The Peramangk People
The Peramangk people lived on the eastern side of the escarpment of the Adelaide Hills in the districts surrounding Mount Barker. Records indicate that approximately 600 Peramangk were living around Mt Barker and at least 1,200 across its Nation and Clan areas at the time of European colonisation. There are still many descendants living today in South Australia. The whole language of these people has not survived, but there are still many words, names of places and names of the Clans that make up the Peramangk nation.
The Peramangk people share close relationships, culture and some language with the Nations of the Kaurna to the west, Ngadjuri to the north, Ngarrindjeri to the south & Meru to the east. The Peramangk lived in the strip of country running north from Mount Barker through Harrogate, Gumeracha, Mt Pleasant, and Springton to the Angaston district and south to Strathalbyn. There are also sites along the River Murray where Peramangk people had access to the River. Peramangk place names can still be found at these places. Peramangk people had relations along the River Murray, and areas north of Manunka and around it, to Swan Reach.
Until settlement the Peramangk always maintained a good supply of water and plentiful amount of food, they rarely needed to move down onto the plains. There was trading between the Peramangk and the Aboriginal people in adjoining Nations, with them supplying: ochre, flint, quartz, supple whip-stick mallee spears, possum skins and other items not found on the plains and lower lakes. Within the community, the men would hunt for animal food while the women gathered vegetables, cared for the children and maintained the campsite. They would remain at a campsite for several days before moving, this prevented over use of the area and its food supply/resources thus ensuring the environment stayed the same for future generations over thousands of years.
The Peramangk would return to the sites used in previous years depending on the seasons and the condition of the environment. The diet also varied according to the season with vegetables, seeds, honey, eggs, grubs, insects, lizards, snakes, fish, yabbies, possums, and larger game with kangaroos, wallabies and emus all included, but depended on traditional laws of season and permissions of access. Peramangk people wore very little clothing, especially in summer, but the women were more likely to wear a cloak of possum fur or kangaroo skin.
Place names within the landscape mark a clear boundary of Peramangk territory and their many Clans, even though they also shared many trade items and dreaming across common ground, water, Sky and the Stars. Art sites along the eastern escarpment and the boundaries defined in the Tjilbruke and Ngarrindjeri song-lines that are also part of the Kaurna dreaming.
The ancient beings that carved out this land and the dreaming stories of these beings is still a living presence and known by many of our Meruwatta- (Country men), Nepo-anna (neighbours) and adjoining Nations - This will never change……even when the surface of the earth we all stand on does.
Summary by: The Peramangk Story by Ivan-Tiwu Copley - 2010
The Peramangk People
The Peramangk people lived on the eastern side of the escarpment of the Adelaide Hills in the districts surrounding Mount Barker. Records indicate that approximately 600 Peramangk were living around Mt Barker and at least 1,200 across its Nation and Clan areas at the time of European colonisation. There are still many descendants living today in South Australia. The whole language of these people has not survived, but there are still many words, names of places and names of the Clans that make up the Peramangk nation.
The Peramangk people share close relationships, culture and some language with the Nations of the Kaurna to the west, Ngadjuri to the north, Ngarrindjeri to the south & Meru to the east. The Peramangk lived in the strip of country running north from Mount Barker through Harrogate, Gumeracha, Mt Pleasant, and Springton to the Angaston district and south to Strathalbyn. There are also sites along the River Murray where Peramangk people had access to the River. Peramangk place names can still be found at these places. Peramangk people had relations along the River Murray, and areas north of Manunka and around it, to Swan Reach.
Until settlement the Peramangk always maintained a good supply of water and plentiful amount of food, they rarely needed to move down onto the plains. There was trading between the Peramangk and the Aboriginal people in adjoining Nations, with them supplying: ochre, flint, quartz, supple whip-stick mallee spears, possum skins and other items not found on the plains and lower lakes. Within the community, the men would hunt for animal food while the women gathered vegetables, cared for the children and maintained the campsite. They would remain at a campsite for several days before moving, this prevented over use of the area and its food supply/resources thus ensuring the environment stayed the same for future generations over thousands of years.
The Peramangk would return to the sites used in previous years depending on the seasons and the condition of the environment. The diet also varied according to the season with vegetables, seeds, honey, eggs, grubs, insects, lizards, snakes, fish, yabbies, possums, and larger game with kangaroos, wallabies and emus all included, but depended on traditional laws of season and permissions of access. Peramangk people wore very little clothing, especially in summer, but the women were more likely to wear a cloak of possum fur or kangaroo skin.
Place names within the landscape mark a clear boundary of Peramangk territory and their many Clans, even though they also shared many trade items and dreaming across common ground, water, Sky and the Stars. Art sites along the eastern escarpment and the boundaries defined in the Tjilbruke and Ngarrindjeri song-lines that are also part of the Kaurna dreaming.
The ancient beings that carved out this land and the dreaming stories of these beings is still a living presence and known by many of our Meruwatta- (Country men), Nepo-anna (neighbours) and adjoining Nations - This will never change……even when the surface of the earth we all stand on does.
Summary by: The Peramangk Story by Ivan-Tiwu Copley - 2010