'Journal of Excavations at Second Valley, S. A. March-April 1934'.

Archive Collections / Dr Norman Barnett Tindale / Series AA338/01 / 'Journal of Excavations at Second Valley, S. A. March-April 1934'.
Kongerati Cave excavation

This journal contains an account of excavations undertaken at Kongerati Cave, near Second Valley, South Australia, during March-April 1934. The excavation team was led by Tindale and included Charles Pearcy Mountford (see AA 228) and Dr Thomas Draper Campbell (see AA 52), as well as the amateur archaeologist, Rev. Napoleon Henry Louwyck (see AA 186). The journal includes correspondence relating to the excavation, including ethnographic details obtained from local residents and a list of Aboriginal place names contributed by Tindale's Aboriginal informant, Clarence Long (Milerum). The expedition began on 29 March 1934. The excavation account is illustrated by Tindale's ink diagrams and drawings of excavated artefacts. The Kongerati Cave excavation was completed on 10 April 1934 (page 30). The following day was spent examining surface archaeological sites near Normanville at Haycock Point, prior to returning to Adelaide.

This journal includes the following:

  • 16 pasted-in black and white photographs relating to the investigation

  • copy of a note by Thomas Worsnop (see AA 383) describing 'native chopsticks'

  • additional notes relating to skeletal material

  • platform burial

  • pasted-in copy of an 'Australian Magazine' article 'Strange Burial Customs' dated 1 April 1909

  • two-page pasted-in list of fauna bones found in the cave, identified by Hedley Herbert Finlayson (see AA 93), 1936

  • drawings

  • hand-drawn diagrams of site

  • exhibition label

  • report by Amandus Heinrich Christian Zietz (see AA 869) 'on a trip to Normanville re Fossil Bones' dated 7 August 1907

  • supplies inventory

  • place names by Clarence Long

  • Sutton's handwritten extracts from M Symond Clark's diary from 1877-1881, dated 18 March 1928



The journal finishes at page 53. The remainder of the notebook is blank, apart from a single page at the back, containing a list of the expedition expenditure. Papers originally contained in this journal have been stored in a separate folder within the journal's slip-case and are listed as follows:
  • Tindale's handwritten notes regarding Typha spages (one page)

  • sketches of 'netting stitch' on Anthropological Society of South Australia (see AA 824) notepaper (one page)

  • five sheets containing lists of stores etc for the expedition

  • newspaper article regarding Aboriginal/European conflict 'A tale of 1839', published in 'The Express and Journal', 7 April 1934

  • an old museum exhibition label, describing an Aboriginal skin rug from Marion Bay, Yorke Peninsula, presented by James Howard Johnson (see AA 160)

  • four page, handwritten report by Frederick Robert Zietz, Assistant Museum Director, 'on a trip to Normanville re Fossil Bones (21st March to 6th April 1907)'

  • three page document, 'Extracts from the late M. Symonds Clark's diary, Hazelwood, Burnside', 1877-1881, relating to the collection of Aboriginal skeletal remains near East Wellington, including a platform burial which was subsequently sent to WH Flower at the Royal College of Surgeons in London

CreatorDr Norman Barnett Tindale
ControlAA 338/1/11
Date Range01 March, 1934  -  12 April, 1934
Quantity 3cm,   1   hardcover exercise book, 18.5x24.0cm, 1 archival folder, 58 pages, 12 loose items
FormatsNewspaper Clippings, General Correspondence, Loose Photographic Prints, Drawings, Loose Notes, Diagrams
Series AA338/01