Aboriginal culture and the Riverine environment

Natural History of the Riverland and Murraylands

Edited by:

JOHN T. JENNINGS Australian Centre for Evolutionary Biology and Biodiversity, School of Earth and Environmental

Sciences, The University of Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia.

Royal Society of South Australia Inc.

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First Edition 2009 © Royal Society of South Australia Inc., 2009

ISBN 978-0-9596627-9-5

Occasional Publications of the Royal Society of South Australia Inc. No. 1 Natural History of the Adelaide Region (1976), reprinted 1989 No. 2 Natural History of Kangaroo Island (1979), reprinted 1982, 1989, second edition 2002 No. 3 Natural History of the South East (1983), reprinted 1995 No. 4 Natural History of Eyre Peninsula (1985) No. 5 Ideas and Endeavours: The Natural Sciences in South Australia (1986) No. 6 Natural History of the North East Deserts (1990) No. 7 Natural History of the Flinders Ranges (1996) No. 8 Natural History of Gulf St Vincent (2007) No. 9 Natural History of the Riverland and Murraylands (2009) Cover: River red gums (Eucalyptus camaldulensis) on the Murray River near Qualco, South Australia. Photograph by John Jennings.

Authors are responsible for the statements made in any works published by the Royal Society of South Australia Inc., whether fact or opinion and the Society, its editors, Fellows and printers accept no responsibility for any such statements. Mention of any commercial or proprietary product does not constitute a recommendation or endorsement of its use by editors, author(s), their institutions, the Royal Society of South Australia Inc. or its Fellows.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Authors Page Preface i Forewords Hon. Mike Rann & Hon. Karlene Maywald iii Acknowledgements v 1 Geology and Geomorphology – Yvonne Bone 1-49 2 Soils – David Maschmedt 50-64 3 Acid sulfate soils – Robert W. Fitzpatrick, Paul Shand & Richard H. Merry 65-111 4 Groundwater – Glen Walker, Steve Barnet, Peter Cook, Ian Jolly & Matt

Miles 112-130

5 Climate – Peter Schwerdtfeger & Warwick Grace 131-141 6 Aboriginal Culture and the Riverine Environment – Philip Clarke 142-161 7 Water Resources – Judy R. Goode & Paul D. Harvey 162-177 8 Neogene fossils in the Murrayvian Gulf (Western Murray basin) and their

environmental and chronological significance – Brian McGowran, Qianyu Li, Neville S. Pledge & Rolf Schmidt

178-205

9 Flora and Vegetation – Anthony C. Robinson, Peter J. Lang, Tim S. Croft, Felicity M. Smith, Andrew R. Graham & Xenios Markou

206-282

10 Freshwater Invertebrates – Keith F. Walker, Chris P. Madden, Craig R. Williams, Stephen R. Fricker, Michael C. Geddes, Peter M. Goonan, Michael J. Kokkinn, Paul K. McEvoy, Russell J. Shiel & Vladimir Tsymbal

283-305

11 Terrestrial Invertebrates – John T. Jennings, Andrew D. Austin, Kerrie Davies, Mark Harvey, David Hirst & Gary Taylor

306-333

12 Fishes – Qifeng Ye & Mike Hammer 334-352 13 Reptiles and Amphibians – Mark Hutchinson 353-370 14 Birds – David C. Paton, Daniel J. Rogers, Peter Cale, Nigel Willoughby &

Jody A. Gates 371-396

15 Mammals – Sue Carthew & Terry Reardon 397-416


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CHAPTER 6. ABORIGINAL CULTURE and the RIVERINE

ENVIRONMENT

Philip A. Clarke South Australian Museum, North Terrace, Adelaide SA 5000.

[email protected]

Before European settlement, the Murray River Valley provided a natural enclave for Aboriginal river culture, where hunters and gatherers utilised aquatic-based technology and lived in relatively high population densities. This chapter outlines the distinctiveness of Murray River culture in South Australia when Europeans first arrived and aims to describe Aboriginal relationships to their cultural landscape.

Records of Aboriginal culture from the Murray River come from a wide range of sources. During the 1830s and 1840s there were explorers (Eliza Davies and Charles Sturt), overlanders (Charles Bonney, Edward J. Eyre, Joseph Hawdon, James C. Hawker and Edward B. Scott), colonists (George French Angas, J.J. East, Dirk M. Hahn, Matthew Moorhouse and Richard Penney) and policemen (trooper Ewens and corporal Shaw). Missionaries were active along the River in the 1840s (R. William Holden) and in the Lower Lakes from 1859 to 1879 (George Taplin). In the 20th century there were scholars from 1900 (Alfred R. Brown), 1930s to the 1960s (Ronald M. & Catherine H. Berndt, Alison Harvey, William Ramsay Smith and Norman B. Tindale) and the 1980s (Philip A. Clarke). Local historians gathered valuable records, from the 1930s (Tom P. Bellchambers), 1960s (Richard G. Kimber) to the 1980s (Ronald Baker, Margaret Baker and William Reschke). There is an extensive literature on the archaeology of the Murray River Basin (Hale & Tindale 1930; Pretty 1977, 1986; Tindale & Pretty 1980; Jones 1985; Pardoe 1994, 1995; Mulvaney & Kamminga 1999; Pate 1997, 1998, 2000), the full treatment of which is outside the scope of this chapter.

Much of the ethnographic information discussed here came from a small but diverse group of Aborigines. Eyre, Hawker and Scott recorded information from Tenbury (King Tenberry) (Fig. 1) and his family in the Moorundie (Moorundee) area. Bellchambers reminisced about meeting Aborigines, such as Jerry Mason (King Jerry), Jinny Christmas, Robert (Bob) McKinley and Natune. Tindale interviewed the descendants of the Nganguruku people living along the Murray River, in particular Henry Mason (Mengoan), who was a son of Jerry Mason and Jinny Christmas. Later, he worked with Henry’s son, Robert (Joe, Tarby) Mason. Tindale also interviewed Frank Fletcher (Fig. 2) and Robert McKinley of the Maraura people, and Amy Johnson of the Yaraldi. The Berndts worked mainly with Albert Karloan, Mark Wilson and Margaret (Pinkie) Mack of the Yaraldi. Harvey also recorded data from Margaret Mack. Folklorist William Ramsay Smith had material gathered for him by Ngarrindjeri (Narrinyeri) man David Unaipon (Tindale 1953). Smith’s work has been edited and republished under the Unaipon name (1924-25 [2001]). Clarke interviewed a broad range of Ngarrindjeri people who had experience with the Murray River region.

The Murray Basin was the scene of some of the worst episodes of frontier conflict between Europeans and Australian Aborigines. The tension between overlanders and Darling-Murray Aborigines lead to the Rufus River massacre in 1842 (Hardy 1969; Woolmer 1976; Foster et al. 2001). As a result of conflict and land dispossession, the Aboriginal population along the Murray River plummeted. By 1844, some Murray River people had taken up residence in Adelaide (The Adelaide Observer newspaper, 27 April 1844, page 5; Clarke 1991). An epidemic passing through the Aboriginal population of the Darling River around 1850 was reported to have killed about a third of the community (Bonney 1884). This possibly spread to Murray River groups, which around 1830 had also suffered from smallpox (Stirling 1911; Clarke 1995). Holden stated in 1875 that ‘The aborigines are fast dying out on the Murray River. A tribe I knew well fifteen years ago of one hundred and fifty, only one young man left – who is now living with me [at Poonindie near Port Lincoln]; he is the last of the tribe’ (Holden 1875 [1879]). European settlement along the Murray River has put intense pressure on Aboriginal land uses (Clarke 1994, 2003b). Increasingly, Aboriginal people throughout southern Australia have lived in landscapes modified by rural and urban development.


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Figure 1. Tenbury (King Tenberry), who supplied information to early European observers of Aboriginal life and custom along the Murray River. Oil painting by H.F. Schrader, 1851. Museum Archives, South Australian Museum.

To help manage Aboriginal movements and to provide welfare along the River, the Aboriginal Protector’s Office set up ration depots at Moorundie in 1841, Wellington in 1847, Lake Bonney in 1848 and Paringa in 1853 (Eyre 1845; Foster 1989). In the Lower Lakes, the Point McLeay Mission was established in 1859 and apart from the Ngarrindjeri, attracted Aborigines from around Wellington and further upstream (Jenkin 1979; Taplin 1859-79, 1874, 1879). The mission settlements established along the River were at Manunka in 1901, Swan Reach in 1925 and Gerard in 1945 (Tindale 1930-52; Berndt & Berndt 1951; Griffin & McCaskill 1986; Woolmer 1976). Since European settlement, Aborigines from other cultural regions have migrated to the Murray Basin region (Clarke 1994; Gale 1966).

Today, the descendants of the River people mainly express their links to the land in terms of their own ‘mission’ history (Berndt & Berndt 1951; Berndt 1989; Clarke 1994). There are accounts of Aboriginal social history along the River and Lower Lakes from the 20th century (Gilbert 1978; Ely 1980; Mattingley & Hampton 1988; Education Department 1990 & 1991; Grace 1990; Abdulla 1993; Salgado 1994; DETE 1998, 2001a & 2001b; Wilson 1998). Since the late 20th century, there has been a growing recognition of Indigenous rights in the inland river and coastal systems of Australia (Resource Assessment Commission 1993; Smyth 1993; Peterson & Rigsby 1998; Clarke 2003b).

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Figure 2. Camp of Maraura man Frank Fletcher (seated) at Swan Reach, 1938. N.B. Tindale, Museum

Archives, South Australian Museum.

Languages and Clans Europeans in the past have indiscriminately used terms, such as ‘nations’, ‘tribes’ and ‘clans’, when describing Aboriginal social and political structure in the Murray Basin, which has caused much confusion (Clarke 1994). Eyre (1845) acknowledged that the ‘divisions, numbers, and names of the various tribes are ... subjects of difficulty and uncertainty’. He identified two major levels on which Aborigines defined themselves as groups. First, there were group names based on people belonging to a particular place, the names generally meaning ‘people of ...’. Second, that several of these local groups were known to form a larger group that possessed a recognised language or dialect, which Eyre (1845) termed a ‘tribe’.

Aboriginal authority was not hereditary and rested with particular individuals who, through strength of personality, gained political following. For instance, Eyre claims that among River Aborigines:

There can hardly be said to be any form of government existing among a people who recognise no authority, and where every member of the community is at liberty to act as he likes, except, in so far as he may be influenced by the general opinions or wishes of the tribe ... Among none of the tribes yet known have chiefs ever been found to be acknowledged, though in all there are always some men who take the lead, and whose opinions and wishes have great weight with the others (Eyre 1845).

For the purposes of this chapter, the local land owning groups who are based upon descent from a common Ancestor are referred to as clans, and the broader groups who speak a similar dialect are language groups.

Early European scholars collectively described the Aboriginal population of the Murray River north of the Lower Lakes and below the confluence with the Darling as Meru (or Maru), which was an Aboriginal term from along the River for ‘humankind’ (Moorhouse 1879; Taplin 1879; Brown 1918; Tindale 1964, 1974). The Ngarrindjeri living to the south in the Lower Lakes, Encounter Bay and Coorong region referred to the Meru people as the Wakanuwan (Walkandi-woni) (Moorhouse 1846 [1935]; Taplin 1874; Berndt & Berndt 1993; Clarke 2001). A broad group name from the late 19th century is Peeita (Birta), said to mean the ‘Murray Blacks proper’ as well as all the people ranging in the Adelaide Hills from North Para River to Encounter Bay (East 1889). In the mid 20th century, the Berndts recorded Kukabrak as the term for all people along the River and in the southeast of South Australia who had participated in the same ceremonies (Berndt & Berndt 1993).


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Aboriginal culture along the Murray River was diverse. Aborigines living along the South Australian section spoke several languages, with numerous dialects (Moorhouse 1846 [1935]; Ewens 1879; Taplin 1879; Brown 1918). Holden claimed that:

The same language is spoken all up the Darling, for some 500 miles [about 800 km] by land; but on the Murray, above and below the junction, the language changes every, say forty miles [about 64 km]. Each tribe knows three languages – i.e., own, neighbor above, and neighbor below; so a communication can be carried on all up and down the rivers (Holden 1875 [1879]).

Many of these languages were probably mutually intelligible (Eyre 1845). Both the Meru and Ngarrindjeri people had related male initiation ceremonies, involving hair-

plucking and singeing, covering initiates with red ochre, avoidance of both women and touching water (Hawker 1844; Eyre 1845; Holden 1875 [1879]; Ewens 1879; Shaw 1879; Taplin 1886; Tindale 1930-52, 1939b, 1953, 1974; Berndt & Berndt 1993). Individual descent amongst the Meru and Ngarrindjeri was traced through the male line. River and Lower Lakes people, with their relatively large population, resisted the spread of circumcision and subincision ceremonies from the northern and western groups (Curr 1886; Tindale 1930-52, 1974).

The western edge of the Murray-Darling Basin was a frontier between the Central Australian and southeastern Australian religious systems. One of Tindale’s River informants claimed that his father’s father had been a circumcised man who had fled from the north to escape the ‘whistling’ (subincision) rites and was adopted by the Nganguruku (Tindale 1953). As with other southeastern Australia people, Aboriginal Creation beliefs along the River gave prominence to supreme male Ancestors, who typically ended up in the Skyworld when their deeds were completed (Howitt 1904; Swain 1993; Clarke 1999b).

One of the last initiation ceremonial sequences held in the Murray Basin of South Australia occurred in the 1880s at Metang, near Mannum. It was an efflorescence of the pre-European culture and drew participants from an extended region. The event was organised by Yaraldi-speaking Ngarrindjeri people who came upstream from the Lower Lakes, with the participation of other groups from the Coorong, Encounter Bay, and the Murray River upstream as far as the Darling River (Berndt & Berndt 1993; Clarke 1999b).

Ceremonial exchanges were major events, with the Meru receiving and passing back the Kuri ceremony to Aboriginal groups to the west, including Adelaide and the southern Flinders Ranges, on a cycle lasting several years (Angas 1847a,b; Clarke 2003a). The Kombo (Rainbow) ceremony, which was chiefly concerned with arranging marriages, travelled annually downstream (Tindale 1930-52, 1953). Symbolically, the outer arch of the rainbow was the male principle, and the inner arch the female. The whole rainbow represented the urine stream of a male supreme being. The Kombo was held in later winter, when the widespread presence of water made travelling easy.

The true population level just prior to European settlement in Australia will never be known. In 1851 an estimate of the Aboriginal population living between Wellington and the Rufus River, taking in about 50 km of country on each side, was 900 individuals (Moorhouse 1879). Based on historical data and comparisons with other parts of Australia, the pre-European population along the Murray River in South Australia is estimated to have been several thousand people and approaching a density of 0.3 to 1 square km per person (Brown 1918; Clarke 1994). There are conflicting records of exact clan boundaries among the Meru, possibly due to historical shifts after Europeans arrived (Curr in Moorhouse 1886).

Clans with members speaking various Ngarrindjeri languages, such as Potawolin (Portaulun) and Yaraldi (Jarildekald, Jaralde), dominated the first section of the Murray River from Point Pomanda to Tailem Bend (Brown 1918; Tindale 1974; Berndt & Berndt 1993) (see also Fig. 3). In this area there was a major language change. For example, from the perspective of Yaraldi speaker Albert Karloan many of the Potawolin words were unrecognisable (Tindale 1974). A prominent 19th century Potawolin man was James Ngunaitponi (Harvey 1939; Tindale 1974; Jenkin 1979). He was George Taplin’s assistant at the Point McLeay Mission and the father of renowned Ngarrindjeri scholar and inventor, David Unaipon.

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Figure 3. N.B. Tindale’s Tribal Map of the South Australian section of the Murray Basin. Museum Archives,

South Australian Museum. © Tony Tindale and Beryl George, 1974.

From just north of Tailem Bend, about 15 km upstream from Lake Alexandrina, was the country of the Ngaralta (Ngaraltu) people (Brown 1918; Tindale 1974; Tindale & Pretty 1980; Berndt & Berndt 1993). Little is also known about this group, although it appears to have been more closely allied to the Ngarrindjeri than to the Meru upstream. From just south of Mannum, extending upstream to Devon Downs, were the Nganguruku (Nanarooka) people, who were part of the Meru (Berndt & Berndt 1993; Brown 1918; Tindale 1953, 1974; Tindale & Pretty 1980). Their language was reportedly similar to Ngaiawang, with some vocabulary differences. The residents of the Manunka Mission were largely Nganguruku. Like many of the River people, the Nganguruku ranged into the mallee of the back ‘country’ on both sides of the River (Tindale 1935, 1974). They also penetrated into the eastern Mount Lofty Ranges as far as the headwaters of the Onkaparinga River to perform the Kombo for the benefit of the local Peramangk people (Tindale 1930-52, 1953).

Upstream from Wongulla were the Ngaiawang (Ngaiawung, Aiawung, Ngaiyawa and Niawoo) (Eyre 1845; Scott, cited in Tindale 1930-52; Tindale 1935; 1939a,b 1974; Boehm 1939; Berndt & Berndt 1993). The Ngaiawang were sometimes called the ‘Moorundee tribe’ (Ewens 1879, p.30), presumably after Eyre’s ration depot located within their territory.

The next group on the River to the Ngaiawang, due east from the North West Bend, were the Ngawait (Nauait) (Brown 1918; Tindale 1939a, 1974; Berndt & Berndt 1993). Their language was called Ngawaijung. Ngawait people in the southern mallee part of their territory would sometimes


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access the Murray River in the region dominated by the Ngaiawang (Tindale 1974). This was done at a place known as Wutjuwutj, between Nildottie and Devon Downs.

Upstream from Cobdogla were Erawirung (Yirau) people, who spoke Yuyu (You-you) (Shaw 1879; Brown 1918; Tindale 1930-52, 1939a, 1974; Berndt & Berndt 1993). To the east of the Erawirung were the Ngintait, whose territory lay mainly in the mallee south of the River and extending into western Victoria (Fulford 1886; Pegler 1886; Brown 1918; Tindale 1974).

The Maraura (Maroura, Marowra, Wiimbaio) were based in the region from Avoca on the Darling River, downstream to the confluence of the Darling and Murray Rivers at Wentworth (Holden 1875 [1879]; Fison & Howitt 1880; Bulmer 1886; Howitt 1904; Brown 1918; Tindale 1930-52, 1939b, 1974; Berndt & Berndt 1993). The Maraura were not part of the Meru people and, like their northern neighbours the Barkindji, were different from the downstream Murray River groups through having a social organisation based on the moieties: Makwara and Kilpara. These were traced along the female line, although totemic clan descent was assigned from the male line.

The Maraura possessed arid zone hunting and gathering practices that made them distinct from the Meru. For the Maraura this meant using large grindstones to prepare nardoo sporocarps (Tindale 1930-52, 1981) and the absence of basket-making practices (Tindale 1930-52). Maraura appear to have moved south from further up the Darling River between 1831 and 1836 (Taplin 1879; Tindale 1974). The Maraura congregated at Lake Victoria during the summer months and moved to the back plains in winter, once rains had filled the small waterholes. They occasionally raided the River people downstream for wives. The Maraura received the Molonggo travelling ceremony from Aboriginal groups further north, commencing in Queensland (Tindale 1981).

Groups who normally lived in the hinterland also approached the Murray River on occasions, particular during hard times. Seasonal visitors were the Ngarkat (Arkatko, Buripung) people, who lived in the Murray Mallee and spoke Boraipar (Eyre 1845; Tindale 1930-52, 1938, 1939a, 1953, 1974, 1981; Kimber 1969). The River people feared them as sorcerers. The recorded Yaraldi mythology concerning Bird Ancestors and fishing connected western Victoria with the Lower Lakes, passing through Ngarkat country (Harvey 1943; Tindale 1930-52). The mallee does not have permanent streams, although water in rockholes north of Pinnaroo persists during most droughts (Kimber 1969).

During harsh summers, the Ngarkat moved towards the Murray River and Lower Lakes for food and water. The River and Lakes people permitted them access, as long as they did not camp near the water. For instance, at Ngautngaut (Devon Downs Rock-shelter) the local clans would only allow the Ngarkat down a particular track to the River, about 45 m south of the shelter (Tindale 1974, 1976, 1981). The visitors were made to take their drinking water away in skin bags back to their camps in the mallee. These precautions prevented game from being disturbed from watering at the more gentle sloping riverbanks. The Ngarkat did not make or use canoes (Tindale 1953).

The Meru generally referred to people based north of the North West Bend as ‘Moon men’, and their territory as the ‘country of the Moon’ (Tindale 1953). They wore moon-shaped shell plates, which probably come to them along trade routes commencing at the northern Australian coast. The River people referred to the language spoken north of the Murray as Yak-kumban, which was reputedly similarly to other languages of the Darling River (Eyre 1845). Danggali (Yarkwombku) people lived in the arid country north of Morgan, ranging towards Broken Hill, and they also visited the Murray and Darling Rivers on occasion (Tindale 1974). Like the Ngarkat, they relied heavily on plant root water.

Living along the eastern escarpment of the Mount Lofty Ranges on the western side of the Murray River were people referred to as Peramangk (Piramangk, Peramarma), although little is known about them (Hahn 1838-1839; Listemann 1851; Reimer 1851; Tindale 1953, 1974, 1976; Coles & Draper 1988; Chilman 1990; Berndt & Berndt 1993). They are reported to have ranged towards the Murray River and to have spoken a Meru related language. Unlike the River people, the Peramangk practiced circumcision initiation rites.

Aboriginal Mythical Landscape In the South Australian region of the Murray there are recorded Creation myths that variously involve supreme male Ancestors, such as Nureli (Nurili, Nurelli, Nurele, Nooralie, Noreele, Nourelle), Ngurunderi (Nurunderi, Runderudie and Noorondourrie) and Korna (Corna). In terms of gender, the

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exception is the female Ancestor Nurela (Nooreela). Due to the degree of similarity and crossover between these accounts it is best to treat them as a myth complex (Berndt & Berndt 1993; Clarke 1995, 1999b). In general, the Meru myths and associated tracks and sites are only sketchily known.

Eyre (1845) gave a Creation account whereby there were once four individuals living among the clouds - the all-powerful benevolent Ancestor Nureli and his three male children who had no mother. Nureli created the whole landscape, giving names and languages to various peoples. Eyre (1845) was told that Nureli brought the first humans from ‘some place over the waters to the eastward’. When they died, the Aborigines were said to join him in the sky. There are also related accounts of this Dreaming Ancestor, both as an individual and as a class of supreme beings, from upstream in Victoria and New South Wales (Smyth 1878; Bulmer 1886; Howitt 1904). In a Maraura version, the Murray River was formed as Nureli chased a large winding serpent, which he eventually killed (Holden 1875 [1879]). A Creation myth recorded by Eyre (1845), which possibly linked to the Akurra of the Flinders Ranges, was based around ‘a serpent of immense size, and inhabiting high rocky mountains, which, they say, produced creation by a blow of his tail’.

In the early 20th century, Natune, an Aboriginal man from Moorundie, provided a Creation account of the Murray River involving the wanderings of Nurela, who was a blind woman, accompanied by two young children as guides (Bellchambers 1931). Starting from Lake Victoria, she created the River by driving back the sea. Nurela became lost and travelled like a ‘drunken bee’; her meandering course meant that the River became very long. This lengthening of her journey was fortunate for Aboriginal foragers, as it increased the number of hunting and fishing grounds, with a lagoon at each river elbow. Fossils jutting out of cliffs along the River were believed to be the remains of fish killed and eaten by Nurela and her children (Bellchambers 1931).

The Ramindjeri people, at Encounter Bay west of the Murray Mouth, had a tradition whereby the Ancestor Korna was driven into their country from the northeast by a fire created by sorcerers (Penney 1842). He and his family were eventually saved by the formation of the Murray River that burst from the ground, extinguishing the flames, and flowed on into the sea. For the Ngarrindjeri people living in the Lower Lakes and Coorong, a male Ancestor named Ngurunderi is considered to have made the Murray River and many surrounding topographic features (Taplin 1874 [1879], 1886; Berndt 1940; Tindale & Pretty 1980; Berndt & Berndt 1993; Clarke 1995). In most recorded accounts, Ngurunderi and his sons pursued a giant Murray cod, Pondi, down the Darling and Murray Rivers, which were then just small streams. As the cod was chased, it widened the watercourse to its present width. With each sweep of the tail a swamp was formed. When Pondi escaped into Lake Alexandrina, Ngurunderi called out to brother in-law Nepeli to spear the fish. Ngurunderi tore Pondi into pieces, throwing each fragment back into the water and thus creating different fish species.

Late recordings of the Murray River mythology have tended to incorporate elements from various Creation accounts. Natune claimed that Ancestor Wurranderra (Wirranderra and Wunderra), who was reportedly an ‘Aboriginal Moses’, led the northern tribes to the rich Murray waters in the footsteps of Nureli (Bellchambers 1931). Wurranderra set the Meru boundaries and gave them law and customs. Among the Ngarrindjeri, it was tradition that two of Ngurunderi’s warriors returned to the Darling River, but were never heard of again (Taplin 1874 [1879]). In the Yuyu language of the Erawirung, Ngurunderi was known as Nguril (Berndt & Berndt 1993).

In southeastern Australia, the epic struggle between two Bird Ancestors, variously the Eagle or Eaglehawk and Crow or Raven, was a dominant mythological theme in societies possessing the moiety or dual social organization (Blows 1975; Mathew 1899). The Murray River groups treated them as Nureli beings. The most detailed account of this mythology along the River comes from the Maraura people (Tindale 1939b, 1953). In their version, Waku the Crow and Kanau the Eagle lived at opposite ends to each other in the Manara Range, east of Broken Hill in New South Wales. Kanau took Waku’s sister as a wife, but he had no sister to give in return. Between their camps lived two unmarried Barkindji sisters, who were in the care of Kanau. They were in the wrong kinship category to be acceptable wives for Waku. The disenchanted Waku assaulted the women at the Darling River. After they fled, the sisters became married to Tulu the Kingfisher Ancestor, who was in the correct kinship category.

Waku eventually killed Tulu and continued chasing the women downstream, eventually into the Murray River. To catch up to them, Waku took a short cut across the North West Bend by travelling underground between Loxton and Swan Reach. A cave about 5 km in the scrub east of

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Nildottie is one of the places Waku came up for air. Another deep cave marks his final exit. The women eventually escaped, so Waku was angry when he returned to the Manara Range. Here, he killed Kanau’s son, but pretended that others had done so. Kanau discovered the lie and buried Waku alive in the grave of his murdered son. Waku dug his way out through the ground, emerging ‘like a goanna’ to become a bird. Kanau also became a bird.

There are other Dreaming accounts that are related to the Crow and Eagle Ancestors. In Ngaiawang tradition, Ngurunderi’s two wives were said to be the two Barkindji sisters chased by Waku (Tindale 1939b). Ancestor Tulu may be associated with the Kingfisher (Yulu-yuluru) mythology of the Flinders Ranges to the west (Mountford 1971; Jones & McEntee 1996). The Ngadjuri people around Yunta, north of the Murray River, believed that the Crow and Eagle Ancestors fought after a dispute over food, resulting in the Eagle damaging his foot and the Crow being burnt in a cave (Tindale 1937). A Crow and Eagle myth, with associated sites, has also been recorded south of the River, around the Blue Lake at Mount Gambier (Tindale ms).

In another Murray River myth, Nurel (Nooreel) the Crow and Nanuru (Narnooroo) the Goanna Ancestor fought, with Nurel winning by magical means (Bellchambers 1931). Nanuru was chased into a hole in the cliffs at the North West Bend. Nurel blocked the entrance with stones to stop Nanuru from entering his country, but Nanuru escaped underground by digging all the way to Punyelroo cave near Swan Reach. This cave featured in another myth, where an Overland Corner person had his wife stolen by a man who fled downstream with his prize (Woolmer 1976; Baker et al.1987). The husband was able to head them off by travelling through a cave direct to Punyelroo. This man got his wife back, but left his weapons behind in the cave. Aborigines pointed out two large red gum trunks, which are still in the cave, as his ‘spears’. The logs could not have been manhandled into the cave (Parkin 1938). If a flood washed them in, it would be a metre higher than the 1956 flood and probably centuries ago. It is possible that this latter account is another simplified rendition of the Waku mythology. The Nganguruku had a myth whereby the Crow Ancestor was tricked by Tjeiri, who was a ‘powered man’ or sorcerer, into eating a false fish, which then burnt him and his people, giving all crows their blackness (Tindale 1953).

Apart from Aboriginal accounts of the formation of major landscape features, there are other myths mentioned in the historical record. For instance, at Moorundie it was believed that a ‘fabulous person’, Kambattan Karraam, had given names to various places (Moorhouse cited in Taplin 1879). The Aboriginal name for a rock-shelter at the North West Bend is Tanami, which was said to literally mean ‘never die’ (Boehm 1939). Here, it was believed a fire was kept constantly burning, and the place was considered to have particular magical properties. Many songs were said to have come from a being called Murrumbidgee Biam or Murray Biam-baitch-y, who had the form of a crippled man and could spread disease (Eyre 1845). Some of the Meru mythology was associated with their art traditions. The Nganguruku had a rock engraving on a cliff, near Linkilunkli rock shelter, of a six-legged dog mentioned in myth (Bellchambers 1931). The perceived existence of the Heavens as an image of the terrestrial landscape is common across Australia. Celestial bodies were generally identified as being either part of topographical features or the Ancestors themselves. The Ngaiawang saw the Milky Way as symbolic of the Murray River, with the surrounding stars as men hunting game in the mallee on either side (Tindale, cited in Clarke 1997). The Skyworld was perceived as a region that, to some extent, obeyed the same laws as those of the terrestrial landscape. From groups along the Murray River, Eyre noted:

One old native informed me, that all blacks, when dead, go up to the clouds, where they have plenty to eat and drink; fish, birds, and game of all kinds, with weapons and implements to take them. He then told me, that occasionally individuals had been up to the clouds, and had come back, but that such instances were very rare; his own mother, he said, had been one of the favoured few. Some one from above had let down a rope, and hauled her up by it; she remained one night, and on her return, gave a description of what she had seen in a chant, or song, which she sung for me, but of the meaning of which I could make out nothing (Eyre 1845).

The Maraura people believed that the Moon spirit was male and that he disappeared each month to form stars (Holden 1875 [1879]). Each time he finished, Nureli made another Moon.


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Changes in the night sky were seen as omens. Eyre (1845) recorded that in March 1843 Aborigines took a comet as a ‘harbinger of all kinds of calamities, and more especially to the white people’. They considered that the comet would overthrow Adelaide, destroying all Europeans and their houses, and then to take a course up the Murray and past the Rufus River causing havoc in its path. Powerful northern sorcerers were believed to have created it. Eyre was told by the River people to go to Adelaide and procure the release of an Aboriginal man from the north gaoled for assaulting a shepherd. If this was done, he was told that disaster would be averted.

Spirit Beings Throughout southeastern Australia, there are Aboriginal accounts of water spirits, generally called ‘bunyips’ in the popular literature (Barrett 1946; Mulvaney 1994; Clarke 1999a, 2003a; Holden 2001). Some have been described as animal-like, and others as predominantly humanoid creatures. For instance, an example of the former is given by Angas who stated that Moorundie Aborigines:

… believed in the existence of a water spirit, which is much dreaded by them. They say it inhabits the Murray; but although they affirm that its appearance is of frequent occurrence, they have some difficulty in describing it. Its most usual form, however, is said to be that of an enormous star-fish (Angas 1847b).

This entity may be related to the ‘spirit of the waters’, or Ngook-wonga, that Eyre (1845) described as causing sickness for those who swim in forbidden places or at the wrong time.

Seals, which were on rare occasions seen as far inland as Blanchetown, may have been the source of some ‘bunyip’ sightings (Baker et al.1987). The whiskers and round face of the seal are the recorded features of more human-looking bunyips, the Mulyawank (Muldjewank) spirit beings, which were described by Ngarrindjeri people to be living chiefly in the River near Wellington (Clarke 1999a, 2001ms). At Ranginj (Devon Downs Station), the Mulyawank was said to make ripples in the water when swimming (Tindale 1953).

The Devon Downs Rock-shelter is named after the spirit being Ngaut-ngaut (Ngout-ngout), who was believed to have been one of the Ngurrumba-nguttya people of the western Victorian mallee country (Mathews 1904; Tindale 1930-52, 1953, 1974; Massola 1968). He lived by killing people and sucking their blood. No weapon could hurt him, unless he was struck in the tongue. Beliefs in Ngaut-ngaut appear to have been widespread among people living in the mallee region. According to a Brambambult account of Ngaut-ngaut, two men set out to kill him at a spring they created at Gurabo. They achieved this by disguising themselves as dead trees and by hiding a bone spike in the water to penetrate his tongue. Although Ngaut-ngaut was suspicious, the heat of the day and his thirst eventually drove him to the spring and he was killed.

There are myths of other Murray River spirits beings. An account similar to Ngaut-ngaut concerns the cannibal giant, ‘Chinny-kinik’ (Bellchambers 1931). He was a ‘shaker of the earth’ and lived at Pekarra cave on Yenpulla plain, east of the Murray River. Chinny-kinik killed and ate the River people. His two ‘uncles’ eventually killed him. A bird spirit, also named Ngout-ngout, was reportedly once a woman expelled from her clan for breaking custom (Education Department of South Australia 1991). For revenge, Ngout-ngout tricked children into becoming lost, using a trail of flowers to distract them. This story was told to children with the warning that they never wander off.

A well at Witjawitj, in the mallee country between Devon Downs and Loxton, was named after a spirit in the form of a crippled man who crawled everywhere (Tindale 1930-52, 1953). Witjawitj had a magic object, made from a severed human hand, which he used to strangle people. Another harmful spirit was the Witj-witj of the Riverland district, who was reportedly a female being that frightened animals away from hunters (Barney Lindsay, in Education Department of South Australia 1991). She had once been human, expelled from her people for ‘breaking the rules’.

An Aboriginal belief was that a class of beings, Bogo, lived at Bogorampko near Waikerie (W.K. Mallyon, cited in Cockburn 1908 [1984]; Tindale ms). They were considered large, human-like and to have had the power of invisibility. The Bogo were thought to come to the River at night from the inland scrubby country to get water and to inflict sorcery. According to McKinley, the Tandan spirits would ‘knock people about at night time when they venture away from the fire and may even throw stones at them’ (Tindale 1930-52). They looked like small people with shining eyes. Other malevolent spirit beings were Nokunno, Pootera and Tou (Eyre 1845; Moorhouse 1879; Shaw 1879).

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/268976513_Bunjil's_cave_myths_legends_and_superstitions_of_the_aborigines_of_south-east_Australia?el=1_x_8&enrichId=rgreq-cb027d37-d652-46d7-9ce7-8f37ec9f1d19&enrichSource=Y292ZXJQYWdlOzI3Njg0ODgzNjtBUzoyMzA2Mzc0ODc1MjE3OTJAMTQzMTk5OTY3MDU1MQ==

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/242831962_Ethnological_Notes_on_the_Aboriginal_Tribes_of_New_South_Wales_and_Victoria?el=1_x_8&enrichId=rgreq-cb027d37-d652-46d7-9ce7-8f37ec9f1d19&enrichSource=Y292ZXJQYWdlOzI3Njg0ODgzNjtBUzoyMzA2Mzc0ODc1MjE3OTJAMTQzMTk5OTY3MDU1MQ==


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Some Aboriginal placenames referred to spirit beings. Chowilla was said to have meant ‘place of spirits or ghosts’ (Tindale ms).

Aborigines considered that they had the ability, through spirit mediums, to manipulate time and space. An early Murray River settler recalled seeing flattened out piles of stone, resembling road metal, at intervals along Aboriginal tracks (W.K. Mallyon, cited in Clarke 2003a, p.24). He was told by an Aboriginal person, ‘Well, you know, fellow sit down under those stones who has control of the earth, and when blackfellow very tired him give presents to that fellow.’ The first offering made would be a bough removed from a nearby tree. If the traveller were a man, this would be cast on, the thrower saying ‘That is your spear.’ A second bough would follow, ‘That is your waddy, make ground come shorter.’ Similarly, women would offer the underground spirits two boughs, the first representing a possum rug, the second a net. In this way, River people made the ground ‘shrink’ and the length of their trip ‘shorter’.

Riverine Hunting and Gathering Although the use of aquatic food sources by Murray River Aborigines was similar to that described for riverine and coastal communities elsewhere in Aboriginal Australia (Lawrence 1968; Hardy 1969; Lampert 1971; Tindale 1981), the material culture and natural resource use along the River was fundamentally different than for the arid ‘back country’. Maraura man Robert McKinley contrasted the mode of living for groups based in the mallee scrub with those along the River with its strip of red gum woodland and swamps (Tindale 1974). The former lived on mallee fowl eggs, kangaroos and small animals, while the latter relied upon ducks, shellfish and fish. River people also had the benefit of being able to seasonally utilise the drier areas close to the edge of the Murray Valley. The Ngaralta, Nganguruku and Ngaiawang had clan territories extending for up to 20 km from both sides of the Murray River. North of the Murray-Darling junction, the country becomes progressively more arid. Here, local Aborigines relied upon large grindstone technology and the use of grass seed and nardoo to produce food (Newland 1889; Worsnop 1897; Tindale 1977, 1981).

Hunting Aboriginal hunters had their own estates adjacent to the River. Tindale recorded:

McKinley said that in the Yuyu [Erawirung] group hunting grounds were strictly marked and the permission of the chief old man would be necessary to be allowed to hunt, especially if the person was a stranger and not a blood relation. All the people of the one totemic clan might hunt without restriction save in that the totemic animal was respected (Tindale 1930-52).

The hunting of kangaroos and wallabies not only provided meat, but the skins for making clothing, which were pegged out on saltpans to cure (Smith 1930; Tindale 1935). Entrails from kangaroos were made into water carrying bags (Hahn 1838-1839 [1964]) and their bones were used as the central prong of three-pronged fishing spears (Worsnop 1897). Large marsupials were generally stalked just prior to dusk when feeding (Smith 1930). The hunter employed a branch shield as a screen, allowing him to move within spear-throwing distance of the animal. A good hunter could strike a kangaroo or wallaby with its head down feeding, reducing the chance of the dying beast frightening away other game.

The large scale hunting of kangaroos, wallabies and emus involved the cooperative efforts of groups of people. A party of men would go out early in the morning, armed with barbed spears, to form themselves into a large semicircle position (Hahn 1838-1839 [1964]; Eyre 1845; Tindale 1953). Women, children and other men started driving game, by firing the countryside and using the topography of the landscape to their advantage. Gradually the space between driving party members was reduced, the game cornered and killed with clubs. If fewer people were available, then large nets would be placed across a well-worn animal pad, and game driven into it (Eyre 1845). Concealed pitfalls were also employed (Smith 1930). For smaller animals, such as rat kangaroos and wallabies, brush fences were used to drive them towards a killing point (Eyre 1845).

Aboriginal hunters located hollow trees where possums lived by examining tree trunks for fresh scratch marks and small pieces of fur (Eyre 1845; Krefft 1862-65). When such a tree was located, it was quickly climbed, often with the aid of a pointed stick to chop toeholds into smooth and branchless trunks. To determine whether a possum was in a particular hollow, a stone was thrown in



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causing the animal to make rustling noises as it shifted. Also, a stick with a roughened end was inserted into the hollow and twisted. When this was withdrawn, the end was examined for fur. If the animal retreated deeply into the tree, it was either chopped out or forced from the hollow with smoke (Hahn 1838-1839 [1964]). The possum skin cloaks would have been essential winter clothing. For this use, the furs were made pliable by scouring lines into the flesh side with a stone knife, and then the pelts sewed together with sinews (Tindale 1930-52).

Burrowing mammals, particularly bandicoots and rats, were either dug up or smoked out of their holes. Eyre said:

Rats are also dug out of the ground, but they are procured in the greatest numbers and with the utmost facility when the approach of the floods in the river flats compels them to evacuate their domiciles. A variety is procured among the scrubs under a singular pile or nest which they make of sticks, in the shape of a hay-cock, three or four feet [0.9 to 1.2 m] high and many feet in circumference. A great many occupy the same pile and are killed with sticks as they run out (Eyre 1845).

The above quote refers to stick-nest rats and indicates the seasonal nature of some hunting practices. Techniques for capturing wombats were to dig them up or smoke them out of their burrows (Eyre 1845; Angas 1847b). Another method involved the hunter hiding during late afternoon in bushes where he could observe from which hole a wombat emerged (Smith 1930). When the animal moved on, the burrow would be blocked about a metre in. The hunter would then frighten the wombat back to his hole, trapping him between the exit and the block.

The Murray River and its wetlands were formerly rich in a variety of waterfowl. Snares were used in conjunction with stick frameworks, often placed near a hide made from branches and reeds. A method used by hunters to attract birds to land on the framework and become entangled was to produce noises (Worsnop 1897). Another practice was to place the snare between two sticks driven into mud on either side of a narrow swimming channel (Smith 1930). Black swans, in particular, make these paths amongst reeds. Snaring-rods are long poles with a noose attached to the end. In mallee country away from the River, they were used to catch nectar-feeding birds (Worsnop 1879). A hide was constructed next to a flowering bush, and the first captive tied to the frame as a live decoy.

Nets were used to catch birds, particularly for flocks resting on water. The nets were strung between two trees in the flight path of the birds (Eyre 1845; Krefft 1862-65; Scott, cited in Tindale 1930-52; Smith 1930; Tindale 1930-52). Ducks were flushed and made to fly low with shrill whistles from hunters imitating hawks or falcons. Many birds could be caught in this manner. Swans are flightless while moulting from mid-July to January, and therefore easily caught by hand at this stage (Penney 1842). At other times, large birds could be taken by spear (Eyre 1845).

To catch waterfowl settled on an open section of water, the hunter wore a hat made of water plants while swimming out to pull the birds under (Scott, cited in Tindale 1930-52; Smith 1930). Another method was to entice teal ducks towards the bank by waving the flower tops of several reeds tied together, with the hunter hidden from view (Museum Board 1887; Smith 1930). When close, the hunter stood up and threw a club or spear at the inquisitive birds as they took flight. Sometimes a boomerang was thrown, the noise as it cuts through the air resembling a hawk, forcing birds back onto the water.

Emus, being large flightless animals, were generally caught in the same ways described above for kangaroos - by stalking with bough shields, or by trapping in concealed pitfalls and in nets (Scott, cited in Tindale 1930-52; Smith 1930). An alternative method was to lie in wait next to an emu pad leading to water. When the emu approached in late afternoon, the hunter would thrust out his hand, catching the bird by one of its legs while he clubbed it to death.

A large variety of snakes and lizards were hunted from around the River and adjacent environs (Eyre 1845). Freshwater tortoises were tracked as they moved inland to lay their eggs (Angas 1847b). Eggs, of both tortoises and birds, would be covered, fried in hot ashes and then eaten. Men generally caught tortoises by diving for them (Hawker, 13 November 1843; Eyre 1845). Frogs were either dug out of the ground, or caught in the swamps, generally by women, with tadpoles also eaten (Eyre 1845).


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Fishing Fishing techniques ranged from netting, spear fishing and trapping, to opportunistic harvesting and storage (Eyre 1845; Krefft 1862-65; Scott, cited in Tindale 1930-52; Clarke 2002). Large Murray codfish took refuge in underwater caves and overhangs in the River, and local clans possessed exclusive rights to fish at such sites (Tindale 1974). Before the arrival of Europeans, Aboriginal fishers in southern Australia did not widely use the fish-hook and line, although along the Murray River a fish gorge made from bone was used in some places (Eyre 1845; Meyer 1846 [1879]; Davies 1881; Massola 1956; Gerritsen 2001; Clarke 2003b). At night a fire attracted fish to be struck by spear or club (Angas, 1847b). Sometimes a bark canoe (see also Figs 4-5) was employed to fish from, with a fire contained by a clay hearth in the middle that served to cook the catch (Meyer 1846 [1879]; Angas 1847b; Scott, cited in Tindale 1930-52). Rafts made from reed stems and dry flower spikes of grasstrees would also have been essential items of fishing material culture (Clarke 2003b).

Figure 4. An Aboriginal group in a bark canoe, mungo, who were travelling along the Darling River at Avoca station, New South Wales in 1904. This canoe was acquired by the South Australian Museum from D.H. Cudmore in 1910. Museum Archives, South Australian Museum.

Fish poisons were used in the upstream reaches of the Murray River bordering northern Victoria (Curr 1883). When large numbers of fish died in rivers or lakes for natural reasons, these were quickly gathered (Eyre 1845). The Aboriginal construction of long trenches concentrated fish and saved much labour expenditure. These channels were often large modifications of the landscape. For instance, Smith recorded that: In the low-lying country, alongside of the river, trenches are dug two or three hundred yards [180 or 270 m] long and from four to five feet [1.2 to 1.6 m] deep. When the Murray becomes flooded it overflows its banks to the extent of a mile or more [1.6 km or more] on each side, and frequently the Murray cod, the bream, the butterfish, and other fish are living in this water. When the waters become low through evaporation and soakage the fish are easily caught... They wade into the shallow water and scoop the fish into baskets made especially for this purpose (Smith 1930).

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Figure 5. Canoe-tree. Gum tree bearing large scar where Aboriginal people removed a bark sheet for making a canoe. River red gums, known in Ngaiawang language as karrarru, are one of the few tree species in the Murray Darling Basin large enough for suitable bark to make canoes. R. Edwards, Chowilla, 1967. Museum Archives, South Australian Museum.

Some fishtraps have been described as weirs in the literature. According to Eyre, Aborigines seasonally gathered at the channels in the Murray River connecting the river flats with the main river:

… making a weir across them with stakes and grass interwoven, [would] leave only one or two small openings for the stream to pass through. To these they attach bag nets, which receive all the fish that attempt to re-enter the river. The number procured in this way in a few hours is incredible. Large bodies of natives depend upon these weirs for their sole subsistence, for some time after the waters have commenced to recede (Eyre 1845).

This practice occurred in early December when the floods had reached their highest and were beginning to recede.

Aboriginal modification of the riverine landscape for fishing must have been considerable. It is contemporary oral history among old riverboat captains that before the lock system was introduced, remains of Aboriginal built fishtraps were hazards for paddle steamers when water levels were down (T. Sim pers. comm.). Stone fishtraps can still be seen around the lakes when the water is low (Jones 1985). Small dams or pounds were often not simply structures for catching fish, but were used to keep part of the catch alive for future use. For instance, Sturt stated that on his 1830 expedition down the Murray River he:

… observed some cradles, or wicker frames, placed below high water-mark, that were each guarded by two natives, who threatened us violently as we approached. In running along the land, the stench from them plainly indicated what they were which these poor creatures were so anxiously watching (Sturt 1833).

Invertebrate Use Grubs were obtained from either tree trunks or from the ground with the aid of a thin narrow hook of hardwood connected to a long wiry shoot of lignum (Eyre 1845; Davies 1881). This was pushed down the hole until the grub was hooked, then withdrawn. Grubs to the depth of 2 m into the timber or earth could be procured in this way. Termites were a favourite food in spring (Eyre 1845). Egg laying


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females were separated from the dirt by winnowing in a bark trough. Many other insects would also have been eaten.

The leaves and stems of gum trees were sources of edible manna (Taplin 1874 [1879]). Although this appears to be a plant food source, it is actually an exudate produced by insect attack. Sugar lerp bugs create a similar food that appears on eucalypt leaves (Clarke 1998). These minute sapsuckers produce a sweet white flaky substance as a protective covering, which can be scraped off by running the leaf through the teeth.

The introduced honeybee has now largely displaced Australian bee species from the southern regions of Australia (Matthews 1976). Eyre provided a detailed account of the gathering of honey from the Australian bee. He reported that:

It is procured pure from the hives of the native bees, found in cavities of rocks and the hollow branches of trees. The method of discovering the hive is ingenious. Having caught one of the honey bees, which in size exceeds very little the common house fly, the native sticks a piece of feather or white down to it with gum, and then letting it go, sets off after it as fast as he can: keeping his eye steadily fixed upon the insect, he rushes along like a mad-man, tumbling over trees and bushes that lie in his way, but rarely losing sight of his object, until conducted to its well-filled store, he is amply paid for all his trouble. The honey is not so firm as that of the English bee, but is of very fine flavour and quality (Eyre 1845).

Along the River, women obtained ‘freshwater cray-fish’ (yabbies and large freshwater lobsters) amongst underwater debris (Eyre 1845; Scott, cited in Tindale 1930-52). Aboriginal men gathered them using a large bow-net, wharro, which was dragged close to the bottom of the shallows by two or three people (Eyre 1845). The existence of shell middens along the waterways of the Murray River provides physical evidence of Aborigines collecting and eating river mussels (Hahn 1838-1839 [1964]; Angas 1847b). Eyre wrote:

The women whose duty it is to collect these [mussels], go into the water with small nets (lenko) hung around their necks, and diving to the bottom pick up as many as they can, put them into their bags, and rise to the surface for fresh air, repeating the operation until their bags have been filled. They have the power of remaining for a long time under the water, and when they rise to the surface for air, the head and sometimes the mouth only is exposed (Eyre 1845).

Aboriginal women kept mussel shells for use as spoons and cutting implements (Angas 1847b).

Aboriginal Plant Use The River zone had rich sources of seasonally available plant food (Krefft 1862-65; Clarke 1986, 1988, 1998). Edible fruits came from the monterry, apple berry, pigface and nitre bush. Gum was obtained from wattles, while for greens cress was gathered. Aquatic root foods, like bulrush and club rush, could be relied upon as staple foods, particularly in winter when other sources were not in season. Back from the River, the yam daisy would have been an important tuber. To the east in the Murray Mallee, the Ngarkat people had restricted access to the waterways, so had to obtain much of their drinking water from tree roots during dry seasons (Eyre 1845; Tindale 1974). Succulent pigface leaves and stems were also carried as a source of water when crossing dry plains (Tindale 1930-52). The Meru people were noted for their basket making, with a several sedges species used (Tindale 1930-52). Although basket and mat making was common throughout the southeastern Australia, the groups to the north and west of the Murray River do not appear to have utilised these fibre crafts prior to European settlement. Across Australia, including the Murray Basin, Aboriginal hunters and gatherers actively manipulated the environment through vegetation firing practices (Clarke 1988, 1991). Firing the landscape had several functions. It was used for opening up the landscape, particularly where thick mallee growth made travel difficult. Another use was driving game into more open country where it could be easily hunted. Firing produced nutrient-rich ashes, as well as opening up the forest canopy, which favoured the growth of various herbaceous foods eaten by Aborigines, as well as the grasses eaten by game animals.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/276207226_ABORIGINAL_USE_OF_SUBTERRANEAN_PLANT_PARTS_IN_SOUTHERN_SOUTH_AUSTRALIA?el=1_x_8&enrichId=rgreq-cb027d37-d652-46d7-9ce7-8f37ec9f1d19&enrichSource=Y292ZXJQYWdlOzI3Njg0ODgzNjtBUzoyMzA2Mzc0ODc1MjE3OTJAMTQzMTk5OTY3MDU1MQ==

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/276848625_Early_Aboriginal_plant_foods_in_southern_South_Australia?el=1_x_8&enrichId=rgreq-cb027d37-d652-46d7-9ce7-8f37ec9f1d19&enrichSource=Y292ZXJQYWdlOzI3Njg0ODgzNjtBUzoyMzA2Mzc0ODc1MjE3OTJAMTQzMTk5OTY3MDU1MQ==


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Trade Networks Aboriginal trade systems facilitated the exchange of materials and cultural ideas. For the Aboriginal economy, it helped even out shortages resulting from inconsistencies in natural resource distribution across the landscape (Howitt 1904; McCarthy 1938-40; Hardy 1969; McBryde 1986; Clarke 2003a). In the Murray Basin, trade linked together Aboriginal groups who were widely dispersed along the River, including others living far beyond the boundaries of the region. The Darling and Adelaide regions were also linked to the Lower Murray through trade (Berndt & Berndt 1993). The social contact necessary to enable bartering helped promote good relations between neighbours.

Some trade practices were associated with elaborate rituals. Murray Basin people had the ngia-ngiampe custom of exchanging ornaments made from human umbilical cord strings (Taplin 1874 [1879]; Smith 1930; Tindale 1930-52; Berndt & Berndt 1993). This practice helped potentially hostile groups become allies and also produced agents through which trade in materials could occur. Taplin recorded that Aboriginal man Jack Hamilton, who lived a short distance upstream from Lake Alexandrina:

… once had a ngia-ngiampe in the Mundoo tribe. While he lived on the Murray he sent spears and plongges, i.e., clubs, down to his agent of the Mundoo blacks, who was supplied with mats and nets and rugs to send up to him, for the purpose of giving them in exchange to the tribe to which he belonged (Taplin 1874 [1879]).

Trade, through ngia-ngiampe, linked the ‘tribes’ along the Murray River with those nearer to the sea (Taplin 1874 [1879]). A Maraura man from the Darling River once used the existence of this relationship to take refuge among the Ngaiawang people at Swan Reach after a quarrel (Tindale 1974, 1981).

The Erawirung people were custodians of Memdelbuick chert stone mines at Springcart Gully and in the area south of Renmark (Tindale 1974, 1981; Woolmer 1976). This stone, used for toolmaking, was traded to neighbouring groups. The chert was found during the archaeological dig at the Devon Downs rock-shelter (Hale & Tindale 1930). Red ochre, white kaolin and flint were apparently mined from the scarp above the Overland Corner Hotel (Woolmer 1976). The Maraura people obtained red ochre by trade from a site near Mannum, where it was found as lumps in the cliff (Tindale 1930-52). Tindale claimed that the Ngarkat people seasonally:

… came in to the Murray River along certain traditional tracks to take refuge from great heat, to exchange women, and to trade such objects as stone axes which they obtained from the Wimmera area at the eastern border of their country. They left again after a few weeks (Tindale 1974).

In the Lower Lakes, heavy spears made from hard and flexible myall wood generally came from the Murray River district (Taplin 1874).

If the Narangga people of Yorke Peninsula lost their fire in the winter, when the wood was too wet to ignite with the grasstree fire-sticks, they would send a person across to the Murray River people, who they called Birta, to ask for gifts of fire (Tindale 1939a). The Kaurna people of the Adelaide Plains also approached the River groups for fire, offering for trade such items as skin cloaks, quartz flakes and red ochre (Tindale 1974).

Aboriginal Placenames A few Aboriginal placenames have survived to the present, albeit in altered forms, by being adopted by European Australians. These names can provide insights into the pre-European Aboriginal cultural landscape. For instance, the town of Waikerie derives its name from Weikari, which is claimed to literally mean ‘the rising’ (Tindale ms). This refers to the emergence of many ghost moths from the ground among the river red gums after heavy rain (Tindale 1966) (see also Chapter 11). Aborigines annually feasted upon these moths. The area around the South Bend is called Pyap, which may be derived from the local name for the bony bream, paiep (Cockburn 1904 [1984]; Tindale ms). The fish name also survives in use by local fishermen as the 'pyberry'.

Across Australia, many Aboriginal place names have been so heavily anglicised that their original meaning is obscured. An example of the latter was provided by Tindale and concerns the derivation of the name for Bookmark Station. He claimed that its original form was:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/276848545_Where_the_Ancestors_Walked_Australia_as_an_Aboriginal_Landscape?el=1_x_8&enrichId=rgreq-cb027d37-d652-46d7-9ce7-8f37ec9f1d19&enrichSource=Y292ZXJQYWdlOzI3Njg0ODgzNjtBUzoyMzA2Mzc0ODc1MjE3OTJAMTQzMTk5OTY3MDU1MQ==

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/261639841_The_Native_Tribes_of_South-East_Australia?el=1_x_8&enrichId=rgreq-cb027d37-d652-46d7-9ce7-8f37ec9f1d19&enrichSource=Y292ZXJQYWdlOzI3Njg0ODgzNjtBUzoyMzA2Mzc0ODc1MjE3OTJAMTQzMTk5OTY3MDU1MQ==


157

Pukuma:ko from [puku] axe or stone used in chopping and [ma:ko] flintstone, apparently based on the presence in the Murray cliffs nearby of the hard flinty rock used for native tools (Tindale ms).

Another example of a placename referring to material culture is the town, Barmera. This is reputed to have been based on Parmara and to have had the meaning of 'place of king spears', referring to a type of heavy javelin thrown without the aid of a spearthrower (Tindale ms). This association may have come about through the presence of suitable trees there for spear making.

Some placenames have gained an extended meaning through European recordings. For example, Moorundie was Eyre’s base on the Murray River (Eyre, 1845; Cockburn 1908 [1984]), although researchers working with Ngarrindjeri people in the Lower Lakes region recorded ‘Murundi’ or ‘Murrundi’ to mean the Murray River (Taplin 1874 [1879], 1879; Tindale 1974). Following this trend, some modern writers have used this as the name for the whole River (Ely 1980; Salgado 1994). Aboriginal people sometimes took on the names of new places in their country. One of the Potawolin clans downstream from Murray Bridge was recorded as Welindjeri, a name that literally means ‘belonging to Wellington’ (Tindale 1974; Tindale & Pretty 1980).

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Ray Marchant scanned the archival images and prepared the map.

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