa''.
Traditionally, the Adnyamathanha bear strong respect for lizards such as geckoes and
goannas
A goanna is any one of several species of lizards of the genus '' Varanus'' found in Australia and Southeast Asia.
Around 70 species of ''Varanus'' are known, 25 of which are found in Australia. This varied group of carnivorous reptiles rang ...
. This is explained in myth as the cannibal sun goddess
Bila having been defeated by the
Lizard Men
Reptilian humanoids, or anthropomorphic reptiles, are fictional creatures that appear in folklore, fiction, and conspiracy theories.
In folklore
In South Asian and Southeast Asian mythology, the Nāga are semi-divine creatures which are ha ...
Kudnu and Muda.
History of contact
In 1851 the first Europeans settled some of the Adnyamathanha land. This led to many conflicts because the Adnyamathanha people were pushed off their land by the Europeans, who lived on
pastoral leases established by the
state government
A state government is the government that controls a subdivision of a country in a federal form of government, which shares political power with the federal or national government. A state government may have some level of political autonomy, or ...
. In response to the loss of their land, food and water, Aboriginal people stole sheep, which in turn led to retaliatory killings. However, Aboriginal
stockmen and housekeepers soon became a way of life for the early settlers, and the Adnyamathanha people adopted western dress and ways by the 1900s.
They nevertheless retained strong links to their language and culture, and would gather at the campsite and
ration
Rationing is the controlled distribution of scarce resources, goods, services, or an artificial restriction of demand. Rationing controls the size of the ration, which is one's allowed portion of the resources being distributed on a particular ...
depot at Mount Serle Station (Atuwarapanha), a
significant cultural site to speak in their languages and pass on their lore. After rations stopped, they relocated to Ram Paddock Gate (Minerawuta) during the 1920s. After the
Nepabunna Mission
Nepabunna, also spelt Nipapanha, is a small community in the northern Flinders Ranges in north-eastern South Australia, about north of Adelaide. It is located just west of the Gammon Ranges, and the traditional owners are the Adnyamathanha peopl ...
was established by the
United Aborigines Mission
The United Aborigines Mission (UAM) (also known as UAM Ministries, United Aborigines' Mission (Australia), and United Aborigines' Mission of Australia) was one of the largest missions in Australia, having dozens of missionaries and stations, and ...
in 1931, most of the residents of Ram Paddock moved there. Some of the mission residents worked at
R. M. Williams's workshop nearby, where
Williams developed his trademark boots and horse-riding equipment, helping to build his business in the first two years of its existence.
Records of culture
A
University of Adelaide
The University of Adelaide (informally Adelaide University) is a public research university located in Adelaide, South Australia. Established in 1874, it is the third-oldest university in Australia. The university's main campus is located on N ...
anthropological expedition travelled to Nepabunna in May 1937 led by
J.B. Cleland, which included
Charles P. Mountford
Charles Pearcy Mountford OBE (8 May 189016 November 1976) was an Australian anthropologist and photographer. He is known for his pioneering work on Indigenous Australians and his depictions and descriptions of their art. He also led the American ...
as
ethnologist
Ethnology (from the grc-gre, ἔθνος, meaning 'nation') is an academic field that compares and analyzes the characteristics of different peoples and the relationships between them (compare cultural, social, or sociocultural anthropology) ...
and
photographer
A photographer (the Greek language, Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who makes photographs.
Duties and types of photographe ...
, as well as botanist
Thomas Harvey Johnston
Thomas Harvey Johnston (9 December 1881 – 30 August 1951) was an Australian biologist and parasitologist. He championed the efforts to eradicate the invasive prickly pear.
Life and times
Johnston was born in 1881 at Balmain, Sydney, Austral ...
, virologist
Frank Fenner
Frank John Fenner (21 December 1914 – 22 November 2010) was an Australian scientist with a distinguished career in the field of virology. His two greatest achievements are cited as overseeing the eradication of smallpox, and the attempted con ...
, and others. Mountford was especially interested in the Adnyamathanha people's art,
mythology
Myth is a folklore genre consisting of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not objectively true, the identification of a narrat ...
and
rituals
A ritual is a sequence of activities involving gestures, words, actions, or objects, performed according to a set sequence. Rituals may be prescribed by the traditions of a community, including a religious community. Rituals are characterized, b ...
. He came back later in the year and many times thereafter, recording
Adnyamathanha language
The Adnyamathanha language (pronounced ), also known as yura ngarwala and other names, and Kuyani, also known as Guyani and other variants, are two closely related Australian Aboriginal languages. They are traditional languages of the Adnyamat ...
and culture. The
Mountford-Sheard Collection in the
State Library of South Australia
The State Library of South Australia, or SLSA, formerly known as the Public Library of South Australia, located on North Terrace, Adelaide, is the official library of the Australian state of South Australia. It is the largest public research l ...
(inscribed in
UNESCO
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...
's
Memory of the World
Memory is the faculty of the mind by which data or information is encoded, stored, and retrieved when needed. It is the retention of information over time for the purpose of influencing future action. If past events could not be remembered, ...
programme in 2008 ) shows that he had intended to write a book about them, but this was never realised. However the library has a large collection of handwritten
journals, photographs,
sound
In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave, through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid.
In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by the ...
and film recordings gathered by him from and about the people. Mountford was self-taught, but had been in the field recording
Australian rock art sites during the 1920s with Tindale, and was sympathetic to the plight of Aboriginal people.
Adnyamathanha flag
In 2011 a flag of the Adnyamathanha people was created, and raised at Nepabunna on the 80th anniversary of its establishment. At the time, there was one remaining person still alive who had been born on the mission, Ronald Coulthard.
Exhibition
An exhibition entitled ''UNSETTLED: Colonial Ruin in the Flinders Ranges'', described as "a critical examination of settler-colonial nostalgia in the Flinders Ranges, within an artistic context", was mounted by the
State Library of South Australia
The State Library of South Australia, or SLSA, formerly known as the Public Library of South Australia, located on North Terrace, Adelaide, is the official library of the Australian state of South Australia. It is the largest public research l ...
in partnership with the Adnyamathanha Traditional Lands Association in March–May 2017. It included many photographs by Mountford, taken by him on the 1937 and subsequent trips to the Flinders. The photos were complemented by story-telling by descendants of the people represented, including Terrence Coulthard (see Notable people, below).
Notable people
![Recognise Campaign Adam Goodes Presser](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cd/Recognise_Campaign_Adam_Goodes_Presser.jpg)
*
Adam Goodes
Adam Roy Goodes (born 8 January 1980) is a former professional Australian rules footballer who played for the Sydney Swans in the Australian Football League (AFL). Goodes holds an elite place in VFL/AFL history as a dual Brownlow Medallist, d ...
, four-time
All-Australian
The All-Australian team is an all-star team of Australian rules football in Australia, Australian rules footballers, selected by a panel at the end of each season. It represents a complete team, including an interchange bench, of the best-perf ...
AFL
AFL may refer to:
Sports
* American Football League (AFL), a name shared by several separate and unrelated professional American football leagues:
** American Football League (1926) (a.k.a. "AFL I"), first rival of the National Football Leagu ...
footballer
A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...
, stated he is an Adnyamathanha and
Narungga
The Narungga people, also spelt Narangga, are a group of Aboriginal Australians whose traditional lands are located throughout Yorke Peninsula, South Australia. Their traditional language, one of the Yura-Thura grouping, is Narungga.
Country
...
man.
*
Rebecca Richards, the first Aboriginal
Rhodes Scholar, is an Adnyamathanha and
Barngarla
The Barngarla, formerly known as Parnkalla and also known as Pangkala, are an Aboriginal people of the Port Lincoln, Whyalla and Port Augusta areas. The Barngarla are the traditional owners of much of Eyre Peninsula, South Australia.
Languag ...
woman.
*
Regina McKenzie is an artist who, in 2006, had two pieces acquired by the
National Museum of Australia
The National Museum of Australia, in the national capital Canberra, preserves and interprets Australia's social history, exploring the key issues, people and events that have shaped the nation. It was formally established by the ''National Muse ...
of Adnyamathanha Dreaming Storylines and who, in 2016, was awarded the Peter Rawlinson award for her outstanding contribution to protection of country by the
Australian Conservation Foundation
The Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) is Australia's national environmental organisation, launched in 1965 in response to a proposal by the World Wide Fund for Nature for a more co-ordinated approach to sustainability.
One high-profil ...
.
*
Juanella McKenzie, artist and daughter of Regina McKenzie, had two works (containing similar storylines subject matter) acquired by the
National Museum of Australia
The National Museum of Australia, in the national capital Canberra, preserves and interprets Australia's social history, exploring the key issues, people and events that have shaped the nation. It was formally established by the ''National Muse ...
in 2008, and in early 2019 at the age of 29, Juanella was acquired into the National Museum of Scotland with a bark painting she did using traditional methods depicting women's business. She won an Achievement award from
TAFE NSW in 2019, a category of the Gili (pronounced kill-ee) Awards which celebrate the achievements of Aboriginal students, as well as the accomplishments of TAFE NSW employees and innovative programs that have empowered Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. She won
Country Arts SA
Country Arts SA is statutory corporation created by the South Australian government under the provisions of the ''South Australian Country Arts Trust Act (1992)'', for the purpose of delivering arts to regional South Australia. Responsibility for ...
’s 2020 Breaking Ground visual arts development award, and her work ''Yurndu (Sun)'' which uses the traditional technique of weaving
emu
The emu () (''Dromaius novaehollandiae'') is the second-tallest living bird after its ratite relative the ostrich. It is endemic to Australia where it is the largest native bird and the only extant member of the genus '' Dromaius''. The emu ...
feathers, was selected as a finalist for the
Ramsay Art Prize at the
Art Gallery of South Australia in 2021.
*
Terrence and
Josephine Coulthard, authors of the first Adnyamathanha/English
bilingual dictionary
A bilingual dictionary or translation dictionary is a specialized dictionary used to translate words or phrases from one language to another. Bilingual dictionaries can be ''unidirectional'', meaning that they list the meanings of words of one lan ...
, published in November 2020. The family runs the Iga Warta
cultural tourism
Cultural tourism is a type of tourism activity in which the visitor's essential motivation is to learn, discover, experience and consume the tangible and intangible cultural attractions/products in a tourism destination. These attractions/produ ...
enterprise, near Nepabunna.
See also
*
List of Indigenous Australian group names
This list of Australian Aboriginal group names includes names and collective designations which have been applied, either currently or in the past, to groups of Aboriginal Australians. The list does not include Torres Strait Islander peoples, wh ...
*
Nepabunna, South Australia
Nepabunna, also spelt Nipapanha, is a small community in the northern Flinders Ranges in north-eastern South Australia, about north of Adelaide. It is located just west of the Gammon Ranges, and the traditional owners are the Adnyamathanha peop ...
*
Adnyamathanha language
The Adnyamathanha language (pronounced ), also known as yura ngarwala and other names, and Kuyani, also known as Guyani and other variants, are two closely related Australian Aboriginal languages. They are traditional languages of the Adnyamat ...
Notes
Citations
Sources
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Further reading
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{{Authority control
Aboriginal peoples of South Australia
Flinders Ranges