Kaurna Pangkarra

The Kaurna Pangkarra people The Kaurna (also written Coorna, Koarna, or Gaurna) people are the Traditional Owners of the Adelaide Plains, stretching from the foothills of the Mount Lofty Ranges to the coast of Gulf St Vincent, and from Crystal Brook in the north to Cape Jervis in the south. The full name "Kaurna Pangkarra" refers to the Kaurna people and their country, with "pangkarra" meaning "people of the plains." Kaurna country includes the Adelaide metropolitan area (Tarndanya), the Torrens River (Karrawirra Parri), and extensive coastal lands. For tens of thousands of years, the Kaurna lived in small family groups that moved across the plains following seasonal food sources. The River Torrens and its surrounding wetlands were vital gathering places. The area around what is now Adelaide was a significant meeting and trading ground where neighbouring nations came together. The Kaurna language was one of the first Aboriginal languages to be documented by European missionaries in the 1830s–40s, and this early documentation has been instrumental in the language revival movement led by Kaurna Warra Pintyanthi (the Kaurna language group). Today, the Kaurna people are recognised as the Traditional Owners of the Adelaide region through the Kaurna Yerta Aboriginal Corporation, and Kaurna language, cultural practices, and dual naming of significant sites continue to grow in visibility and use across Adelaide.