or four more did the same, some most viciously, while others seemed to think a little of that sort of thing went a great way. The men invariably carried their tomahawks In their belts, and a piece of grass- tree gum, which latter seemed to be an indispensable part of their equipment This exudation of the pummirri had so many uses that no blackfellow could be without his supply ready at hand. provided seeds suitable for grinding and baking into seed cakes (McBryde 1976:65), as may the kind of oat-grass seen by Cunningham (Joumal 7/5/1823 ) in the upper Goulburn Valley. They had to fend for themselves. in that locality. 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. About the early part of the year 1835, when the Rawden Bros, held all the country from Cobakh (Cobark) to Berrico, under the management of the late L. McKenzie, the whole run was then known as Kerripit (kangaroo rat), taking the name from the mountain at Rawdon Vale. When the kangaroos came hopping along, a cloud of spears and purrahmirre. In the centre of this circle there was a fire of moderate dimensions and attended to by one of the men. All the armed men who are standing round, make a noise by beating together two boomerangs, or any two weapons which they may happen to have with them. up in the smoke, the men raise a guttural shout, and the women wave their arms up and down. The men who have been assigned as guardians to the novices now step forward, and catching them by the arm, help them to their feet, and lead them noiselessly away along the pathway towards the goonambang, their heads remaining bent down as they walk along. I think 1838 would be nearer the mark. 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. He then gave the people their laws of life, traditions, songs, and culture. Hall and the soldiers were, I sent him a note to desire him to meet us at Hendersons to-night, unless he had correct information elsewhere. One of them had the spear sticking in him until extracted in my stockyard. They never seemed to tire of the diet, and the schools of mullet yielded them more than enough for their wants during the period they would be in the harbor. 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. who fully believed in an after existence, and told me many curious and interesting legends, especially one relating to the stars. The fish spear (tutti) was .made In three distinct parts. Ceremonies in the Bush. The Gloucester Advocate 22 March 1935. The Wonnarua. In the days of which I speak the great bats subsisted entirely on gum blossoms and what native fruits were available In the brushes. Family tree diagrams have the same basic design. People sometimes refer to family trees as genealogical trees. Indeed the men would never discuss them at all. One in particular was situated near the Allyn River not far from the town the white man now calls Gresford. After performing Divine service in the forenoon, I left Mr. White to do so in the afternoon, and set off at 2, accompanied by Captain Moffatt for Tellighary, where we arrived at little past five, and slept , there there that night. What the first settlers also brought with them were a wide range of European diseases, to which the locals had no immunity, resulting in what in other parts of the world has been called conquest by disease. The illustration above, Broken Bay [Hawkesbury RIver]Jemmy. Mr. McKenzie, a son-in-law of Mr. John Rawden was the first manager and no doubt he had many difficulties to contend with, one of his chief troubles being caused by his employees, almost all of whom were assigned servants (convicts), many being hardened criminals. Now such doings as have been reported of Mr F t (and I can prove that on one occasion lately he said in presence of some white people, when a poor blackfellow came and insisted on taking home his wife, that he would not give her up although the Governor himself came in person and ordered it). The marsupials ran in large mobs, easily driven by the nimble natives to a point where waiting groups could spear them with ease. The headmen are walking about directing the proceedings, being sometimes in the ring, and sometimes outside of it. After the novices have been shown the goonambang, and all the marked trees around it, they are next taken away by their guardians and the old men, several miles into the bush, to a camp called keelaybang (urinating place). You have reached the end of the main content. I believe the blacks had a story about them, but I do not know it. Their appearance certainly gave every indication of the justice of this claim for them. Altitude 5360 feet the highest point between Kosciusko and Mount Lindsay. ?D*1q4"'7fw +3k I |`! The root of the problem lies in what the first settlers brought with them their assumption that the Aborigines would all speak the same language, their belief the Aborigines lacked any cultural complexity and a failure to come to grips with the people they encountered. Mary Gilmore and her father saw the blacks get one of these logs in place. Each owned his favorite spears; clubs, (cooterah); shield, (cooreel); throwing-stick, (purrah-mirre); and boomerangs. The Keeparra Ceremony of Initiation. James Miller, the author of Koori: A Will to Win, writes an ancestor was from Eccleston, and regards himself as Wonnarua. These two massacres are said to have taken about two hundred lives and the natives were still being pursued towards the Upper Arundel from where they could escape into The Falls Country. Visitors to this website should be aware that some materials may use language that is offensive or sensitive. bUB 3H LB[ *Lzp+Fi= The gaps between the ties of the vines at stem and stern would be plugged with clay, so skilfully introduced that the whole craft would be absolutely watertight. Examination of Rodwell continuedit was not more than a minute after we came up to their camp, that the blacks threw their spears, and boomarings at us; they attacked us without any provocation on our part; after they threw their spears, four or five shots were fired from our party; I fired, and the deceased fired also I think at the man who wounded him ; the blacks still continued to throw their spears at us after they had wounded the deceased; Flynn pulled out the spear first, then discharged his fowling piece, and followed the prisoner; the deceased called out to me that he had been speared, and pointed to the black who had speared him; I afterwards took off Flynns shirt, and examined the wound ; the wound bled very little; I did not think it a dangerous one; the deceased did not complain of much pain; he walked the first day after he had received the wound, I should think 13 or 14 miles; on the next day he walked to the Courthouse at Williams River, which was about eight miles distance ; on the following morning he left the Courthouse to go to the General Hospital at Newcastle, but on the way I heard that he was taken ill, and conveyed by one of the drays of the Australian Agricultural Company to. The district blacks were collected in a cluster of saplings on the opposite ridge in full view of the execution. First, the mothers of the boys are set free - then the sisters - and lastly, the other women and children are uncovered. These blacks were in the habit of going to the huts for tucker, and probably the hutkeeper thought that they were too much of a nuisance so he poisoned the flour and gave it to them, causing them to die in terrible agony. SmartDraw's family tree template starts you with a basic family structure already on the page. Some had straight, long shafts tipped with pointed bone, either of fish or animal; others were pointed and barbed. ^ Vz"*+J )dEHgBH]n]L359YbF1yV8(eatI'o 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. Fanny implored us to maintain silence about the find, her perturbation being so intense and impressing us so strongly, that we never mentioned the matter afterwards. Saturday, 8th June. One subject that has interested me for years is the way big- logs were across the Williams River; one, and often two, on each of the smaller farms. In this way they were deliciously cooked, and indeed the doctor relates that he frequently dealt with his own game and fish in this manner. They liked noise. |Last modifications, Copyright 2000-2022 sensagent Corporation: Online Encyclopedia, Thesaurus, Dictionary definitions and more. As I have said before, life was a joke, and the more laughter they could crowd into it the merrier passed the days. Little trouble was taken over their preparation, it seeming to be a point of practice to scorch feathers and flesh into a delectable outer covering One of the most fancied foods was the flying-fox (kundewung), and great was the excitement that prevailed when these creatures were about. It is today difficult to ascertain what actually happened at the climax of the ceremony, but the spiritual experience was to be impregnated in the memories of these young boys until their final return to the spirit world. The inner part, the inside of the craft, would of course be the naturally smooth sappy portion. Ironically, it is directly above Baime cave where Europeans first viewed the Upper Hunter, led from Sydney by a tracker from the Wonnarua tribe. The flesh was cut with a little sharp stone, and then the black so operated upon would lie out in the sun. was open to attack from the Wallamba and Cape Hawke blacks [who] raided the run and speared the stock, driving many of the cattle [to the]unknown brushy headwaters of the Myall and Crowford to Bundbach, on the northern shores of Port Stephens. Many of these objects are on display in our First Nations galleries, Garrigarrang and Bayala Nura. But they seldom did this In the presence of the women. Figure 3: Richard Browne (17711824). The second, which Mr Bennett seemingly refers to under Captain Reynolds, is apparently that expedition which led up to the encounter on Browns Creek, Wallamba, in which the whites were so decidedly worsted, that the locality of the encounter in question yet bears the name of Waterloo. . Some time ago I despatched two of the Mounted Police to put in force a warrant issued by Mr G. Rowley, J.P, against three black fellows who assaulted and beat a man in charge of sheep who endeavoured to protect his masters property ; but these sable thieves being apprised of the troopers approach collected to the number of thirty or forty, and having amongst them at least a dozen muskets and plenty of ammunition, which the settlers most improperly [supplied them], they resisted and the soldiers were fain to retreat, which they did with much difficulty, not until several shots were exchanged, the troopers cartridge box wrenched from his person, and his arm wounded with a tomahawk. Snakes were greatly esteemed by our epicurean friends, their flesh, when roasted, being beautifully white and apparently very tasty. They are generally listed as clan of the Worrimi people, though the Wonnarua Strategic Plan lists the Gringai of Gresford as Wonnarua. The Blacks of Dungog, Port Stephens and Gresford. We have over a billion unique profiles in our tree, and growing. On the north, the Manning for some distance bounded this territory and they occupied the country as far west as the Barrington Tops, which, according to the old residents of the Upper Allyn River, they visited in summer time. 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. Check out the What's On calendar of events, workshops and school holiday programs. The web service Alexandria is granted from Memodata for the Ebay search. Thank you for reading. Note the way the dilli-bag is slung. Our Clan occupied the valleys year-round, visiting the plateaus in spring and summer to gather food. In the far- off days of the first decade of the nineteenth century, the locality that we know as Dungog was called by its primitive inhabitants Tunkok or Tungog, both of which words mean, in the Awabakal dialect, the place of thinly wooded hills. The section of the tree intended to be used for the purpose was first shaped in the rough and then put In the sea water for a lengthy period until the sap had gone and the tissue toughened. This was the Gringai tribe, a sub-branch of numerous native people that once inhabited the lower portions of the Hunter and Karuah river valleys. The fish after being cleaned appeared as though, it had just come out of the water. Oral history tells us that by 1840 the natural food supplies were almost exhausted. An astounding example is a 13 million-person family tree created by scientists. We actively repatriate material from our collections to Indigenous cultural centres and keeping places, and collaborate directly with communities to return significant cultural objects and ancestral remains to their places of origin. What the guardian said, the boombits (initiates) believed. William Manton, of Karuah, informed us that Kattang with a different twang was spoken at Dungog. The back of this shelter is towards the womens camp. One man, Green, escaped to Underbank after a flight of over 25 miles; the last spear was thrown almost in sight of Underbank House. This cleared space and its adjuncts is called kweealbang (fire place, or place of the fire). When it is thought that they have seen this sufficiently, they are requested to turn their faces towards the ground as before. Just as preparations were being made for a continuation of the rites, some of the strange blacks raised an objection to my being present with a gun, for I had with me a small sixteen-bore fowling piece I Invariably carried on my excursions in the bush. In the early days of the settlement they had not come into very close contact with civilisation and he speaks of them as refusing to eat bread when it was offered to them. Everything was sleeping. The diameters of this oval space were 28 feet and 20 feet respectively, being smaller than the oval near the camp. We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Australians and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we live, learn, and work. In my days they had progressed beyond the stage when they used the old stone tool, The tomahawk of the early days was a good deal different from the one in common use now. They will recreate to turn it into a cultural centre that will sustain and strengthen their community and they are pursuing reclamation and recreation of language, material culture, art, family and public history . The Wonnarua people's traditional lands are located in the Hunter Valley area of New South Wales. 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. Some are said to have survived the operation for three days. These men were employed as shepherds and whenever they got a chance practised almost unbelievable cruelties on the blacks, but stealing the black women was the most serious in the eyes of the aborigines. It was confidently believed that the pain would leave the mans body by way of the cord ahd passing down with the blood from the womans mouth, dissipate Itself in the water. The Australian Museum respects and acknowledges the Gadigalpeople as the FirstPeoples and TraditionalCustodians ofthe land and waterways on which theMuseumstands. These were called cumiml, and varied considerably in size and construction according to the purpose for which they were designed. The mother of each novice, before leaving the kackaroo, picks some small green bushes, which she ties on the top end of her yamstick. Since the receipt of Mr Cooks instructions to me respecting the black in question I have had no opportunity of making further enquiries about him, but I take it for granted if he did not reach Sydney he must have effected his escape or is in Newcastle gaol. "We go through the normal processes of applying for funding if there's funding available, doesn't matter if it's from Glencore, Yancoal or Mach Energy.". Baime has his arms stretched open protecting the Valley. [8], A range of alternate names for the Wonnarua people are Wanaruah, Wanaruwa, Wonnuaruah, Wannerawa, Wonarura, and Wonnahare. "I'm just sad that such a beautiful area like the Hunter Valley is going to be turned into an unliveable landscape, ultimately, by the scourge of mining," Mr Franks said. Bark was then carefully placed over the body. When within six miles of the station Pumpkin Creek the soldiers refused to proceed further, fearing an ambush. A troop of painted savages would bound into the magic circle, and prancing about and clash, ing thelir spears, would announce in hoarse tones that they could not find the poomblts, (the boys who were being initiated). After this visit of the keerang the novices are allowed greater liberty, being permitted to sit up straight in the camp, and occasionally to stand. When the boys have been sufficiently smoked, their guardians take them away, and they are followed by the other men for about 100 yards. When Europeans settled in the Gloucester-Manning area in the 1820s and 1830s, the Aboriginal people lost their homelands to logging, clearing and livestock. I would respectfully call on His Excellency for instructions how to proceed that such evil and improper conduct may be speedily checked and further evil prevented. Scott identifies the mob at the North Shore of Port Stephens as Gringai, in an area Miller clearly identifies as Worrimi. From this circle, the yuppang (pathway) stretched 550 paces to the goonambang (excrement place). The novices are then lifted up in the mens arms, two or three men, including the guardian, to each boy, who advance and stand on the green bushes, which by this time are emitting a dense smoke, which ascends round the men and boys. The Wonnarua people's traditional lands are located in the Hunter Valley area of New South Wales. As the boys took this symbolic leave of their mothers, the ceremony geared towards its climax. The men at the goonambang had already been informed that the boombits were on their way. The apron was probably a European conceit. By some unerring instinct the blacks knew to within a day when the first of the great shoals would appear through the heads. At the given signal the men would dash into the water until up to their mid. Thomas Rodwell being sworn, saidI am a free man residing at Mr. Mackenzies establishment at Williams River; Mr. M. is resident magistrate there; on a Thursday morning in April, about two oclock, I was awoke by two of Mr. Archibald Mossmans men, who informed me on the previous night they had been attacked by a party of blacks, and that they expected before they returned to the station, the remainder of the men there would be murdered by them; the distance between the two stations, is about seven miles; I acquainted Mr. M. of the circumstance, and he gave me some arms and ammunition, and told me if I could find any men on his or Mr. Mossmans stations, to take them with me, and apprehend two or three of the depredaters; I mustered seven stand of arms and ammunition; I and the two men, who came with the information there, went to Mr. Mossmans, where we obtained six other men, making in the whole party nine persons, all of whom were armed save two, and we then went to the blacks camp, which was about two miles from Mr. Mossmans station [on the opposite bank of present day Seaham], near a small creek; when we arrived there, we saw about 20 black men; we divided ourselves into two parties; a blackboy, called Lumpy, who we took with us, pointed out the blacks to us; we had seven stand of arms, which we did not conceal from the blacks; the deceased John Flynn, was not in the same party with me, but both parties were to meet before we went up to the blacks, with whom we intended to speak peaceably. By working the cords the wood was made to revolve rapidly, giving out the noise that gladdened their young hearts. Excellence, E: [email protected]. The Port Stephens blacks : recollections of William Scott (National Library of Australia) (SCO), The journal of Charles Boydel (State Library of NSW) (CBJ). After the novices have been about a week at the keelaybang another mob of men from the womens camp make their appearance during the afternoon. Fame Cove was taboo after the sun had fallen, and no native would linger in that vicinity when the shadows began to lengthen. 17.- half-caste lads are generally murdered always I believe. Naturally there was someone or other among them who had a striking physical peculiarity, either an over-emphasised feature, a deformity, a trick of gait or speech common to himself. The manner in which the Grlngai communicated their movements to following friends was noteworthy. Silently and surely they laid their plans and long ere the dawn of day the sleeping camp was encircled from cliff edge to cliff edge. . Mr. Irwin remembers a spotted gum ridge on which all the trees were marked. The Earliest Inhabitants - Aboriginal Tribes of the District. If these people, after deliberation among themselves, decide to accept the invitation, they give the messenger another. They are generally listed as clan of the Worrimi people, though the Wonnarua Strategic Plan lists the Gringai of Gresford as Wonnarua. The main shaft was the dried stem of the gigantic lily (pooloongearn), and into this was fitted a secondary portion, a part of the dried flower stem of the grass tree (pummirri). . Dungog was the ultimate limit of settlement for ten years or more. Get XML access to reach the best products. Turning their attention from the cattle raid, the blacks attacked the hut where the A. . The animal or bird representing the respective totem is of course sacred to the particular person to whom it belongs, and though he may not kill or eat it, those in other groups are free to do so. In a hollow fork I discovered one of these mystery bags. At this stage the coverings were removed from the women, all of whom were covered in perspiration, as much the sweat of fear probably as of the heat of the day. The markings as those who have seen the figures of early-day blacks will know when finalised were quite a white and weird color. Dungog Chronicle and Gloucester Advertiser - Peep Into the Past March 24, 1932. The language spoken around Newcastle and Lake Macquarie called by the aborigines Awaaba was much the same, and the whole language was named Kurring-gai by some, and Awaabakal by others. After these singular appetisers, the chief would throw the carcase on the fire and leave the game to cook. A complete guide to the Duttons, from 1883 to Yellowstone. You can use this to build on. After being prepared by their families, the boys were now ready to experience the transition from boyhood to manhood. The other men then go and pick up the bushes thrown down by the keerang, and pull the leaves off them, making a continuous grunting, noise while so employed. The shouts of the surrounding party often makes him drop his burden; otherwise he conveys them to his fireplace in the bush where he deposits his load close to the fire.

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