Kaurna People
Kaurna-Miyurna : The History of a Name
We believe that the local name for the people of the Adelaide Plains and their language which is drawn from the language of the land is Miyurna ‘people’. It is the direct equivalent of Kaurna (= Kornar) ‘people’ which is drawn from the neighbouring Ngarrindjeri and Ramindjeri languages. Miyurna ‘people’ means exactly the same thing as Yolŋu, Tiwi, Nyungar (or Noongah) and many other such similar names used for languages in various parts of Australia. The earliest documents refer to the people of the Adelaide Plains in various ways, but most often simply as “the Adelaide Tribe”. More details can be found in our informative pdf presentation.
KWP
Kaurna Warra Pintyanthi
Established in 2002 by Kaurna Elders, Dr Kauwanu Lewis Yarlupurka O'Brien and Dr Alitya Wallara Rigney together with Linguist, Assoc Prof Rob Amery, it comprised a body of Kaurna people, teachers, linguists and language enthusiasts who were passionate about the reclamation and revival of the Kaurna language. The KWP committee grew out of a series of Kaurna language development workshops funded by a University of Adelaide small grant in 2000.
KWP is still hosted by the School of Humanities, at the University of Adelaide and funded by the Commonwealth Government through the Indigenous Languages & the Arts (ILA) program and the Australian Research Council (ARC). The KWP team continues to be a collaboration between Kaurna language workers and non-Indigenous mentors and researchers. They produce Kaurna language resources, and especially online media Kaurna Language Hub, to support the learning and teaching of the Kaurna language. The KWP team works collaboratively with community organisations such as Kaurna Warra Karrpanthi (KWK), Warra Wangkatitya and Kaurna Yerta Aboriginal Corporation (KYAC).