Figure 8: A sketch of a bora ground near Gloucester, showing the position of the two rings 18 chains or 362 metres apart. Sir The aboriginal black named in the margin [McCarthy,] for whose appre- hension a reward of 10 was offered some time since in the Govt Gazette, has lately made his appearance in this neighbourhood, and could be easily captured, but as. The Dungog blacks spoke practically the same language as all the coastal tribes from the Manning River as far south as Botany Bay. The body of one was never recovered. One escaped death there only to meet it a few hundred yards across the river, where he was caught by the pursuing foe. Shortly there was. I verily believe that they would have held a shark. Meanwhile a strong body of settlers from the Williams and Allen Rivers struck out to the north-west, ascending the Williams and Chichester Rivers. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Collection, Australian Museum Research Institute (AMRI), Australian Museum Lizard Island Research Station. pare the lines. Afterwards the gift, whatever it was, never seemed to have any particular owner, for it would be free for all the tribe. The women twisted this fibre to the required thickness and length by rolling it on the front part of the thigh with the hands. Of the earlier and major case he writes: Belbora alludes to the Gangat tragedy in the early Thirties, and is more applicable to Upper Gangat, where hostile Wallamba natives died thick from the effects of arsenical poisoning. When they are considered ready to be made full members of the tribe the elders hold a convention and decide on a bumbat being held, generally when there are three or four youths to be initiated. My fathers name was called first, followed by quite a number of others, when suddenly, on a certain name being mentioned, the bearers of the body lurched forward as though the corpse had moved. In times of wet weather when long continued rain (Kueywon) made everyone and everything miserable and gloomy, the old men of the tribe would perform a remark- able ceremony to ensure a recurrence of fine weather. The spot where the fire had seen being now cool, the embers and ashes were levelled and boughs were brought and disposed of in the middle of the circle. After the dances and games are over, one of the men sometimes sounds a goonandhakeea (excrement-eater) in the bush near the camp. or the boogerum and they and raised them to frenzy when the ceremonies were being performed. At these camping places, one of the men swings the bull-roarer in the adjacent forest just after dark, and again a little before daylight, and the women reply to it by beating on their rugs, and singing; the men give a shout in unison. A timeline of Australian Museum exhibitions, events, cultural object and policies connected to Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islanders. Then they advance a few paces, and stamp one foot on the ground, and the hosts answer heh! Browse for your location and find more local ABC News and information. Sometimes the animal imitated is the kangaroo - the men hopping along one after the other. They ranged in length from three-feet to three-feet six-inches, being shaped like a club and having a slightly tapering end . After being prepared by their families, the boys were now ready to experience the transition from boyhood to manhood. Kiripit (now Rawdon Vale) 26 miles west of Glouces- ter, was then a sheep station, managed by Robert Mackenzie, afterwards Sir Robert. Fishing lines were cleverly made from the inner bark of young kurrajong trees, the finished article being of extraordinary strength and capable of landing the heaviest of edible fish. Their hair would be closely cropped; they would be covered with grease and charcoal, and their whole appearance would be as though they had indeed undergone some tremendous mental and physical strain.I have been told that circumcision was practiced among the coastal blacks in the early days, but during my time at Port Stephens this was never part of the ceremonies, nor was it ever the custom to knock out one of the front teeth of the initiates, although this was done in the early twenties when the A. The illustration above is captioned Natives returned from fishing and sub captioned Drawn by Mr R. Browne No. They were in groups here and there in a little valley. In this he reports two cases of the Harmony, one, a substantial one, in the early Thirties and the other, a minor one in 1847. The blacks had lately been very troublesome and bold. The illustration above, Broken Bay [Hawkesbury RIver]Jemmy. A row of wooden forks, about 4 or 5 feet high, are first inserted in the ground, and saplings laid from fork to fork, resembling a fence with only one top rail. Muh! (Now!) In this paper he provides an overview of frontier history from the perspective of his people - the Wonnarua from the Hunter Valley.. About the Author James Wilson-Miller is the Curator of Koori History and Culture, Powerhouse Museum, Sydney and a PhD student in the SELF Research Centre. Hall and Mr. Darch followed them soon after, the whole party intending to go on to Gloucester to-night, as soon as the moon rises. His shepherds were all assigned convicts. In this section, find out everything you need to know about visiting the Australian Museum, how to get here and the extraordinary exhibitions on display. This is an error, as the word is an aboriginal one meaning, a place between two rivers near their junction hence, the name of this Estate, according to the blacks pronunciation, is Caning-gula . Fish, as a general term, was muckeroo. Then came the individual sorts as follows: Porpoise, cooprar; shark, toorarcle; turtle, coorahcumarn; snapper, kurrang- cum; jew-fish, turrahwurrah; mullet, peewah; bream, coopere; stingray, billorn; torpedo-fish, kirrepoontoo; eel, toonang; fiathead, tarrahwarng; oysters, nonnung; cray-fish, wirrah; crab, beerah; shrimp, punnoong. Even your best guess will do. It was really a land of plenty. When Europeans settled in the Gloucester-Manning area in the 1820s and 1830s, the Aboriginal people lost their homelands to logging, clearing and livestock. . Dungog Chronicle : Durham and Gloucester Advertiser (NSW : 1894 - 1954) Fri 2 Nov 1945 Page 1 THE BLACKS. Birds were easily secured and were an abundant part of the daily meal. There were other types of spears, of course, for hunting purposes, and perhaps war. The women and children walked to the kackaroo and were told to lie face down in the middle of the large circle. A few sheets of bark, leaning on a pole against a tree, served him as shelter through days of sunshine or nights of storm and rain. The mothers wave their yamsticks, and when the men and boys come near, the women shout, and throw pieces of bark over the mens heads. Fatal was the effect. In this section, explore all the different ways you can be a part of the Museum's groundbreaking research, as well as come face-to-face with our dedicated staff. At this camp they are also required, on more than one occasion, to drink the urine of some of the men, collected in a coolamin for the purpose. The station teamster, returning with supplies signalled his approach in the time- honored custom of cracking his bullock whip and bullock whips those far-away days were no doubt just as effective instruments as they are to-day in the back country centres of Australia. Having long, prehensile toes they would use them as a white man does his fingers to grasp the object needed and thus would rise it to within reach of the hands. The kangaroo, practically ex- tinct about Port Stephens now was in the middle decade of last century, the favorite food of the blacks. Dungog was the ultimate limit of settlement for ten years or more. There was no pretence at architecture or even orderly erection of the crude break-wind. The marsupials ran in large mobs, easily driven by the nimble natives to a point where waiting groups could spear them with ease. In every creek and in every gully lay dead blacks. We boys did not know that for as a result of ingenuously asking Nancy if she was lonely after the death of Jack, the writer was only saved from personal violence by the presence of some adults. It was their only bridge, and all their children went to school over it. Image credit: gadigal yilimung (shield) madeby UncleCharlesChickaMadden. The harden ing was, of course, done by fire later on. Island, and on Low Island, near the head of navigation of the Karuah River. When these two men get close to the goonambang they gently hit the boomerangs which they carry in their hands against those in their belts, and the hosts answer, huk! Dungog Chronicle : Durham and Gloucester Advertiser (NSW : 1894 - 1954) Tue 12 Apr 1910 Page 3 (TO THE EDITOR.). The relatives of the novices now take them to some convenient place adjacent, and paint them all over with red ochre and grease. It featured rare objects, new cultural material made by Gadigal Elders, stories, film, songs and 8,000 archaeological pieces. They liked noise. xZ6+>E);?c'qkY2);YLg bF( Their men played a somewhat important, if commendably cautious, part in the business by throwing stones into the water as the [women] dived, the purpose being to scare away the sharks. Instinct and. Learn more about this collection acquired by Alexander Morrison in the New South Wales Hunter Valley during in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Australians and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we live, learn, and work. Among themselves there were seldom any disputes or quarrels. The kangaroos that were to be taken back to the camp were usually thrust into the fire and half roasted. Across the range, on the watershed of the Paterson, was another, and an important branch of this tribe with whom the natives of the Dungog district inter-married, and Dr. McKinlay and Mr. J. W. Boy- dell record that these tribes married also with those of the tribes on the Gloucester watershed. The digging of the grave being finished, the sexton went to some of the youngest and freshest trees, breaking off the small branches with leaves, and proceeded to line the grave with them, which being done a brother of the deceased was desired to [ensure] the grave was comfortable, which he did by lying in, it in the posture in which the deceased was to be placed. If the ground is wet and cold, pieces of bark are spread upon it for the women to lie upon. The latter keep marching on, and the keerang follow them till they arrive at a water-hole or running stream, which has previously been agreed upon as a suitable bathing place. Groups living near the Wonnarua include the Darkinjung and the Wirad. Then there was the awfully cruel poisoning of the blacks at Bakers Creek out- station of the A.A. Co. They would often knock the feathered forager from a tree trunk with a purrahmlrre (the throwing-stick), or a stone, laughing uproariously at the feat. Some of [the] superstitions were extraordinary. With a SensagentBox, visitors to your site can access reliable information on over 5 million pages provided by Sensagent.com. For instance, a party of us were preparing to go fishing in Fame Cove under the guidance of Billy Steward, a man who had once been steward on a boat. The spirit of Baime is depicted on a cave overlooking the Valley at Milbrodale painted more than 3000 years ago. Note the construction of the canoe, and the fact that the man stands and the woman sits. Change the target language to find translations. ~;26BBV?AsU7uNbhGkC5x"lvV3=: ;A~=6456v;H>JEl$v+vmK9ox-+/NpC*xj}HQJYvaKv`?6- \ and the only cessation was when all burst into screams of laughter. On the Main Creek, somewhere in the region of Mr. Gams timber mill, there is a stone standing on end, bending down hill. They were immediately followed by the hosts, each of whom carried green bushes in their hands. There are hardly any left, except in odd places, just a wreck of what they were. There were about sixteen [men] squatting or standing around; amongst them the father, mother, and several of the brothers of the deceased. [7] Gringai land also includes the southern valleys of the Barrington Tops. Swiftly punitive bands were organised to hunt them down. Stings never seemed to trouble them beyond a shake of their woolly head and a squeak. The Wonnarua people's traditional lands are located in the Hunter Valley area of New South Wales. Descendants of the Wonnarua are encouraged to give their family details to build the tree. Saturday, 8th June. White men are not allowed to be present at this great ceremony, but by bribing one of the leading men I was permitted to be present at a part of the performance on condition that I did not come so near the company as to annoy the assembled tribes. Responsibility . The men seem to have been attacked singly and in open daylight. These arrivals generally take place in the afternoon a few hours before sundown. A row of fires are lit in front of this shelter, and beyond these fires the surface of the ground is cleared of all loose rubbish and grass for a distance of several yards, the rubbish forming a sort of embankment around the farther side of the cleared space. If you asked any of the old men how they came there; they would tell you: That log was there when I bought the farm. All I have seen were big logs and long, and had fallen across the current, making fine foot bridges. Mathews, R.H. 1897. (HEC). "There's differing views and that can even be related to heritage.". Before doing so, however, I peered into it and saw only a piece of rock crystal. When these leaves get dry, it will be considered about time to bring the boys back to the Kweealbang. As soon as the guardians, novices, and the contingent who follow them are out of sight of the kackaroo, the covering is taken off the women by the men who have charge of them, and they are permitted to rise. The men at Port Stephens did not employ this method the toe-hold affording them all the assistance necessary. P.S. They went into the water-hole one after the other, and came out in the same way. Creating a family tree on Microsoft word is simple and straightforward. river was deep in those days), and would climb along a steep bank hanging on by the skin of their teeth. The men help each other at this work, until every man and boy present have been painted white all over their bodies. He more than anyone, seemed to enjoy the joke best. This proved to be the case. But very seldom did they eat them raw. Meaning people of the hills and plains, the Wonnarua were bounded to the south by the Darkinjung, to the northwest by the Nganyaywana, to the northeast by the Awabakal, and to the southeast by the Worimi peoples. The Blacks of Dungog, Port Stephens and Gresford. Robert S Fuller et al, The Astronomy of the Kamilaroi People and their Neighbours, 12. https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Baiame&oldid=1103216289, This page was last edited on 8 August 2022, at 21:04. The Earliest Inhabitants - Aboriginal Tribes of the District. By Lauren Hubbard Published: Feb 27, 2023. The stripping operation was carried out with an exact judgment, lines being cut cross- wise with a tomahawk around and across the tree so that the section removed would be of the required size and shape. 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