Using the below symbols draw a story into the ground and have
THE KAURNA PEOPLE your partner attempt to understand and tell your story. You may
INDIGENOUS CULTURE
DEEP CREEK CONSERVATION PARK
The Deep Creek Conservation Park is the largest portion of
natural vegetation left in the Fleurieu Peninsula, which is home
to many native flora and wildlife.
The traditional custodians of the Deep Creek Conservation
Park land are joint between the native Kaurna and Ramindjeri
Indigenous peoples.
Traditional Indigenous landmarks are present within the
conservation park, the most well-known monument being
Blowhole beach. The traditional name for this Indigenous
place is;
'Konggaratingga' or ‘Tjirbuki’
make up other symbols to tell your story.
The Kaurna land is located in the southern area of Adelaide
and extends from Crystal Brook, down the Adelaide plains,
south along the coast to Cape Jervis and is bounded by the
Mount Lofty Ranges to the east.
Indigenous Australians have various different languages and
variations of it across different Indigenous communities,
however, the Kaurna people speak Kaurna Warra. Within
this particular language there are variations depending on
what part of the Kaurna area they reside in; for instance,
different dialects are spoken in Kadlitpinna from the Gawler
region compared to the Mullawirraburka area in Willunga.
THE KAURNA LANGUAGE
Contemporary Kaurna Greetings:
Niina marni? – Are you good?
Niina marni? – How are you?
Niwa marni? – Are you two good?
Naa marni? – Are all of you good?
Marni’ai – Good I (i.e. I’m good)
Animals:
Wartu – Wombat
Kardi – Emu
Muka – Egg
Kardi Muka – Emu Egg
THE RAINBOW SERPENT
Nantu – Grey Kangaroo
At the beginning of the Dreamtime, the earth was flat and dry
Kurtuka – Joey
and empty. There were no trees, no rivers, no animals and no
Kuula – Koala
grass. At the beginning of the Dreamtime, the earth was flat and
dry and empty. There were no trees, no rivers, no animals and no
TRADITIONAL INDIGENOUS DRAWINGS grass. It was a dry and flat land. One day, Goorialla, the rainbow
serpent woke from his sleep and set off to find his tribe. He
These are some traditional Indigenous drawing which are crossed Australia from east to west and north to south, stopping
used to tell stories and make meaning within their artwork. to listen for his people. He crossed every part of the dry, flat
But more importantly the Indigenous Australians had no Australia but found nothing. After searching for a long time, he
written language, and these symbols and artwork were a grew tired and lay down to sleep. The land he lay down to sleep
way to convey knowledge and events within their culture. on was not the same land he had set out to search for his people
on, though. As he had looked for his people, his big, long body
had cut great gouges into the land. Goorialla lay in the sand all
alone until he decided to create more life in the world.
He called “Frogs, come out!” and frogs rose out of the ground
with their bellies full of the water they stored. He tickled the
frogs until the water burst from their mouth and filled the
gouges in the land. These gouges made the rivers and streams
we see today. As the water flowed over the land, grass and
trees began to grow and fill the land with colour. Now that
there was grass to eat and water to drink, Goorialla woke the
animals. The kookaburra laughed, the goanna walked, and the
wombat climbed out of her burrow, all for the first time. Some
animals lived in the sea, swimming back and forward. Some
animals lived in the sky, flying with their friends to distant
places. Some animals lived on the land, digging and playing in
the sand. They were happy and gathered food and water to
bring back to their own tribes. The Rainbow Serpent made
rules that all animals had to obey. He said “All animals that
obey the rules will be rewarded by becoming humans. The
animals that disobey the rules will be punished” Some animals
followed the rules and were rewarded by being turned into
humans. Other animals disobeyed the rules and were turned
into the stone that makes the mountains. One day, it started
to rain. And it rained like it had never rained before. Rain fell
for days and days and the world was becoming flooded with
water. Two young men, Bil-bil, or the Rainbow Lorikeet
brothers had no shelter and they came to the Rainbow
Serpent. They asked for help sheltering from the rain. The
rainbow serpent was hungry and tricked the young men “I
have no shelter, but you can hide in my mouth. You’ll be safe
from the rain in there.” The young men climbed into
Goorialla’s mouth and he closed it shut, swallowing both men.
He soon realised that people would notice the young men
missing and come looking for them. He knew they would find
their track leading right into his mouth. He didn’t want to be
caught and so decided to hide in the only place he knew he
would be safe: the sky. He hid in the sky away from the people
chasing him and he saw their sadness at losing these two
young men. He decided to try and make them happy again so
turned his body into a big arc of beautiful colours. Now, every
time, just after it rains, you can see the Rainbow Serpent
sharing his beautiful colours with the people on the ground as
is way of saying sorry for taking those Rainbow Lorikeet
brothers.
TIDDALICK THE FROG
Once upon a time, a long time ago, in the Dreamtime, lived
a frog called Tiddalick. Tiddalick was the largest frog in the
entire world. One very warm morning, he woke up with
feeling very, very thirsty and started to drink the fresh water.
He drank and he drank and he kept drinking until all the fresh
water in the entire billabong was gone! When the other
animals arrived at the billabong to get their morning drink,
they found it was all dried up. This made them very sad. They
knew Tiddalick the frog had drunk all the water. They knew
they needed to come up with a plan to get the water back,
but they didn’t know how. They thought and they thought
and they thought until they realised that the best way to get
the water back was to make Tiddalick laugh. If they could
make him laugh then all the water would come spilling out
of his mouth and back into the billabong! The first animal to
try and make him laugh was the echidna. She rolled herself
up into a tight little ball and rolled down the bank of the
billabong like a bowling ball! The kangeroo laughed and so
did the emu, but Tiddalick didn’t laugh. The next animal to
try and make Tiddalick laugh was the wombat. The wombat
stood up on his hind legs and danced around in a circle until
he fell over in the dirt! The Galah laughed and so did the
goanna, but Tiddalick didn’t laugh. The next animal to try and
make Tiddalick laugh was the kookaburra. She perched
herself on a branch close to Tiddalick and told her funniest
story. It was so funny that she burst out laughing! But
Tiddalick didn’t laugh. He just sat there with his big belly full
of all the water. Finally, the snake decided to try and make
Tiddalick laugh. She started to dance and dance, wriggling
and squirming all over the ground until she eventually tied
herself into a knot. The knot was so tight that she struggled
and struggled to untie herself but was stuck! Tiddalick
watched struggle around, trying to untie herself, and let out
a small chuckle. That small chuckle turned into a rumbling in
his tummy before it turned into a great big belly laugh! The
water came gushing out of his mouth and filled the billabong
back up once again. All the animals jumped with joy as they
took big, long, gulps of water to quench their thirst.
WHERE CAN YOU GO TO EXPERIENCE MORE
INDIGENOUS CULTURE?
IKARA – THE MEETING PLACE, FLINDERS RANGES: The
Flinders Ranges and Outback are of immense cultural
significance for the Adnyamathanha people who have
lived in the Flinders Ranges for tens of thousands of
years.
VULKATHUNHA-GAMMON RANGES NATIONAL PARK,
NORTHERN FLINDERS RANGES: remote park in the
northern Flinders Ranges, with deep gorges, chasms,
towering ranges, tree-lined creeks and freshwater
springs which are havens for rare and endangered
plants and animals.
ARKAROO ROCK AND SACRED CANYON, FLINDERS
RANGES: rich in Aboriginal rock art and engravings.
Arkaroo Rock is a particularly important Aboriginal art site
in the Flinders Ranges featuring ochre and charcoal images
depicting the creation of Wilpena Pound.
POINT PEARCE AND INNES NATIONAL PARK, YORKE
PENINSULA: Narungga people travelled through this place
and their campsites can be found everywhere, especially
along the coast, where stone tools, food remains and old
fire places occur in abundance.
The above sights can be found on the South Australian
Government website which provides other Indigenous
sites and information. This can be used to book informative
tours around these sacred Indigenous sites within South
Australia.
For more information visit:
https://southaustralia.com/travel-blog/aboriginal-
landmarks-and-experiences
 References

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[online] Available at: http://adelaidia.sa.gov.au/subjects/kaurna-language-
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Adelaide.edu.au. (2019). Kaurna Warra Pintyanthi. [online] Available at:

https://www.adelaide.edu.au/kwp/language/words/ [Accessed 24 Sep. 2019].

Dreamtime.net.au. (2019). Tiddalick the Frog. [online] Available at:

http://dreamtime.net.au/tiddalick-the-frog/ [Accessed 24 Sep. 2019].

Dreamtime.net.au. (2019). The Rainbow Serpent. [online] Available at:

http://dreamtime.net.au/rainbow-serpent-story/ [Accessed 24 Sep. 2019].

Endangeredlanguages.com. (2019). Endangered Languages Project - Kaurna -

Kaurna for Kids - Animals. [online] Available at:
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http://nationalunitygovernment.org/pdf/aboriginal-australia-map.pdf [Accessed
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YouTube. (2019). Lesson 2, Contemporary Kaurna Greetings. [online] Available

at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bHIMNl4aATY [Accessed 24 Sep. 2019].