Kokatha

The Kokatha, also known as the Kokatha Mula, are an indigenous Australian people of the state of South Australia.

Country

Traditional Kokatha lands extended over some 54,000 square miles (140,000 km²) according to the estimation of Norman Tindale, stretching over some of the harshest, waterless land on the Australian continent. It took in Tarcoola, Kingoonyah, Pimba and the McDouall Peak. Their western extension went as far as Ooldea and the Ooldea Range while the northern frontier ran up to the Stuart Range and Lake Phillipson. Their boundary with the Barngarla was marked by an ecological transition from their plateau to the lower hilly acacia scrubland and salt lake zones running south to the coast.

The tribes bordering on Kokatha lands were, running north clockwise, the Pitjantjara, the Yankuntjatjarra, the Antakirinja, the Arabana and Kuyani to their east, the Barngarla on the southeastern flank, the Wirangu directly south, the Mirning southwest, and the Ngalea to their west.

History of contact

The Kokatha were engaged in migration towards to southeast before the 1850s, when whites began to make their presence felt. Their hold on Ooldea area was relinquished around 1917 when they yielded before the pressure from the northern Yankuntjatjarra migrating there.

• Koranta
• Kukatha, Kukata, Kokata
• Cocotah, Kookata, Cookutta, Kookatha
• Koogatho, Kugurda,Koogurda, Koocatho
• Kotit-ta
• Kukataja
• Gogada
• Gugada
• Kokatja. (Yankuntjatjarra pronunciation)
• Maduwonga. (Arabana, also Jangkundjara exonym)
• Madutara. (Antakirinja exonym)
• Keibara. ( "plain turkeys"— pejorative)
• Geebera
• Nganitjiddia, Nganitjidi, Nganitjini. (Nauo and Barngarla exonym meaning "those who sneak and kill by night.")
• Kakarrura. (as karkurera ="east") applied to a band west of Lake Torrens).
• Yallingarra (cf. alindjara ="east").
• Gawler Range tribe.

Notable people

• Gavin Wanganeen, Australian rules footballer, and Brownlow medallist.

Sources

• "Aboriginal South Australia". Government of South Australia.
• "AIATSIS map of Indigenous Australia". AIATSIS.
• Bates, Daisy (1918). "Aborigines of the West Coast of South Australia; vocabularies and ethnological notes". Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia. 42: 152–167. {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Black, J. M. (1920). "Vocabularies of four South Australian languages, Adelaide, Narrunga, Kukata, and Narrinyeri, with special reference to their speech sounds". Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia. 44: 76–93. {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Clendon, Mark (2015). Clamor Schürmann's Barngarla grammar: A commentary on the first section of A vocabulary of the Parnkalla language. University of Adelaide Press. ISBN 978-1-925-26111-0. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Condon, H. T. (July 1955a). "Aboriginal bird names -South Australia Part 1" (PDF). South Australian Ornithologist. 21 (6/7). Adelaide: 74–88. {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Eylmann, Erhard (1908). Die Eingeborenen der Kolonie Südaustralien (PDF). Berlin: D.Reimer. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Howitt, Alfred William (1904). The native tribes of south-east Australia (PDF). Macmillan. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Jones, F. W.; Campbell, T. D. (1924). "Anthropometric and descriptive observations on some South Australian aborigines". Transactions of the Royal Society of South Australia. 48: 303–312. {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Mathews, R. H. (January 1900a). "Divisions of the South Australian Aborigines". Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society. 39 (161): 78–91+93. JSTOR 983545. {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Mathews, R. H. (October–December 1900b). "The Origin, Organization and Ceremonies of the Australian Aborigines". Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society. 39 (164): 556–578. JSTOR 983776. {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Platt, John Talbot (1972). An Outline Grammar of the Gugada Dialect: South Australia. Australian Institute of Aborginal Studies. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Ralph, Jon (3 June 2010). "Indigenous superman Gavin Wanganeen blazed a trail". Herald Sun. Melbourne. {{cite news}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Tindale, Norman Barnett (1974). "Kokata (SA)". Aboriginal Tribes of Australia: Their Terrain, Environmental Controls, Distribution, Limits, and Proper Names. Australian National University Press. ISBN 978-0-708-10741-6. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
• Wilhelmi, Charles (1860). "Manners and customs of the Australian natives, in particular of the Port Lincoln district". Transactions of the Royal Society of Victoria. 5: 164–203. ISBN 978-0-708-10741-6. {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)