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MEINTANGK and MARDITJALI Placenames

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  When squatters John Robertson (Struan) and George Ormerod (Naracoorte) 'sat down' on their great 'sheep walks', they put their head-stations in the middle of two ancient pathways, special tracks that connected separate peoples. To the west lay black soil plains belonging to the Meintangk, pronounced me-in-tongue(k), called by descendants Moandik, and by some early chroniclers Moatunga. They were speakers of ( tangk ) a distinct dialect of the larger language group Buandik that populated most of the South East of South Australia from Mount Gambier to Bordertown (but not the Coorong). To the east lay the Red Gum country belonging to the Marditjali, speakers of ( jali ) a dialect of Jardwadjali, a language group that occupied the far west of Victoria around the Grampians ( gariwerd ), from Wimmera River in the north to Wannon River in the south. In between the territories of the Meintangk and Marditjali lies the Naracoorte Range, a natural boundary of raised limestone an