The Narungga were a
nomadic people who practised
fire-stick farming to flush out wildlife and control vegetation. Their diet also included seafood; their expertise at fishing was much admired by early European settlers and a variety of fish species were often traded for tobacco and other goods. Close to a decade after the
British colonisation of South Australia and the establishment of
Adelaide in 1836 or earlier. Settlers began moving into Yorke Peninsula, though native memory states that, before the beginning of occupation (1847), their area was visited occasionally by sealers. At this time, it was estimated that the Narungga numbered approximately 500. Within a decade (1856), a white resident stated that their numbers had been halved. By 1880, the same observer stated that they had been reduced to less than 100. The introduction of
scarlet fever and
measles in the 1870s also devastated the tribe. The British concepts of property ownership were incompatible with the Narungga's nomadic lifestyle, resulting in the gradual displacement of the Indigenous population. In 1868, the
Point Pearce Aboriginal Mission was established by the
Moravian missionary Julius Kühn. After ten years, the mission was largely self-sufficient, though Kühn's early success in securing the confidence of the Narungga by using his medical knowledge suffered a notable blow when 16 residents died of
whooping cough and
croup over several months in the winter of 1872. Many of the buildings remain today. Norman Tindale undertook a linguistic and cultural salvage interview with a woman, Louisa Eglinton, whom he deemed to be the sole survivor of the southern Yorke Peninsula people. ==Fishing technique==