Letter from Pitpauwe - Voice by Jaylon Newchurch

The Kaurna Children’s Letters are three manuscript items written in the Kaurna language in the early 1840s in South Australia. They were written in beautiful copperplate script by Kaurna children, who attended the first school for Aboriginal children in Australia to be taught in their mother tongue we now call Kaurna. This school was established in December 1839 by German Lutheran missionaries and Kaurna Elders at Piltawodli Pirltawardli, on the banks of Karrawirra Pari and what we now call the River Torrens.

This letter by Pitpauwe, a boy aged 12 years, is spoken by Jaylon Newchurch.

The English translation is:

“To my brother in law. You sent some toys. Now we are sending a letter to you. [Please] you send a letter for us two. [Please] send toys here. Pitpauwe (honey suckle) has written you this letter.”