“The Ngarrindjeri were the first South Australian Aboriginal people to work with Europeans in large-scale economic operations, working as farmers, whalers and labourers” Jenkin, Graham (1979). Conquest of the Ngarrindjeri. p.50
“Archaeology, particularly in excavations conducted at Roonka Flat, which affords one of the most outstanding sites for investigating "pre–European contact Aboriginal burial populations in Australia," has revealed that the traditional territory of the Ngarrindjeri has been inhabited since the Holocene period, beginning around 8,000 BCE down to around 1840 CE” Pate, F Donald (2006). "Hunter-gatherer social complexity at Roonka Flat, South Australia" p.226
“Originally the most heavily populated area in Australia, a smallpox epidemic had travelled down the River Murray before colonisation by Britain, possibly killing a majority of the Ngarrindjeri. Funeral rites and cultural practices were disrupted, family groups merged and land use became altered. Songs from the time tell of the smallpox that came out of the Southern Cross in the east with a loud noise like a bright flash. In 1830 the first exploratory expedition reached the Ngarrindjeri lands and Charles Sturt noted that the people were already familiar with firearms.[14] Numbering only 6000 at the time of colonisation in 1836 due to the epidemic, they are the only Aboriginal cultural group in Australia whose land lay within 100 km (62 mi) of a capital city to have survived as a distinct people“ Simons, M. (2003). The Meeting of the Waters: The Hindmarsh Island Affair pp.18-19
"the name of the dead must not be mentioned until his body has decayed, lest a want of sorrow should seem to be indicated by a common and flippant use of his name. A native would have the deceased believe that he cannot hear or speak his name without weeping." Narrinyeri: An Account of the tribes of South Australian Aborigines, by the Rev. George Taplin, 2nd ed, p.19
“Each of the eighteen lakinyeri had their own specific funeral customs; some smoke dried bodies before being placed in trees, on platforms, in rock shelters or buried depending on local custom. Some placed bodies in trees and collect the fallen bones for burial. Some removed the skull, which was then used for a drinking vessel.” Fforde, Cressida; Hubert, Jane; Turnbull, Paul, eds. (2004). The Dead and Their Possessions.
“Some family groups peeled the skin from their dead to expose the pink flesh. The body was then called grinkari, a term that they used to refer to the Europeans in the first years of settlement.” Simons, M. (2003). The Meeting of the Waters: The Hindmarsh Island Affair p.19
Wiki on Ngarrindjeri People
