Aboriginal culture (Kulin Nation & Cadigal Wangal)

Kulin Nation
There are 5 language groups:
Wathaurong
14 clan groups
Boundaries Werribee, Lorne, Colac, Cressy, Ballarat
300 Wathaurong people in 1836
Geelong was established by Europeans in 1836-1838
30-40 Wathaurong people in 1853
Woiwurrung
Wurundjeri People
Coranderrk
William Barak
Head person of the Wurundjeri people (Ngurangaeta)
Forerunner of reconciliation
Artwork displayed all over the world
Fought for Coranderrk to not be closed down (petitions,
letter to Queen Victoria) was eventually closed
Died 1903
Taungerong
8 clans
Areas Great Dividing Range, Yea, Eildon, Kilmore, Seymour,
Wangaratta, Benalla, Mansfield
Totems Bunjil the Eaglehawk & Waang the crow
Population decline (diseases, warfare, etc.)
Taungerong people moved to Acheron Mission, then
Coranderrk Aboriginal Mission in Healesville
Lake Eildon has decreased, revealing a burial tree
Dja Dja Wurrung
At least 11 clans
Areas Catchments areas of Loddon, Campaspe & Avoca
Rivers, Bendigo, Wedderburn, Castlemaine, St Arnaud,
Maryborough, Boort, Heathcote, Maldon
Totems Bunjil the Eaglehawk & Waang the crow
Bendigo cultural centre of Dja Dja Wurrung
Dja Dja Wurrung Aboriginal Associations Inc. formed 1982
Boon Wurrung
6 clans
Boundaries Mordialloc, Port Phillip Bay, Western Port,
Mornington Peninsula
Linked with Tasmania (Palawa people)
Totems Bunjil the Eaglehawk & Waang the crow
Derrimut ancestor of the Boon Wurrung people
Honoured by the early settlers
Informed them of an attack by the Woiwurrung group

Cadigal Wangal

Cadigal (Sydney city) and Wangal people dislocated by the

European invasion (200+ years ago)
Marrickville Council, NSW supports the right of Aboriginal
people to live according to their values and culture
Awareness of Aboriginal history (oral tradition) & society
Preserve the environment & sacred sites
Commissioned Cyber-Dreaming
Encourage the relationship between Aboriginal and nonaboriginal people in the area
Eora literally means here or from this place came to be
used to describe the Aboriginal people of the Sydney coastline
as they would use this word to describe themselves

Land use

Used to hunt, trap, fish and forage for fruit and plants
Expert firestick farmers burning the scrub between large
trees (park-like appearance)
Ash from the burning fertilized soil, bringing fresh shoots of
grass this attracted kangaroos & wallabies (hunted by the
people)
Cadigal & Wangal people did not own the land but belonged to
the land

Biological Zones

Turpentine Ironbark Forest

Forest was used to collect resources
Referred to as 'kangaroo ground Vegetation attracted
kangaroos and other animals hunted by the aboriginal
people
Edible fruits and rhizomes were available
Fibres for weaving
Boulders used to make stone tools

Mangroves & Saltmarsh

Provided reeds used for weaving net bags
Large amounts of shellfish
Water birds also used this area

Mudflats
Located along the riverbed
People foraged through the muddy beds for the life
forms that flourished there (mud-whelks, worms,
mangrove snails, etc.)
Vegetation was limited to mangroves as they could
survive the muddy conditions

Freshwater & Brackish Swamps

Contained patches of brackish and fresh water
Attraction for terrestrial animals
Reeds and rushes could be eaten
Leaves provided fibre for weaving
Aboriginals may have lived close to the fresh water
locations

Floodplain Forest
Now Marrickville golf course, Steel park and Mackey
park
Bark used to make canoes
Plants with edible roots & tubers
Rushes & reeds provided fibres used to weave
Flooding people lived on higher ground

Sandstone Vegetation Forest & Heath

Edible plants (fruits, tubers, flower nectar, macrozamia
seeds & starches from ferns)
Fibres for weaving
Grass tree has a flowering stem used as spear shafts
and resin that has a hafting agent
Quartz pebbles used to produce tools
Overhangs provide natural shelters from weather
Sandstone used to engrave, paint images and sharpen
axe heads