Portaulun people explained

The Portaulun were an indigenous Australian people of South Australia.

Country

The Portaulun's territory was estimated by Norman Tindale to encompass roughly 300mi2, along the western bank of the Murray River from Wood Hill to Wellington and Pomanda Point. Their westward extension ran to Grote Hill.

Social organization

The Portaulun were divided into clans, the name of two of which are known:-

• Warawalde
• Welindjeri

The Welindjeri name is a post-colonial, being formed on the introduced toponym of Wellington, and thus meaning 'belonging to the Wel.'

History of contact

The last Portaulun full-blood was David Ngunaiponi, who died in 1967.

Notable people

David Unaipon.

Alternative names

• Putjin
• Warawalde
• Welindjeri
• Welinyeri
• Pomunda (toponym, Pomunda Point)
• Poomunda
• Wellington tribe

Notes

Citations

Sources

• Notes on the Social Organization of Australian Tribes . Brown . A. R. . A. R. Radcliffe-Brown . . July–December 1918 . 48 . 222–253 . 10.2307/2843422 . 2843422 .
• Book: Hawker, J. C. . Early experiences in South Australia . James Collins Hawker . 1899 . E.S. Wigg & Son . Adelaide .
• Some words of the Australian autochthone . Parkhouse . T. A. . Mankind . April 1936 . 2 . 1 . 16–19–253 . 10.1111/j.1835-9310.1936.tb00920.x .
• Book: Taplin, George . The Narrinyeri . George Taplin . 1878 . First published 1873 . The Native Tribes of South Australia . E.S. Wigg & Son . Adelaide . 1–156 . https://digital.library.adelaide.edu.au/dspace/bitstream/2440/15080/1/Narrinyeri.pdf .
• Book: Tindale, Norman Barnett . Portaulun (SA) . Norman Tindale . 1974 . Aboriginal Tribes of Australia: Their Terrain, Environmental Controls, Distribution, Limits, and Proper Names . . http://archives.samuseum.sa.gov.au/tindaletribes/portaulun.htm . 978-0-708-10741-6 .