Kaurna Miyurna country
In 1836 the Kaurna Miyurna people discovered strangers making landfall in their country.
Explore the effects British settlement had on the Kaurna Miyurna people, and their ongoing efforts to revive and maintain their culture.
Setting the scene
Video stories
Learn about the Kurruru Dancers at the Adelaide Spirit Festival
Note: there is no audio for this video
What do you know about Adelaide?
More activities
The wirri (marriage stick) pictured above is used in Kaurna Miyurna wedding ceremonies, which have a number of rituals. Have you been to a wedding? What are some of the wedding rituals of your culture? How are these different or similar to what you have learned about Kaurna Miyurna wedding ceremony rituals?
Read this quote from Kaurna Miyurna elder Steve Goldsmith, 2014:
They talk about the civilised world coming to the untamed world, but I think it is the other way around. It was the barbarians that came to our civilised world here.
This reminds us that different groups often have very different perspectives of the same event and that history rarely represents all views.
In small groups discuss the quote and think of some other examples, historical or modern-day, where the perspective of one group is not apparent. Present a summary of your discussions to the class.
Find out some more about the history of South Australia. You can start your research on the Adelaidia Kaurna people website. Also, have a look at Colonel Light’s plan of the city of Adelaide on the Mapco website. What are some of the things you can see on the map that Light thought would be important for the new settlement? Are there things not on the map you think he should have also included?
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