Kudnarto

Kudnarto ( – 11 February 1855), also known as Mary Ann Adams, was an Aboriginal Australian woman of the Ngadjuri peoples who lived in the colony of South Australia. She is notable for being the first Aboriginal woman to legally marry a colonist in South Australia, making legal history in 1848, and for having many notable descendants.

Early life and education Kudnarto was born around 1832 at a location in Ngadjuri lands later known as Crystal Brook, South Australia, or Bungaree, South Australia. Her mother is unknown and her father was Ngadjuri

Her family lived and worked on English colonists' properties, so it is possible that she received some education in English during her childhood, but little is known of this stage of her life. and The Port Phillip Patriot and Morning Advertiser in the colony of Victoria in June and July 1847 respectively. The report stated that she had been placed in the Native School in Adelaide for the purpose of instruction in domestic duties before marriage, and it praised her intelligence and disposition. The Sydney Morning Herald headed their report "Marriage extraordinary", while the South Australian Register opined:

Reserves of land had been set aside for Aboriginal people to occupy and conduct agricultural activities on, but many of these were leased to colonists. In February 1848 Thomas Adams requested a section on Skillogalee Creek, near Auburn in the Clare Valley. This was supported by Moorhouse, so long as Kudnarto occupied and use the land;

The Adelaide branch of the international women's organisation Zonta added Kudnarto to their "Women's Roll of Honour", and erected a plaque in commemoration.

Her life is remembered in a 2007 memoir by Kudnarto's great-great grandson, Lewis Yerloburka O'Brien.

Descendants

Tim married four times, losing three of his wives to illness, and had four children with second wife Bessie (née Reeves): Lewis, Gertrude, Julia, and Arthur. Tim and Bessie Adams moved around a bit before eventually moving to Point Pearce mission. After Poonindie Mission closed in 1894, the rest of the family, as well as Tom Adams and his children, also moved to Point Pearce. who was an early leader of the revival of the Kaurna language in the mid-1980s, and largely responsible for the creation of Tjilbruke Dreaming Track (1986–2006) Julia Adams married Henry Simpson and had three daughters, including Gladys Florence Simpson, Lewis O'Brien also writes of "Auntie Glad" (Elphick), his mother's cousin, with whom he went to live in Adelaide (p.131 of his autobiography) when he was 18 (i.e. c.1948, and there was Uncle Fred (Elphick - married Gladys in 1940 and Charlie Adams, who continued to put in claims to Section 346 at Skillogalee Creek until his death in 1949, but unsuccessfully. (sister to Vince Copley) and Vince Copley (1936-2022), activist, leader, and elder.

Other notable descendants of Kudnarto include: Gladys Elphick (née Walters; 1904–1988), m. Walter Hughes (1922); m. Frederick Elphick (1940);

Cecil Graham (1911–1994), Australian rules footballer, including several Australian rules footballers among their descendants and extended family: Their sons included Michael Graham Chad Wingard (1993–), Australian Rules footballer

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