The Meintangk people are an

Aboriginal Australian Aboriginal Australians are the various indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, excluding the ethnically distinct people of the Torres Strait Islands. Humans first migrated to Australia 50,000 to 65,000 year ...

people of south-eastern

South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a States and territories of Australia, state in the southern central part of Australia. With a total land area of , it is the fourth-largest of Australia's states and territories by area, which in ...

, often classified as a subgroup of the

Ngarrindjeri The Ngarrindjeri people are the traditional Aboriginal Australian people of the lower Murray River, eastern Fleurieu Peninsula, and the Coorong of the southern-central area of the state of South Australia. The term ''Ngarrindjeri'' means "belo ...

people.

Country

According to ethnologist

Norman Tindale Norman Barnett Tindale AO (12 October 1900 – 19 November 1993) was an Australian anthropologist, archaeologist, entomologist and ethnologist. He is best remembered for his work mapping the various tribal groupings of Aboriginal Australians ...

's 1974 work, Meintangk land extended across an estimated . It stretched from

Lacepede Bay Lacepede Bay ( , ) is a bay in the Australian state of South Australia located on the state's south-east coast about northwest of Mount Gambier and about southeast of Adelaide. It was named in 1802 by the Baudin expedition of 1800-03 after ...

, northwards some from

Kingston Kingston may refer to: Places * List of places called Kingston, including the six most populated: ** Kingston, Jamaica ** Kingston upon Hull, England ** City of Kingston, Victoria, Australia ** Kingston, Ontario, Canada ** Kingston upon Thames, ...

to the Granite Rock. To the south its coastal boundaries lay on

Cape Jaffa Cape Jaffa is a headland in the Australian state of South Australia located at the south end of Lacepede Bay on the state's south east coast about south west of the town centre of Kingston SE. The cape is described as being "a low sandy poin ...

and inland eastwards to

Lucindale Lucindale is a small town in the south-east of South Australia. The town is located south east of the state capital, Adelaide. At the 2006 census, Lucindale had a population of 301. The town is best known for hosting the annual South East Fie ...

, Blackford, Keilira, and Naracoorte. The inland territory from Lake Hawdon to Mosquito Creek also formed part of their land.

People

The Meintangk comprised at least seven

groups A group is a number of persons or things that are located, gathered, or classed together. Groups of people * Cultural group, a group whose members share the same cultural identity * Ethnic group, a group whose members share the same ethnic iden ...

. Among these were the Paintjunga who were located at Penola.

Language

Notable people

* Irene Watson, Professor of Law at University of South Australia Business School, is of mixed Meintangk and Tanganekald descent, and has written a book on the history of Aboriginal peoples in the southeast.

Alternative names

According to Tindale, other names used to refer to the Meintangk people included: * ''Painbali'' (the

exonym An endonym (also known as autonym ) is a common, name for a group of people, individual person, geographical place, language, or dialect, meaning that it is used inside a particular group or linguistic community to identify or designate them ...

used of the Meintangk by the

Tanganekald people The Tanganekald people were or are an Aboriginal Australian people of South Australia, today classed as part of the Ngarrindjeri nation. The clan name Milmenrura (also spelt Milmendura, Milmendjuri, or Milmendjeri) was often used in the early da ...

) * ''Paintjunga'' * ''Pinchunga, Pinejunga'' * ''Mootatunga'' * ''Wepulprap'' (a Tanganekald term, signifying "southern people")

References

Sources

* * * * {{authority control Aboriginal peoples of South Australia