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Aboriginal people of South Australia: Ngarrindjeri

South Australian Aboriginal people and languages

Ngarrindjeri language materials

Periodical articles

To locate journal articles, access the State Library's eResources.

Selected South Australian newspapers, published prior to 1955, have been digitised as part of the National Library of Australia’s Trove website.

Further newspaper articles may be identified by using the following, Newspaper index : references to Aborigines in Adelaide newspapers, 1836-1940, 1989.

Getting started

This guide to sources relating to the Ngarrindjeri people was last updated in 2016. It comprises selected material held by the State Library or available online.
 
To find further material relevant to this topic, try searching with these subject headings in the State Library catalogue:
Ngarrindjeri (Australian people)
 
Or using a geographic location, for example:
Aboriginal Australians -- South Australia -- Coorong, The
Aboriginal Australians -- South Australia -- Murray River
Aboriginal Australians -- South Australia -- Meningie Region
 
Or conduct a keyword search using the following term:
Ngarrindjeri
 
See also the Library Guide on Point McLeay.
 
For more assistance, talk with staff at the Library's Information Desk or Ask Us.

Background and resources

Ngarrindjeri is an Aboriginal nation of 18 language groups who occupied, and still inhabit, the Lower Murray, Coorong and Lakes area of South Australia.

Their lands and waters extended 30km up the Murray from Lake Alexandrina, the length of the Coorong and the coastal area to Encounter Bay. Today this Aboriginal group is still very strong, with a large community of people based in the Lower Murray and Coorong area.

Books and pamphlets

Bell, Diane (ed). Listen to Ngarrindjeri women speaking = Kungun Ngarrindjeri miminar yunnan, 2008.

Bell, Diane. Ngarrindjeri Wurruwarrin : a world that is, was and will be, 1998.

Berndt, Ronald M. and Berndt, Catherine H. with Stanton, John E. A world that was: the Yaraldi of the Murray River and the lakes, South Australia, 1993.

Forte, Margaret. Flight of an eagle: the dreaming of Ruby Hammond, 1995.

French, Dorothy. Nganauwe Ngarrindjeri nomawi : my Ngarrindjeri family, 2004.

Gale, Mary-Anne. My side of the bridge: the life story of Veronica Brodie, 2002.

Jenkin, Graham. Conquest of the Ngarrindjeri, 1995.

Kartinyeri, Doreen and Anderson, Sue. Doreen Kartinyeri : my Ngarrindjeri calling, 2008.

Kartinyeri, Doreen. Ngarrindjeri Anzacs, 1996.

Kartinyeri, Doreen, Ngarrindjeri Nation: Genealogies of Ngarrindjeri Families, 2006

Levi, Tamara J. Food, control, and resistance : rationing of indigenous peoples in the United States and South Australia, 2016

The native tribes of South Australia, 1997 (first published 1879).

The Ngarrindjeri people: Aboriginal people of the River Murray, Lakes and Coorong, 1990.

Ngarrindjeri nation sea country plan: caring for Ngarrindjeri country and culture, 2007.

Rankine, Harriet. I had a good life - it was beautiful, 2008.

Salgado, Barbara and Rankin, Nellie. Murrundi voices: Ngarrindjeri people's stories from the Lower Murray, 1994.

Survival in our own land : 'Aboriginal' experiences in South Australia since 1836. Ch. 21 'Point McLeay'.

Taplin, George (ed). The Folklore, manners, customs and languages of the South Australian Aborigines, 1989.

Woolmer, George. Traditional Ngarinyeri people: Aboriginal people of the Murray Mouth Region, 1986.

Ngarrindjeri raft

B 29488  AC Kelly, c. 1845.

Archival material

Point McLeay Aboriginal Mission Records comprising two record books of births, baptisms, marriage and deaths, census records, vaccination lists and daily ration book, spanning 1857-1966, on Microfilm.

Aboriginal families of the South East  Biographical interviews with older members of Aboriginal families from the South East, focusing on childhood experiences, family and cultural traditions, and adult work experiences.

Audio-visual material

Wormald, Jeanette, Acres of blue (sound recording), 1998.

Ngurunderi: a Ngarrindjeri dreaming (videorecording), 1987.

Narrunga, Kaurna & Ngarrindjeri songs (kit), 1990.

The Library holds many photographs relating to this topic, which can be viewed online by searching the Library catalogue.