The Pilatapa (or Pirlatapa, Birladapa, or Biladaba) were an
Indigenous people
There is no generally accepted definition of Indigenous peoples, although in the 21st century the focus has been on self-identification, cultural difference from other groups in a state, a special relationship with their traditional territ ...
of
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 ...
, now extinct.
Country
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 ...
estimated that the Pilatapa had some of tribal land, ranging northeast of the northern edges of the
Flinders Ranges
The Flinders Ranges are the largest mountain ranges in South Australia, which starts about north of Adelaide. The ranges stretch for over from Port Pirie to Lake Callabonna.
The Adnyamathanha people are the Aboriginal group who have inhab ...
and to the north of the
Lake Frome
Lake Frome / Munda is a large endorheic lake in the Australian state of South Australia to the east of the Northern Flinders Ranges. It is a large, shallow, unvegetated salt pan, long and wide, lying mostly below sea level and having a total s ...
drainage basin
A drainage basin is an area of land in which all flowing surface water converges to a single point, such as a river mouth, or flows into another body of water, such as a lake or ocean. A basin is separated from adjacent basins by a perimeter, ...
. On the northwest they lived also around northwest to what is now the
Strzelecki Desert Lakes encompassing
Lake Blanche and
Blanchewater. He placed their eastern extension at east to
Callabonna approximately to the vicinity of Tilcha, while their southern boundaries were around
Wooltana and Hamilton Creek.
Language
Their language, Pilatapa, was closely related to the
Diyari language
Diyari () or Dieri () is an Australian Aboriginal languages, Australian Aboriginal language spoken by the Diyari people in the far north of South Australia, to the east of Lake Eyre. It was studied by German Lutheran missionaries who translated C ...
.
Social organisation and customs
Samuel Gason's account of the Pilatapa is integrated into a general description of the
Diyari
The Diyari (), alternatively transcribed as Dieri (), is an Indigenous Australian group of the South Australian desert originating in and around the delta of Cooper Creek to the east of Lake Eyre.
Language
Diyari is classified as one of the ...
,
Ngameni,
Yandruwandha and
Yauraworka
The Yawarrawarrka (also written Yawarawarka, Jauraworka) were an in Indigenous people of South Australia.
Country
According to the calculations of Norman Tindale the Yauraworka's tribal lands encompassed some , running north of Cooper Creek to ...
.
Male initiation rites involved circumcision, but excluded
subincision
Penile subincision is a form of genital modification or mutilation consisting of a urethrotomy, in which the underside of the penis is incised and the urethra slit open lengthwise, from the urethral opening (meatus) toward the base. The slit can ...
.
Alternative names
* ''Pidlatapa''
* ''Piladapa, Pilladapa, Pillitapa''
* ''Billidapa''
* ''Pulladapa''
* ''Berluppa''
* ''Pilliapp''
* ''Jarikuna'' (
Wailpi
The Wailpi are an indigenous people of South Australia They are also known as the Adnyamathanha, which also refers to a larger group, though they speak a dialect of the Adnyamathanha language.
Country
The Wailpi had, according to Norman Tindale' ...
pejorative
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 ...
)
* ''Yarrikuna''
Notes
Citations
Sources
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{{authority control
Aboriginal peoples of South Australia