Kaurna

Kaurna is the language of the city of Adelaide and the surrounding Adelaide Plains. Traditional Kaurna territory extends from the Light River in the north to Sellicks Hill in the south. It is bounded by Gulf St Vincent to the west and the Mt Lofty Ranges to the east and the south.  Kaurna country lies to the south of the countries where the closely related languages Nukunu and Ngadjuri were spoken.

AIATSIS id : L.03

VARIATIONS

Adelaide tribe, Coorna, Gaurna, Jaitjawar:a (‘our own language’), Karnuwarra (‘hills language,’ a northern dialect, presumably that of Port Wakefield), Kaura (misprint for Kaurna), Kaurna (used by AIATSIS), Koornawarra, Kurumidlanta (Pangkala/Barngala term, literally ‘evil spirits’), Medaindi (group living near Glenelg), Medain-die, Meljurna (‘quarrelsome men,’ said of northern groups of Kaurna), Merelde (Ramindjeri term applied most frequently to the Peramangk but also to the Kaurna), Merildekald (Tanganekald term also loosely given to Peramangk), Meyu, Meju (Kaurna for ‘man’), Meyurna, Midlanta (another name given by Pangkala), Milipitingara, Nanduwara, Nantuwara (‘Kangaroo speakers,’ name given to northern groups), Nantuwaru, Nganawara, Padnaindi (group name), Padnayndie, Taralye meyunna, Wakanuwan (name applied by Jarildekald to this and some other tribes, including Ngaiawang), Warra (means ‘speech’, a name for language), Warrah, Widninga (Ngadjuri term applied to Kaurna of Port Wakefield and Buckland Park), Winaini (group north of Gawler), Winnay-nie, Winnaynie.

DISCLAIMER:

The above map is based upon the Horton Indigenous Map of Australia © Aboriginal Studies Press, AIATSIS, and Auslig/Sinclair, Knight, Merz, 1996. The full map is available on the AIATSIS website. The locations of the languages of SA, as stated on the this website are not intended for Land Claim use, and are an approximate guide only. Individual language project locations are based on information from publicly available MILR (ILS) documents.