Dr Doreen Kartinyeri was born at Raukkan (also known as the Point McLeay Mission). She was removed from her family in 1945 and sent to the Salvation Army Home in Adelaide. Kartinyeri worked as a domestic for two years from 1949-1951, then returned home to her grandmother.
Dr Kartinyeri began her academic career in the Geography Department of the University of Adelaide in 1979. She worked with the South Australian Museum and helped establish the Aboriginal Family History Project.
During 2001, Kartinyeri was prominent in the public campaign to protect South Australia's Hindmarsh Island from the construction of a bridge. As a senior member of the Ngarrindjeri people, she argued that the bridge would interfere with the secret women's business of Hindmarsh Island.
Kartinyeri wrote a number of works on Aboriginal family history and genealogy. She is the older sister of Doris Kartinyeri (q.v.)
Dr Kartinyeri's story was recorded by the National Library of Australia for the Bringing Them Home oral history project and appeared in the associated publication Many Voices: Reflections on experiences of Indigenous child separation edited by Doreen Mellor and Anna Haebich (2002).
