Adelaide – Tarntanya in the Kaurna language – has a captivating Indigenous history celebrated in many experiences across the city.
The Kaurna people (pronounced ‘gar-na’) are the Traditional Owners of Adelaide and the surrounding areas, and you’ll find their language woven into the design of South Australia’s capital city.
The main square is known as Tarntanyangga, which means ‘red kangaroo dreaming,’ and the river which runs through the city is named Karrawirra Parri meaning ‘redgum forest.’
The Traditional Owners overlook country stretching from Crystalbrook in the north to Cape Jervis in the south. In the summer, the coastal plains provided hospitable camps with natural springs and dunes. During colder times, the Kaurna people would move inland to the foothills. Moving seasonally allowed food sources to replenish, which is a major factor in the respect of their lands.
Here are a number of Indigenous experiences in Adelaide to acknowledge the culture of the Kaurna nation.
Past and present combine on the riverbank
In 2018, Aboriginal artist and landscape architect Paul Herzich created The Riverbank is a Kaurna Market, an art installation running between the Adelaide Central Market and Riverbank precincts. This remarkable, permanent exhibit uses 2D imagery and text to explore the past, present and future of the Kaurna people, so that you are quite literally walking in their ancient footsteps. As you follow the path, you’ll come across plants, animals and poetic phrases requiring interpretation through clues located throughout the installation.
You can learn more about Kaurna and European history in the city by following the Kaurna Walking Trail, which links 17 significant sites along the River Torrens/ Karrawirra Pari, North Terrace and into Victoria Square/Tarntanyangga.
The self-guided tour takes you past the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander War Memorial, which depicts a WWI male tulya (solider) and WWII female kuku kangkalangkala (nurse) standing above a traditional Indigenous holding vessel and ritual fire to honour those who served. You will also encounter the King William Road Bridge underpass, where the Kaurna people hunted and gathered. Tiles on the underpass depict European fish, as well as other creatures that lived in this part of the Torrens before it was dammed.
If you would rather experience Adelaide with a guide, this guided Aboriginal cultural tour takes you to prominent locations in the CBD while discussing the significance of these locations to the Kaurna people. Your
World’s largest collection of Aboriginal artefacts at South Australian Museum
The South Australian Museum (aka SA Museum) is located in Adelaide’s CBD, and is home to the world’s largest collection of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural material. The 30,000-strong collection was started in 1890, and offers a fascinating look into ancient traditions, heritage and history of Australia’s First Peoples.
The Australian Aboriginal Cultures gallery is a permanent exhibition of over 3,000 items across two floors, featuring boomerangs, bark paintings, shields, early recordings, and some of the only intact bark canoes in the world. The gallery now also features the Yuendemu school doors, which represent one of the earliest examples of Aboriginal art transferred from ancient ground paintings to a large-scale modern medium. The doors were decorated in the 1980s, when five Indigenous artists created 27 Dreaming designs representing more than 200 sites in the Warlpiri and Anmatyerre territory.
The museum is constantly undertaking repatriation efforts, returning more than 300 secret sacred objects back to their Traditional Owners so far.
Discover performing arts art Tandanya National Aboriginal Cultural Institute
To explore contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander visual and performing arts, a visit to Tandanya National Aboriginal Cultural Institute is a must.
Tandanya is a Kaurna word for ‘place of the Red Kangaroo’, and is Australia’s oldest Aboriginal-owned and managed multi-disciplinary arts centre. It promotes reconciliation with, and understanding of, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people through exhibitions and performances.
Note that Tandanya is temporarily closed to undergo important building works, but will reopen soon. It will be delivering a program of events as part of the Adelaide Fringe Festival, transforming the venue into a hub of music, theatre, art, comedy and storytelling from 19 February – 22 March 2026.
Tarntanyangga is the birthplace of the Australian Aboriginal flag
Victoria Square/Tarntanyangga was once the main camp of the Tarntanya people, and continues as a modern meeting place for regular city events.
The square is also the birthplace of the Australian Aboriginal flag. Designed by Aboriginal man Harold Thomas, the flag was first flown in the square on 12 July 1971 as part of National Aboriginal and Islander Day. In 1972, it was adopted nation-wide after being flown at the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in Canberra. The colours of the flag symbolise Australia’s Aboriginal people (black top half), spiritual connection to the land (red bottom half), and the sun (yellow circle in the middle).
Tarntanyangga is home to Reconciliation Square, which houses a cultural marker made of South Australian granite and containing solar lights to represent the Kaurna shield. It also contains a list of Kaurna words and their English translations, interpreted through illustratoins by Aboriginal students. The Cultural Marker is an educational tool for those wanting to learn more about Aboriginal culture, and a symbolic representation of this meeting place.
Explore Dreamtime stories at Kingston Park Coastal Reserve
Kingston Park Coastal Reserve, just a 30 minute drive from Adelaide CBD, supports an ecosystem of native animals such as echidnas and blue tongue lizards, as well as more than 76 Indigenous plant species.
To understand its spiritual significance, head to the cliff overlooking the Tjilbruke Spring and Kingston Pines. The spring once formed a freshwater coastal lagoon, and has been a permanent freshwater spring for thousands of years. It is also an important part of the Tjilbruke Dreaming Story. Tjilbruke was a skilled hunter who formed several major springs with his tears while grieving the death of his nephew, before turning into an ibis.
On the cliff lookout, you will find the Tjilbruke Monument, designed in 1972 by John Dowie to represent Tjilbruke carrying his dead nephew, Kulultuwi, on his journey south.
The coastal reserve contains picnic spots, tennis courts, play equipment, toilets and public barbecues, making it the ideal day trip.
Living Kaurna Cultural Centre offers authentic cultural experiences
The Living Kaurna Cultural Centre is owned and operated by Southern Cultural Immersion, and strives to promote cultural respect for First Nations people. As well as functioning as an on-site gallery and shop for works by local Aboriginal artists and businesses, it is also the location of several authentic cultural experiences.
Embark on an interactive tour of the Warriparinga grounds and wetlands with an Aboriginal guide while you learn about the area’s cultural significance, walk through Adelaide Botanical Gardens to discover Indigenous plants and their traditional uses, or tour Adelaide CBD to learn about the city’s tragic colonial history. At the centre, you can also learn traditional weaving with Elders, discover how to throw boomerangs, and uncover seasonal harvesting practices to prepare a simple remedial bush balm used by Aboriginal ancestors for generations.
If you’re travelling with children, the centre offers ochre art classes and boomerang painting to introduce them to the Traditional Owners of the land.
Colonial and Aboriginal history combine at Old Gum Tree
Old Gum Tree Reserve is located 20 minutes from Adelaide CBD, and is a site of significance for both colonial and Aboriginal history. Here, on 28 December 1836, Governor Hindmarsh read the proclamation formally establishing a new province in South Australia. However, for hundreds of thousands of years beforehand, the area was significant to Indigenous locals who named the place Yakuna, meaning ‘crooked gum’.
Visitors to the area are encouraged to ponder the devastating affect that colonisation had on the Indigenous community. The site is a place for reflection, remembrance, and a place to recognise and respect the history and culture of the Kaurna people.
Travel to Adelaide
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Enjoyed reading about Indigenous experiences in Adelaide? Explore Indigenous experiences in Cairns here.
