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Aboriginal people of South Australia: Narungga

South Australian Aboriginal people and languages

Websites

Narungga language materials

Mobile Language Team. Narangga.

Black, JM. Vocabularies of four South Australian languages : Adelaide, Narrunga, Kukata, and Narrinyeri, 1920. 

Fragments of Budderer's waddy : a new Narungga grammar, Christina Eira with the Narungga Aboriginal Progress Association (NAPA), 2010.

Guungagu nharangga warra : children's Narungga dictionary, compiled by NAPA, 2006.

Johnson, James. Vocabulary of southern Yorke Peninsula natives.

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

Nharangga wanggadja = Narungga speaking, compiled by Tania Wanganeen for NAPA, 2010.

Nharangga warra : Narungga dictionary, compiled by NAPA, 2006.

A series of children's books has also been written. For a list of titles conduct a search in the Library Catalogue on the author, Tania Wanganeen 

Getting started

This guide to sources relating to the Narungga 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:
  • Narangga (Australian people)
  • Aboriginal Australians - South Australia - Yorke Peninsula
Or conduct a keyword search using the following term:
  • Narangga or Narungga
See also the Library Guide on the Point Pearce Mission.
 
For more assistance, talk with staff at the Library's Information Desk or Ask Us.

Background and Resources

Before the coming of the European pastoralists, the Yorke Peninsula was the home of the Narungga people, who occupied the land from near Port Wakefield in the east, over to Port Broughton in the west, and all the way down to the southern tip of the Peninsula. Read more on SA Memory.

Books and pamphlets

Graham, Doris and Graham, Cecil. As we've known it: 1911 to the present, 1987.

Heinrich, Rhoda. Governor Fergusson's legacy : a history of the early days of the Maitland-Kilkerran districts, 1972.

Hill, D. L. and S.J. Notes on the Narangga tribe of Yorke Peninsula, 1975

Kartinyeri, Doreen. Narungga nation, 2002.

Krichauff, Skye. Nharrungga wargunni bugi-buggillu = a journey through Narungga history, 2011.

Survival in our own land : 'Aboriginal' experiences in 'South Australia' since 1836, Ch. 23 ‘Point Pearce’.

Tindale, Norman B. Notes on the natives of the southern portion of Yorke Peninsula, South Australia, 1936

Wood, Vivienne and Westell, Craig. Aboriginal archaeological site survey of Yorke Peninsula, South Australia, 1998.

Sacred Ground

Sacred Ground, 2007. Observational documentary that shows Quenten Agius and his family fighting to save their heritage and cultural sites on Yorke Peninsula.

The film has an accompanying study guide (Kate Raynor, 2007) and website, which has been archived on Pandora.

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.