The Kaurna tribe is part of the Spencer region located in South Australia. The Kaurna people are the original people of Adelaide and the Adelaide Plains before European settlement. Kaurna comes from the word ‘Kaurna Tarntanya’ which means ‘red place kangaroo’.
The River Torrens ‘Karrawira Pari’ (red gum forest river) was an important resource for the tribe as it provided water, food and a camping place.
The Kaurna tribe spoke a complex language and they valued teaching their young people to understand the environment for food, shelter, tools and medicine. The River Torrens ‘Karrawira Pari’ (red gum forest river) was an important resource in their teachings. Their culture valued feeling connected to the world of plants, animals and the stars.
There were approx. 1000 Kaurna people living in the
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Between 1919-1929 it was thought that the Kaurna tribe was extinct.
In 1962 legislative control of South Australia’s indigenous community was abolished.
In 1967 90% of Australians voted to remove clauses in the constitution that discriminated against the indigenous community which included the right to vote, citizenship, equal wages, benefits and land rights. It was after this and during the 1970’s and 1980’s that Adelaide saw the Kaurna community flourish.
It wasn’t until the mid-1990’s that the first piece of Kaurna artwork was publicly displayed and it was only in 2001 that the Adelaide City Council recognised significant places within the Kaurna tribe and allocated dual names.
The Kaurna culture has been impacted severely since settlement and sadly a lot of their language was lost as they were not permitted to speak their language. Kaurna tribe members who were forcibly removed from their homes during the Stolen Generation (1910-1970) were detained in facilities similar to a concentration camp where they experienced emotional and physical