a result of the Australia-wide 1995–2009 drought, water levels in Lakes Albert and Alexandrina dropped to the extent that traditional burial grounds, which had been under water, were now exposed. Language The first linguistic study of Ngarrindjeri dialects was conducted by the Lutheran missionary H.A.E. Meyer in 1843. He collected 1750 words, mainly from the Ramindjeri dialect at Encounter Bay. Taplin gathered many more words from several dialects, including Yaraldi and Portawalun, from the people who congregated around the Port MacLeay mission on Lake Alexandrina, and his dictionary had 1668 English entries. Other linguistic data gleaned since has enabled the compilation of a modern Ngarrindjeri dictionary containing 3,700 items. It is now classified, together with Yaralde, as one of the five languages of the Lower Murray Areal group. Culture The Dreaming Many sites of Dreaming significance are located along the River Murray. Near the confluence of the Murray River with Lake Alexandrina is Murungun (Mason's Hill), home to a bunyip called Muldjewangk. An ancestral hero named Ngurunderi chased an enormous Murray cod named Pondi from a stream in central New South Wales. In fleeing, Pondi created the River Murray, and contiguous lagoons from its flailing tail. Kauwira (Mannum) is where Ngurunderi forced Pondi to turn sharply south. The straight section of river to Peindjalong (near Tailem Bend) resulted from Pondi fleeing in fear after being speared in the tail. The twin peaks, large permanent sandhills of Mount Misery on the eastern shore of Lake Alexandrina are known as Lalangenggul or Lalanganggel (two watercraft) and represent where Ngurunderi brought his rafts ashore to make camp. Ngurunderi cut up Pondi at Raukkan, throwing the pieces into the water, where each piece became a species of fish. While an established Dreaming existed, the various family groups each had their own variations. For example, some said Ngurunderi created the fish on the coast, other family groups believe he created them where the river enters Lake Alexandrina and some said that it was where the fresh water meets the salt. They also shared some Dreaming stories with tribes in New South Wales and Victoria. In the late 1980s, the Dreaming stories were collected and one related to a creation story involving Thukabi, a turtle. There was no mention of Thukabi in the anthropological record and this example was later used as evidence for the survival of Ngarrindjeri stories that were unknown to anthropologists in support