Antakirinja people


The Antakirinja, otherwise spelt Antakarinya, and alternatively spoken of as the Ngonde, are an indigenous Australian people of South Australia.

Name

Their tribal ethnonym generally signifies "westerners", from andakara / antakiri, apparently meaning 'west,' with the suffix -nja denoting 'name'.

Language

is a Western Desert language belonging to the Wati language family of the Pama-Nyungan languages.

Country

estimated the total range of lands to extend over roughly. They lived around the headwaters of four rivers, the Hamilton, Alberga, Wintinna, and Lora, and northwards over the modern border as far as Kulgera in the Northern Territory. Their southern frontiers, just before the start of the gibber desert terrain, ran down to Mount Willoughby, Arckaringa, and the Stuart Range, close to the Kokata territory at Coober Pedy. The line separating them from the Matuntara tribe roughly coincides with the northern reaches of the bluebush plains.

Social organization

The Antakarinya were composed of several hordes.
According to Christopher Giles, a Telegrapoh Stationmaster as Charlotte Waters, writing in 1875, they had four class names:
The marriage relations of the four were tabulated in the following manner:
MaleMarriesChildren are
ParroolaPanungkaKoomurra
PanungkaParroolaBooltara
BooltaraKoomurraPoonungka
KoomurraBooltaraParroola

Alternative names