Kudajarnd

Kudajarnd or Coontajandra was a Wakaya man from the Northern Territory who became a Wild Australia Show performer and, later in his life, an elder and senior lawman within his community.

Early life Very little is known of Kudajarnd's early life and it is an estimation that he was born in the mid-1840s and that he was born on the land of his people, the Wakaya, in the Barkly Region of the Northern Territory. His, and his peoples, first contact with Europeans did not come until 1861 or 1862 when they were approached by William Landsborough who was searching for the missing people from the Burke and Wills expedition. During this period in the early 1860s Kudajarnd was living with his first wife, Langinkab, who was a Wakaya woman. They then travelled with Purcell to Brisbane with the distance between Townsville and Brisbane being via steamship and they initially understood that they would be away for 2 years. Kudajarnd was also painted several times by Oscar Fristrom, a Swedish painter who was then based in Brisbane and was known for portraits of Aboriginal Australians. It is most likely that Fristrom painted Kudajarnd from Lindt Coontajandra"; these painting were also produced in the early years of the 20th century.

The Wild Australia show toured through Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne between December 1892 and June 1893 and it was planned that they would travel overseas and attend the World's Columbian Exposition, and other international events, but Meston's financial arrangements fell through during the Australian banking crisis of 1893 and he left Kudajarnd, and all of the other performers, stranded in Melbourne and, soon after, he was bankrupt.

There are no other records relating to Kudajarnd after this and it is estimated that he likely died around 1905.