
ABORIGINES OF THE SoUTH-East OF SOUTH AUSTRALIA 447 
occur in the Hundreds of Symon, Kennion, Mayurra, Mount Muirhead, and Rivoli 
Bay; all in County Grey. Nearly all are readily accessible by wiain roads, with 
Millicent as a base. The locations of the sites and of other features of special 
interest are given in subsequent detailed deseription, See map, fig. 1. ; 
Aborigines of the region. Little has been recorded of the life of the Buandik 
tribe which occupied this region and became extinct at the end of last. cenjury- 
Two publications by Campbell (1984, 1939) summarized previous availatle 
accounts, and the paper by Campbell and Noone (1943), im addition to dealing 
mainly with stone implements, discussed some aspects of mative hfe which are 
further studied in the present work, 
It is from these rather scant recorded data, and from our observations on 
reranants of his daily life and material culture, topographical conditions ancl 
indigenous flora—the last fortunately persist to an appreciable extent in much 
of this region—that we are endeavouring to reconstruct a picture of the life of 
the aboriginal as it was before white man took possession of his territory. 
Phystographical features of the area, The South-Hast?, as. described by 
Fenner, constitutes ‘‘a natnral geographic region’’ and oecupies the southernmost 
portion of this State—south of @ rather arbitrary boundary reaching from 
Kingston on the coastline to Naracoorte, near the Victorian border, in the east. 
This area consists of counties Robe and Grey. Publications by Woods, Fenner, 
Ward, and Crocker provide accounts of the general physiography- 
The main topographical features of this area are: The coastline forming its 
western and southern boundaries ; the striking series of ranges or ridges, consisting 
of stranded sand dunes in various stages of consolidation and lying roughly parallel 
to the coast; the broad flat inter-ridge valleys; the lake and swamp areas fringing 
the coastline; and the volcanic range system, As will be shown later, all these 
important general features and their concomitant details were important to the 
life of the aborigmal inhabitants of the particular area under review, 
From various accounts of the district as it was in the early and middle parts 
of last eentury, and from present-day observation, it is obvious that first and 
foremost, the region has long been one of assured rainfall. It carried a fgirly 
abundant and varied yegetation—an appreciable representation of which still 
remains in many places; but most of the broad inter-ridge valleys has been cleared 
of their typical swamp vegetation and used for agriculture since white settlement 
and drainage began, Harly accounts describe the country as supporting abundant 
animal life; while the present lakes and persisting swamp areas, in addition ta 
the expanses now systematically drained, indicate the former abundance of 
aquatic bird life. Finally the nearby ocean and the permanent lakes were ready 
sources of fish and shellfish foods, 
All these points suggest that the district might bave supported a relatively 
large and stable aboriginal population in an environment] which was varied in 
topography, well served with food and water supplies and other means of living, 
and had a climate which, though wet and cold in winter, was in general pleasantly 
temperate. But what actually constitutes a large flourishing population is a 
problem yet to be studied so far as aborigines are concerned. Arising from these 
investigations, we hope to give in a later publication an attempt at estimating 
intensity of aboriginal population on the basis of numbers of individuals per 
hundred aquare miles of territory. 
It is comparatively easy to-day to go over this country and describe its tapo- 
1 The term **South Hast’’ is unfortunately used with wide geographical variation. It ia 
suggested that for the area hera concerned, ‘‘ Lower South East’’ haa a more procise meaning: 
The term Upper South Hast could then the used far the area. between the abovementioned 
Counties and the River Murray, 
