Raukkan is an

Australian Aboriginal 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 Isl ...

community situated on the south-eastern shore of Lake Alexandrina in the locality of Narrung, southeast of the centre of

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 ...

's capital,

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater A ...

. Raukkan is "regarded as the home and heartland of

Ngarrindjeri The Ngarrindjeri people are the traditional Aboriginal Australian people of the lower Murray River, eastern Fleurieu Peninsula, and the Coorong of the southern-central area of the state of South Australia. The term ''Ngarrindjeri'' means "belo ...

country." It was originally established as Point McLeay

mission Mission (from Latin ''missio'' "the act of sending out") may refer to: Organised activities Religion *Christian mission, an organized effort to spread Christianity *Mission (LDS Church), an administrative area of The Church of Jesus Christ of ...

in 1859 and became an

Aboriginal reserve An Aboriginal reserve, also called simply reserve, was a government-sanctioned settlement for Aboriginal Australians, created under various state and federal legislation. Along with missions and other institutions, they were used from the 19th ce ...

in 1916. It was finally handed back to the

people in 1974, and renamed Raukkan in 1982.

History

Raukkan, which means "meeting place" in the

Ngarrindjeri language The Ngarrindjeri people are the traditional Aboriginal Australian people of the lower Murray River, eastern Fleurieu Peninsula, and the Coorong of the southern-central area of the state of South Australia. The term ''Ngarrindjeri'' means "be ...

,Whitehorn, p. 15. was for thousands of years an important meeting place for Ngarrindjeri "lakalinyeri" (clans) and the location of the

Grand Tendi Grand may refer to: People with the name * Grand (surname) * Grand L. Bush (born 1955), American actor * Grand Mixer DXT, American turntablist * Grand Puba (born 1966), American rapper Places * Grand, Oklahoma * Grand, Vosges, village and commu ...

, the parliament of the Ngarrindjeri people.Mussared, D., "River people question price of 'progress', ''The Canberra Times'', 18 January 1993, p. 3. The Grand Tendi was composed of men elected from each of the eighteen lakalinyeri who then elected from its members the Rupulle or leader.Raukkan, p. 3. English explorer

Charles Sturt Charles Napier Sturt (28 April 1795 – 16 June 1869) was a British officer and explorer of Australia, and part of the European exploration of Australia. He led several expeditions into the interior of the continent, starting from Sydney and la ...

first encountered the Ngarrindjeri at Raukkan, who fed the starving Sturt and his party. In 1859 the Aborigines' Friends' Association was granted in the area and established a

at Raukkan, which had been named "Point McLeay" by T. B. Strangways in 1837.

George Taplin George Taplin (24 August 1831 – 24 June 1879) was a Congregationalist minister who worked in Aboriginal missions in South Australia, and gained a reputation as an anthropologist, writing on Ngarrindjeri lore and customs. History Taplin was bor ...

had selected the site, and with others such as the Rev.

F. W. Cox Francis William Cox (January 1817 – 29 March 1904) was the first pastor of the Hindmarsh Square Congregational church in Hindmarsh Square, Adelaide, South Australia. Life & career Cox was born in London, "within the sound of Bow Bells", a son o ...

helped build the school, church and mission station to care for the local Aboriginal people, and spent the next twenty years in that service.C. E. Bartlett ''A Brief History of the Point McLeay Reserve and District'' Aborigines' Friends' Association 1959 It was intended by the Aborigines' Friends' Association to help the Ngarrindjeri people, but could never be self-sufficient farming due to the poor quality of the soil in the area. Land clearing by farmers nearby also limited the ability for hunting, and other crafts and industries also met with difficulties due to changing environment and competition from nearby towns. In 1896, Aboriginal men and women at Raukkan were granted the vote and voted in state and federal elections (including for the first

Commonwealth Parliament The Parliament of Australia (officially the Federal Parliament, also called the Commonwealth Parliament) is the legislative branch of the government of Australia. It consists of three elements: the monarch (represented by the governor-ge ...

1901 Events January * January 1 – The British colonies of New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Tasmania, Victoria and Western Australia federate as the Commonwealth of Australia; Edmund Barton becomes the first Prime Min ...

) and the

constitutional referendums A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these princi ...

on Australian federation."History of the Indigenous vote". Indigenous Australians. Australian Electoral Commission. Retrieved 1 April 2014. More than 100 Aboriginal people from Raukkan were listed on the South Australian electoral roll and seventy per cent of these voted at the 1896 South Australian election. During

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, men from Point McLeay and Point Pearce were among the first Aboriginal men in the state to enlist. In 1916, responsibility for Raukkan moved to South Australia's

Chief Protector of Aborigines The role of Protector of Aborigines was first established in South Australia in 1836. The role became established in other parts of Australia pursuant to a recommendation contained in the ''Report of the Parliamentary Select Committee on Abori ...

and it became an

.Horton, p. 930 This followed the recommendations of the South Australian

Royal Commission on the Aborigines Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, Iowa, a ...

in 1913. Included in the recommendations was that the government become the guardian of all Aboriginal children upon reaching their 10th birthday, and place them "where they deem best". Seven years after the Final Report of the Commission, the ''

Aborigines (Training of Children) Act 1923 Aborigine, aborigine or aboriginal may refer to: *Aborigines (mythology), in Roman mythology * Indigenous peoples, general term for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area *One of several groups of indigenous peoples, see ...

'', in order to allow Indigenous children to be "trained" in a special institution so that they could go out and work. Since 1974 the community has been administered by the Ngarrindjeri people themselves; it was renamed Raukkan in 1982. Raukkan Aboriginal School is in the town. In the

2016 Australian census The 2016 Australian census was the 17th national population census held in Australia. The census was officially conducted with effect on Tuesday, 9 August 2016. The total population of the Commonwealth of Australia was counted as – an incr ...

the population was 106 persons, all of whom identified themselves as

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people Indigenous Australians or Australian First Nations are people with familial heritage from, and membership in, the ethnic groups that lived in Australia before British colonisation The British Empire was composed of the dominions, coloni ...

Raukkan Aboriginal School

The school was established in the years 1859 and 1860 by the Ngarrindjeri people and the missionary,

. It celebrated its 150th year of operation in 2010. In 2018, the school which is operated by the Government of South Australia had a total enrolment of 15 students who are all

and a teaching staff of three.

Notable residents

The Mission was mentioned in the '' Bringing Them Home Report'' (1997) as an institution housing Indigenous children forcibly removed from their families, creating part of the

Stolen Generations The Stolen Generations (also known as Stolen Children) were the children of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent who were removed from their families by the Australian federal and state government agencies and church miss ...

. Raukkan was home to James Unaipon ( – 1907) and his son

David David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

(1872 – 1967). James Unaipon was the first Australian Aboriginal deacon. and co-authored writings on the Ngarrindjeri languageGale, p. 71. and David was a writer and inventor, who along with the Raukkan Church, is featured on the

Australian fifty-dollar note The Australian fifty-dollar note is an Australian banknote with a face value of fifty Australian dollars (A$50). Since 1995 it has been a polymer banknote featuring portraits of Edith Cowan, first female member of an Australian parliament, and ...

Ivaritji Ivaritji ( – 25 December 1929) also known as Amelia Taylor and Amelia Savage, was an elder of the Kaurna tribe of Aboriginal Australians from the Adelaide Plains in South Australia. She was "almost certainly the last person of full Kaurna an ...

( – 1929) was a

Kaurna The Kaurna people (, ; also Coorna, Kaura, Gaurna and other variations) are a group of Aboriginal people whose traditional lands include the Adelaide Plains of South Australia. They were known as the Adelaide tribe by the early settlers. Kaurn ...

elder and the last known speaker of the

Kaurna language Kaurna ( or ) is a Pama-Nyungan language historically spoken by the Kaurna peoples of the Adelaide Plains of South Australia. The Kaurna peoples are made up of various tribal clan groups, each with their own ''parnkarra'' district of land and ...

. "Granny" Euniapon was subject of a pastel sketch by

Frederick C. Britton Frederick Christian Britton (21 May 1889 – 14 December 1931) was an artist and arts educator in South Australia and New South Wales. History Britton was born in Peckham, London and studied painting at the Brook Green School of Art, then the S ...

purchased by the

Art Gallery of South Australia The Art Gallery of South Australia (AGSA), established as the National Gallery of South Australia in 1881, is located in Adelaide. It is the most significant visual arts museum in the Australian state of South Australia. It has a collection of ...

in 1916. (Elsewhere spelled "Unaipon".) Harry Hewitt ( – 1907) was a notable South Australian athlete who spent much of his life based at the Point McLeay mission. He would go on to play football for Medindie and

Port Adelaide Port Adelaide is a port-side region of Adelaide, approximately northwest of the Adelaide CBD. It is also the namesake of the City of Port Adelaide Enfield council, a suburb, a federal and state electoral division and is the main port for the ...

in a game against

Fitzroy Fitzroy or FitzRoy may refer to: People As a given name *Several members of the Somerset family ( Dukes of Beaufort) have this as a middle-name: **FitzRoy Somerset, 1st Baron Raglan (1788–1855) **Henry Charles FitzRoy Somerset, 8th Duke of Beau ...

Roland Carter Roland Winzel Carter (1892–1960) was an Indigenous Australian who was born in Raukkan, South Australia, and was the first of the Ngarrindjeri people to enlist in the First Australian Imperial Force to fight in World War I. Carter was wounded a ...

(1892 – 1960) was a labourer born in Raukkan and was the first Ngarrindjeri man from the Point McLeay Mission Station to enlist in the

First Australian Imperial Force The First Australian Imperial Force (1st AIF) was the main expeditionary force of the Australian Army during the First World War. It was formed as the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) following Britain's declaration of war on Germany on 15 Aug ...

. He fought in World War one, was taken prisoner by the Germans and returned to live in Raukkan after being released at the end of the war.

Doreen Kartinyeri Doreen Maude Kartinyeri (3 February 1935–2 December 2007) was an Ngarrindjeri elder and historian, born in the Australian state of South Australia. She played a key role in the Hindmarsh Bridge controversy and made many contributions to ...

(1935 – 2007) was a Ngarrindjeri elder and historian.

References

Sources

* Gale, M. (1997) ''Dhanum Djorra'wuy Dhawu'', Aboriginal Research Institute, Underdale. . * Horton, D. (1994) ''The Encyclopaedia of Aboriginal Australia : Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history, society and culture; Vol. 2 M-Z'', Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies: Canberra. . * Jenkin, G. (1979) ''Conquest of the Ngarrindjeri'', Rigby: Adelaide. . * Raukkan Community Council (2009) ''Historic Raukkan, Home of the Ngarrindjeri'', Raukkan Community Council: Raukkan. * Whitehorn, Zane "Raukkan community: Pride of the Ngarrindjeri nation", ''Indigenous Newslines'', March–May 2010.

History

Raukkan Aboriginal School

Notable residents

See also

Other 19th century Aboriginal missions in SA

References

Sources

Further reading