1900. ] MATHEWS—SOUTH AUSTRALIAN ABORIGINES. 79 
which is marked the geographic range of each nation and defining 
also the limits within which circumcision and subincision are in 
force. 
I. THE PARNKALLA NATION. 
In 1846 the Rev. C. W. Schiirmann published a pamphlet on the 
Aboriginal Tribes of Port Lincoln, South Australia, in which, on 
p. 9, he stated that the Parnkalla tribe was ‘‘ divided into two dis- 
tinct classes, the Mattiriand Karrarupeople.... . If a husband be 
Mattiri, his wife must be Karraru, and vice versa, the children 
taking invariably the appellation of that class to which their mother 
belongs.’’ This is the first accurate record of the divisions of abo- 
riginal tribes, not only in the colony mentioned, but in any part of 
the Australian continent. Owing to this priority and for conveni- 
ence of reference I have adopted the name of the Parnkalla tribe 
for the whole nation. I shall endeavor to give the names and ter- 
ritorial limits of a few of the most important of the many tribes of 
which this large nation is composed. 
The Rev. Mr. Schiirmann says? the Parnkalla language extended 
‘from Port Lincoln probably as far as the head of Spencer’s 
Gulf,’’ which would be about where Port Augusta now stands, and 
that ‘‘ northeast of the Parnkalla was the Nukunna tribe.’’ The 
Nauo, or Nowo, tribe adjoined the Parnkalla on the west’ and in- 
habited the country from Venus Bay to Koppawanata station. 
Northwest of the Nauo, around Yardea station, was the country of the 
Willeurootribe. The Parnkalla, Nauoand Willeuroo, were practically 
the same people in language and customs, and are included in the 
same nation on the map. I am informed by old residents that a 
small tribe called Kooapudna was formerly located around Frank- 
lin Harbor. These people are not mentioned by Mr. Schiirmann. 
Mr. B. Hack states that a tribe, which he calls Noocoona, occu- 
pied the eastern side of Spencer’s Gulf, from Port Augusta to Bun- 
dalear (see map) and extended east to Coonatto.* As the Noocoona 
of Mr. Hack were located in the country indicated by Mr. Schiir- 
mann as being inhabited by the Nukunna, it seems safe to infer that 
both writers meant the same people; for although the spelling is 
different the pronunciation is substantially the same. 
1 Native Tribes of South Australia (1879), p. 249. 
2 [bid., p. 249. 
8 Folklore, Manners, etc., S. A. Aborigines (1879), pp. 64-66. 
