The Mulbarapa are one of the 22 known

clans A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, a clan may claim descent from a founding member or apical ancestor who serves as a symbol of the clan's unity. Many societie ...

of the Yaraldi branch 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 ...

Homeland

Mulbarapa country extends along the Lake Alexandrina shoreline from ''Poikangk'' to ''Pemandang Bluff''. The Berndts describe it as follows:

From the Bluff, the boundary skirted a native track to Lalanganggel (''Mt Misery'')... The boundary extends south-east to north of ''Albert Hill'', then north-east of ''Kutingwar'' and northwards to a point north by north-east of ''Minmulewar''. South-east of Minmulewar, passing ''Trewunang Swamp'' This stretched from Trewunang to ''Punguldulin'', with scrubland on its western border.

The site at Pemandang was where legend held it that the

dreamtime The Dreaming, also referred to as Dreamtime, is a term devised by early anthropologists to refer to a religio-cultural worldview attributed to Australian Aboriginal religion and mythology, Australian Aboriginal mythology. It was originally u ...

culture hero A culture hero is a mythological hero specific to some group (Culture, cultural, Ethnic group, ethnic, Religion, religious, etc.) who changes the world through invention or Discovery (observation), discovery. Although many culture heroes help with ...

''Ngurunderi'', having minced ''Pondi''(Ponde -

Murray cod The Murray cod (''Maccullochella peelii'') is a large Australian predatory freshwater fish of the genus '' Maccullochella'' in the family Percichthyidae.Dianne J. Bray & Vanessa J. Thompson (2011Murray Cod, Maccullochella peelii Fishes of Au ...

), stepped ashore from his bark canoe. Until relatively modern times, before they were broken, the shape of footprints on stones here were pointed out as those of Ngurunderi. Likewise, two sandhills at Lalangange marked his former campsite there. ''Punguldulin'' was the place of the kangaroo rat.

Flora and fauna

Mulbarapa country was well supplied with game, with great numbers of ''tulatji'' (

wallaby A wallaby () is a small or middle-sized Macropodidae, macropod native to Australia and New Guinea, with introduced populations in New Zealand, Hawaii, the United Kingdom and other countries. They belong to the same Taxonomy (biology), taxon ...

), ''wangyumi'' (

kangaroo Kangaroos are marsupials from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning "large foot"). In common use, the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the red kangaroo, as well as the antilopine kangaroo, eastern gre ...

), ''pindjuli'' (

emu The emu (; ''Dromaius novaehollandiae'') is a species of flightless bird endemism, endemic to Australia, where it is the Tallest extant birds, tallest native bird. It is the only extant taxon, extant member of the genus ''Dromaius'' and the ...

), ''wiruringguri'' ( mallee hen) and ''talkundjeri'' (

wild turkey The wild turkey (''Meleagris gallopavo'') is an upland game bird native to North America, one of two extant species of Turkey (bird), turkey and the heaviest member of the order Galliformes. It is the ancestor to the domestic turkey (''M. g. dom ...

) available to hunters venturing through the mallee scrub back of Pemandang. The Mulbarapa ( ''ngatji'', or totems) were the ''noŋkulauri'', the ( mountain duck) and the ''trewari'' (a black-backed and white-winged shag, which was distinguished from the larger cormorant, ''yoldi''). As their totemic animal these could not be directly hunted, but the Mulbarapa are said to have had people from other clans hunt them, and thus obtained, they could be eaten, a practice some

Ramindjeri The Ramindjeri or Raminjeri people were an Aboriginal Australian people forming part of the ''Kukabrak'' grouping now otherwise known as the Ngarrindjeri people. They were the most westerly Ngarrindjeri, living in the area around Encounter Bay an ...

clans would not indulge in. ''kandjuri'' and ''wiloki''

yams Yam or YAM may refer to: Plants and foods * Yam (vegetable), common name for members of ''Dioscorea'' * Taro, known in Malaysia and Singapore as yam * Sweet potato, specifically its orange-fleshed cultivars, often referred to as yams in North Ame ...

and the ''kukindji'' and ''moronggoni''

potatoes The potato () is a starchy tuberous vegetable native to the Americas that is consumed as a staple food in many parts of the world. Potatoes are underground stem tubers of the plant ''Solanum tuberosum'', a perennial in the nightshade famil ...

were dug, while ''karangki'' ( currants) and ''ngalaii'' ( yacca grass honey) were gathered. Poikangk Bay afforded the Mulbarapa excellent fishing.

Traditions and ceremonies

Mulbarapa are allied to ''Pinpulalindjara'' in that these clans call each other brother and sister, irrespective of genealogical ties. Similarity of dialect who had the right to hunt over each other's territories and the obligation to stand together against aggressors in interclan fighting. Berndt wrote that the Pinpulalindjara quite likely hived off from Mulbarapa. In the Mulbarapi clan wild dog ceremony, men danced with plain stripes painted down their legs, but they also had pipeclay stripes on their faces and dots on their chests. This was not regarded as specifically religious, although directly associated with ngatji. Possibly they were originally pre-initiatory songs and dances.

Notes

Citations

Sources

* * {{authority control Aboriginal peoples of South Australia