The Barngarla, formerly known as Parnkalla and also known as Pangkala, are an
Aboriginal people of the
Port Lincoln
Port Lincoln is a town on the Lower Eyre Peninsula in the Australian state of South Australia. It is situated on the shore of Boston Bay, which opens eastward into Spencer Gulf. It is the largest city in the West Coast region, and is located a ...
,
Whyalla
Whyalla was founded as "Hummocks Hill", and was known by that name until 1916. It is the fourth most populous city in the Australian state of South Australia after Adelaide, Mount Gambier and Gawler and along with Port Pirie and Port Augusta ...
and
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 ...
areas. The Barngarla are the
traditional owners
Native title is the designation given to the common law doctrine of Aboriginal title in Australia, which is the recognition by Australian law that Indigenous Australians (both Aboriginal Australian and Torres Strait Islander people) have rights ...
of much of
Eyre Peninsula
The Eyre Peninsula is a triangular peninsula in South Australia. It is bounded by the Spencer Gulf on the east, the Great Australian Bight on the west, and the Gawler Ranges to the north.
Originally called Eyre’s Peninsula, it was named aft ...
,
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 ...
.
Language
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 ...
died out in the 1960s.
Israeli linguist
Professor Ghil'ad Zuckermann contacted the Barngarla community in 2011 proposing to revive it, the project of reclamation being accepted enthusiastically by people of Barngarla descent. Workshops to this end were started in Port Lincoln, Whyalla and Port Augusta in 2012. The reclamation is based on 170-year-old documents.
Country
In
Tindale's estimation, the Barngarla's traditional lands covered some , around the eastern side 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 ...
south of
Edeowie and west of
Hookina and
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 ...
. The western reaches extended as far as
Island Lagoon and
Yardea
Yardea Station is a pastoral lease in the Australian state of South Australia that operates as a sheep station, now within the Gawler Ranges National Park. Paney Station became part of Yardea Station in 1904.
It is situated approximately nor ...
. Woorakimba, Hesso, Yudnapinna, and the
Gawler Ranges
The Gawler Ranges are a range of stoney hills in South Australia to the north of Eyre Peninsula. The Eyre Highway skirts the south of the ranges. The Gawler Ranges National Park is in the ranges north of Kimba, South Australia, Kimba and Wudinna ...
are formed part of Barngarla lands. The southern frontier lay
Kimba,
Darke Peak
Darke Peak (formerly Carappee) is a small agricultural town located in central Eyre Peninsula, South Australia. The town is the population centre for the surrounding agricultural district and has become a minor historical tourist town. It is sit ...
,
Cleve, and
Franklin Harbour.
Social organisation
The Barngarla had two tribal divisions: the northern ''Wartabanggala'' ranged from north of Port Augusta to Ogden Hill and the vicinity of
Quorn
Quorn is a brand of meat substitute products, or the company that makes them. Quorn originated in the UK and is sold primarily in Europe, but is available in 14 countries. The brand is owned by parent company Monde Nissin.
Quorn is sold as b ...
and
Beltana
Beltana is a town north of Adelaide, South Australia. Beltana is known for continuing to exist long after the reasons for its existence had ceased. The town's history began in the 1870s with the advent of copper mining in the area, construction ...
; a southern branch, the ''Malkaripangala'', lived down the western side of the
Spencer Gulf. Referred to as Pangkala, the Barngala have also been included in the grouping currently known as the
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 ...
people.
In 1844 the missionary
C. W. Schürmann stated that the Barngarla were divided into two classes, the ''Mattiri'' and ''Karraru''. This was criticized by the ethnographer
R. H. Mathews, who, surveying South Australian tribes, argued that Schürmann had mixed them up, and that the proper divisions, which he called
phratries shared by all these tribes was as follows:
The Barngarla practised both circumcision and
subincision
Penile subincision is a form of genital modification or mutilation consisting of a urethrotomy, in which the underside of the penis is incised and the urethra slit open lengthwise, from the urethral opening (meatus) toward the base. The slit can ...
.
Culture
A practice known as "singing to the sharks" was an important ritual in Barngarla culture, a technique that expired when its last traditional practitioner died in the 1960s. The performance consisted of men lining the cliffs of bays in the Eyre peninsula and singing out, while their chants were accompanied by women dancing on the beach. The aim was to enlist sharks and dolphins in driving shoals of fish towards the shore where fishers in the shallows could make their catch.
History of contact
Even before British colonisation, the Barngarla were under pressure from 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 ...
, who were on the move southwards, forcing the Barngarla to retreat from their traditional northern boundaries. One effect was to cut off their access to certain woods used in spear-making, so that they finally had to forage as far as
Tumby Bay
Tumby Bay is a coastal town situated on the Spencer Gulf, on the eastern coast of Eyre Peninsula in South Australia, north of Port Lincoln. The town of Tumby Bay is the major population centre of the District Council of Tumby Bay, and the cen ...
to get supplies of
whipstick mallee ash.
Barngarla native title
On 22 January 2015 the Barngarla people were granted
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, ...
over much of
Eyre Peninsula
The Eyre Peninsula is a triangular peninsula in South Australia. It is bounded by the Spencer Gulf on the east, the Great Australian Bight on the west, and the Gawler Ranges to the north.
Originally called Eyre’s Peninsula, it was named aft ...
. They had applied for and received most of it.
On 24 September 2021 they were granted native title over the city of
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 ...
, after a protracted 25-year old battle. Justice
Natalie Charlesworth presided over the sitting.
Alternative names
* ''Arkaba-tura'' (men of Arkaba, a toponym
* ''Bangala, Bungela''
* ''Banggala, Bahngala''
* ''Bungeha''
* ''Jadliaura people''
* ''Kooapidna''
* ''Kooapudna'' (Franklin Harbour
horde)
* ''Kortabina'' (
toponym
Toponymy, toponymics, or toponomastics is the study of '' toponyms'' (proper names of places, also known as place names and geographic names), including their origins, meanings, usage and types. Toponym is the general term for a proper name of ...
)
* ''Pamkala''
* ''Pankalla, Parnkalla, Parn-kal-la, Pankarla''
* ''Punkalla''
* ''Punkirla''
* ''Wanbirujurari'' ("men of the seacoast", northern tribal term for southern hordes)
* ''Willara''
* ''Willeuroo'' ("west"/ "westerner")
Some words
* ''babi'' "father"
* ''gadalyili, goonya, walgara'' "shark"
* ''goordnidi'' "native dog"
* ''ngami'' "mother"
* ''wilga'' "domesticated dog"
Barngarla has four
grammatical number
In linguistics, grammatical number is a grammatical category of nouns, pronouns, adjectives and verb agreement that expresses count distinctions (such as "one", "two" or "three or more"). English and other languages present number categories of ...
s: singular, dual, plural and ''superplural''.
[ Zuckermann, Ghil'ad 2020, ''Revivalistics: From the Genesis of Israeli to Language Reclamation in Australia and Beyond'']
Oxford University Press
/ For instance:
* ''wárraidya'' "
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 ...
" (singular)
* ''wárraidyailyarranha'' "a lot of emus", "heaps of emus" (superplural)
* ''wárraidyalbili'' "two emus" (dual)
* ''wárraidyarri'' "emus" (plural)
Notes
Citations
Sources
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External links
Barngarla: People, Language & LandAn interview with Stolen Generation Barngarla man Howard Richards and his wife Isabel / Port LincolnBibliography of Parnkalla language and people resources at the
{{Authority control
Aboriginal peoples of South Australia
Language revival
Port Augusta
Whyalla