Kaurna, Adelaide Tribe S.A., A-D English

Drawer 5 of 9. Drawers AA 338/7/2/12-15 contain a Kaurna to English vocabulary, while drawers AA 338/7/2/16-20 contain a reverse English to Kaurna version.Tindale recorded relatively little Kaurna data himself, and this vocabulary is based almost entirely upon historical sources. It appears, however, to have been a long-running work in progress. Begun in the early 1930s, it seems that additions to cards were made as late as the 1980s. Many additions are retranscriptions of the original spelling into Tindale's preferred orthographic system. The main sources include:

  • William Williams 1840, 'The language of the natives of South Australia', South Australian Colonist 1 19, pp. 295-296;

  • CG Teichelmann & CW Schürmann 1840, Outline of a grammar, vocabulary, and phraseology, of the Aboriginal language of South Australia, spoken by the natives in and for some distance around Adelaide, Adelaide;

  • William Wyatt 1879, 'Vocabulary of the Adelaide and Encounter Bay Tribes, with a few words of that of Rapid Bay', in JD Woods The Native Tribes of South Australia, Adelaide, pp. 169-181; and

  • Edward Stephens 1889, 'Aborigines of Australia: being personal recollections of those tribes which once inhabited the Adelaide Plains of South Australia', Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South Wales, Vol.23, pp. 476-503.



See Rob Amery's Warrabarna Kaurna! Reclaiming an Australian Language, 2000 for a discussion of these and other historical sources for Kaurna. See also the Kaurna vocabulary and place name cards relating to Tindale's South East of South Australia place names project, AA 338/7/1/12, which contain data drawn from Tindale's manuscript materials.

Note that there is a header card at the front of the drawer reading: 'Vocabularies copied so far (and filed): Teichelmann & Schürmann, 1840; Wyatt, 1879; E. Stephens, 1889; W. Williams, 1840; John P. Gell, 1904'.

Tindale Tribes: Kaurna.

CreatorDr Norman Barnett Tindale
ControlAA 338/7/2/16
Date Range1930  -  1980
Quantity 15.4cm,   1   metal filing drawer, approx. 38 cm of cards
Series AA338/07
Tindale Tribes: