The Last Madimadi Man 



by 



miS* A. Hi KITS* AND 



Since or thereabouts. Jack 



long - also known as Jack Ldwards. 

 , MS jived at Point Pence Abori- 

 ginal Settlement, which is between 

 port Victoria and Moonta on Vfiff^e 

 Peninsula, South Australia. Point 

 IV.nce was established as a Mis- 

 sion lu the Ahoiigines in 1H6N. and 

 taken over by the South Australian 

 Government in 1014. the reserved 

 j ; ,nd having by (lien been increased 

 to over 17.000 acres'. Farming this 

 land now gives employment lo many 

 of the able-bodied men at the settle- 

 ment, which is governed by a council 

 of the inhabitants. These inhabitants, 

 nt whom there are about (our hun- 

 dred, are nearly all of part- Aboriginal, 

 parl-F.uropcnn descent with a hand 

 fill who arc pure Aboriginal Though 

 housing has been much improved 

 over the laid few years, it is still 

 below the standard of an ordinary 

 country town. Jack Long lives in one 

 of the older, smaller houses, and 11 

 kindly woman neighbour is paid a 

 small sum to keep his house and 

 his clothes clean, and to provide 

 meals for htm m her own house. 

 For his age of about n cenlury he 

 ii remarkable for his physical acti- 

 vity and lively intelligence He can 

 recall vividly and accuratclv events 

 in Ins life up to ninely years ago. 

 Since he lives right in the middle 

 Of the settlement, he is not cut oil' 

 from everyday happenings among 

 his neighbours, who c;ill him "Mate" 

 or Mates ' This contiasts with the 



I UktfVVrtAfl MM AnklMlUn 



in ! *l iuna' S. .Jin 



January. 1971 



Lsomt M. W'ni.i 



care commonly given lo very old 

 Australians, whether they be white 

 or Aboriginal, which all loo often 

 involves complete isolat.on from the 

 life of the community. 



There are men at Point IV.n-v *\ho 

 rate as " old" and yet can leinember 

 Jack Long as a middle-aged man 

 when they were boys, and some say 

 he musl be a hundred and six. He 

 thinks he is about a hundred and 

 from checking his memories we cal- 

 culate that he was born no later 

 than IS72. After learning that he has 

 lived the last sixty years of his life 

 al Point Pearce. among the descen- 

 dant of Narar.ga speakers who in- 

 habited the surrounding area at Ihe 

 time of Fnropcan settlement, it is 

 surprising to discover thai he was 

 born some four hundred miles away 

 near ILilranald in New South Wales. 

 He is of pure Aboriginal descent 

 and helongs to the Madimadi people, 

 whose territory was on the north 

 hank of the River Murray, and 

 whose language is of the "Knlin*' 

 group*. He is of the MagH'tttO 

 moiety and his totem is kangaroo 

 ( hitguintiiuiinii) 



Jack Long's father was a Madimadi 

 man. whose native name was l.oluyu: 

 his mother, called Biijdul. was part 

 Madimadi and part DadidauT The 

 Dndidadl language belongs, together 



will? JidajidaT lo an isolated group 

 with closer relationship to the U Dl- 

 guages of the Murray mouth than 

 to those of the immediate vi^.intv 

 Umchj] was bom on Kulkvne Station 



M.»n Un.\,-.Miv and A-iu inn 1" ■!= 



