Kaurna Public Space Recognition and Inclusion 3... · Kaurna Public Space Recognition and Inclusion . ... Tennyson Dunes ... extends from Cape Jervis to the south of Adelaide to Crystal

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The City of Charles Sturt

Kaurna Public Space Recognition and Inclusion

Report by

Karl Winda Telfer and Gavin Malone

June 2011

G A V I N M A L O N E VISUAL ARTIST K A R L T E L F E R KAURNA TRADITIONAL OWNER

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Contents

1 ....................................................................................................................................... 5 Introduction

2 .................................................................................................... 6 The Kaurna People- An Overview

2.1 ......................................................................................................... 6 Kaurna Cultural Heritage

2.1.1 ............................................................................................... 8 Kaurna Dreaming Narratives

3 .......................................................................... 9 Symbolic Value of the Public Space: An Overview

3.1 ................................................................................. 11 Sharing the Space, Public and Political

3.2 ....................................................... 14 Charles Sturt Public Space Aboriginal Cultural Markers

4 .............................................................. 24 Sites of Kaurna Significance: Identification and Location

4.1 .................................................................... 24 Registered and Recorded Sites of Significance

4.2 ................................................... 26 Archaeological and Anthropological Sites and Information

4.3 ..................................................................................................... 26 Coastal and Dunal Region

4.3.1.1 ..................................................................................... 28 Dunal Areas and Burial Sites

4.4 ................................................................................................................................ 29 Wetlands

4.5 ........................................................................... 32 Waterways - River Torrens Karrawirraparri

4.5.1.1 ....................................................................................... 33 River Area and Burial Sites

4.5.1.2 ................................................................................... 33 Karra(k)undungga Hindmarsh

5 .................................................. 33 Sites and Themes for Consideration: Identification and Location

5.1 .............................................................................................. 34 Kaurna Sites for Consideration

5.2 ........................................................................................ 34 Kaurna Themes for Consideration

5.3 ........................................................................................................ 35 Kaurna Traditional Sites

5.3.1 ........................................................................ 35 Waterways: River Torrens Karrawirraparri

5.3.2 ................................................................................................... 36 Tjilbruke Dreaming Sites

5.4 .............................................................................................. 37 Kaurna Post-colonisation Sites

5.4.1 ................................................................................................................ 37 Sites of Tragedy

5.4.2 .............................. 38 Aboriginal Sections or Reserves: Woodville and Hindmarsh Districts

5.4.3 ....................................... 38 Twentieth Century Sites: Kaurna and other Aboriginal Peoples

5.5 ................................................................................................... 38 Development Plan Reviews

5.6 ..................................................................... 39 Major Developments and Urban Infrastructure

5.7 ................................................................................................. 39 Existing Urban Infrastructure

5.7.1 ......................................................................................... 39 Council Premises and Libraries

5.7.2 ............................................................................................................ 39 Parks and Gardens

5.7.3 ....................................................................................................................... 39 Playgrounds

5.7.4 ................................................................................. 39 Sporting and Recreational Precincts

5.7.5 ................................................................................. 40 Commercial and Industrial Precincts

5.8 ...................................... 41 Connecting Points or Pathways to other Local Government Areas

5.8.1 ............................................. 41 Ranges to the Sea, a River Torrens Karrawirraparri Project

6 .............................................................................. 41 Forms of Acknowledgement for Consideration

6.1 ............................................................................................................................... 41 Public Art

6.1.1 ............................................................................................................... 42 Sculptural Works


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6.1.2 ................................................................................................................................ 42 Murals

6.1.3 ................................................................................................................... 42 Community Art

6.2 ............................................................................ 42 Interpretive and Commemorative Markers

6.3 ........................................................................... 42 Public Space Design or Design Integration

6.4 ................................................. 43 Kaurna Place Names, Naming and Dual Naming of Places

7 .. 45 Protocols and Consultation Guidelines for Commissioning Kaurna/Aboriginal Public Art Works

7.1 ....................................................................................... 46 Cultural Protocols: Basic Principles

7.1.1 .............................................................................................................................. 46 Respect

7.1.2 .............................................................................................................. 46 Aboriginal Control

7.1.3 ....................................................... 46 Effective Consultation, Communication and Consent

7.2 ................................................................... 47 Commissioning of Public Artworks and Markers

7.2.1 ................................................................................................... 47 Project Brief Preparation

8 ............................................................ 47 Recommended City of Charles Sturt Projects and Actions

8.1 .............................................................................................. 47 Specific Public Space Projects

8.1.1 ....................................................................................... 47 Kaurna Cultural Markers Project

8.1.2 ............................................................................................... 52 Kaurna Symbolic Sculpture

8.1.3 ........................ 55 Kaurna Cultural Heritage Research and Publications (Cultural Mapping)

8.1.3.1 ............................................ 56 Kaurna Cultural Heritage Bibliography by Council Area

8.1.3.2 ............................................................................... 56 Kaurna Local History Publication

8.1.3.3 .................................................................. 57 Kaurna Cultural Heritage New Research

8.2 ................................................................................. 58 Council Actions, Guidelines or Policies

8.2.1 ............................................................ 58 Kaurna/Aboriginal Youth Inclusion and Mentoring

8.2.2 ............................................................................ 58 Kaurna Placenaming and Dual Naming

8.2.3 ................................................................................... 58 Kaurna Library Resource Materials

8.2.4 ....................................................... 58 Kaurna Archaeological and Anthropological Surveys

8.2.5 ............................................................... 58 Kaurna Inclusion in Development Plan Reviews

8.2.6 ............................. 59 Kaurna Recognition in Major Developments and Urban Infrastructure

8.2.7 ....................................................................... 59 Kaurna Recognition in Parks and Gardens

8.2.8 .................................................................................. 59 Kaurna Recognition in Play Spaces

8.2.9 ........................................................ 59 Kaurna Information Provision to Community Groups

8.2.10 ............................... 59 Kaurna Recognition in the Ranges to the Sea Community Project

9 ........................................................................................................................................ 59 Summary

10 ................................................................................................................................. 61 References


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Figures

Figure 1. Stonehenge, England (Photo courtesy Trevor Rodwell).......................................................... 9 Figure 2. Standing Stone, Newgrange, Ireland ....................................................................................... 9 Figure 3 Tjilbruke Track Marker, 1986, Port Noarlunga (Tjilbruke Track Committee............................ 13 Figure 4. Trees of Peace Upgrade, 2010 (Karl Telfer, Gavin Malone) ................................................. 16 Figure 5. Trees of Peace Dedication, Leila Rankine (centre) (Photo courtesy City of Charles Sturt) .. 16 Figure 6. Trees of Peace Tree Planting (Photo courtesy City of Charles Sturt) ................................... 17 Figure 7. Mural, 1995, Bowden Brompton Community School ............................................................. 17 Figure 8. Mural - Tjilbruke, c.1998, Brompton Primary School (School community) ............................ 18 Figure 9. Murals, 2000, Brompton Primary School (School community) .............................................. 18 Figure 10. Mural, Mosaic, Aboriginal Flag 1990s Reserve, West St, Brompton ................................... 18 Figure 11. Murals, Stobie Poles, 1990s, Gibson & Hawker Streets, Bowden....................................... 19 Figure 12. Gibson Street Historical Markers, 2001, Bowden ................................................................ 20 Figure 13. Mural, 2002, Challa Gardens Primary School, Kilkenny ...................................................... 20 Figure 14. Murals, 2002, Undercroft, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Woodville South............................... 21 Figure 15. Mural, Centre of Life, 2007, Arndale (Jimmy C with Aboriginal youth) ................................ 22 Figure 16. Mural, 2009, Pennington Junior Primary School.................................................................. 23 Figure 17. Scar Tree.............................................................................................................................. 25 Figure 18. Scar Tree – Shield................................................................................................................ 25 Figure 19. Holdfast Bay, South Australia 1836, J M Skipper (Patawalonga Creek outlet) (AGSA

Collection)...................................................................................................................................... 27 Figure 20. Remnant Red Dunes, Royal Adelaide Golf Club, Seaton.................................................... 28 Figure 21. Remnant Vegetation, Royal Adelaide Golf Club, Seaton .................................................... 28 Figure 22. Former wetland/swampland areas (Campbell, 1988) .......................................................... 30 Figure 23. Extract, Frearson’s Plan of Adelaide, 1874-78 .................................................................... 31 Figure 24. West Lakes area, 1959 ........................................................................................................ 31 Figure 25. Breakout Creek, Henley Beach South ................................................................................. 32 Figure 26. West Lakes, Rowing Area.................................................................................................... 32 Figure 27. River Torrens Karrawirraparri Linear Park, western suburbs .............................................. 35 Figure 28. City of Adelaide from Mr Wilson’s Section on the Torrens, G.F. Angas, June 1845 (AGSA

Collection)...................................................................................................................................... 35 Figure 29. Colonel Light’s House Plaque, Hindmarsh .......................................................................... 36 Figure 30. Football Stadium, West Lakes ............................................................................................. 40 Figure 31. Grange Golf Club, Grange ................................................................................................... 40 Figure 32. Westfield Shopping Centre, West Lakes ............................................................................. 41 Figure 33. Colonel William Light Acknowledgement, Hindmarsh.......................................................... 48 Figure 34. Lower reaches, River Torrens Karrawirrapari, Fulham........................................................ 48 Figure 35. Charles Sturt Civic Centre, Woodville.................................................................................. 49 Figure 36. Henley Square...................................................................................................................... 49 Figure 37. Grange Jetty Precinct........................................................................................................... 49 Figure 38. Henley Beach South Esplanade .......................................................................................... 50 Figure 39. Tennyson Dunes .................................................................................................................. 50 Figure 40. West Lakes Shopping Centre and Football Park ................................................................. 50 Figure 41. Historic marker and reserve, West Lakes ............................................................................ 51 Figure 42. Kaurna Cultural Heritage Trail, 2003, Port River Reach, Port Adelaide .............................. 52 Figure 43. Marni Naa Budni Kaurna Wauwa-anna - Welcome to the Kaurna Coast, 2006, Marino..... 52 Figure 44. Entertainment Centre, Hindmarsh........................................................................................ 53 Figure 45. Entertainment Centre Tram Stop, Hindmarsh...................................................................... 53 Figure 46. Corner of Park Terrace and Torrens Road, Ovingham........................................................ 54 Figure 47. Corner of Park Terrace and Torrens Road, Ovingham........................................................ 54 Figure 48. Old Port Road, Albert Park................................................................................................... 55


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1 Introduction

This report was commissioned by the City of Charles Sturt to identify and facilitate ways that Kaurna

culture and people can be better included in the civic and public space of the City. A broad approach

to inclusion has been adopted in this report; such inclusion incorporates public space art and design,

commemorative and interpretive markers and other forms of appropriate recognition.

This report is part of an ongoing Reconciliation initiative by Council on behalf of the people of Charles

Sturt to work towards an equitable inclusion of Aboriginal people in all walks of civic and social life.

The approach taken in the report is to articulate issues that impact on civic inclusion which in turn may

impact on broader social inclusion. To achieve this, a number of issues are raised or discussed in this

report, including an outline of contemporary Kaurna culture, to facilitate a better appreciation and

understanding of both contemporary and traditional Kaurna culture. The authors reference, amongst

others, two senior Kaurna traditional owners, Georgina Williams, Nganki burka and Lewis O’Brien,

Yerloburka, to provide a Kaurna voice in the discussion. The report is not primarily an anthropological,

archaeological or historical study but as these factors impact on public space representation they are

referred to so as to support well informed public space outcomes.

The report has been prepared collaboratively by Karl Telfer, Kaurna traditional owner, designer and

artist and Gavin Malone, visual artist and cultural researcher. Karl and Gavin have collaborated on

Kaurna public space art projects and Kaurna cultural and spiritual renewal activities for over a decade.

Karl is also a resident of the City and has been providing Kaurna cultural input to Council for some

time. Council hosted Gavin’s exhibition Ways of Belonging: Reconciliation and the Symbolic Value of

the Public Space in Adelaide in 2008-09. The exhibition is an outcome of his Doctoral research and

was developed in 2007 in association with Reconciliation SA and Tandanya, the National Aboriginal

Cultural Institute.

The authors have undertaken a physical survey of parts of the Council area to familiarise themselves

with the region, locate existing Aboriginal Cultural Markers1 and identify sites of potential for future

Markers and other forms of recognition. Not all potential can be identified without a more exhaustive

survey and research. Recommendations as to how this can be achieved are made.

The report is designed for use by Council in an open way and as such does not include restricted

cultural information. It is expected that this report can contribute to a range of Council functions

through the social as well as physical infrastructure services that the Council provides to its

community. As set out in the report, the understanding of Kaurna cultural heritage and the

contemporary cultural, spiritual and political renewal that is occurring is an evolving narrative that

underpins both civic and social inclusion and better cross-cultural understandings in the community.

The narrative provided in this report is at a point in time, further information and clarifications will come

to light over time to expand on what is presented.

1 The term Aboriginal Cultural Marker is used to refer to any public commemorations or public art that is about, or by, Aboriginal people.


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2 The Kaurna People- An Overview

The Kaurna are the Aboriginal people of the Adelaide region. Their traditional land, or Country,

extends from Cape Jervis to the south of Adelaide to Crystal Brook to the north, and west of the Mount

Lofty Ranges to the coast of the Gulf Saint Vincent. This geographic region is defined in terms of the

Kaurna People’s Native Title Claim, Tribunal No. SC/001, lodged 25 October 2000 and accepted for

registration by the responsible Minister, 22 August 2001. There is broad community acceptance of this

definition of Kaurna Country2. The Kaurna people, as a nation, still though do not have legal title to

any of their ancestral lands.

An appreciation of the contemporary cultural and political construct of Kaurna is appropriate in

facilitating further public space inclusion and what can be termed the re-Aboriginalisation of place, to

provide a contemporary Aboriginal presence within an urban environment. A better understanding of

the culture that is to be included, its history, how it has been fractured and dislocated and how it is

undergoing renewal will assist the governance processes and formulation of recommendations on how

to achieve further Kaurna inclusion. Understanding these issues is part of understanding the territory

of civic space inclusion, the transitional nature of Aboriginal political and cultural structures in the

process of renewal, and how, in turn, these structures may have a bearing on Kaurna and other

Aboriginal input into public space representations. This is part of the cross-cultural social dynamics of

public space representation. As well as some challenges this can provide great rewards for the

community.

2.1 Kaurna Cultural Heritage

Through the processes of colonisation, dispossession and dislocation, Kaurna cultural tradition and

knowledge has been severely fractured. The culture is now undergoing a process of actively moving

from survival to renewal. This process of renewal surfaces a range of social, cultural, political and

economic challenges for what was a hunter-gatherer culture to adapt to contemporary farmer-city

dweller urban living, as well as the challenge of overcoming the systemic disadvantage wrought upon

them since colonisation. There is a broad gap, philosophically and practically, between the ways of the

hunter-gatherer and the ways of the farmer-city dweller. Broad community support, facilitated by the

various levels and activities of government and community, is required to assist with Kaurna political,

cultural and spiritual renewal activities.

Since the 1960s and ‘70s, when migration from mission living to urban living gained momentum,

Kaurna has been a culture in renewal. That renewal has been happening within the context of a

capital city and contemporary urban living. Before the 1960s and the granting of full citizenship there

were few Aboriginals living in Adelaide. Kaurna were amongst the first Aboriginal people to return to

Adelaide (Amery, 2000:70-71). The Kaurna are adapting to contemporary society after coming out of

mission living and the assimilation policy. Following the suppression of cultural activities and language

2 At times there may be individual challenges to this definition of Kaurna land but as at the date of this report there has been no verified alternative claim. The process of defining traditional Aboriginal cultural/language group land title is part of broader contemporary cultural renewal for Aboriginal groups. It is a process that may take some time to settle.


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for several generations and with the more recent move to urban based living on their ancestral lands,

contemporary ways of cultural expression based on the remaining knowledge of traditional cultural

practices is evolving. Rob Amery, the Kaurna language linguist has stated that:

This ‘traditional’ culture is of interest to Kaurna people today who live in an entirely

different world to their forebears. There is a strong desire to revitalise aspects of this

inheritance, including dances and ceremonies. (Amery, 2000:11)

For Kaurna, the loss of cultural sites and the loss of intimate contact with landscapes or Country (due

to the dislocation of colonisation and the more recent resettlement in urban areas) necessitates the

evolution of a contemporary urban identity, cultural activities and cultural expression. This requires

new ways of seeing oneself reflected in public spaces and the public consciousness. As Georgina

Williams, Nganki burka, Kaurna outlined:

We looked into the eye of the storm, and gradually we began to understand that to

survive, our reflections of ourselves would have to be translated into the new world that

we were now living in…that is something that I began to realize very young. The

challenge was how this could actually be done in the new circumstances, when our

country had been built over – this was the challenge of translation from the old ways of

reading every topographical feature and mark on our land, when it was pretty well all

covered over with buildings. (Williams, 2007a)

Within this context the expectation is unclear as to what constitutes contemporary urban Aboriginal

expression, particularly in three-dimensional forms (there having not been a strong sculptural tradition

in Kaurna traditional culture). As Williams has eloquently stated, ‘The stories that are reflected in the

statues of the western world were in the dance, song and paintings [for our culture]’ (Williams, 2007b).

The definition and understanding of cultural heritage and inheritance from an Aboriginal perspective

requires a difference in thinking as compared to that of the incoming or settler culture. This change is

critical to meaningful cross-cultural reconciliation. In essence the difference between a hunter-gather

cultural tradition compared to a farmer-city dweller paradigm impacts on perceptions of heritage. It will

also underpin moving forward towards a cultural synthesis that respects and understands both cultural

traditions, now (co) existing in the same geographic and social space.

When the word ‘heritage’ is used there can be an assumption that the built environment (buildings,

monuments, civic spaces and so on) are being referred to; something that is made within the

constructed landscape, the intervention of humans. This is the way of the incoming culture and its way

to commemorate or interpret its people, whom they are and what their ideologies and beliefs

represent. This is expressed through the monuments and other commemorations of heritage

dominating the cultural landscape. Until relatively recently there was not any acknowledgement or

inclusion of the pre-existing Aboriginal cultural heritage. Aboriginal heritage is a land based heritage


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that has all the layered meaning of the definition of the word ‘land’. This heritage is dynamic, complex

and totally integrated; Country, people, beliefs, knowledge, lore, language, symbols, objects and sites

of significance. There is not any part of Australia that is not Aboriginal Country where the continuum

and the connectivity of natural and cultural heritage from the beginning of time has evolved. There has

been an Aboriginal heritage since time began in what is now commonly referred to as the Dreaming

Munaintya and continues to the present day. The community at large must also be aware, or needs to

recognise, that the re-creation or renewal of the terms of culture and land relationship for Aboriginal

people must always remain with the people of this land.

Kaurna cultural heritage is a combination of the earth and sky, the waters and the sea, in an integrated

and interconnected way in which Kaurna people are part of this complex integration of the past,

present and future, along with the Creator Beings and other ancestors. It is also to be understood that

this cultural heritage has been severely dislocated by the process of colonisation; the dispossession,

removal and missionisation of the Kaurna people. The continuing Kaurna culture is a culture in

renewal, drawing on the knowledge of the past held in Dreaming Munaintya narratives and song-lines,

in the spirit of the cultural bearers and custodians and in the land. It is a culture that is adapting to

contemporary urban living. Adaptation though needs to be reciprocal. The incoming culture also needs

to adapt to aspects of the Aboriginal way.

2.1.1 Kaurna Dreaming Munaintya Narratives

In talking about the Dreaming Munaintya, which is a continuum of time, space and spiritual

relationship, it is appropriate to first acknowledge the existence of this in the living landscape which is

interconnected through land formation, cultural practice and cultural knowledge layered in Country.

The Dreaming Munaintya is how Aboriginal people live in harmony with the land following the lore and

the law with respect for all beings who share the Country with you. Kaurna/Aboriginal stories talk of

the land with respect, for everything that is taken something must be given back, the concept of

owning the land and taking without giving breaks law and there are repercussions for all.

The Tjilbruke Dreaming narrative is the most well known Dreaming for the Adelaide region and is the

one most often referred to in the public realm. But multiple Dreaming narratives crisscrossed Country

and still do. Their quiet presence is not always fully known and understood. As the culture is renewed,

knowledge is also being transferred from other cultural bearers along the traditional songlines to a new

generation. This is to say that the present anthropological record as written is not the complete story;

narratives will be further revealed over time.

Despite the overlay of the city of Adelaide onto Kaurna land, the Kaurna significance remains, as

explained by Lewis O’Brien, Yerloburka, Kaurna:

There is no way that an important Dreaming trail can be ignored, or simply wiped out by

whiteman’s developments. Even if they change the landscape and remove all the trees, it

is still there. Tarndanyangga is living proof of that – in the middle of the city at Victoria


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Square. There we have a major site of the Red Kangaroo Dreaming trail. It has always

been a meeting place for Aboriginal people, and still is. (O’Brien, 2007:203)

3 Symbolic Value of the Public Space: An Overview

Human cultures have been erecting, or arranging, symbolic structures and monuments in the

landscape from time immemorial. The form and placement of the structures has evolved in various

manners. Notable exemplars from the early Western tradition are the stone circle of Stonehenge,

England (Figure 1), and the standing stones (orthostats) of Newgrange, Ireland (Figure 2). These

cultural markers expressed aspects of the culture’s symbolic world. They also met the primal need for

human expression and connection to a spirit world. As human cultures of the Western tradition have

evolved, so too has the manner and style of the constructed symbolic landscape. This is now

represented in the contemporary city by its civic spaces, cultural buildings, monuments, memorials

and public art.

Figure 1. Stonehenge, England (Photo courtesy Trevor Rodwell)

Figure 2. Standing Stone, Newgrange, Ireland


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Some cultures had no need to evolve commemorations and symbolic landscapes in the style of the

European and Mediterranean cultures. Their symbolic world remained based in the topography, the

unaltered earth products, the rocks and stones. This is the case with Australian Aboriginal cultures.

Their forms of symbolic expression were not constructed as part of a built environment. They were,

and still are, inscribed in the physical landscape, embedded in the topography by the Aboriginal

peoples’ beliefs, cultural practices and ways of knowing. The Australian hunter-gatherer cultures had a

differing narrative, not as told by the sedentary statue, but by revering the forms and creating symbolic

meaning in (nominally) un-constructed landscapes as they moved through the landscape following

patterns of seasonal and symbolic ritual to harvest resources, gain shelter and enable replenishment.

But that has changed with contemporary urban living and the way Aboriginal people are reflected and

see, or do not see, their identity reflected in the civic landscape. The construct of the public space

contributes to the identity discourse and the privileging or marginalising of particular groups, sub-

groups or classes of citizens. As Canadian cultural geographer Brain Osborne outlined:

Monuments, streets, neighbourhoods, buildings, churches, and parks are all material

things, but they also evoke specific kinds of meanings and serve as spatial coordinates of

identity (Lynch, 1972). They are associated with specific kinds of activities. They are also

linked to society through repetitive prosaic practices, ritualized performance, and

institutionalized commemoration. That is, there is an ongoing reciprocal relationship

between people and the places they inhabit. People produce places, and yet they derive

identities from them: “people are constituted through place” (McDowell, 1997). (Osborne,

2001:4)

Put into an Aboriginal perspective Williams has outlined that:

Gradually we realized that the white people were erecting their own memorials, statues

and plaques reflecting their achievements but there was nothing being put up that

reflected anything of us, the Aboriginal people who were the first ones here. Looking [at

those memorials and so forth] we realized that there was nothing of us there! That’s what

everyone’s identity is about – looking and seeing some reflection of yourself there – but

when we looked we saw nothing being reflected back to us. (Williams, 2007a)

In this respect Aboriginal people need to see themselves included in a meaningful way in

contemporary places as places are where cultures find meaning. The existence of various

commemorations help make (public) spaces into places and help give those places symbolic meaning.

This idea of place and the symbolic meaning of place can be seen along North Terrace, Adelaide’s

‘premier cultural boulevard,’ with its collection of civic buildings and commemorations.

It follows then that when Aboriginal people are not represented in the public culture they become

‘invisible’; they do not see their cultural identity or even themselves as part of the cultural landscape;

they are not part of the ‘”emotional and sentimental glue” that binds people together’ (Holsti, 1996,


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cited in Osborne, 2001:2). When Aboriginal people are not represented in the public space, or do not

have effective control over the means of their representation, positive reinforcement of cultural identity

is diminished; culture and people become invisible. In essence their public self is taken away or stolen,

as has been their land and the children of the Stolen Generations. Their absence is also a deficit in the

broader understanding of all Australians.

As the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation (CAR) stated, ‘Indigenous Australians’ history was seen

as peripheral to the central task of the Australian historical enterprise’ (CAR, 1994:20) rather than

being an integral part of the cultural history of place and thus the public perception of self. The Council

also outlined that:

… the barriers that have for so long kept indigenous Australians’ experiences out of our

history books were not based on a lack of material, but rather on perception and choice.

… Deliberate avoidance of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’s history and a

falsification of the historical record resulted in the legitimation of colonisation, and

deflected attention for the human rights violations inherent in the successive Australian

government policies of segregation and protectionism, and assimilation. (CAR, 1994:20)

The public space discourse reflects or articulates a broader social narrative and the Aboriginal Cultural

Markers which have emerged in Adelaide over the last decades now form part of that narrative, how

we understand ourselves. As Daniel Francis has said, our narratives ‘…produce the language that we

use to describe ourselves as a community’ and warns that ‘if we are not telling ourselves the right

narratives, then we cannot imagine ourselves acting together to resolve our problems’ (Francis,

1998:475). A change in public representations potentially helps reshape social understandings and

cultural identities. As Osborne also pointed out, the geography of identity is constituted by ‘… the

nurturing of collective memory and social cohesion through the representation of national narratives in

symbolic places, monumental forms, and performance’ (Osborne, 2001:2). Aboriginal narratives are

an essential part of place in Australia and whilst the many Markers achieved to date are to be

acknowledged, the overall sense of Aboriginality in major civic spaces, and the public space in

general, is minimal. As Williams has reminded us ‘… we have a right to our history displayed in our

country’. (Williams, 2001)

3.1 Sharing the Space, Public and Political

As outlined, the on-going public space expression is a reflection of the contemporaneous sense of

self, or identity, of a culture itself. A new historiography has emerged in Australia since the 1960s,

heralding the end of the previous neglect of an Aboriginal history. Aboriginal Australians who had been

‘out’ of history for over a century were returning (CAR, 1994:20). As part of that return, civic inclusion

is required that is ‘capable of achieving a ‘critical interaction’ with Australia’s past; a dialogue in which

one perspective of history is balanced by another (CAR 1994:27). There are both subtle and obvious

ways that sharing space is impeded or facilitated. To a large degree the two cultural paradigms have

been, and still are, working as independent cultural entities although there has been some degree of


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collaboration. To date it has been the Aboriginal who has had to adapt to the ways of the non-

Aboriginal. The dominant culture can still give ground, physically and culturally, to make a space for

Aboriginal peoples. As Lewis O’Brien stated:

In most cases it is non-Indigenous individuals and organisations that have the human and

financial resources and power to contribute effectively to strategies of sharing space.

(O’Brien and Rigney, 2006:28)

He further stated:

I also think we can share the land in this unique state of ours. As a Kaurna man, I believe

it is particularly important that we learn to share this city of Adelaide. If we can learn to

listen to each other and to hear each other’s stories we will see the importance of ‘sharing

the space’- sharing this country.

A good place to start with reconciliation is to listen to Aboriginal stories about this country,

particularly Kaurna country. By educating people about Kaurna country maybe we can all

learn about the past and learn to share the land. (O’Brien, 2007:192)

In Adelaide the representation of a Kaurna story in the public space by Kaurna people commenced in

1986 with the marking of ten significant sites along the coastal section of the Tjilbruke Dreaming Track

as part of South Australia’s Jubilee 150 commemorations (Figure 3). The project was implemented by

the Tjilbruke Track Committee, comprising predominantly Aboriginal people including Kaurna

descendants Georgina Williams, Lewis O’Brien and Doris Graham, Anthropologist Steve Hemming

(1990:135), a member of the Committee, outlined their involvement:

The power of decision making on the committee was given to “Kaurna” descendants and

Georgina Williams (a “Kaurna” descendant) was employed … on the research aspect of

the project. Other “Kaurna” descendants involved with the committee included Doris

Graham and Lewis O’Brien. The project, with the driving force of Fred Kelly (DAA) and

Georgina Williams, organised markers at the relevant sites along the coast starting from

the existing marked site at Kingston Park through to Cape Jervis.


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Figure 3 Tjilbruke Track Marker, 1986, Port Noarlunga (Tjilbruke Track Committee

The sharing of stories can be part of an emergent cultural synthesis, the two cultures developing new

ways of seeing and understanding themselves and eachother, drawing from both cultural paradigms.

As O’Brien outlined ‘A shared space where respect for each other and our cultures is paramount is a

wonderful aspiration to have’. (O’Brien and Rigney, 2006:30)

The inclusion of Aboriginal Cultural Markers is not just about allowing space in the public arena for

Aboriginal peoples. It is also about the dominant culture giving way and letting go of some of the

previously held beliefs and values, of some of the mythologies and lores of the culture. It is also

recognising that we all live on Aboriginal land, land taken from colonised peoples. As part of

Reconciliation it is necessary that changes provide a more equitable outcome, that there is a more

profound change in the power structures and interaction between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal, and

that there is an ongoing decolonisation of Aboriginal people’s lives. As Lewis O’Brien stated:

If sharing the space strategies do not lead to Indigenous economic, cultural, legal, social

and political empowerment, then sharing the space becomes another synonym for

assimilation. We as Kaurna are all too familiar with the devastation of assimilation policies

and its practices. There are dangers in embracing forced space sharing or strategies that

others think are in the best interests of Kaurna. The true worth of a nation must be

measured by the way it promotes the sharing of cultural, legal, economic and political

space with its First Peoples. The sharing of country is useless without the sharing of

power. (O’Brien and Rigney, 2006:28)

Whilst some of the issues raised above are outside of the jurisdiction of local government, they are

however indicative of an ethos that can be adopted by local government, an ethos of civic and social

inclusion.


14

3.2 Charles Sturt Public Space Aboriginal Cultural Markers

We have located ten public space sites in the City of Charles Sturt which contain Aboriginal Cultural

Markers. The earliest Marker dates from 1988, the year of Australia’s Bicentennial celebrations. This is

a very early public space acknowledgment of Aboriginal people by a local government in Adelaide and

as such is of significance. The ten Markers are of variable sizes and locations and have been

commissioned by Council, schools, the Queen Elizabeth Hospital and the Centro Shopping Centre,

Arndale. The Markers reflect the process of Reconciliation underway between the Aboriginal and non-

Aboriginal community. The Markers are:

1988 Trees of Peace Bicentennial Marker off Barrpowell St, Welland

1995 Mural Bowden Brompton Community School, Torrens Road, Brompton

1998-2001 Murals, Brompton Primary School, Gosport Street, Brompton

1990s Mural, Mosaic Aboriginal Flag Park, West Street, Brompton

1990s Murals, Stobie Poles Hawker Street (adjacent train line), 89 Gibson Street, Bowden

2001 Kaurna Acknowledgment Marker, Gibson Street, Bowden.

2002 Murals Main Entrance Undercroft, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Woodville Road, Woodville

2002 Mural Challa Gardens Primary School, Humphries Terrace, Kilkenny. December

2007 Mural, Centre of Life Centro Shopping Centre, Torrens Road, Arndale

2009 Mural Pennington Junior Primary School, Harrison Road, Pennington

Three of the Markers are under the care and control of Council as they are on Council land: Trees of

Peace Bicentennial Marker, Welland; the Mosaic Aboriginal Flag, Brompton; and the Kaurna

Acknowledgment Marker, Gibson St. It is possible there are other Markers in the Council area which

may come to light as Council staff and others become aware of this report and of the importance of

these Markers. Details and images of the Markers are as follows:

1988 Trees of Peace Bicentennial Marker off Barrpowell St, Welland

The idea for the Trees of Peace was proposed by Mr Richard Bowey, a resident of Hindmarsh Council

district (now part of City of Charles Sturt), as a way to extend the Bicentennial celebrations to include

Aboriginal people. He said in a letter, dated 16 February 1987, to Council:

The Bicentennial celebration is a paradox for myself and, I believe many others. While it

represents the two hundred years of settlement in a country of great beauty and wealth, it

also represents two hundred years since the land was forcibly seized from its former

owners, the aboriginal [sic] people who were its custodians for over forty thousand years.

Any project set down to celebrate the Bicentennial which does not include the later fact, is

I feel, deficient.

With this in mind, I propose that a simple but significant Bicentennial Project would be the

planting of three trees … they should be identified by simple brass plaques with

subscriptions as follows:


15

Trees of Peace

These three River Red Gums representing Atonement, Gratitude and Peace were

planted on (date), to commemorate the Bicentennial year of European settlement in

Australia. May these trees stand through the years and remind all who see them of these

three ideals.

Atonement

In recognition and memory of the original inhabitants of Australia – the aboriginal [sic]

people who tended this land for 40000 years

Gratitude

In recognition of the peace, beauty and wealth that this great land offers all who dwell

within her boundaries

Peace

In recognition of that elusive ideal humanity has sought since its beginnings upon which

the future of humanity now depends

By 2009, of the three River Redgums planted: the one for Atonement, the Aboriginal

acknowledgement, had gone completely; the one for Peace had never grown beyond a sickly sapling;

and the semi-mature tree for Gratitude had died. The Marker had become a bit ‘lost’ over time and had

been somewhat neglected. In his letter Bowey had also stated ‘… in the years ahead, into the next

century and perhaps in a hundred years time, people can gather under the trees and appreciate the

vision of the people of Hindmarsh in 1988.’ In 2010 this vision was re-enlivened with the City of

Charles Sturt undertaking an upgrade of the Marker and the replanting of trees (Figure 4). The 1988

Marker did not specifically acknowledge the Kaurna people by name, which is not unusual for that

time. The upgrade included a specific Kaurna acknowledgement which states:

Kaurna

In recognition of the Adelaide Plains people on whose Country this city now sits and

whose continuous living culture we respect

City of Charles Sturt for Reconciliation, 2010

Another plaque was added below that of 1988 to reinforce the ethos of peace. It reads:

Bilyonirna yertangga

May peace prevail on Earth

The upgrade was designed and undertaken by the authors of this report.


16

Figure 4. Trees of Peace Upgrade, 2010 (Karl Telfer, Gavin Malone)

Although the original plaques did not include a Kaurna reference there was, however, a Kaurna

presence at the 1988 dedication ceremony in the person of Leila Rankine (Figure 5), a well-known

Aboriginal campaigner of Kaurna/Ngarrindjeri descent, reciting a self-composed poem ‘Trees’ and

planting the Redgum for Atonement. The planting ceremony included recollections of residents,

poems from local children, didgeridoo music by students from the Centre for Aboriginal Studies in

Music (CASM) and the planting of a tree by schoolchildren (Figure 6).

Figure 5. Trees of Peace Dedication, Leila Rankine (centre) (Photo courtesy City of Charles Sturt)


17

Figure 6. Trees of Peace Tree Planting (Photo courtesy City of Charles Sturt)

1995 Mural Bowden Brompton Community School, Torrens Road, Brompton

This mural was undertaken by staff and students from the school.

Figure 7. Mural, 1995, Bowden Brompton Community School

1998 - 2000 Murals, Brompton Primary School, Gosport Street, Brompton

There are several murals in the grounds of the school undertaken by the school community and a

community artist.


18

Figure 8. Mural - Tjilbruke, c.1998, Brompton Primary School (School community)

Figure 9. Murals, 2000, Brompton Primary School (School community)

1990s Mural, Mosaic Aboriginal Flag Rubbish Bin, West Street, Brompton

It is believed this mosaic mural was undertaken by the Bowden Brompton Community School.

Figure 10. Mural, Mosaic, Aboriginal Flag 1990s Reserve, West St, Brompton


19

1990s Murals, Stobie Poles Hawker Street (adjacent train line), 89 Gibson Street, Bowden

It is believed that these street murals were undertaken through the community activities of the

Hindmarsh Greening project.

Figure 11. Murals, Stobie Poles, 1990s, Gibson & Hawker Streets, Bowden

2001 Kaurna Acknowledgment Marker, Gibson Street Historical Markers Project, Corner Gibson

Street and Seventh Street, Bowden.

The Gibson Street Historical Markers Project was commissioned by Council as part of the Centenary

of Federation commemorations in 2001. The project was undertaken by artists Sue Lorraine, Petrina

Kernchen, Tiffany Parbs, and Daniel Schutt. The markers give details of the post settlement activities

in Gibson Street, Bowden to develop a cultural map of the street. Bowden was one of the earlier

subdivisions for housing and industry on the western edge of Adelaide. The markers include a Kaurna

acknowledgement (Figure 12). Whilst not large in scale, it is part of a trend to include pre-settlement

Aboriginal history as part of the social fabric of place.


20

Figure 12. Gibson Street Historical Markers, 2001, Bowden

The Kaurna Marker states:

The Kaurna, traditional owners of the area that became Gibson Street, called the region

Karraundo-ngga or Karraundo. This name has a complex meaning for non- Kaurna but it

refers to the position of the area and the widening of the river after passing the area of

higher ground. Before European settlement, the Red Gum plain had river gullies rich in

food resources and was a gathering place for Kaurna. From 1836 onwards, the

environment was dramatically transformed. Land was cleared, divided and used for a

wide variety of agricultural, industrial and residential purposes.

2002 Mural Challa Gardens Primary School, Humphries Terrace, Kilkenny. December

This mural was undertaken by Tauondi College.

Figure 13. Mural, 2002, Challa Gardens Primary School, Kilkenny


21

2002 Mural Main Entrance Undercroft, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, 28 Woodville Road, Woodville

This multi-panel mural was undertaken by Tauondi College.

Figure 14. Murals, 2002, Undercroft, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Woodville South

Ivan Rehorek, an art teacher at the College, provided an overview and interpretation of the artworks

as follows in May 2002:

In this series of images, we have tried to show not only the complexity of life but the

various overlaying sets of symbols that would represent a place of healing. The hospital

is a very powerful cipher in our collective semi-conscious, and so it was in ancient times.

Healing was a serious business, only to be attempted by those with great experience.

The respect accorded these healers has not changed much over the years, even though

their methods may have. Traditional medicine is also tied in with therapeutics, well being

is considered the main goal, rather than just simple cures.

The moon and the sun are, of course universally acknowledged as symbols of life. But

the symbols go deeper than just imagery – they remind us of the continuity of things, we

are truly affected by the movements of the sun and moon – our moods, our body cycles,

the seasons around us, the tides…

The world is a system and must be respected and dealt with accordingly. It has its own

rules. And we learn these only gradually, as we become ready to receive and understand.

Traditional imagery often deals with the abstract – but this is not only intended to

decorate, but also to instruct. Aboriginal traditional art is as complex and skilful as that of

the Ancient Egyptians – in both thought and execution.


22

We are looking at maps of the inner world, physical and mental, and it is something quite

wonderful and revelationary.

We are all made of the elements, not just meta physically, but quite literally – and the

latest scientific advances merely prove what we knew generations ago. Certain

symbolism still remains to this day, like the laying of the hands, blessing and cursing both

– in our language as well as actions – whether we are conscious of it or not.

And having public artworks in significant places helps us not only to heal, but to progress

into continued well-being.

2007 Mural, Centre of Life Centro Shopping Centre, Torrens Road, Arndale

This mural was undertaken by aerosol artist Jimmy C (James Cochran) with Aboriginal and non-

Aboriginal youth and was coordinated through the Parks Community Centre, Angle Park. It is one of

several murals in Adelaide initiated as projects for Aboriginal youth to direct their expressive energies

and provide mentoring and skills development opportunities. Some murals, as with this example, do

not portray traditional Aboriginal motifs and are part of contemporary urban expression.

Figure 15. Mural, Centre of Life, 2007, Arndale (Jimmy C with Aboriginal youth)

2009 Mural Pennington Junior Primary School, Harrison Road, Pennington

This mural was undertaken by the school in conjunction, it is understood, with artist Rick Taylor.


23

Figure 16. Mural, 2009, Pennington Junior Primary School

Schools have provided five of the artworks in the Council area and there is one other school mural

known in the Council area but it is not in the public space, the 1996 Tjilbruke Mural in the Marine

Discovery Centre, 333 Military Road, Henley Beach. The contribution by schools provides a

‘normalisation’ of Aboriginal representation in the socialisation of children during their formal

education. It also reflects a broader Aboriginal inclusion in school curricula. The Royal Commission

into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody under Recommendation 290 School curricula to incorporate

Aboriginal issues and perspectives (Johnson, 1991) stated that:

Curricula of schools at all levels should reflect the fact that Australia has an Aboriginal

history and Aboriginal viewpoints on social, cultural and historical matters. It is essential

that Aboriginal viewpoints, interests, perceptions and expectations are reflected in

curricula, teaching and administration of schools.

The Commission’s 1991 recommendation, in tandem with the Decade of Reconciliation (1991-2000),

is reflected by the Markers achieved. The Markers provide a sense of belonging to the school

community for Aboriginal students, as well as a sense of Aboriginality for the broader community. This

again reflects a broader concern in education for the inclusion of, and learning outcomes for,

Aboriginal students as outlined by the 1995 federal Ministerial Taskforce on Aboriginal and Torres

Strait Islander (ATSI) Education. The Taskforce established eight priorities for ATSI education, one of

which was ‘to promote, maintain and support the teaching of ATSI studies, cultures and languages to

all indigenous and non-indigenous students’ (Woods, 2000:2). The Australian Council for Adult

Literacy (Woods, 2000:3) reinforced this priority:

Research undertaken by Howard Groome3 and Arthur Hamilton in the 1990s strongly

supports the concept that an Indigenous student whose sense of being Indigenous is

strong is better able to achieve in school than an Indigenous student whose pride in their

own culture is weak. For non-Indigenous students the right to know the Indigenous

3 Howard Groome is the South Australian educator and writer prominent in Aboriginal education.


24

cultures of Australia has been denied to their parents and it is a right that all Australians

should have. It is imperative to a strong foundation for reconciliation.

Woods (2000:3) further explained that:

Culture is understanding and acknowledgment by teachers and the learning institutions

that there are indigenous cultures and that Aboriginal people express themselves using

cultural markers ranging from language to icons that distinguish them from other groups

within Australian society.

The Markers located within the Council area provide a sound base for the development of further

works by Council and others.

4 Sites of Kaurna Significance: Identification and Location

In considering sites for Kaurna recognition there are two main types: those that have a traditional

significance for Kaurna; and those that are part of the contemporary urban fabric. The two types of

sites may sometimes overlap in the same geographic space. For instance, the West Lakes and

Football Park development overlays a former prime habitation and resource area for Kaurna in terms

of the ephemeral wetlands that once existed as part of the Greater Reedbeds (see 4.4). Traditional

sites can be assessed for recognition under the Aboriginal Heritage Act, 1988.

4.1 Registered and Recorded Sites of Significance

The South Australian Aboriginal Heritage Act 1988 provides for the recording and protection of sites of

Kaurna traditional significance. The Register is not a comprehensive record of all sites, rather the sites

included are those that have come to attention and have been considered of significance for inclusion.

There are five sites (four burial sites and one scarred tree site (Figure 17)) in the City of Charles Sturt

included on the Register. The Register is administered by the Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation

Division, Department of Premier and Cabinet. Access to this Register is restricted to those with a

‘need to know’.


25

Figure 17. Scar Tree

The identification of sites of significance to Kaurna people is an ongoing process. Whilst it may be

thought that by now remaining significant Aboriginal sites in the urban area would have been located

and recorded, this is not necessarily the case. As an exemplar, as a consequence of this research to

locate sites of potential along the River Torrens Karrawirraparri4, a previously unrecorded scar tree

(Figure 18) was located by the authors. The scar was from the making of a Kaurna shield, an

uncommon relic in the metropolitan area. This scar tree was nominated and has now been recorded

under the provisions of the Register. Details of the scar tree have been provided to Council’s Diversity

Officer.

Figure 18. Scar Tree – Shield 4 Under the Geographical Names Act, 1991, the River Torrens, has the dual name of Karrawirraparri, the redgum forest river in Kaurna, one of the first dual namings in Adelaide bestowed on 15 November 2001.


26

Decisions as to whether any of these sites are commemorated or marked in any way rest with the

Kaurna cultural custodians. Acknowledgements can contribute to recovering lost social relationships to

an Aboriginal landscape but there is sensitivity required as to whether specific sites are

commemorated.

4.2 Archaeological and Anthropological Sites and Information

Former South Australian Museum anthropologist, Robert Edwards refers to the long occupation of the

Council area by Kaurna:

The first clue to the early arrival of man on the Adelaide Plains was found at Fulham in

1893 when a series of large, rather crudely formed core tools was found three metres

beneath the surface during excavations for an artificial lake. (Edwards, 1972:3)

The identification of significant Aboriginal archaeological and anthropological sites is an on-going

process as there has not been a comprehensive archaeological or anthropological survey of the

Council area. Surveys may occur when places are subject to development proposals or building

activities, when a structured investigation and survey of an area is required.

In addition to specific sites, there are localities or types of landscape that have particular significance

to Kaurna. Research on and documentation of some of these localities, and their use by Kaurna, has

been undertaken by various individuals or organisations overtime.

The consolidation of existing knowledge or the undertaking of further research, on a local government

area basis would greatly assist Kaurna people’s knowledge and identification with their cultural

heritage, Council decision-making, and community knowledge and understanding. It would also assist

the evolution of informative public space cultural Markers. It is recommended that appropriate

expertise be engaged by Council to further elucidate and consolidate information produced to date by

various organisations or institutions (see 8.2.4).

A preliminary outline of several prime Kaurna areas is as follows:

4.3 Coastal and Dunal Region

The coastal and inland dunal systems were prime habitation areas for Kaurna. The coastal and dunal

area is described by historian Tom Gara as follows:

When the first settlers arrived on the Adelaide Plains, coastal dunes up to 10 metres high

lined the shores of Gulf St Vincent from Brighton to Outer Harbour, broken only by the

outlet of Patawalonga Creek. The fore-dunes were vegetated with coastal heath and

spinifex, while the more sheltered dunes inland were covered with acacia and tea-tree

scrub. (Gara, 2008:1)


27

There used to be, several kilometres inland from the coast, a belt of high red sandhills,

vegetated with dense stands of native pines, eucalypts, sheoaks and acacia scrub. These

older consolidated dunes – formed about 150,000 years ago - once stretched almost

unbroken from Port Adelaide and the western side of Torrens Island to the Sturt River at

Novar Gardens. There were extensive areas of these dunes in the area formerly known

as the Pinery at Grange and at Royal Park, through the suburbs of Seaton, Findon,

Fulham and Lockleys and in a long arc stretching from Netley through Plympton to Novar

Gardens. Today you can see surviving remnants of these dunes, with some of their

original vegetation still intact, in the Kooyonga, Royal Adelaide and Grange Golf Courses.

If you are driving west down Grange Road, you drive over several prominent dune crests

between Findon Rd and Tapley’s Hill Rd.

The dunal system is recorded in the colonial painting of the Patawalonga Creek outlet (Glenelg)

(Figure 19) and the Royal Adelaide Golf Club fairways, sand bunkers and vegetation (Figure 20,

Figure 21).

Figure 19. Holdfast Bay, South Australia 1836, J M Skipper (Patawalonga Creek outlet) (AGSA Collection)


28

Figure 20. Remnant Red Dunes, Royal Adelaide Golf Club, Seaton

Figure 21. Remnant Vegetation, Royal Adelaide Golf Club, Seaton

The Kaurna utilisation of the area is further articulated by anthropologist Philip Clarke:

Large numbers of Adelaide Aboriginal people gathered along the coast in the summer

months, taking advantage of marine and sand dune belt food resources, such as coastal

berries, shellfish, crustacean, fish, turtles, nesting sea birds and occasional stranded

whales. (Clarke, 1996:74)

4.3.1.1 Dunal Areas and Burial Sites

The dunal areas are accepted as locations for burial grounds with burials recorded on the Register at

Grange and Fulham. There are many citations or anecdotal stories of the discovery of human skeletal

remains during farming, sand mining and building activity in the dunal system stretching from

Queenstown to Glenelg. Early 20th Century Adelaide University geologist Walter Howchin noted that:

The banks of the lower reaches of the River Torrens, with the adjacent sandhills, must

have been the chief camping grounds, as well as burial place, of the local tribe for


29

generations. Many skeletons have been exposed at this spot by the erosive action of the

wind, and in addition, the locality has proved to be the richest in the occurrence of stone

implements that has come under the Author’s notice in South Australia. (Howchin, 1934)

In 1911 at least twenty Aboriginal skeletons were found at a sand mining site in Fulham (Gara,

2000:2). In 1927 a further five skeletons were unearthed in the locale and reported in The Mail:

Mr J. Horsley has lived at Fulham Park for many years. He was there when Mr W. A.

Blackler owned the property, and has seen many aboriginal skeletons taken from its

paddocks. In commenting on the find Mr Horsley said that some years ago half of the

sandhill from which they were taken was removed, and many similar skulls and bones

found.

Mr Horsley said there was little doubt that parts of Fulham Park in days past had been

used by the natives as a burial ground. During the time he was residing at the famous

stud farm scores of skeletons were found. He remembered the skeleton of a black fellow

being found some years ago buried a few feet below the surface of a sandhill. It was in a

sitting position, as if some unfortunate native in ages past had been buried alive.

Though the aboriginal remains which were uncovered on Wednesday at Fulham Park

were found fairly close to the surface, many of the bones were crumbling with decay,

indicating that they had been buried a long time. (The Mail, 1927:1)

The discovery of skeletal remains has occurred within the last decade (at Grange) and is likely to be

ongoing in the former dunal system. The potential to uncover burial sites during the redevelopment

that is occurring along the coastal region is an issue for Council to be aware of. Any Aboriginal sites

located are to be dealt with under the provisions of the Aboriginal Heritage Act 1988.

4.4 Wetlands

In association with the dunal system, the ephemeral wetlands/swamplands lying behind the dunes

from Glenelg to Port Adelaide were a prime summer habitat and provided food and other resources for

Kaurna. Gara described the area as follows:

Between the coastal dunes and these older red dunes, an extensive area of wetlands

stretched from the upper reaches of the Port River southwards all the way to the

Patawalonga and the Sturt River. Thick stands of teatree lined the Port River nearly as far

as Grange, and much of what is now West Lakes were samphire flats and tidal marshes.

Waters coming down the Torrens River backed up behind the coastal sandhills into an

extensive area of swamps and reedbeds, lined with red gums and patches of teatree,

sheoak and acacia scrub. …. The reedbeds were rich in freshwater mussels and yabbies’

and were home to abundant wildfowl and other birds and small mammals, and were a

major resource area for Kaurna people. (Gara, 2001:8)


30

The area described by Gara is known as the Greater Reedbeds, as distinct to the specific area at

Fulham where the term ‘the Reedbeds’ is now applied. In Kaurna the the Reedbeds is known as

Wittonga. A Port Adelaide Kaurna heritage survey (2007:9) also refers to the value of the Reedbeds

‘The wetlands at West Lakes/Wittonga acted as a natural filter for the River Torrens/Karrawirraparri

outwash and along with the samphire flats, provided a rich source of food and reeds for basket

weaving.’ Archaeologist Valerie Campbell (1988) also outlined the significance of the area as part of

Kaurna coastal archaeology, providing a map (Figure 22) Glenelg to Outer Harbour to indicate the

extent of wetlands.

Figure 22. Former wetland/swampland areas (Campbell, 1988)

The extract from the 1870s Frearson’s Plan of the City of Adelaide and Suburbs (Figure 23) also

shows the extent of the watercourses as they once were and the aerial photograph of what is now the

West Lakes area (Figure 24), taken in 1959, gives the extent of the estuarine and dunal system before

large sale urban development.


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Figure 23. Extract, Frearson’s Plan of Adelaide, 1874-78

Figure 24. West Lakes area, 1959

The construction of the Breakout Creek drain (Figure 25) in the late 1930s to provide an outlet to the

sea for the River Torrens Karrawirraparri largely spelt the end of the periodic inundation of the Greater

Reedbeds. It was the end of the wetlands and rural character of the locality and the beginning of the

development of new housing suburbs. The West Lakes urban development reconstructed the

southern reaches of the Port River estuary and the wetlands into a formal lake and canal system


32

(Figure 26). Reclamation of the land commenced in 1970 and the lake was first filled in 1974 (Geyer &

Donovan, 1996:40, 41). Breakout Creek is not recommended as a prime site for Kaurna recognition

other than to provide information on the changes it brought to the area.

Figure 25. Breakout Creek, Henley Beach South

Figure 26. West Lakes, Rowing Area

By a strange connection, the first female prisoner in the Adelaide Gaol was the (Kaurna) Aboriginal

woman Wariato who was convicted of stealing potatoes from the property of Thomas Payne at the

Reed Beds. She was sentenced to 14 days hard labour, committed on 19th March, 1841 and released

1st April, 1841. As their own food resources were being lost Kaurna turned to what was then available.

This incident provides for a rich inter-cultural interpretive narrative of early colonisation.

4.5 Waterways - River Torrens Karrawirraparri

The River Torrens Karrawirraparri was another prime habitation area and movement corridor for

Kaurna. The Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation Division notes that land within 200 metres of a

watercourse in particular may contain Aboriginal sites and objects. Any activities that disturb the land


33

outh Australian Museum anthropologist, Robert Edwards refers to the long occupation of the lower

The first clue to the early arrival of man on the Adelaide Plains was found at Fulham in

.5.1.1 River Area and Burial Sites

are also accepted as locations for burials. There is one

.5.1.2 Karra(k)undungga Hindmarsh

dungga5, is suggested to be a major burial site. Hemming &

Sites and Themes for Consideration: Identification and Location

iginal cultural

he outline presented does not purport to be fully representative or exhaustive but is provided as a

along the River Torrens Karrawirraparri should therefore be cognisant of this. The river has also been

referred to as Tanda:njapari by anthropologist N. B. Tindale, which translates as the Red Kangaroo

River (Hemming & Harris, 1998:18) which links to the City of Adelaide area having sites related to the

Red Kangaroo Dreaming. Victoria Square has the dual naming of Tarndanyangga, place of the Red

Kangaroo in Kaurna, which was bestowed on 22 May 2003.

S

reaches area by Kaurna:

1893 when a series of large, rather crudely formed core tools was found three metres

beneath the surface during excavations for an artificial lake. (Edwards, 1972:3)

4

Areas along the River Torrens Karrawirraparri

burial site along the River in Charles Sturt included on the Register.

4

The Hindmarsh area, known as Karra(k)un

Harris record that ‘Bishop Short in giving evidence to a Parliamentary Select Committee said that “The

Adelaide tribe … used to come down to Hindmarsh to bury”. Lewis O’Brien was given similar

information by Kaurna Elder, Gladys Elphick’. (Hemming & Harris, 1998:34)

5

To date, numerous individuals, institutions and organisations have instigated the Abor

Markers throughout Adelaide, as is the case in the City of Charles Sturt. The Markers have been

brought about on an ad hoc basis with no critical overview or planning. Presented here is an overview

of sites and themes that could be addressed when creating Markers. It is intended that this might

assist Council, other commissioning organisations and Kaurna to evolve a more complete or complex

narrative in the public space - a more sophisticated understanding of Kaurna and Aboriginal cultures

would assist not only Aboriginal peoples in their representations in the public space but also help the

broader community to engage Aboriginality, and Aboriginal land.

T

framework for further contributions by others as necessary; Kaurna cultural custodians, cultural

historians, anthropologists and so on. There is a crossover and inter-changeability between sites and

themes. Whilst not all sites or themes may be applicable to the City of Charles Sturt, many are, in

particular traditional sites in the coastal, wetlands and waterway environments.

5 Several spellings of Karra(k)undungga are used in this report as referred to in the primary sources.


34

5.1 Kaurna Sites for Consideration

Traditional Sites

. Habitation Sites

. Coastal

. Wetlands

. Waterways

. Foothills

. Other

. Dreaming sites

. Memorial Sites

. Burial Sites

Post Colonisation Sites

. Early settlement and contact sites

. Sites of tragedy (distressful aspects of colonising history)

. Aboriginal Reserves (land parcels set aside for independent Aboriginal occupation)

. Twentieth century sites - Kaurna and other Aboriginal peoples

. Aboriginal Homes (homes of the Stolen Generations)

Topographical Viewing Sites

. Panoramic sites

Cross-Cultural Sites

. Sites of significance to both cultural traditions

Some potential sites are discussed below.

5.2 Kaurna Themes for Consideration

Traditional Cultural Practices

. Dreaming narratives

. Social relationships

. Ecological relationships, landscape values

Post Colonisation

. South Australian Aboriginal colonial history

. Aboriginal resistance

. Use of Aboriginal knowledge in the settlement process

. Aboriginal guides and trackers

. Cross-cultural social interactions

. Mission and fringe living

. Urbanisation

. Migration to the city

. Cultural and political organisation

. Education

. Social achievements


35

. Sporting achievements

. Aboriginal relationship to colonising symbols

The themes require further research and elaboration as to their applicability to the City of Charles Sturt

and such further research is recommended (see 8.1.3).

5.3 Kaurna Traditional Sites

5.3.1 Waterways: River Torrens Karrawirraparri

The Torrens Linear Park (Figure 27) has been surveyed by us and presents numerous opportunities

for Kaurna inclusion. The painting by G.F. Angas, The City of Adelaide from Mr Wilson’s Section on

the Torrens, June 1845 (Figure 28) gives a colonial view of the river and area that is now Flinders

Park / Lockleys from the Findon Road / Rowell’s Road vicinity.

Figure 27. River Torrens Karrawirraparri Linear Park, western suburbs

Figure 28. City of Adelaide from Mr Wilson’s Section on the Torrens, G.F. Angas, June 1845 (AGSA Collection)


36

The River is an area of high recreational activity, particularly cycling and walking. Many interstate and

overseas visitors also utilise the Linear Park providing a prime opportunity to inform them, as well as

the local community, of Kaurna culture. Some particular, but not exclusive, opportunities are:

Adam Street, Hindmarsh

This location has a high public visitation because of the Entertainment Centre, the Brewery Gardens

and its Christmas displays, and the Linear Park. The site contains an acknowledgment of Colonel

Light’s house (Figure 29). Light, Adelaide’s founding Surveyor-General died there in 1839. The house

was located nearby on the opposite side of the River. An acknowledgement of Kaurna in this vicinity is

appropriate and presents rich cross-cultural opportunities. The site will be considered as part of the

Kaurna Cultural Markers project (see 8.1.1). It is a site to also be considered for a larger scale

sculptural work (see 8.1.2).

Figure 29. Colonel Light’s House Plaque, Hindmarsh

Park, Mountbatten Terrace, Flinders Park

Riverine location with interpretive and sculptural opportunities.

Park, Belgrave Avenue, Flinders Park


Park, Riverway, Fulham Gardens


Any general development or interpretive activities along the River ought to consider the Kaurna

perspective in their development and content (see 8.2.10). The Kaurna Cultural Markers project will be

the commencement of providing Kaurna cultural information.

5.3.2 Tjilbruke Dreaming Sites

Aspects of the Dreaming narrative traverse the area of the City of Charles Sturt. An emu hunt

occurred with the birds being driven towards the peninsula now known as Le Fevre where they would

be trapped. How and if this is to be included in any public space marker is an item for further

consideration.


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5.4 Kaurna Post-colonisation Sites

What constitutes Aboriginal heritage is evolving, so the inclusion of sites (and themes) which have

post-colonisation and contemporary cultural significance is important. As cultural researcher Bronwyn

Batten6 pointed out:

Ideas of what constitutes heritage change over time. The things, places, ideas, stories

and memories that combine to become heritage are constantly evolving. …. Aboriginal

heritage has often been fossilised in the minds of many as ‘prehistory’. In this way

Aboriginal heritage is seen to be limited to sacred sites, rock art, colourful traditional

dances and crafts, all liberally blended with the romance of the Dreaming. This view of

heritage fails to allow for change … Aboriginal society has changed over time and

therefore aspects of heritage have, of necessity, evolved. Non-Indigenous ideas however

about what constitutes Aboriginal heritage have proved resistant to change. (Batten,

2005:243)

In a study of Aboriginal attitudes to heritage in the town of Wyndham in northern Western Australia

Batten (2005:244) outlined three key themes that emerged from the study: ‘[t]he importance of

acknowledging difference when dealing with heritage issues; the role of contemporary history and

heritage in society; and the particular role of conceptions of place and space in Aboriginal

perspectives of contemporary heritage’. She (2005:245) further outlined that the views of those older

Aboriginal people who had elements of a traditional life in their upbringing revolved more around the

land, whilst the younger ones tended to blend those of the older people with more traditionally

European perspectives of heritage.

5.4.1 Sites of Tragedy

An aspect of post colonisation sites of significance to Aboriginal people is also sites of tragedy or

distress. In this regard the theologian, Sigurd Bergmann (2008:88) questioned:

What does the remembrance of the pain of the past mean for the design, planning and

development of urban space? Must every pain be remembered? What can be forgotten?

To begin with, pain enters the sphere of remembrance, whether we want it or not. The

crucial question is how to deal with the remembrance of the pain of my neighbour. But

such a question does not suggest a universal answer; it must be negotiated all the time,

and in the frame of discourse ethics it should be done in a participatory process between

those involved … and that built places and the planning of city space should play a

central role in enabling and supporting this negotiation.

6 Batten is presently Senior Policy Officer (Aboriginal Affairs), Office of Environment and Heritage,

NSW Department of Premier and Cabinet.


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There are known sites within Adelaide that deserve the negotiation outlined by Bergmann. At this point

no such sites are known of within the City of Charles Sturt but further research will clarify this (see

Recommendation 8.1.3).

5.4.2 Aboriginal Sections or Reserves: Woodville and Hindmarsh Districts

Aboriginal sections or reserves were set aside during the colonial period in what is now the

metropolitan area to provide areas where Kaurna people could settle, with the expectation they would

adapt to the ways of the incoming culture, including taking up farming activities. Several were in what

is now the City of Charles Sturt. Three reserves were established for the use of Aborigines in sections

2067, 2069 and 411 (totalling 209 acres) to the north of Torrens Road in what is now the Renown

Park, Woodville Gardens, Pennington regions. By the time of the first (Woodville) Council assessment

in 1853 they were under lease to two farmers who had built cottages there (Marsden, 1977:5). Section

2067, in the vicinity of the Torrens Road – South Road intersection, Renown Park, had been resumed

in the 1870’s and cut up for sale as part of unemployment relief works in the 1880s (Parsons,

1974:142, 151, Geyer & Donovan, 1996:17). In the early 1890s Hindmarsh had an Aboriginal

population of nearly 300 people and an Aboriginal section was laid out to assist house them (Geyer &

Donovan, 1996:17).

Research by University of Adelaide students Jane Burke and Sarah Weaver revealed that the site of

the contemporary Centro Shopping Centre, Arndale (Section 411), was an Aboriginal section as was

the Challa Gardens Primary School (Section 2069) (Burke & Weaver, 1999). Further research on the

exact locations and fate of the Aboriginal sections and the loss of the Aboriginal population is

appropriate (see Recommendation 8.1.3). A commemoration of the reserves may be appropriate.

5.4.3 Twentieth Century Sites: Kaurna and other Aboriginal Peoples

The 20th Century built heritage is an area that has received little attention for its significance to

Aboriginal culture. The development of an urban Aboriginal presence, and the consequent political,

cultural and social activities would have largely taken place in the buildings of Adelaide, thereby

creating places of significance to Aboriginal people. Just as many buildings or places are recognised

because significant events took place there from a European history perspective, this ought to be the

case for Aboriginal urban history as well.

Further research to identify locations that may exist within the City of Charles Sturt is appropriate (see

Recommendation 8.1.3).

5.5 Development Plan Reviews

Reviews of Development Plans in the City provide an opportunity to include consideration of Kaurna

social history and significant sites. This needs to be considered in detail as opportunities arise and is

beyond the scope of this preliminary report. Any consideration will be assisted by further Kaurna

research data (see Recommendation 8.1.3).


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5.6 Major Developments and Urban Infrastructure

Consideration of the inclusion of a Kaurna component in new developments in the Council area is

recommended. This is not to suggest that every development requires a Kaurna inclusion, rather that

it be one consideration in the conceptual and assessment process of any proposal. Exemplars are:

. Bowden – Brompton Urban Redevelopment

. Cheltenham Urban Redevelopment

. Tramline Extension

. Port Road Stormwater Management

5.7 Existing Urban Infrastructure

The existing Council managed urban infrastructure can provided opportunities for Kaurna inclusion.

Such spaces include:

5.7.1 Council Premises and Libraries

The Civic Centre is recommended as a site for a Kaurna Cultural Marker (see Recommendation

8.1.1). Libraries are recommended for a special collection of Kaurna and Aboriginal reference material

(see Recommendation 8.2.3).

5.7.2 Parks and Gardens

The Council’s parks and gardens can provide opportunities for Kaurna recognition through planting

themes and/or interpretive information. No particular spaces are recommended at this point but it is a

way of contributing to the re-Aboriginalisation of place to be borne in mind by Council.

The Kaurna naming of select parks and gardens may provide opportunities for recognition. No

particular space is recommended for Kaurna naming at this point and again is a potential to be borne

in mind by Council (see Kaurna naming 6.4).

5.7.3 Playgrounds

The development of play spaces based on Kaurna (or other Aboriginal) games has potential for cross–

cultural learning and providing spaces that are culturally reinforcing for Aboriginal people. Learning

through play is a pivotal aspect of social development and the provision of spaces that reinforce

Aboriginal identity provides a unique social equity opportunity for Council.

The Kaurna naming of select playgrounds may provide opportunities for recognition. No particular

space is recommended for Kaurna naming at this point and again is a potential to be borne in mind by

Council (see Kaurna naming 6.4)

5.7.4 Sporting and Recreational Precincts

Sporting and recreational precincts are not to be overlooked as having potential for Kaurna inclusion.

As outlined above, the areas occupied by the Football Stadium (Figure 30) and the Golf Courses

(Figure 31) were part of the Greater Reedbeds and Dunal system. The development of partnerships

with the owners and operators of these facilities to recognise the Kaurna heritage of the area has

potential. The Australian Rules football leagues in particular have developed programs and


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partnerships with Aboriginal communities in the development of AFL football and players. The

inclusion of Kaurna recognition as an initiative at the local level has potential.

Figure 30. Football Stadium, West Lakes

Figure 31. Grange Golf Club, Grange

5.7.5 Commercial and Industrial Precincts

Commercial and industrial precincts are also not to be overlooked as having potential for Kaurna

inclusion. As outlined above the area occupied by the Westfield Shopping Centre, West Lakes was

once part of the Greater Reedbeds and Dunal system. The development of partnerships with the

owners and operators of these facilities to recognise the Kaurna heritage of the area has potential.

This is an area that requires further development. Council could bring this potential to the attention of

the operators as appropriate opportunities arise.


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Figure 32. Westfield Shopping Centre, West Lakes

5.8 Connecting Points or Pathways to other Local Government Areas

Kaurna connections to Country and cultural heritage move beyond Council borders. The coastal area

and the River Torrens Karrawirraparri are natural points of movement and connections. Liaison with

the adjoining councils (West Torrens, Port Adelaide Enfield and Adelaide) to provide continuity of

recognition and or interpretation is appropriate. The Port Adelaide Enfield Council hosts the Kaurna

Cultural Heritage Trail (Figure 42) along the Port River just north of the Bower Road council boundary.

5.8.1 Ranges to the Sea, a River Torrens Karrawirraparri Project

The Ranges to the Sea project is a community and council based proposed initiative. It seeks to

engage environmental and cultural issues relating to the River Torrens Karrawirraparri to assist

ecological and cultural sustainability. Public art and interpretive information, including Kaurna

recognition, is part of the project vision. The Charles Sturt Council was represented at initial meetings

in late 2007 as was the West Adelaide Coastal Residents Association. There are nine known

Aboriginal Cultural Markers along the Adelaide Plains section of the River Torrens Karrawirraparri

acknowledging Kaurna or Aboriginal culture which are located in five council areas. The River Torrens

Karrawirraparri Linear Park provides an opportunity for co-ordinated story telling from the headwaters

to the sea which can elucidate the use of the river valley from a Kaurna perspective and reinforce

ecological considerations. The long-term coordination arrangements for the Ranges to the Sea project

are yet to emerge but Kaurna inclusion in the Charles Sturt section can provide a template for

initiatives further upstream.

6 Forms of Acknowledgement for Consideration

6.1 Public Art

Public art, as a significant contributor to a ‘sense of place’ and social inclusiveness has developed a

broad role over the last thirty years or so. Public art can be iconic, decorative or functional. It has been

advocated for on the grounds of integrating art and cultural activity into the public realm. As Ruth

Fazakerley explained:


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Public art has increasingly been advocated for on the grounds of its contribution to

resolving visual and social conflict, and in collaboration with the work of other design

professionals, as providing improved visual comprehension and literacy; opportunities for

social cohesion, citizenship, and place identification. (Fazakerley, 2005:1)

There are a number of ways Kaurna and Aboriginal culture can be included in the public space

through public art. The appropriate form can be selected based on the particular needs, funding and

location, and the style of any proposed recognition. The most recognised forms of public art are:

6.1.1 Sculptural Works

Sculpture is traditionally the more permanent and better-recognised form of public or civic artwork. It is

usually designed to be long lasting and have defined or prominent community presence. Sculpture is

not necessarily a singular object and can include multiple components or facets and may be referred

to as installation art.

6.1.2 Murals

The mural, both painted and mosaic, has been the predominant form of public art to include Aboriginal

people and culture in the City of Charles Sturt. Murals in general have included the counter-culture

and a broad range of social expression not included in more formal commemorations or public

artworks, they can be seen as a more democratic form of public art. Murals provide an expression and

celebration of Aboriginal cultures and a method to publicly express both a personal and group sense

of Aboriginality.

6.1.3 Community Art

Community artworks are created through collaborative processes involving members of a community

and usually a skilled arts worker as the key facilitator in the process. The process is designed to

ensure a sense of connection to and ownership of the artwork. With community based art the process

is often as important as the product in bringing a community together to explore both its differences

and its similarities.

6.2 Interpretive and Commemorative Markers

Interpretive Markers elaborate the cultural significance or history of a place; they provide formal or

informal educational information or comment. Commemorative Markers more so commemorate or

acknowledge a person, activity or event which is important to the community. The first Aboriginal

Cultural Marker in the Council area, the Trees of Peace, Bicentennial Marker falls into this category.

6.3 Public Space Design or Design Integration

Public space design includes an artist/s in the design team of a broader public space project. In this

way the art/design is fully integrated into the outcome rather then being a separate stand-alone

component. This process can include both landscape and built environments. It can include both

functional elements such as paving, lighting and seating or more decorative elements. It can also bring

a thematic approach to a design.


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6.4 Kaurna Place Names, Naming and Dual Naming of Places

Place naming is a significant component of describing and understanding who we are and where we

come from. In the colonisation process naming of place has also been the taking possession of place

and many English, along with French, Dutch and some Polish place names, reflect colonisation and

exploration. However, probably unknown to most citizens, many Aboriginal place names, or

derivations, still exist. As the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation (1994: 33) outlined:

About 70 per cent of the 4,000,000 place names in use are indigenous in origin or

inspiration and reflect Australia’s record in giving official priority to indigenous names. The

use of indigenous Australian place names acknowledges the worth of Aboriginal and

Torres Strait Islander peoples, and fosters a sense of cultural identity. In some regions in

Australia, place names are all that indigenous communities have left of their language.

As linguist Flavia Hodges (2007:383) has outlined ‘Before Australia was colonised by European

settlers, the Indigenous inhabitants had names for every topographical feature of significance to them’.

She further outlined (2007: 383) that:

An important contrast with the subsequent introduced system of placenaming, Indigenous

place names form structured, interlinked networks in which places, together with their

names and attributes, are related to each other in complex ways reflecting the

relationship between people and the land they inhabit. Placenames are not arbitrary, but

integral to the places to which they are attached, and derive from the activities of

Ancestor figures in the Dreaming who emerged from the originally formless and

featureless land mass, travelled across it performing everyday activities and causing it to

assume shape and names, and eventually ‘went down’ into the landscape, ‘becoming

country’.

Hodges (2007:387) also elaborated how place naming and the understanding of Aboriginal place

names is part of a broader social change:

In the recent past, most notably within the last decade there has been a growing interest

by Australian nomenclature authorities, as part of a more general social change, to

increase the number of names of Indigenous origin within the official placenaming system

and to represent them in a more accurate and respectful manner. In some instances

these developments have taken place within the context of an official policy on Aboriginal

languages … Other moves towards the increased use of placenames of Indigenous origin

have come about in the context of language maintenance or language revival

programmes sponsored by Aboriginal organisations. These initiatives have generally

received the support of the wider community, which is increasingly interested in


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Aboriginal culture and inclined to take pride in placenames of Indigenous origin as being

uniquely Australian.

The language revival program has also assisted the understanding of the etymology of the names and

the more correct spelling and pronunciation of names following the Anglicisation of many words in the

colonisation process. Acknowledging the etymology of Anglicised Aboriginal names in the Adelaide

region, for instance Cowandilla, Medindie, Morialta, Noarlunga, Onkaparinga, Patawalonga, Pooraka,

Taparoo etc, is a way of contributing to the re-Aboriginalisation of place and acknowledging Kaurna

cultural heritage. Two place names in the Charles Sturt area with known Kaurna names are:

Hindmarsh Karraundongga ‘redgum chest place’ (Payne, 1996:14)

The Reedbeds Witongga ‘reed place’ (Amery and Williams, 2002:264)

Payne (1996:14) refers to the meaning of Karraundongga as ’red gum spear place’ as the

Hindmarsh/Thebarton area was a favourite locality for obtaining red gum branches used for making

heavy fighting spears. The source of this meaning is not given and the meaning has not been verified.

The Gibson Street Historical Markers project refers to the name as having ‘a complex meaning for

non-Kaurna but it refers to the position of the area and the widening of the river after passing the area

of higher ground’. The source of this interpretation is unknown. The plain between Port Adelaide and

Adelaide is known as Mikawomma in Kaurna (Teichelmann & Schurmann, 1840:66) and

geographically is likely to include parts of the Charles Sturt Council area. There is a Mikawomma

Reserve in Woodville Gardens in the City of Port Adelaide Enfield. According to Marsden (1977: 5)

challa as in Challa Gardens may mean ‘good country’ but the language group is not Kaurna.

Further research on place names in the Council area is of merit and can contribute to public space

inclusion. Ongoing work on place names being undertaken by Kaurna Warra Pintyandi, the Kaurna

language advisory group based in the Linguistics Department of the University of Adelaide is

contributing to the understanding of place names in Adelaide. Kaurna Warra Pintyandi is not the only

source of advice on the use of Kaurna place names and language as input from appropriate Kaurna

cultural custodians may also be appropriate. Care is required in both allocating new names and

reviving old names in that given the close relationship between naming and cultural heritage,

misleading or inappropriate new notions or meanings of place do not arise. This is a process where

cultural sensitivity and awareness is required. As Georgina Williams has pointed out ‘Naming activity

that is not rooted in the land and in the people of the land runs the risk of being a shallow and

meaningless activity that misappropriates our language and culture.’ (Amery and Williams, 2002:267)

Dual Naming

In 1991 South Australia was the first Australian State to enact legislation to enable dual naming of

place through The Geographical Names Act, 1991. There are now over 600 places with dual naming,

the majority in the north of the State in Pitjantjatjara and Adnymathanha Country. In Adelaide, one of

the first dual naming was of the River Torrens, Karrawirraparri in Kaurna, on 15 November 2001.

Victoria Square, the city’s main square, received dual naming of Tarndanyangga on 22 May 2003.


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The development of Council guidelines or policy on the application of dual naming within the Council

area is another form of public space acknowledgement. As a first step Council could adopt a policy of

using the official dual naming of the River Torrens Karrawirraparri in all references to the River.

7 Protocols and Consultation Guidelines for Commissioning

Kaurna/Aboriginal Public Art Works

The most appropriate process for commissioning public artworks to acknowledge Kaurna people and

culture is evolving. In developing Aboriginal public artworks the governance process, in particular

consultation and protocols, is key to a successful, inclusive and culturally sound outcome. The

success of any public artwork project can be determined by the process by which it is commissioned

and the expertise utilised. An unsatisfactory process is more likely to lead to an unsatisfactory or

problematic outcome. Greater Kaurna input and control of the commissioning process from an early

stage is therefore strongly recommended. As a contribution to Kaurna self-determination and

empowerment, and to facilitate Kaurna public space cultural expression, it is appropriate to give

Kaurna people greater control over public space outcomes. Part of this is to utilise processes that are

inclusive, collaborative and consultative rather than competitive as at present; processes that do not

divide the Aboriginal community. Both the process and the outcome are to be owned by Aboriginal

groups and undertaken on their terms. The ideas put forward here are meant as a contribution to a

dialogue, advice rather than rules.

The Australian Heritage Commission has suggested that Aboriginal peoples have to be treated as a

unique group when being consulted on issues that affect their rights and interests. In developing

policies for Aboriginal consultation the Commission noted that ‘There has been deliberate and

systematic disempowerment of Indigenous peoples in Australia over the last two hundred years’ and

that the:

… history of systematic disempowerment means that attempts to treat Aboriginal peoples

as equal stakeholders with other groups will tend to contribute to their continuing

disadvantage and inequality. This tends to occur because Aboriginal peoples do not

necessarily have the same skills, knowledge, networks and access to power as other

stakeholders. (AHC, 1997)

The Commission further outlined that:

… Indigenous peoples and communities must be empowered to decide how, where and

the form that consultation should take. This includes the right to choose the most

appropriate people and organisations to undertake consultation, even if this means that

consultation with Aboriginal peoples costs more, and is more time consuming, than

consultation with other stakeholders. (Recommendation 192 of the Royal Commission

into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody). (AHC, 1997)


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This report cannot speak for all Kaurna people in regards to defining the appropriate process in

establishing and/or implementing definitive Kaurna consultation and inclusion protocols. Each council

boundary holds different landscape meaning and opportunities and consultation therefore may differ

based on cultural significance and relationship to that part of Country, and the type of project to be

undertaken. At times consultation at a local level can be appropriate (a small scale project) whilst at

other times, consultation with a Kaurna representative organisation may be required, for instance the

Kaurna Nation Cultural Heritage Association (or similar body), for a large scale project. The report

provides below some basic principles when working with Aboriginal Australians.

7.1 Cultural Protocols: Basic Principles

Protocols for working with Aboriginal Australians can be based on the following principles.

7.1.1 Respect

The rights of Aboriginal Australians to own and control their cultures should be respected. Diversity of

Aboriginal Australian cultures should be acknowledged and encouraged. Aboriginal worldviews,

lifestyles and customary laws should be respected in contemporary life.

7.1.2 Aboriginal Control

Aboriginal Australians have the right to self-determination in their cultural affairs. It is necessary to

have a clear understanding of respective responsibilities, rights and obligations in any cross-cultural

project.

7.1.3 Effective Consultation, Communication and Consent

Aboriginal Australians must be consulted on the way in which their history, community, interviews,

lives and families are represented and used. Aboriginal Australians should be consulted on the use

and representation of their Aboriginal Cultural and Intellectual Property. They should also be informed

about the implications of their consent prior to use.

In consulting with Kaurna people it is desirable that there be multiple interests included that reflect

contemporary and/or traditional protocols. The interests to be considered include:

. Male and female

. Senior people and youth

. Political and cultural representatives

To cover all these interests may not be practicable on any given project but they are to be borne in

mind when forming a reference group or consultation process. Forming a reference group for major

Kaurna projects in the City will be influenced by the availability of Kaurna people, the budget

availability for consultation, and the time-line. A reference group can assist with advice on the theme

of a project, the site to be utilised, the selection of Kaurna artists and cultural custodians who may be

suitable for the project, and any other issues. A reference group may also need to include people who

are or may be part of the project creative team. Whilst this may seem to be at odds with other


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governance processes with a reference group at arms length to the actual project implementation, a

more collaborative approach may be appropriate with Kaurna and other Aboriginal projects.

7.2 Commissioning of Public Artworks and Markers

It is strongly recommended that more particular, culturally specific, attention needs to be given to the

commissioning of Kaurna/Aboriginal public artworks, and that the ‘one size fits all’ commissioning

approach generally used in South Australia can be culturally deficient. Adopting the standard Arts SA

process to commission public artworks which acknowledge or include Aboriginal people can be

inappropriate or insensitive to cultural difference, practicalities and needs. Specific advice on this

matter can be provided to Council as required.

The commissioning of a Kaurna public art project may also need to be a variation on the normal

process of commissioning standard public artworks (or other Council services) to allow for a greater

level of Kaurna control and ownership of both the process and the outcome. The Commonwealth

Government recently announced new purchasing guidelines that exempt Indigenous small and

medium businesses from mandatory procurement guidelines to strengthen business opportunities for

Indigenous enterprises and encourage employment (PSnews). This ethos should extend to the

provision of opportunities for Aboriginal cultural expression. A process of inviting selected Kaurna

artists and/or cultural custodians to form a collaborative team, as compared to a competitive open

tender process, is an alternative and more culturally sensitive process to include and empower Kaurna

people in the representation of their culture in the public space. There is not a large number of Kaurna

people versed and skilled in public artworks. To help build this number it is recommended that projects

include the mentoring of appropriate Kaurna person/s.

7.2.1 Project Brief Preparation

The preparation of a project brief for a public art project to acknowledge Kaurna also requires specific

consideration. This can be multi faceted and again advice on this matter can be given to Council as

required in accordance with project parameters.

8 Recommended City of Charles Sturt Projects and Actions

Recommendations are provided in two categories. The first contains specific stand-alone projects

relating to public space inclusion and recognition and the second contains actions, guidelines or

policies that Council can implement or develop as part of its ongoing operational strategies.

Recommendations are not presented in an order of priority as a number of factors will effect how and

when projects can be implemented.

8.1 Specific Public Space Projects

8.1.1 Kaurna Cultural Markers Project

This project, which is underway, is to install a series of interpretive public space markers to

acknowledge Kaurna culture and provide educational material. The title is a working title only. The

markers, sculptural in form, are to be located at various sites of significance, interest or civic gathering


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in the Council area. Site specific information is part of each Marker. In the long-term the depth of

interpretive information will be assisted by more developed and detailed knowledge of Kaurna cultural

heritage and social history in the Council area (see the recommendation on Kaurna cultural mapping

below (8.1.3)). Locations under consideration for the first Kaurna Cultural Markers are:

River Torrens Karrawirrapari, Hindmarsh (near Entertainment Centre / Colonel Light’s House

Plaque)

Figure 33. Colonel William Light Acknowledgement, Hindmarsh

River Torrens Karrawirrapari Lower Reaches, Fulham

Figure 34. Lower reaches, River Torrens Karrawirrapari, Fulham

Civic Spaces: Charles Sturt Civic Centre, Woodville


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Figure 35. Charles Sturt Civic Centre, Woodville

Civic Spaces: Henley Square, Grange Jetty Precinct

Figure 36. Henley Square

Figure 37. Grange Jetty Precinct


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Coastal Areas: Redevelopment Henley Beach South Esplanade

Figure 38. Henley Beach South Esplanade

Coastal Areas: Tennyson Dunes

Figure 39. Tennyson Dunes

Commercial, Sporting and Recreational Spaces: West Lakes Shopping Centre and Football

Park Precinct (former wetlands area)

Figure 40. West Lakes Shopping Centre and Football Park


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Historic Places: Northern area of West Lakes Basin (former Old Port Reach / wetlands area)

This vicinity provides a topographical link to Port Adelaide’s Kaurna Cultural Heritage Walk, discussed

below, and a cultural link to Kaurna activities in the Port Adelaide / Yertabulti and Le Fevre Peninsula /

Mudlangga region. This is also the location of the settlers’ first landing area when ‘From November

1836 until October 1840 Adelaide’s port was located in the Port Reach area of present day West

Lakes. With its ‘eerie tangle of mangroves, a black and viscous creek, banks and shoals of mud …

two hours in a bullock dray from Adelaide’ it was quickly dubbed “Port Misery”, yet it was the settlers’

most vital link with the outside world’ (Geyer & Donovan, 1996:2). It was also a vital site of interaction

between the incoming culture and Kaurna.

Figure 41. Historic marker and reserve, West Lakes

Not all sites will be included in the initial phase. Further Markers can be commissioned as budgets,

needs or opportunities determine and as further locations may be identified over time. Two exemplars

of existing Kaurna cultural interpretive markers implemented by councils are:

Kaurna Cultural Heritage Trail, 2003, Port Adelaide

Located along the Old Port Reach, Port River, at Port Adelaide, this series of Markers was undertaken

by the City of Port Adelaide Enfield Visitor Information Centre and Tauondi College in conjunction with

Kaurna representatives, Veronica Brodie and Lewis O'Brien. Some of the markers are located just

north of the Charles Sturt’s boundary on Bower Road in the area that once was extensive tidal

mangrove groves. There is an opportunity to continue the interpretation into the Charles Sturt area

which was (approximately) the southern extent of the Port Reach and the commencement of the

ephemeral wetlands, the Reedbeds, which stretched to the south.


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Figure 42. Kaurna Cultural Heritage Trail, 2003, Port River Reach, Port Adelaide

(Port Adelaide Visitor Information Centre and Tauondi College)

Marni Naa Budni Kaurna Wauwa-anna - Welcome to the Kaurna Coast, 2006, Marion

Located along the Marino and Hallett Cove section of the Marion Coast Park, this series of six Kaurna

interpretive signs was undertaken by the City of Marion. A community artist and Kaurna

representatives produced the work. (Design by Barbary O’Brien with Lynette Crocker, Anja Iacuone,

Paul Dixon, Steven Goldsmith, Buster Turner, Corrie Turner, Aaron Crocker; language by Kaurna

Warra Pintyandi)

Figure 43. Marni Naa Budni Kaurna Wauwa-anna - Welcome to the Kaurna Coast, 2006, Marino

8.1.2 Kaurna Symbolic Sculpture

It is recommended Council commission a large scale sculpture (or installation) to provide a high profile

symbolic recognition of Kaurna culture and people situated in a high visibility location. At this stage the

Council does not host a significant large-scale public artwork initiated either by Council itself or others.

Such a public artwork would add significantly to the public space recognition of Kaurna within the

Council area and include Charles Sturt amongst the leading initiators of Kaurna public space inclusion

in Adelaide by councils. The project concept is based on a budget allocation range of $50,000-

$100,000. The location, themes and design parameters can be considered in more detail when and if

the project is endorsed by Council and a budget range is known. Several types of sites within the

Council area for consideration are:


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. An Entrance Point into the Council Area

Port Road, Hindmarsh (Figure 44, Figure 45)

Port Road, Hindmarsh, is a high visibility entry point to the City of Charles Sturt and hosts the

Entertainment Centre. However the locality is already visually very busy. Whilst this makes the

addition of a significant sculpture challenging, it does not exclude the locale from consideration. Any

Kaurna inclusion in that precinct would require careful consideration and design so as not to become a

‘lost’ visual and thus symbolic component of the precinct. The nearby Adam Street car park can be

considered as part of this precinct.

Figure 44. Entertainment Centre, Hindmarsh

Figure 45. Entertainment Centre Tram Stop, Hindmarsh

Park Terrace and Torrens Road, Ovingham

Another potential site is the corner of Park Terrace and Torrens Road, Ovingham (Figure 46) which

includes a small area behind the wall with sufficient space to include a sculpture that can sit above the

wall (Figure 47).


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Figure 46. Corner of Park Terrace and Torrens Road, Ovingham

Figure 47. Corner of Park Terrace and Torrens Road, Ovingham

. A Coastal Square or Foreshore Area

These spaces have also been outlined as potential spaces for Kaurna Cultural Markers (Figure 36,

Figure 37, Figure 38)

. A High Visibility Space

Old Port Road/Port Road, Albert Park (Figure 48)

This locality provides an open space as well as high visibility to passing traffic.


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Figure 48. Old Port Road, Albert Park

8.1.3 Kaurna Cultural Heritage Research and Publications (Cultural Mapping)

It is recommended that Council consolidate and develop more detailed information on Kaurna cultural

heritage in the Council area; what can be understood as cultural mapping, the bringing together of the

range of knowledge about Kaurna. As explained by UNESCO, cultural mapping is ‘a crucial tool and

technique in preserving the world's intangible and tangible cultural assets’ which involves:

… a community identifying and documenting local cultural resources. Through this

research cultural elements are recorded – the tangibles like galleries, craft industries,

distinctive landmarks, local events and industries, as well as the intangibles like

memories, personal histories, attitudes and values. (Clark et al, 1995)

Cultural mapping would facilitate broader Kaurna cultural inclusion and public knowledge on local

Aboriginal history, and would greatly assist Council, the community and Kaurna people alike. There is

a pre- and post-settlement history for Aboriginal people throughout the Adelaide metropolitan area

which is deserving of more informed articulation.

Numerous thematic and geographical heritage surveys have also been undertaken throughout South

Australia by heritage and other authorities for the purposes of European heritage identification,

conservation and interpretation. There is no equivalent for Aboriginal heritage. The Kaurna Cultural

Heritage Survey July 2007 commissioned by the City of Port Adelaide Enfield with archaeologist

Vivienne Wood as a lead consultant provides an exemplar of council based research. An objective of

the booklet was ‘to provide a reasonably comprehensive account of the sites within the City of Port

Adelaide Enfield that have special significance to local Kaurna people.’ This survey includes a small

area of the City of Charles Sturt in the Old Port Reach/West Lakes locale adjacent to Bower Road as it

relates to traditional habitation sites and activities along the Port River estuary.

Three interlinked projects that can assist in Kaurna cultural heritage research and publication are

therefore recommended:


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8.1.3.1 Kaurna Cultural Heritage Bibliography by Council Area

It is recommended that Council initiate a project to locate and consolidate existing information on

Kaurna produced to date by various individuals, organisations or institutions. There is little concise

information about the history of the Kaurna in the Council area pre or post settlement. The Destruction

of the Aboriginal Heritage of the Reedbeds by historian Tom Gara, is an exception.

As a first step the development of a comprehensive bibliography of already published material will

provide a basis for further research and cultural outputs. There may also be unpublished material in

the form of academic or other papers and reports commissioned by various authorities as part of other

activities. This research could initially be undertaken with minimal resources as an internal Council

project (Library and Cultural Heritage) assisted by appropriate external expertise.

It is also recommended that Council develop a collection of all relevant (available) material (see 8.2.3).

8.1.3.2 Kaurna Local History Publication

It is recommended that Council develop a publication which summarises Kaurna cultural history of the

Council area to give residents, and others, a better appreciation of the area’s Aboriginal cultural

history.

In 1994 the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation proposed that historians and their organisations have

the opportunity to play a significant role in the process of Reconciliation by promoting a wide

community appreciation of Aboriginal Australians’ cultures and history. The Council suggested local

governments, as the initiators of many local histories, have the responsibility to encourage Aboriginal

histories as part of their community histories. In South Australia, and Adelaide, numerous local

histories have been produced about the post-settlement history of suburbs, towns and regions. Few of

these, including the ones for the City of Charles Sturt, have a developed content on Aboriginal history.

The local histories of the Council area contain minor references to the Kaurna people (see Parsons,

1974, Hindmarsh Town: a History of The Village, District Council and Corporate Town of Hindmarsh

South Australia; Marsden, 1977, A History of Woodville and Geyer, & Donovan, 1996 From Parklands

to Sea Coast: City of Hindmarsh Woodville). Marsden outlined that ‘Each year on Queen Victoria’s

birthday, Charles Sturt would distribute to the natives “blankets, sugar and other provisions … Then

they would hold a corroboree on the recreation ground, then situated south of Sturt’s house (Grange)’.

Marsden refers to a story of a settler and his horse being speared by ‘natives’ when riding along the

site of the new Port Road shortly before it was opened in October, 1840 (this site is probably just north

of the Charles Sturt boundary) (Marsden, 1977:5, 16).

Initially the summary could be a few paragraphs on the Council website, readily achievable as a first

step. This could evolve to the development of a booklet which serves as an Aboriginal local history. An

exemplar of an Adelaide community-based initiative to publish a Kaurna history in a local area is

Footprints in the Sand: Kaurna life in the Holdfast Bay area published in 2000 by the Holdfast Bay


57

Reconciliation Group. This booklet, compiled mainly from already published information, gives an

informative overview of the pre- and early post-contact Aboriginal history of the locality. Holdfast Bay

was the point of disembarkation of the first settlers in 1836. The 19 page Tappa Wodliparri Resource

Pack developed by the City of Salisbury and the Kaurna Aboriginal Community Heritage Association in

2002 to support the Tappa Wodliparri Interpretive Trail, in the Kaurna Park Wetlands, at Burton is

another exemplar of an overview on Kaurna history, language and culture, as well as indigenous

plants and their use by Kaurna. A more developed suburb-based publication is Belconnen’s Aboriginal

Past: a glimpse into the archaeology of the Australian Capital Territory published in 1997 by Black

Mountain Projects Pty Ltd. This 60 page book provides a comprehensive history of the Aboriginal

occupation of the Canberra suburb of Belconnen. Copies of these three quite different publications are

provided with this report.

8.1.3.3 Kaurna Cultural Heritage New Research

It is recommended that Council initiate local research on Kaurna history in its area. This may be

undertaken in various forms; oral histories from residents, both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal, through

to more complex archaeological or anthropological research (see 8.2.4). Many suburbs within the

Council area have undergone rapid development in the second half of the twentieth century but there

may be residents who can recall aspects of an Aboriginal landscape as well as the experiences of

Kaurna and Aboriginal people settling in the suburbs. During the course of this research one resident

relayed his story to us which is given as an indication:

Here are my small stories that you can tuck away some where.

My mother and her family lived in Military Road Henley Beach for many of her young

years. She was the youngest of three children and born in 1910. Her brother Melville was

born in 1904 and was a surgeon and later a heart specialist. In his student days he

collected various species of fauna and reptiles from the wetlands situated immediately

behind the dune system that collected most of the Adelaide storm waters. This was

before the Breakout Creek was constructed in 1934. These collections where given to the

White family who resided in Fulham. My mother told stories of her brother and her

walking through the wetlands and picking up anything they thought that Mr White would

have an interest in. She told me that this collection could be bones and stones that had

grooves in them. Mr White encouraged my Uncle to find more bones and bring them back

for his collection.

In my early years my father was a freight manager for John Martins. During school

holidays he would take me to Fort Glanville and drive south along Military Road at a place

named Ticklebelly Flat. I could never work out why it had this name as it was a stand of

dunes of perhaps three swales and high enough for us kids to sit on a piece of linoleum

and slide down the dune. I also cleaned stables for a trotting horse owner who had

horses stabled in his back yard or agisted in the wet lands now known as West Lakes.

The horse owner and his mates would tell us some great stories about things that they

had found in this wetland such as human bones and they where sure were Blackfella


58

bones. They also said that they knew that Blackfellas met at Ticklebelly Flat and in these

wetlands.

I still don't know how a stand of Dunes were named Ticklebelly Flat but I am sure there is

a story to that.

8.2 Council Actions, Guidelines or Policies

8.2.1 Kaurna/Aboriginal Youth Inclusion and Mentoring

It is recommended that Council provide opportunities for Kaurna and other Aboriginal people,

particularly youth, to be included in the implementation of public space (and other) projects in a work

experience or mentored role. One of the key social intents of public space (and other Aboriginal)

projects is to build individual and community capacity and skills. Mentoring and work experience is a

key strategy to achieve this. It also provides for a broader ownership and pride in the process and

outcome of projects. Whilst a mentoring component may not be appropriate for all projects, where it is

appropriate it should be built into the project brief and budget.

8.2.2 Kaurna Placenaming and Dual Naming

It is recommended that Council develop guidelines/policy on the application of Kaurna naming or dual

naming within the Council area as another form of acknowledgement. As a first step it is

recommended that Council adopt a policy of using the official dual naming of the River Torrens

Karrawirraparri in all references to the River (see 6.4).

8.2.3 Kaurna Library Resource Materials

It is recommended that Council develop a public collection of reference books and information on

Kaurna (and other Aboriginal) life and place it in the Council library. This would be a valuable Council

and community resource. The Library already has several publications on which to build the collection.

The collection could have the designation of a special collection and be known by a Kaurna name or

be named after a Kaurna person or place.

8.2.4 Kaurna Archaeological and Anthropological Surveys

It is recommended that Council play an active role in advocating or assisting archaeological and

anthropological surveys which happen in the Council area. There has not been a comprehensive

archaeological or anthropological survey of the whole Council area to date. The commissioning of a

Council-wide survey is not being proposed but the matter is raised as an issue for Council to be

cognisant of. Specific site reports may have been commissioned or be required over time as part of

developments or when Kaurna material heritage is located as part of other activities (see 4.2).

8.2.5 Kaurna Inclusion in Development Plan Reviews

It is recommended that Council include consideration of Kaurna social history and significant sites in

any reviews of Development Plans in the City (see 5.5).


59

8.2.6 Kaurna Recognition in Major Developments and Urban Infrastructure

It is recommended that Council consider the inclusion of a Kaurna component/recognition in new

developments or redevelopments in the Council area. It is not suggested that every development

requires a Kaurna inclusion, rather that it be one consideration in the conceptual and assessment

process of any proposal (see 5.6).

8.2.7 Kaurna Recognition in Parks and Gardens

It is recommended that Council provide opportunities in its parks and gardens for Kaurna recognition

through planting themes and/or interpretive information. No particular spaces are recommended at this

point in time (see 5.7.2).

8.2.8 Kaurna Recognition in Play Spaces

It is recommended that Council develop play spaces based on Kaurna (or other Aboriginal) games to

provide for cross–cultural learning and provide play spaces that are culturally reinforcing for Aboriginal

people (see 5.7.3).

8.2.9 Kaurna Information Provision to Community Groups

It is recommended that Council provide information on Kaurna cultural heritage and projects to

appropriate community groups. Community groups initiate and facilitate a range of cultural activity at a

local level and often have an interest in broader Kaurna and Aboriginal inclusion. This is evidenced by

the activities that have already occurred within the Council area at the community level. Such groups

include:

. Local history societies

. West Adelaide Coastal Residents Association (WACRA)

. Hindmarsh Greening

. Henley and Grange Art Society

8.2.10 Kaurna Recognition in the Ranges to the Sea Community Project

It is recommended that Council participate in the Ranges to the Sea community/council project (if and

when it further develops) to provide support for Kaurna recognition along the length of the River

Torrens Karrawirraparri (see 5.8.1).

9 Summary

The City of Charles Sturt has the opportunity to substantively contribute to the civic and social

inclusion of Kaurna (and other) Aboriginal people and culture in its area and provide leadership at a

local government level. The Council area incorporates several sites of prime significance for

acknowledging the Kaurna people and their cultural heritage. Although the original Aboriginal

landscape of the area has been vastly altered through colonisation, particularly in the post-Second

World War period, the rich Kaurna way of life that existed in the Council area not that long ago can be

readily acknowledged. This is part of assisting Kaurna cultural and spiritual renewal, the reinforcement

of an Aboriginal identity and the process of Reconciliation within the community.


60

Actions to better include Kaurna in the civic landscape will be facilitated by both an immediate and a

long term commitment by Council on behalf of its residents. Many potential sites and actions have

been presented in this report to provide a broad suite of opportunities that can be considered and

implemented as resources and opportunities arise or are created. The report has adopted a broad

approach to inclusion in the civic landscape.

The underlying philosophy of the recommendations in this report is that public space commemorations

can both reflect and lead broader social change in the way they make visible social relations and

cultural heritages. As Williams has summarised for Kaurna:

… we live in your world now, we don’t live in our world anymore, but what we can do is

remember it. Through remembering it we structure social orders according to those old

ways if we can see it, and that’s something landscape architects [and others] are looking

to incorporate … (Williams, 2001)

Implementing these recommendations can help redress the social inequality that exists for Aboriginal

people and assist the development of a more informed non–Aboriginal community.


61

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Amery, Rob (2000) Warrabarna Kaurna! Reclaiming an Australian language Swets & Zeitlinger, Lisse,

The Netherlands.

Amery, Rob & Williams, Georgina. (2002) Reclaiming Through Renaming: The Reinstatement of

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(2002) The Land is a Map: placenames of Indigenous origin in Australia Pandanus Books in

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63


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Documents

Kaurna Public Space Recognition and Inclusion 3... · Kaurna Public Space Recognition and Inclusion . ... Tennyson Dunes ... extends from Cape Jervis to the south of Adelaide to Crystal