Illustration from Notes on the Aborigines of New South Wales - Plate 9 Bull-roarers used by the Australian Aborigines source: Wikicommons. The guardians also throw pieces of bark over the heads of the women. To-day looking on this quiet and peaceful scene it is hard to believe that where one stand was enacted one of those terrible tragedies that unfortunately too often happened in the early days when the white pioneers were taking up the land and outsing the primitive aboriginals from their hunting grounds. This only lasts a few minutes and then all the men follow after the novices. They [the Gringai] are afraid of Coen, an evil spirit of the woods, which they say crammer (steals) them when they are nangry (asleep). Their contact experiences with the white men were less violent than for other groups who inhabited the banks of the Hunter River. About this fire, and in lines radiating from the centre like spokes of a wheel, were a number of naked blacks, their heads bowed to the earth. It was their only bridge, and all their children went to school over it. When the fumigating of the men and novices has been completed the women go away to their camp, which is close by, and the men proceed to theirsthe married men joining their wives later on. Australian Indigenous family. Removing the scales was, of course, never thought of. The Blacks of Dungog, Port Stephens and Gresford. . When the Wonnarua see the wedge tailed eagle, they know Kawal is looking over them, protecting them. . These stems are roasted, and eaten by the Aborigines, who cut them for this purpose when they are about a foot and a half high, and thicker than a mans arm. [The] vessels enabled many a meal to be obtained by the fisherwomen when the great schools of fish were not in evidence. But he was about somewhereintangible and dread- conveying. Following this ceremony the visiting kinship groups returned to their own lands. Around Dungog the blacks believed when a man became ill with a wasting sick- ness, that one of these medicine-men had crept in under cover of darkness and. 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 men of the tribe, armed with spears, boomerangs and throwing-sticks, would seek out a certain spot where it was known the kangaroos could be found at a particular period. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer). 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 journey towards the kweealbang (fire place) is now resumed, all hands starting away from the water-hole in single file; and on going a short distance they are again met by the Keerang, who salute them in the same manner as before, and then return to the kweealbang, alnd report that the novices will shortly arrive. Oral history tells us that by 1840 the natural food supplies were almost exhausted. Then he came forward to the fire no one speaking to him, nor apparently looking at him. The Wonnarua people are the traditional land owners of the Singleton area and their lands extend throughout the Hunter Valley and have occupied the Upper Hunter for at least 30,000 years, with traditional knowledge holding that occupation extends back to the early stages of the Dreaming. By working the cords the wood was made to revolve rapidly, giving out the noise that gladdened their young hearts. Wildlife dwindled. News - significant events and disasters. white stone to be carried back to the headman who sent him. . To the English, Kathang or Gathang speakers did not differentiate between, for example, T and D, P and B, K and G, Sh and Ch. After his sentence was completed in Newcastle in 1817 he lived in Sydney selling watercolour illustrations of natural history subjects and of the Aborigines. What struck him was the wonderful time they kept, and their singing at the end of every performance. The women then step out of the ring, and stand a few yards from it, where they remain till the conclusion of the performance. And, no matter where he deposited his store, nor how many knew of its existence, the weapons were never touched again until the owner removed them. If the earth is damp, owing to recent rains, pieces of bark stripped from the adjacent trees, or heaps of bushes, are laid on the ground for the women to lie on. The lads of the tribe were my playfellows. to retire to the river he did not notice that a badly wounded man was left on the field, until he saw a Wallamba man rush out of the scrub and kill him with a nullah. When asked by the manager why he did such a thing the Wallamba man said, I finis him, and ran off again and thus ended the battle of Gloucester, which after all appears to have been a battle of words and much abuse, and not much else. Meanwhile a strong body of settlers from the Williams and Allen Rivers struck out to the north-west, ascending the Williams and Chichester Rivers. Some of the old men go round to see that the food for the novices is prepared according to rule, and when it is ready the guardians carry it to them. Figure 11: The various tree-markings described. Turning my horse I rode quietly around the hill and up its side opposite from the camp. They were immediately followed by the hosts, each of whom carried green bushes in their hands. Mary Gilmore and her father saw the blacks get one of these logs in place. . They did not do much work, but would catch fish or get game for a bit of nulli (bread). The white people who recorded the language had no linguistic training, and little appreciation of the difficulties of translating between two disparate cultures. During the day-time the novices are sometimes allowed to sit up, keeping their eyes towards the ground, but are not allowed to speak to anyone. All these pantomimic representations are largely mixed with abominable and obscene gestures. Attention: This site does not support the current version of your web browser. This exhibition featured a selection of the Museums collections from the Southern Highlands, Eastern Highlands and Western Highlands, including a variety of human hair wigs, feathered headdress, judge wigs, shells woven aprons and shell forehead ornaments. Company first established itself on the shores of the harbor. On the Main Creek, somewhere in the region of Mr. Gams timber mill, there is a stone standing on end, bending down hill. As in fact they did at Wattenbakh, on the Barrington River, where they killed seven of the shepherds. Billy Barlow once explained to me how this remarkable marking was done. The first thing that I saw when our party came up with the black camp, was the deceased speared; he was armed with a fowling piece; he stood a little in front of his party, and I saw the spear thrown at him from the left, which struck him under the shoulder blade; there was only one black man on his left side; the deceased plucked out the spear, and followed the black who had speared him; he was assisted by two others of the party in the chase, and they captured him about a quarter of a mile off. The [deceaseds] father and mother stayed for some days by the grave, making the top of it their bed; the mother never left it for some days after, and was found dead by a relation at the place, the cause being undoubtedly grief. Baime awoke and created everything, the mountains, plains, rivers and every living thing. Strangely enough neither men nor women adorned themselves with ornaments of any description, being content to present themselves to the world as Nature so fashioned them. [Coen] delighted in tormenting and carrying them away when he could get opportunities. If the ground is wet and cold, pieces of bark are spread upon it for the women to lie upon. Note the construction of the canoe, and the fact that the man stands and the woman sits. The Kabook and Watoo people are West and South bordering the Wonnarura area. The spelling is as was recorded by the various sources. They were fond, too, of pets, for the place was always alive with parrots, bears, opossums, squirrels, kangaroo rats and bandicoots that had been caught in the bush and tamed to the domesticity of camplife. The two men now separate, one going round one side, and one round the other, and again meet at the entrance of the goonambang, where they stand and dance, shaking their boughs and boomerangs for a brief period. The Port Stephens blacks : recollections of William Scott (National Library of Australia) (SCO), The journal of Charles Boydel (State Library of NSW) (CBJ). When the grave, which was very neatly dug with the rudest implements, was considered to be of sufficient depth a man got into it and tried it by lying down at full length. The site is listed on the Register of the National Estate and is considered a sacred site. A newly releasedindependent heritage review commissioned by the NSW Department of Planning as part of its assessment for the mine extension determined the Ravensworth Estate was "likely to meet the threshold for state heritage significance for its historical heritage value". On the floor of the canoe, usually at the stern, there would be the inevitable mound of clay, the floating fireplace. A. These tasty morsels were shaped like tiny puddings, and when ripe would be eaten raw. The women at the camp, on hearing this, assemble at the kackaroo, and begin to sing and beat their rugs, and some of them dance. Figure 8: A sketch of a bora ground near Gloucester, showing the position of the two rings 18 chains or 362 metres apart. The fishing line was called ylrra- warn, and the hook pirrewuy. Some of the hooks were fashioned of bone after the primitive style, but they usually preferred the hooks that my father was able to supply. long, having at the narrow end another piece of hardwood, about. The adjoining parish, Belbora (correctly Baal Bora) owes its name to the tragedy. [11] As at 2009, the Wonnarua Nation Aboriginal Corporation (WNAC) had three arrangements in place under Native Title and was planning to develop more. Two young Blacks who made a nuisance of themselves by continually begging for food at a certain accommodation house on Fosterton Road, were easily disposed of a little poison was put in their food. Conclusion.-The following day, the strange tribes begin to disperse, and start away on their return journey to the districts from which they have come. One of the keerang now goes and meets the men and novices -who may be distinguished as the white mob - who are by this time waiting just out of sight, and tells them that everything is ready. The Australian Museum respects and acknowledges the Gadigalpeople as the FirstPeoples and Traditional Custodians of the land andwaterways on which theMuseumstands. We must remember that the majority of these men were convicts and assigned as servants to the settlers or squatters, as they were more generally termed, Some of these assigned men were undoubtedly of a very depraved nature, . We help make that possible with the FamilySearch Family Tree, the world's largest online family treehome to information about more than 1.2 billion ancestors. An document named Vocabulary of the Upper Allyn Blacks author unknown circa 1845 State Library of New South Wales (VAR). The Australian Museum strives to provide First Nation communities with information in an accessible form, about the cultural objects After being prepared by their families, the boys were now ready to experience the transition from boyhood to manhood. The attack on the solitary shepherds was tragically successful and five fell victims to the vengeance of the natives,. Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, 26: 320-340. The end piece, comprising the barb, or pointed tip, was affixed to the main shaft very skilfully, con- sidering that the hole for its recep- tion had to be bored with a piece of hard-wood, twirled between the hands, the best substitute for an auger procurable. My clan group concentrated along the Allen and Paterson Rivers and stretched over towards St Clair and the Singleton District. They ascended the lofty Mackenzie Table land and located the first body of fugitive natives camped on the northern face of the mountain on a narrow shelf above a gigantic cliff which overhung a tangled mass of brush and vines. Each lad approached his mother, or in default, his nearest female relative, and kneeling before her simulated the act of suckling nourishment from her breasts; this it being explained to us later, signifying the putting aside for ever of all childish things. It wrought great havoc, the mortality being exceedingly heavy. They saw some of it. The children, even from the tenderest years, appeared to have appetites as voracious as their elders. He then jumped his wedges and thus held them prisoners, and then knocked them all on the head with his maul and killed them. The Tribal group I belong to are known as the Gringai Clan and are a part of the Wonnarua people in general. This was carefully secured, taken out into the bay, and, with great solemnity, committed to the deep. The first is, the Gringai are mentioned as occupying the headwaters of the Allyn, Paterson, Williams and Chichester rivers, as well as, according to Scott, the lower reaches of the Hunter and Karuah rivers. The men of one tribe dance one evening - their women beating time for them; the next night the men and women of another tribe provide the evenings amusement. These quartz crystals are believed to be the excrement of [Ko-en]. Women were not allowed to see drawings of Baiame nor approach Baiame sites, which are often male initiation sites (boras). When all is ready, some of the old men who are assisting the women give a signal, and the gupardians and novices approach the kweealbang. 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. . %%EOF The juvenile males of this (the Dungog) tribe were, from the age of about twelve to eighteen, allowed to accompany their parents and friends in hunting excursions, and assisted in the incidental fagging necessary about the camps. The women then assemble at the kweealbang fire, and assist the men to cut bark and bushes, which are laid in a ring round the fire ready for use by and bye. Their traditional territory spreads from the Upper Hunter River, near Maitland west to the Great Dividing Range, towards Wollombi. Nothing would be said to the women about these proceedings until the time arrived for making a start for the place of meeting. 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. A cord, made of possum hair, was passed around his body a couple of times, the ends being held by the woman who knelt on the ground, leaning over the little canoe of water. In th e endurance of pain the blackfellow Invariably exhibited the most surprising fortitude. established a heifer station at Bakers Creek, twelve miles north-east of Gloucester, now known as Upper Ghangat. Tho leader, scanning the. The Wonnarua. We arrived at 4 p.m. and found Messrs. Jenkin and Swayne had returned from Lawlers and had found the whole flock of sheep, missing and all the people much scared. The bushes which had previously been laid round the fire are now thrown upon it. . YES, there is a family tree template on Word. The Blacks of Dungog, Port Stephens and Gresford. L. E. Threlkeld. Ms Ley said a decision on the application would be made "in the near future". Mr. McKenzie was, some four months later, accidentally killed fell off his horse while crossing the Cobark River opposite the reserve above Cobark House and his remains rest on a grassy knoll close by. Around the Manning River basin, there were reports of waterholes and gifts of food being laced with arsenic known as The Harmony so the jungle of the Barrington became a refuge for Aboriginal people. Can you list the top facts and stats about Wonnarua? Dungog Chronicle : Durham and Gloucester Advertiser (NSW : 1894 - 1954) Tue 23 Aug 1927 Page 6 MURDER BY BLACKS. The whites also got them to rob bees nests. Gordon Bennett (reprinted 1964) p8. If an officers command were directed to proceed thither to scour the bush for a few days and, if possible, capture the offenders, for whose apprehension the Magistrates warrant was granted, it would have a good effect, by striking terror into the savage mind. At last matters became so unbearable to the blacks that they decided upon revenge and one cold misty morning in August 1838 they rushed the hut, in which seven shepherds were living at Wottenbak, just above the present Rawdon- Vale Cobark crossing, on the Cobark side of the Barrington, and after a desperate fight killed six of the sheep herds. The men at the goonambang had already been informed that the boombits were on their way. He did not own the land, the land owned him.. A. Co. had established an out cattle station at Upper Ganghut a heifer run, in charge of [which were a few of] their assigned servants. These men, armed with their boomerangs and nulla-nullas, then start towards the kackaroo, some of them taking up their position on one side of the ring, and some on the other, but the majority of them stand near the front of it-that is, on the side from which the path emerges. The ceremonial break from their mothers signified the first step towards manhood, it was the beginning of an event that would make them spiritually as well as physically different from women. As with all aspects of Aboriginal history in the Hunter Region, evidence relating to diet is almost exclusively related to the coastal areas. He did not own the land, the land owned him. The blacks attack on Kiripit homestead was averted by the merest accident. The shafts of the spears were made of various hardwood, scraped carefully to the required thickness with shells or pieces of broken bot- tles. Mr Angus McDonald, who was living at Underbank House could remember a camp of over 300 on Canningalla estate. We would like to acknowledge the Wonnarua people who are the traditional custodians of this land. Hence the name Baal Belbora. and the only cessation was when all burst into screams of laughter. The result was deadly to the natives. Birds and fish, however, were cooked by being plastered with mud and placed amid hot coals or in a hole packed with heated stones. This would take out the sap and render the wood reasonably soft for application of the tools used as scrapers. After a great deal of fuss the men announced that they would make an- other attempt to find the poomblts, and to the accompaniment of clashing spears and hoarse shoutings, dashed out into the screen of bushes again. The Valley was always there. ^ Vz"*+J )dEHgBH]n]L359YbF1yV8(eatI'o The fashioning of these prongs was an important piece of work. Many textiles reflect the traditional methods of production, design and use. In response to the PCWP's application for Aboriginal heritage protection, she appointed an independent anthropologist to prepare a wide-ranging report. All rights reserved. The hull of the little vessel was made of a single sheet of bark of the stringy-bark (punnah) tree, obtained from a tall, straight clean bole. It is sometimes suggested that Baiame was a construct of early Christian missionaries, but K Langloh Parker dated belief in Baiame to (at latest) 1830, prior to missionary activity in the region. 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. Two days prior to this, while in the Jerrys Plains area, Cunningham had noted Exocarpus [Native Cherry] and Sterculia heterophyllus [Kurrajong - NSW Herbarium] appearing in every part of the Forest. Bring to life your familys history by exploring the lives of those that came before you. 02 6571 1199, email [citation needed], It was forbidden to mention or talk about the name of Baiame publicly. In an article The Kattang, (kutthung) or Worimi: An Aboriginal Tribe by W. J Enright March 1932 Mankind p. 76) [Enright states]. . The tail of a squirrel or opossum has previously been fastened on the side of this hole by one of the men, unknown to the boys, to convey the idea that the rest of the animal is within. There is none left now of the populous tribe that once inhabited the district, and the sole surviving relic, poor, unfortunate Brandy passed to the care of the great spirit, Coen, more than fifteen years ago. Just as the t in tinko was turned into d in dingo so the t in Tugag became d, and the nasality of the final g being dropped the word became Dungag and Dungog. Name (required) A canoe-shaped vessel of bark a couple of feet long, was half filled with water and placed near him. He did not plant his roots deep in the soil as does a white man and his house was not constructed to withstand the ravaging hand of time nor to defy the fury of the elements. [3], On 5 September 1995, descendants of Sara Madoo, a traditional custodian of the Wonnarua lands, passed the Federal Court registration test of native title claims, pursuant to Native Title Act 1993 (Cth) s190A. It was an oval- shaped piece of hardwood some two feet wide having a hand-grip on the back made of a length of vine affixed In holes made for the purpose. . They would treat him hospitably, and talk with him about general matters of tribal interest. As soon as [Macarty] re-crossed the creek he let out another yell and the fight began again. The rugs are now taken off the women, and the mothers are called up first, after which the other women are permitted to rise. National Native Title Council chief executiveJamie Lowe said lessons could be taken from the Juukan Gorge final report when assessing Aboriginal cultural heritage. Moffatt sent me a letter from Major Sullivan complaining of one of the Companys servant[s] (as is supposed) having come to his farm fired at some blacks in a camp close to his house, and taken away one of their [women]. If he wants to micturate, the guardian leads him out to the fire, and he micturates in the ashes. The word Guringai/Gringai has no connection to the Aborigines of northern Sydney. Black Jack Macarty, another native who had some authority let out a terrible yell and the fight stopped for a while. Then they advance a few paces, and stamp one foot on the ground, and the hosts answer heh! As a boy I got a great fright when working on the flat at Irwins, a lot of natives in war paint and carrying their arms came suddenly on me. Dungog Chronicle : Durham and Gloucester Advertiser (NSW : 1894 - 1954) Fri 2 Nov 1945 Page 1 THE BLACKS. The Australian Museum has one of the worlds most-significant Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander collections, with artworks, technologies and cultural material representing First Nations communities from across Australia. The spirit of Kawal is embodied in the wedge tailed eagle, found throughout the Hunter Valley. When the camp became go noisome that even the accustomed noses of the inhabitants revolted, the tribe would move in a body to another site, distant beyond [the] smell of the old homes. This proved to be the case. Toys were designed to amuse and educate children, and also to prepare them for adulthood. The boomerang, a weapon universal throughout Australia among aboriginal tribes, naturally held a prominent place In the communal arsenal. [6], This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. News travelled slowly in those far-off days of 1838/39 from this then remote settlement, but as time went on most exaggerated reports began to filter in and reach the authorities in Newcastle and Sydney. If it is intended to erect the camp only a little way off, the pole is short; but if the new camp is some distance away, the pole is long. The Wonnarua Nation Aboriginal Corporation was established in 1999 and represents the Wonnarua people. grease. The men beleaguered in the hut were driven to dire straits, and as a last resource mixed arsenic in dampers and placed them where the natives had easy access to them. Kabooks. It is laid on pieces of bark, and each boy has to eat the share which is allotted to him by the headmen. Some of the English has been edited to modern equivalents, for example, Jew-Lizard becomes Eastern Water Dragon. The mia-mias of these rude aborigines were of the most primitive description, being merely a few sheets of bark placed against a convenient log, or bushes roughly planted alongside some huge forest giant. Company despatched their small body of veterans time-expired soldiers from Carrington to supplement the civilians, but the soldiers never reached the scene of operations, having halted and retired when within 6 miles of the station, fearing an ambush, leaving the decision to the two civilian bodies, who enacted a terrible vengeance. Mustering the Tribes.-When it is found that there are a sufficient number of boys old enough for initiation, the head-man of the tribe whose turn it is to call the. Dungog is a corruption of Toongang, the blacks name for the locality [that] means bare hill.. English thesaurus is mainly derived from The Integral Dictionary (TID). Swiftly punitive bands were organised to hunt them down. Vinnimmbe (1980:Table 3 ) lists an extensive array of plants occurring around Brisbane Water of which a number are known to have been eaten, and indicates their seasonal avail- ability.

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