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Aboriginal people of South Australia: Ngadjuri

South Australian Aboriginal people and languages

Ngadjuri language materials

Mobile language team. Ngadjuri.

University of Adelaide Aboriginal Culture and environment bibliography

Berndt, Ronald and Vogelsang, T. Comparative vocabularies of the Ngadjuri and Dieri tribes, South Australia, 1941.

Le Brun, Samuel. ‘No. 66.-Port Pirie, forty miles east of’ in Curr, Edward Micklethwaite in The Australian Race: Its origin, languages, customs…vol 2. 1886. Also available online.

Waria-Read, Pat et al. Ngadjuri wordlist, 2009.

Waria-Read, Pat and Gale, Mary-Anne. Ngadjuri picture dictionary, 2009.

Oral histories

Ngadjuri Oral Histories

Interviews with Irene Agius, Cora Sumner and Marlene Lindsay, Robert Buckskin, Robin Walker, Bobby Brown, Elaine Newchurch, Pam Sansbury and Irene Agius, Josie Agius and Vince Copley and Doreen Kartinyeri  conducted by Sue Anderson and Fred Warrior.

To see descriptions all of the recordings in this project do an archival number search for OH 482.

Available on cassette and transcript at the State Library.

Introduction

This guide to sources relating to the Ngadjuri people was last updated in 2023. 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:
  • Ngadjuri (Australian people)
  • Aboriginal Australians - South Australia - Mid north region
  • Aboriginal Australians - South Australia - (Town name)
Or conduct a keyword search using the following term:
  • Ngadjuri
For more assistance, talk with staff at the Library's Information Desk or Ask Us.

Background and Resources

The Ngadjuri language lies in the mid north of the state of South Australia. Ngadjuri country incorporates the towns of Burra, Jamestown, Peterborough, Orroroo.

Books and pamphlets

Anderson, Sue. Archaeological site survey of the mid-north of South Australia, 2000.

Chilman, JK. Barossa Valley Aboriginal heritage survey : pilot study, 1990.

Copley, Vincent. The wonder of little things, 2022.

Hossfeld, Paul S. The aborigines of South Australia : native occupation of the Eden Valley and Angaston districts, 1926.

Ngadjuri : Aboriginal people of the Mid North Region of South Australia, 2005.

Knight, Fran. Ngadjuri of the mid north of South Australia, 1996.

Simpson, Jane and Hercus, Luise (eds). History in portraits : biographies of nineteenth century South Australian Aboriginal people, 1998. Ch. 5 ‘Kudnarto’.

Tindale, Norman B. Two legends of the Ngadjuri tribe from the middle north of South Australia, 1937.

Mountford-Sheard Collection

This record group comprises a unique collection of material amassed by C. P. Mountford during a career spanning the 1930s to the 1960s and includes material relating to the Ngadjuri people.

Access to Mountford-Sheard Collection

All access to the Mountford-Sheard Collection is by prior arrangement.

Please consult the catalogue and the list of Mountford's expeditions on this guide to ascertain which parts of the collection you wish to access.

For enquiries contact Ask Us 

If the material that you wish to access is deemed to contain sacred/secret content it cannot be viewed without permission from the relevant Aboriginal community.

Permission will also have to be sought if you wish to copy or publish images that contain Aboriginal people or Aboriginal intellectual property or traditional knowledge.

It is the responsibility of the customer to obtain these permissions. 

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.