Nellie Raminyemmerin

Nellie Raminyemmerin was a tribal sister of Ivarritji and Lartelare, who were the daughters of Ityamaiitpinna (King Rodney), a prominent Kaurna Elder.

Oral history also tells us that she was kidnapped from the banks of the River Torrens / Karrawirra Parri and taken to Kangaroo Island around 1844 to live with a Russian Finnish sealer named John Wilkins with whom she had seven children. Stories of Aboriginal women attempting to swim from Kangaroo Island across Backstairs Passage after being captured on the Mainland are common.

Following the death of Wilkins, Raminyemmerin and her children were likely sent to Raukkan (Point McLeay) under the care of Reverend George Taplin. Raminyemmerin’s descendants live in the Adelaide area today.

In 2011 the City of Adelaide renamed Frome Park to Frome Park/Nellie Raminyemmerin Park (Park 11), to honour this Kaurna woman. The park also commemorates Captain Edward Charles Frome (1802-1890), the third Surveyor-General of Adelaide.

Celebrating 125 years of women's suffrage in South Australia.

Image: Adelaide Park Lands Authority, with permission from the Kaurna Community