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Feathered freind

The Natural Wonder

Willunga Basin
Conservation

Aldinga Reef Sancuary

Tjilbruke Dreaming

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Tjilbruke Dreaming story The tale of Tjilbruke's journey down the east coast of Wongga Erlo/Gulf St Vincent is the best known of all Kaurna Dreaming stories, and has become a symbol of renewal of the Kaurna culture, although it was first recorded from Ngarrindjeri sources by Tindale and later Ronald and Catherine Berndt. It was recorded by Tindale over a period of many years up to 1964, but it was not until 1987 that he published the most complete version hitherto published, as The Wanderings of Tjirbruki: a tale of the Kaurna People of Adelaide. The story starts with an emu (kari) hunt by three one men, Kulultuwi, Jurawi and Tetjawi. They were all nephews of Tjilbruke, but Kulultuwi had a special relationship to his uncle, as he was the son of his sister, and known as his nangari; the other two were his half-brothers. Tjilbruke was responsible for Kulutwi, as an uncle as well as a father, to help him grow up correctly and do the right thing. While the young men went hunting in the Tarndanya (Adelaide) area, across Mikkawomma (the plains) to Yerta Bulti (Port River estuary), driving the birds up Mudlangga (Le Fevre Peninsula), Tjilrbuke went fishing at Witu-wattingga (the Brighton area). After finishing his fishing, he set up camp at Tulukudangga/Tulukudank (Kingston Park and then started tracking an emu southwards. When Kulultuwi returned to the area, he found himself tracking the same emu as his uncle, which he was forbidden to do. However he killed the emu, and Tjilbruke, although initially angry, forgave him when he gave him some of the emu meat. (In one version of the story, although Kulultuwi was not supposed to have killed the kari ahead of his uncle, Tjilbruke gave him permission to do so, as long as he gave him some of the meat.) While Kulultuwi was cooking the emu meat over a fire, Jurawi and Tetjawi killed him with their spears, as punishment for his breaking the law of the clan. The brothers took the body to their clan campsite at Warriparri (Sturt River) and told them the story, and they started to dry the body with smoke, as custom dictated. After Tjilbruke found out, he was very upset, and speared the two nephews to death (in retaliation, applying the law, being a man of the law), before carrying Kulultuwi's body to Tulukudangga, where an inquest and ceremony to complete the smoking of the body was held. The story goes on to tell of how six freshwater springs were created by Tjilbruke's tears, as he carried the body of his dead nephew from Warriparri across to the coast and southwards past Aldinga Beach and onto the west coast of the Fleurieu Peninsula to Rapid Bay. The Dreaming includes locations in several geographic areas: the Adelaide Plains, the Fleurieu Peninsula, on the south coast at Rosetta Head (The Bluff) near Victor Harbour, and also in the Adelaide Hills at Brukunga; so it takes in Ramindjeri and Peramangk country. After Kulultuwi's body had been smoked and dried, Tjilbruke picked up the body and carried it firstly to Tulukudangga/Tulukudank. Here some versions of the story diverge slightly; one says that he wept at this point and his tears created this spring, while another says that Tulukudangga was an existing spring at that place. From Tulukudangga, Tjilbruke carried Kulultuwi's body all the way down the eastern side of Gulf St Vincent and onto and down the west coast of the Fleurieu Peninsula. At sunset every night of his journey Tjilbruke cried over his nephew's body, and his tears transformed into freshwater springs at six locations: Kareildung (Hallett Cove) Tainbarang (Port Noarlunga) Potartang (Red Ochre Cove, near Moana Beach) Ruwarunga (Port Willunga) Witawali (Sellicks Beach) Kongaratinga (near Wirrina Cove, or Yankalilla) He arrived at a cave (perki) at Rapid Bay, near Cape Jervis, and then emerged from underground at Wateira nengal (Mount Hayfield) and created yellow ochre. He walked on to Lonkowar (The Bluff/Rosetta Head, in Ramindjeri country), near Victor Harbor, where he killed a grey currawong, rubbed its fat onto his body and tied its feathers onto his arms, before transforming himself into a glossy ibis (or other wading bird; in some sources, a blue crane) as his spirit left his body. His body became the pyrite outcrop at Brukunga. Saddened by these events Tjilbruke decided he no longer wished to live as a man. His spirit became a bird, the Tjilbruke (Glossy Ibis), and his body became a martowalan (memorial) in the form of the baruke (iron pyrites) outcrop at Barrukungga, the place of hidden fire (Brukunga - north of Nairne in the Adelaide Hills). Tjilbruke was a master at fire-making.

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