Raukkan is an

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

community situated on the south-eastern shore of Lake Alexandrina in the locality of Narrung, southeast of the centre 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 ...

's capital,

Adelaide Adelaide ( , ; ) is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and most populous city of South Australia, as well as the list of cities in Australia by population, fifth-most populous city in Australia. The name "Adelaide" may refer to ei ...

. Raukkan is "regarded as the home and heartland of

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 ...

country." It was originally established as Point McLeay

mission Mission (from Latin 'the act of sending out'), Missions or The Mission may refer to: Geography Australia *Mission River (Queensland) Canada *Mission, British Columbia, a district municipality * Mission, Calgary, Alberta, a neighbourhood * ...

in 1859 and became an

Aboriginal reserve An Aboriginal reserve, also called simply reserve, was a government-sanctioned settlement for Aboriginal Australians, created under various state and federal legislation. Along with missions and other institutions, they were used from the 19th ...

in 1916. It was finally handed back to the

people in 1974, and renamed Raukkan in 1982.

History

Raukkan, which means "meeting place" in the

Ngarrindjeri language Ngarrindjeri, also written Narrinyeri, Ngarinyeri and other variants, is the language of the Ngarrindjeri and related peoples of southern South Australia. Five dialects have been distinguished by a 2002 study: Warki, Tanganekald, Ramindjeri, Por ...

,Whitehorn, p. 15. was for thousands of years an important meeting place for Ngarrindjeri "lakalinyeri" (clans) and the location of the Grand Tendi, the parliament of the Ngarrindjeri people.Mussared, D., "River people question price of 'progress', ''The Canberra Times'', 18 January 1993, p. 3. The Grand Tendi was composed of men elected from each of the eighteen lakalinyeri who then elected from its members the Rupulle or leader.Raukkan, p. 3. English explorer

Charles Sturt Charles Napier Sturt (28 April 1795 – 16 June 1869) was a British officer and explorer of Australia, and part of the European land exploration of Australia, European exploration of Australia. He led several expeditions into the interior of the ...

first encountered the Ngarrindjeri at Raukkan, who fed the starving Sturt and his party. In 1859 the

Aborigines' Friends' Association The Aborigines' Friends' Association (AFA) was established out of concern for "the moral, spiritual and physical well-being" of Australian Aboriginal people from the Northern Territory and particularly South Australia. This organisation operated ...

was granted in the area and established a

at Raukkan, which had been named "Point McLeay" by T. B. Strangways in 1837.

George Taplin George Taplin (24 August 1831 – 24 June 1879) was a Congregationalist minister who worked in Aboriginal missions in South Australia, and gained a reputation as an anthropologist as well, writing on Ngarrindjeri lore and customs. History T ...

had selected the site, and with others such as the Rev. F. W. Cox helped build the school, church and mission station to care for the local Aboriginal people, and spent the next twenty years in that service.C. E. Bartlett ''A Brief History of the Point McLeay Reserve and District'' Aborigines' Friends' Association 1959 It was intended by the Aborigines' Friends' Association to help the Ngarrindjeri people, but could never be self-sufficient farming due to the poor quality of the soil in the area. Land clearing by farmers nearby also limited the ability for hunting, and other crafts and industries also met with difficulties due to changing environment and competition from nearby towns. In 1896, Aboriginal men and women at Raukkan were granted the vote and voted in state and federal elections (including for the first

Commonwealth Parliament The Parliament of Australia (officially the Parliament of the Commonwealth and also known as the Federal Parliament) is the federal legislature of Australia. It consists of three elements: the Monarchy of Australia, monarch of Australia (repr ...

1901 December 13 of this year is the beginning of signed 32-bit Unix time, and is scheduled to end in January 19, 2038. Summary Political and military 1901 started with the unification of multiple British colonies in Australia on January ...

) and the

constitutional referendums A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of Legal entity, entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed. Wh ...

on Australian federation."History of the Indigenous vote". Indigenous Australians. Australian Electoral Commission. Retrieved 1 April 2014. More than 100 Aboriginal people from Raukkan were listed on the South Australian electoral roll and seventy per cent of these voted at the 1896 South Australian election. During

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, men from Point McLeay and Point Pearce were among the first Aboriginal men in the state to enlist. 16 men from Point McLeay volunteered and four never returned — Alban Varcoe, Millar Mack, and brothers Cyril and Rufus Rigney, who were grandsons of the Rev. Philip Rigney. A memorial window in the Point McLeay church was unveiled by General S. Price Weir on 14 August 1925. In 1916, responsibility for Raukkan moved to South Australia's

Chief Protector of Aborigines The Australian colonies in the nineteenth century created offices involved in managing the affairs of Indigenous people in their jurisdictions. The role of Protector of Aborigines was first established in South Australia in 1836. The role beca ...

and it became an

.Horton, p. 930 This followed the recommendations of the South Australian Royal Commission on the Aborigines in 1913. Included in the recommendations was that the government become the guardian of all Aboriginal children upon reaching their 10th birthday, and place them "where they deem best". Seven years after the Final Report of the commission, the '' Aborigines (Training of Children) Act 1923'', to allow Indigenous children to be "trained" in a special institution so that they could go out and work. Since 1974, the community has been administered by the Ngarrindjeri people themselves; it was renamed Raukkan in 1982. Raukkan Aboriginal School is in the town. In the

2021 Australian census The 2021 Australian census, simply called the 2021 Census, was the eighteenth national Census of Population and Housing in Australia. The 2021 Census took place on 10 August 2021, and was conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). ...

the population was 96 persons, all of whom identified themselves as

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people Indigenous Australians are people with familial heritage from, or recognised membership of, the various ethnic groups living within the territory of contemporary Australia prior to British colonisation. They consist of two distinct groups, w ...

Raukkan Aboriginal School

The school was established in the years 1859 and 1860 by the Ngarrindjeri people and the missionary,

. It celebrated its 150th year of operation in 2010. In 2018, the school, operated by the

Government of South Australia The Government of South Australia, also referred to as the South Australian Government or the SA Government, is the executive branch of the state government, state of South Australia. It is modelled on the Westminster system, meaning that the h ...

, had a total enrolment of 15 students – all Ngarrindjeri – and a teaching staff of three.

Notable residents

The Mission was mentioned in the '' Bringing Them Home Report'' (1997) as an institution housing Indigenous children forcibly removed from their families, creating part of the

Stolen Generations The Stolen Generations (also known as Stolen Children) were the children of Aboriginal Australians, Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, Torres Strait Islander descent who were removed from their families by the Australian Gover ...

. Raukkan was home to James Unaipon (–1907) and his son

David David (; , "beloved one") was a king of ancient Israel and Judah and the third king of the United Monarchy, according to the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament. The Tel Dan stele, an Aramaic-inscribed stone erected by a king of Aram-Dam ...

(1872 – 1967). James Unaipon was the first Australian Aboriginal deacon. and co-authored writings on the Ngarrindjeri languageGale, p. 71. and David was a writer and inventor, who along with the Raukkan Church, is featured on the

Australian fifty-dollar note The Australian fifty-dollar note is an Australian banknote with a face value of fifty Australian dollars ($50). Since 1995 it has been a polymer banknote featuring portraits of Edith Cowan, first female member of an Australian parliament, and ...

. Ivaritji (–1929) was a

Kaurna The Kaurna people (, ; also Coorna, Kaura, Gaurna and other variations) are a group of Aboriginal people whose traditional lands include the Adelaide Plains of South Australia. They were known as the Adelaide tribe by the early settlers. Kau ...

elder and the last known speaker of the

Kaurna language Kaurna ( or ) is a Pama-Nyungan language historically spoken by the Kaurna peoples of the Adelaide Plains of South Australia. The Kaurna peoples are made up of various tribal clan groups, each with their own ''parnkarra'' district of land and ...

. "Granny" Euniapon was subject of a pastel sketch by Frederick C. Britton purchased by the

Art Gallery of South Australia The Art Gallery of South Australia (AGSA), established as the National Gallery of South Australia in 1881, is located in Adelaide. It is the most significant visual arts museum in the Australian state of South Australia. It has a collection of ...

in 1916. (Elsewhere spelled "Unaipon".) Harry Hewitt (–1907) was a notable South Australian athlete who spent much of his life based at the Point McLeay mission. He would go on to play football for Medindie and

Port Adelaide Port Adelaide is a port-side region of Adelaide, approximately northwest of the Adelaide city centre, Adelaide CBD. It is also the namesake of the City of Port Adelaide Enfield council, a suburb, a federal and state electoral division and is t ...

in a game against Fitzroy. Roland Carter (1892–1960) was a labourer born in Raukkan and was the first Ngarrindjeri man from the Point McLeay Mission Station to enlist in the

First Australian Imperial Force The First Australian Imperial Force (1st AIF) was the main Expeditionary warfare, expeditionary force of the Australian Army during the First World War. It was formed as the Australian Imperial Force (AIF) following United Kingdom of Great Bri ...

. He fought in World War one, was taken prisoner by the Germans and returned to live in Raukkan after being released at the end of the war. Annie Isabel Rankine MBE (1917-1972) was the first chair of the Point McLeay community council . Leila Rankine (1932–1993) was a community worker and musician who co-founded the Centre for Aboriginal Studies in Music. Doreen Kartinyeri (1935–2007) was a Ngarrindjeri elder and historian. Kysaiah Pickett (born 2001) is an Australian Rules footballer and 2021 premiership player for the Melbourne Demons Football Club in the

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the pre-eminent professional sports, professional competition of Australian rules football. It was originally named the Victorian Football League (VFL) and was founded in 1896 as a breakaway competition ...

References

Sources

* Gale, M. (1997) ''Dhanum Djorra'wuy Dhawu'', Aboriginal Research Institute, Underdale. . * Horton, D. (1994) ''The Encyclopaedia of Aboriginal Australia : Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history, society and culture; Vol. 2 M-Z'', Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies: Canberra. . * Jenkin, G. (1979) ''Conquest of the Ngarrindjeri'', Rigby: Adelaide. . * Raukkan Community Council (2009) ''Historic Raukkan, Home of the Ngarrindjeri'', Raukkan Community Council: Raukkan. * Whitehorn, Zane "Raukkan community: Pride of the Ngarrindjeri nation", ''Indigenous Newslines'', March–May 2010.

History

Raukkan Aboriginal School

Notable residents

See also

Other 19th century Aboriginal missions in SA

References

Sources

Further reading