Kokatha

The Kokatha, also known as the Kokatha Mula,^[a] are an Aboriginal Australian people of the state of South Australia. They speak the Kokatha language, close to or a dialect of the Western Desert language.

Country[]

Traditional Kokatha lands extend over some 140,000 km² (54,000 sq mi) according to the estimation of Norman Tindale, stretching over some of the harshest, waterless land on the Australian continent. They include Tarcoola, Kingoonyah, Pimba and the McDouall Peak as well as modern townships of Roxby Downs and Woomera. The lands extend west as far as Ooldea and the Ooldea Range while the northern frontier runs up to the Stuart Range and Lake Phillipson. Their boundary with Barngarla lands is marked by an ecological transition from their plateau to the lower hilly acacia scrubland and salt lake zones running south to the coast.^[1]

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 Ngalia to their west.^[2]

According to the Kokatha Aboriginal Corporation (as of October 2020):^[3]

The Kokatha People are the Traditional Owners of a large area of land in the northern region of South Australia, estimated to extend over some 140,000 km² (54,000 sq mi). Traditionally the Kokatha people have been associated with the land that is to the north of Port Augusta, stretching from Lake Torrens in the east to the Gawler Ranges in the West. This includes the land surrounding BHP Billiton's Olympic Dam Mine Project located at Roxby Downs and Oz Mineral's new copper-gold project at Carrapateena.

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.^[1]

Native title[]

The Kokatha Aboriginal Corporation is the Registered Native Title Body Corporate (RNTBC) which covers areas determined to belong to the Kokatha people by the Native Title Act 1993, and represents the interests of the Kokatha people.^[3]As of 2020, there have been three native title determinations relating to the Kokatha in South Australia:^[4]^[5]

An Indigenous land use agreement (ILUA) was determined for the Gawler Ranges area, agreed on 13 June 2010.^[6]
A native title claim lodged by the Far West Coast Aboriginal Corporation RNTBC (representing a number of other peoples as well as the Kokatha nation) was determined on 5 December 2013, and covers land within the Pastoral Unincorporated Area as well as the District Council of Ceduna. This land lies along a wide strip extending inland from the coast, stretching from the border with Western Australia in the west across to a line roughly direct north of the western top edge of the Eyre Peninsula. It excludes a number of areas where native title has been extinguished.^[7]^[8] There is also an ILUA covering this area, agreed on 22 May 2014.^[9]
The second, determined on 1 September 2014, covers an area within the Roxby Council and some Pastoral Unincorporated Area. It stretches from the eastern shore of Lake Torrens almost to the western shore of Lake Gairdner, but does not include the latter.^[10]

An ILUA covers the precise description of the area of land,^[11] which is described as "about 30,372 km² (11,727 sq mi) extending approx. 129 kilometres (80 mi) west of Lake Torrens".^[12]

Alternative names[]

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

Source: Tindale 1974, p. 213

Notable people[]

Gavin Wanganeen, Australian rules footballer, and Brownlow medallist.^[13]
Norah Wilson (1901-1971), community worker
Patty Mills, Australian basketballer.^[14]

Notes[]

^ The variation between these ethnonyms, Kukata/Kokata and Kokatha, may represent an original difference between two distinct Western desert dialects, one retaining a voiceless alveolar stop (t), the other a dental stop (th) (Platt 1972, pp. 3–4; Clendon 2015, p. 27)

Citations[]

^ Jump up to: ^a ^b Tindale 1974, p. 213.
^ MapASA.
^ Jump up to: ^a ^b Kokatha: home 2020.
^ NNTT: Indigenous Register.
^ NNTT: National Register.
^ NNTT: Land Use Agreements.
^ FWCAC: Home.
^ NNTT: Far West (1).
^ NNTT: Far West (2).
^ NNTT: Kokatha (A).
^ NNTT: SI2014/011.
^ NNTT: Register extract 2014.
^ Ralph 2010.
^ "Profile". Patty. Retrieved 5 August 2021.

Sources[]

"Aboriginal South Australia". Government of South Australia. Archived from the original on 1 May 2013.
"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 – via BHL.
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 – via BHL.
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.
Condon, H. T. (July 1955a). "Aboriginal bird names -South Australia Part 1" (PDF). South Australian Ornithologist. Adelaide. 21 (6/7): 74–88.
"Extract from the Register of Land Use Agreements: SI2014/11 Kokatha Native Title Claim Settlement ILUA" (PDF). National Native Title Tribunal. 2 December 2014.
Eylmann, Erhard (1908). Die Eingeborenen der Kolonie Südaustralien (PDF). Berlin: D.Reimer – via Internet Archive.
"Home". Far West Coast Aboriginal Corporation. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
"Home". Kokatha Aboriginal Corporation. 21 October 2020. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
Howitt, Alfred William (1904). The native tribes of south-east Australia (PDF). Macmillan.
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 – via BHL.
Mathews, R. H. (January 1900a). "Divisions of the South Australian Aborigines". Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society. 39 (161): 78–91+93. JSTOR 983545.
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.
"National Native Title Register Details: SCD2013/002 - Far West Coast". National Native Title Tribunal. Retrieved 26 October 2020.Extract from the National Native Title Register
"National Native Title Register Details: SCD2014/004 - Kokatha People (Part A)". National Native Title Tribunal. Retrieved 26 October 2020.Extract from the National Native Title Register
Platt, John Talbot (1972). An Outline Grammar of the Gugada Dialect: South Australia. Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies.
Ralph, Jon (3 June 2010). "Indigenous superman Gavin Wanganeen blazed a trail". Herald Sun. Melbourne.
"Register of Indigenous Land Use Agreements Details: SI2009/005 - Gawler Ranges - Kokatha Pastoral ILUA". National Native Title Tribunal. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
"Register of Indigenous Land Use Agreements Details: SI2014/003 - Far West Coast Native Title Settlement ILUA". National Native Title Tribunal. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
"Register of Indigenous Land Use Agreements Details: SI2014/011 - Kokatha Native Title Claim Settlement ILUA". National Native Title Tribunal. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
"Search National Native Title Register". National Native Title Tribunal. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
"Search Register of Indigenous Land Use Agreements". National Native Title Tribunal. Retrieved 26 October 2020.
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.
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 – via BHL.

External links[]

Kokatha Aboriginal Corporation

[1] The variation between these ethnonyms, Kukata/Kokata and Kokatha, may represent an original difference between two distinct Western desert dialects, one retaining a voiceless alveolar stop (t), the other a dental stop (th) (Platt 1972, pp. 3–4; Clendon 2015, p. 27)

[FOOTNOTETindale1974213-2] Jump up to: ^a ^b Tindale 1974, p. 213.

[FOOTNOTEMapASA-3] MapASA.

[FOOTNOTEKokatha:_home2020-4] Jump up to: ^a ^b Kokatha: home 2020.

[FOOTNOTENNTT:_Indigenous_Register-5] NNTT: Indigenous Register.

[FOOTNOTENNTT:_National_Register-6] NNTT: National Register.

[FOOTNOTENNTT:_Land_Use_Agreements-7] NNTT: Land Use Agreements.

[FOOTNOTEFWCAC:_Home-8] FWCAC: Home.

[FOOTNOTENNTT:_Far_West_(1)-9] NNTT: Far West (1).

[FOOTNOTENNTT:_Far_West_(2)-10] NNTT: Far West (2).

[FOOTNOTENNTT:_Kokatha_(A)-11] NNTT: Kokatha (A).

[FOOTNOTENNTT:_SI2014/011-12] NNTT: SI2014/011.

[FOOTNOTENNTT:_Register_extract2014-13] NNTT: Register extract 2014.

[FOOTNOTERalph2010-14] Ralph 2010.

[15] "Profile". Patty. Retrieved 5 August 2021.

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