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, with whom
the Narungga would meet for trade and ceremony. 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.
We can rebuild a picture of the Narungga
lifestyle, customs and environment through various means:
- reading accounts of early European
travellers, settlers and missionaries;
- through interviews between Narungga people
and anthropologists in the late 1800's and early 1900's;
- through stories passed down to, and
recounted by, contemporary Aboriginal people;
- through the study of the materials left by
past generations of Narungga people.
The Narungga managed and preserved their
lands. They used fire to clear old grasses and promote fresh plant growth.
Fresh water 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.
Ceremony played an important role in their lives
An early European settler who lived on
Moorowie Station saw many corroborees and wrote:
"...they were usually held at night. The men would dance around a fire and
imitate kangaroo hunts, fishing exploits or fights with other tribes. They used
to daub themselves with pipeclay and red ochre. The men would chant a kind of
song and the women sat around in a circle with a possum rug in their laps
rolled up to make a drum." (Carmichael 1988:3)
The Narungga had uses for a wide variety of
plants and animals. Roots, seeds and native fruits formed a significant part of
their diet. The following song tells of gathering quandongs:
Parabara wanarni tjindu kalala kambarni
(wild peach come sun light burn)
jarugareitija madeitja tjindu kalala
(go around and gather them sunlight burn)
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.
A Wallaby skin rug (Marion Bay area)
A Narungga fishing net as drawn by Edward Snell in 1850
Their expertise at fishing was admired by
many of the early European settlers with butterfish, salmon, mullet and snapper
traded for tobacco and other supplies.
A swimmer would sometimes carry a bait fish
into deep water and return to shore where others would net the schools of fish
that would follow, or a spotter would signal from the cliff tops as to where
the schools of fish were.
Shell fish were also important in the
Narungga's diet. People would walk out onto the reefs at low tide to collect
periwinkles and warreners or dive into deeper water for abalone. The shells
would be put into string bags along with the occasional crab or crayfish and
carried back to camp.
Badara's bones lying in a salt lake near Marion Bay
The peninsula is criss crossed with stories
of the dreamtime with particular locations relating to the exploits of various
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.