The Wurundjeri
The aborigines who once inhabited the area of Doncaster and Templestowe belonged to the Wurundjeri tribe. The name is made up of two words “Hurrun” meaning the white Manna Gum that grew along the river flats, and “Jeri” - a grub that lived in the tree and was considered a delicacy by the aborigines.Melbourne people know very little of this tribe who lived and roamed across their land. Our image of aborigines and knowledge of their customs comes from tribes in the north of Australia who have been studied, written about, and photographed in recent years.
All tribes had their own customs. In the cold climate of southern areas clothing was necessary during the cold months. Cloaks of possum and kangaroo skins, sewn with sinews, were worn. The men draped these over the left shoulder and under the right, to leave their arm free to carry and use their hunting weapons.
Those tribes occupying the area from Port Phillip and north were a race called Kulin, meaning man. They were more intelligent and civilized than their neighbours, who they considered as savages. They spoke a language pronounced Wiriwuree or Wawurrong and were often called by that name.
To survive in this land a way of life had developed over the twenty thousand years that aborigines occupied the country. The Wurundjeri were divided into small independent groups or clans with their own areas of land. These groups did not have chiefs or rulers, but were led by respected elders or headmen. These small family groups were able to find food in times of drought. The group who lived in Bulleen had a plentiful supply of food, for the lagoons and swamps along the river flats were teeming with fish, water fowl and game. They still went walkabout in search of other food to obtain a balanced diet. At times, when certain berries or other plants would be ripe, the group would decide to move to a certain place. Once the decision to travel had been made there would be little discussion and no argument. Everyone knew what to do. It was like a military operation. They moved in a "V" formation, the arms of the "V" going first, forming a funnel to catch game for hunting was a continuous occupation. The women and children came at the rear. Those who were too young, too old, or ill were carried. The Wurundjeri were very kind to their old and ill. Their few possessions were carried by the women in reed baskets which were much like modern shopping bags, or in string bags. They always carried fire with them. A firestick was lit and kept smouldering. If it started to go out, the stick was held against some dry grass to start a fire to build up the flame. They never bothered to put out the burning grass which often started a bush fire.
When settlement came to Port Phillip, the authorities were deeply concerned for the aborigine’s welfare. Men such as Langhorn were encouraged to open missions. The British Government spent a large amount of money on a scheme called the "Port Phillip Protectorate”. Four Protectors under a head Protector were appointed and reserves established. The Wurundjeri were under the care of William Thomas.
The "Protectorate" was not a success and was eventually abandoned and Thomas was made guardian of aborigines. In 1853, he opened a reserve at Pound Bend for the tribe. By 1860, the population of the tribe had decreased from several hundred to less than forty. Their hunting grounds had gone, their tribal life had been disrupted, and they were in a bad state.
An evangelist called John Green persuaded the Premier Heales to make a grant of land for the aborigines. 2,300 acres were provided near the town named after the Premier - "Healesville". Green collected the remainder of the Wurundjeri and other tribes and formed a community settlement. By running their own farm, they aimed to be self-supporting. By the 1880's, only two members of the tribe, who had originally roamed the Yarra Valley in tribal days, were left. In 1902 Barak, the last of the original Wurundjeri, died. Barak was one of those who met John Batman and signed the treaty. He was a fine man who did much to hold the tribe together in its days of decline. There is a Barak Street in Bulleen. Today a few descendants of the tribe still live at Lake Tyers.
The Wurundjeri was a tribe that we can be proud of. Very few people know anything about it. Now that the name has been remembered it is time that the Wurundjeri took its place in our history.
Source: Irvine Green writing in 1978 05 DTHS Newsletter
Archaeological survey of Aboriginal sites
The city of Doncaster and Templestowe. Ellender, Isabel.Wurundjeri People
The Wurundjeri People take their name from the Woiwurrung language word ‘wurun’ meaning the Manna Gum (Eucalyptus viminalis) which is common along ‘Birrarung’ (Yarra River), and ‘djeri‘, the grub which is found in or near the tree. Wurundjeri are the ‘Witchetty Grub People’ and our Ancestors have lived on this land for millennia. |
| Family at Coranderrk (Museum Victoria XP1928) |
The history of Coranderrk Aboriginal Station (1863 – 1924) is nothing less than extraordinary. Established in 1863, Coranderrk was located on the lands of the Wurundjeri-balluk clan (William Barak’s clan). The station was established for the Wurundjeri people and members from other Kulin (Victorian) tribes who were forcefully displaced from their traditional lands some 30 years previously. The reserve, which originally comprised 2300 acres of land, was later extended to 4850 acres, and was situated on the picturesque rich Yarra Flats bordered by the Yarra River, Badger Creek, Watts River and the slopes of Mount Riddell (currently the Shire of Yarra Ranges).
Source: https://www.wurundjeri.com.au/our-story/ancestors-past/
Coranderrk History
Source: http://www.minutesofevidence.com.au/static/media/uploads/Book%20Excerpts/excerpt_-_history_of_coranderrk_inquiry.pdfAboriginal History in Manningham
The Aboriginal peoples of the Kulin Nation have lived in the area now known as Melbourne, for more than 40,000 years harnessing the rich resources of the Yarra River and surrounding bush lands and ranges. Part of the Kulin alliance are the Wurundjeri people who spoke the Woiwurrung language and have particular significance to the history of Manningham.During the summer months, the Wurundjeri people, would inhabit the banks of the Yarra and its tributaries and visit many important sites in the area. In winter they would move to the Dandenong Ranges for shelter and along the way, they would stop by Bolin Bolin Billabong in the region now known as Doncaster/Bulleen, to fish for eel or hunt for food.
Wurundjeri people called the Yarra River "Birrarung" – 'river of mists and shadows' and it marked the centre of their traditional land and dreaming stories. For thousands of years the Wurundjeri nurtured and protected this land and its dreaming stories and in return enjoyed the highest standards of living, health and wellbeing. The river was plentiful with teeming wildfowl in the wetlands of Bulleen, continual harvests in the fish traps and freshwater mussel farms along the Yarra. The Stringybark and Manna Gum forests also provided abundant game and bush tucker for a population of several hundred people.
The Wurundjeri often hosted inter-tribal events that involved thousands of guests. The last of these, at Pound Bend, was held in Warrandyte in 1852. It was here the last inter-tribal game of Marngrook (the original of Australian Football) was played. Soon after, the government withdrew Aboriginal people's right to practice traditional life, relocating most of the tribe to the Coranderrk Aboriginal Mission in Healesville.
The Wurundjeri people shared the same belief system as other Kulin Nation territories. The Dreamtime stretches back to when the creator ancestors known as the First Peoples travelled across the land, creating and naming as they went.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australia's oral tradition and religious values are based upon reverence for the land and a belief in this Dreamtime and totems. The two moiety totems (forms of social organisations) of the Wurundjeri people are Bunjil the Eagle (also known as "Eaglehawk Man") who is the Creator spirit of the Kulin People, and Waang the Crow, the protector of the waterways.
Some very famous Wurundjeri people are associated with Manningham. In particular William Barak and Simon Wonga who were both leaders of their community and have descendants still living in the region, some of whom are now Senior Elders themselves.
Aboriginal Heritage Sites of Significance in Manningham
Aboriginal Heritage Sties of Significance means that a particular site is considered to be a sacred or historically important place for Aboriginal people. Within Manningham, we have more than 25 sites of Wurundjeri significance, some of which are the most significant within regional Melbourne. These sites include burial or birthing sites, trading places, songline routes, campsites and ceremonial sites, gathering places, mission sites, reserves and places where conflict took place.
Archaeological evidence or artifacts verify where such sites exist within Manningham, as well as stories passed down from generations of Wurundjeri Elders. Such sites are protected through the Aboriginal Heritage Act 2006. Manningham Council seeks guidance from legislative bodies including Aboriginal Affairs Victoria and the ‘Registered Aboriginal Party’ for Manningham, Wurundjeri Tribe Land and Compensation Cultural Heritage Council to ensure the sustained protection of known and suspected sites, as well as further research and appropriate cultural sharing of such sites.
Manningham has worked closely with Wurundjeri Elders, local historians and Parks Victoria staff to acknowledge some of the known Aboriginal Heritage Sites of Significance within Manningham through signage trails, walking trails or special planting ceremonies. These sites include:
Pound Bend Reserve, Warrandyte (also see Wurundjeri Stories Trail next section of this page)
Bolin Bolin Billabong, Bulleen Park, Bulleen
Currawong Bush Reserve, Doncaster East
Wittons Reserve, Wonga Park
Birrarung Park, Lower Templestowe
Source: http://www.manningham.vic.gov.au/indigenous-and-reconciliation. May2020
First Nations history in Manningham
The East Kulin Nation have lived in the area now known as Melbourne, for more than 65,000 years harnessing the rich resources of the Yarra River and surrounding bush lands and ranges. Part of the East Kulin Nation are the Wurundjeri people who spoke the Woi-wurrung language who are the Traditional Owners of Manningham.
Wurundjeri people called the Yarra River "Birrarung" – 'river of mists and shadows'. The Birrarung was central to the traditional Country of the Wurundjeri willam people. Throughout Manningham, Wurundjeri people lived near the Birrarung and its tributaries, caring for the many culturally significant places in the area. The Yarra Flats in Manningham are associated with the accomplishments of creation ancestors and spiritual beings. Bolin Bolin Billabong in Bulleen was an important living and eel fishing area, a place which Wurundjeri people requested for their reserved use in 1840. It remained an important living area and visiting place for Wurundjeri people returning from lyrebird hunting in the Yarra Ranges into the 1850s.
For thousands of years the Wurundjeri nurtured and protected this land and its creation stories, and in return, enjoyed the highest standards of living, health and wellbeing. The river was plentiful with teeming wildfowl in the wetlands of Bulleen, continual harvests in the fish traps, and freshwater mussel farms along the Yarra. The Stringybark and Manna Gum forests also provided abundant game and bush tucker for a population of several hundred people.
The Wurundjeri people shared the same belief system as the East Kulin Nation. The creation period stretches back to when the creation ancestors and spirit beings travelled across the land, creating and naming as they went.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people's oral tradition and religious values are based upon reverence for the land, and a belief in the creation period. The social moiety division and associated spiritual beings of the Woi-wurrung speaking people were Bunjil the wedge-tailed eagle and Waa the crow. Wurundjeri people were of the Waa moiety. During the creation period, Bunjil is their ancestor responsible for the creation of earth and men. Pallian the bat is their ancestor responsible for the creation of water and women. Waa was the protector of humankind.
Some very famous Wurundjeri people are associated with Manningham. In particular, William Barak and Simon Wonga who were both leaders of their community and have descendants still living in the region, some of whom are now Senior Elders themselves.
First Nations cultural heritage places in Manningham
First nations cultural heritage places relate to a particular place that's considered to be a sacred or historically important place for First Peoples. However, it should be noted that not all First Peoples cultural heritage places hold significance to the Wurundjeri community. Within Manningham, we have more than 90 sites of Wurundjeri significance, some of which are the most significant within regional Melbourne. These sites include burial or birthing sites, trading places, travelling pathways, campsites and ceremonial sites, gathering places, mission sites, reserves, and places where conflict took place. Archaeological evidence or artefacts verify where such sites exist within Manningham, as well as stories passed down from generations of Wurundjeri Elders.
Wurundjeri Stories Trail at Pound Bend
Pound Bend Tunnel Reserve, Warrandyte State Park, Pound Bend Road Warrandyte
Wurundjeri Stories is a fascinating and beautifully presented interpretive signage trail at Pound Bend that explores the Wurundjeri history, culture, traditional life, spirituality, events and the people linked to this sacred site.
There are seven signs, each containing in-depth historical accounts presented by a Wurundjeri working group, with stunning artwork and historical photographs, following a flat 1km riverside path, which walkers may wish to continue along the 3.5km River Walk or Loop Walk. Each sign features a section entitled ‘Bunjil’s Challenge’ which encourages walkers to explore the local surrounds in search of key features such as bush tucker, and to consider traditional lifestyle scenarios, making the trail an incredibly engaging, thought provoking and interactive experience.
Wurundjeri Stories is ideal for the casual walker, organised school and pre-school excursions, community groups and a ceremonial space for special Wurundjeri events. Groups are able to arrange for a Wurundjeri Elder or Educator to lead their organised excursion to the site.
A Wurundjeri Stories interpretive sign is also located at Wittons Reserve in Wonga Park, which shares the Wurundjeri history of this site, considered to be Sacred Women’s Country. The sign marks the beginning of the scenic Mount Lofty walk, a section of the Wurundjeri Songline route, the major Wurundjeri travelling route to the Yarra Valley.
For more information about the trail content, or to organise an Elder please contact the Wurundjeri Tribe Council at reception@wurundjeri.com.au or phone 9416 2905.
Resources to support your visit to Wurundjeri Stories at Pound Bend:
Wurundjeri Stories General Flyer (1.71 MB)
Wurundjeri Stories Visitors Guide (769.04 KB)
Manningham Website Feb2022
Wurundjeri
The Wurundjeri are a people of the Indigenous Australian nation of the Wurundgjeri language group, in the Kulin alliance, who occupy the Birrarung (Yarra River) Valley, its tributaries and the present location of Melbourne. Before European settlement, they lived as all people of the Kulin nation lived, on the land, predominantly as hunters and gatherers, for tens of thousands of years. Seasonal changes in the weather, availability of foods and other factors would determine where campsites were located, many near the Birrarung and its tributaries. |
| Aboriginal people fishing and camping on Merri Creek. Tinted lithograph by Charles Troedel, 1864 |
The Wurundjeri Tribe Land and Compensation Cultural Heritage Council was established in 1985 by descendants of the Wurundjeri people.[1]
Prehistory of Australia—The Shoreline of Tasmania and Victoria about 14,000 years ago as Sea Levels were rising showing some of the human archaeological sites
The Wurundjeri have lived in the Woi Wurrung area for up to 40,000 years, according to Gary Presland.[a] They lived by fishing, hunting and gathering, and made a good living from the rich food sources of Port Phillip both before and after its flooding about 7,000–10,000 years ago, and the surrounding grasslands.[3]
At the Keilor Archaeological Site a human hearth excavated in 1971 was radiocarbon-dated to about 31,000 years BP, making Keilor one of the earliest sites of human habitation in Australia.[4] A cranium found at the site has been dated at between 12,000[5] and 14,700 years BP.[4]
Archaeological sites in Tasmania and on the Bass Strait Islands have been dated to between 20,000 – 35,000 years ago, when sea levels were 130 metres below present level allowing Aboriginal people to move across the region of southern Victoria and on to the land bridge of the Bassian plain to Tasmania by at least 35,000 years ago.[6][7]
During the Ice Age about 20,000 years BP, the area now known as Port Phillip would have been dry land, and the Yarra and Werribee river would have joined to flow through the heads then south and south west through the Bassian plain before meeting the ocean to the west. Tasmania and the Bass Strait islands became separated from mainland Australia around 12,000 BP, when the sea level was approximately 50m below present levels.[8] Port Phillip was flooded by post-glacial rising sea levels between 8,000 and 6,000 years ago.[9]
Oral history and creation stories from the Wada wurrung, Woiwurrung and Bun wurrung languages describe the flooding of the bay. Hobsons Bay was once a kangaroo hunting ground. Creation stories describe how Bunjil was responsible for the formation of the bay,[7] or the bay was flooded when the Yarra river was created (Yarra Creation Story[10] ).
The Wurundjeri & Gunung Willam Balug Tribes mined diorite at Mount William stone axe quarry which was a source of the highly valued greenstone hatchet heads, which were highly prized and traded across a wide area as far as New South Wales and Adelaide. The mine provided a complex network of trading for economic and social exchange among the different Aboriginal nations in Victoria.[11][3] The Quarry had been in use for more than 1,500 years and covered 18 hectares including underground pits of several metres. In February 2008 the site was placed on the Australian National Heritage List for its cultural importance and archeological value.[12]
First contact
Sewn and incised possum-skin cloak of Wurundjeri origin (Melbourne Museum)
The Woi Wurrung tribes would have been aware of the Europeans, through the close relationship to the Bunwurrung people of the coast who came into contact with the Baudin expedition on the French ship Le Naturaliste during 1801, and then the British settlement at Sullivan Bay in 1803, near modern-day Sorrento, Victoria. William Buckley, a convict, escaped from this abortive settlement and lived for more than 30 years with the Wada wurrung people before approaching John Batman's party in 1835. He told George Langhorne in 1836:
I frequently entertained them (the Wada wurrung), when sitting around the campfires, with accounts of the English People, Houses, Ships – great guns etc. to which accounts they would listen with great attention – and express much astonishment.[13]
The Bunwurrung people, living primarily along the Port Philip and Western Port coast, were also subjected to raids on their camps by sealers from at least 1809 to as late as 1833, which were frequently violent with men being killed and the women being abducted and enslaved by sealers for sexual partners and taken to the Islands in Bass Strait where the sealers had their camps.[14] This would have impacted the economic and social ties binding the Woi Wurrung and Bunwurrung peoples.
James Fleming, one of the party of Charles Grimes in the Cumberland who explored the Maribyrnong River and the Yarra River as far as Dights Falls in February 1803 reported smallpox scars on several Aboriginal people he met, indicating that a smallpox epidemic had swept through the tribes around Port Philip before 1803 reducing the population.[15] Broome puts forward that two epidemics of smallpox decimated the population of the Kulin tribes by perhaps killing half each time in the 1790s and again around 1830.[16] The Wurundjeri incorporated these epidemics in their oral tradition as the Mindi, a rainbow serpent from the Northwest sent to destroy or afflict any people for bad deeds, hissing and spreading white particles from its mouth from which disease could be inhaled.
Any plague is supposed to be brought on by the Mindye or some of its little ones. I have no doubt that, in generations gone by, there has been an awful plague of cholera or black fever, and that the wind at the time, or some other appearance from the north-west has given rise to this strange being.[17]
Treaty
Governor Bourke's Proclamation, 26 August 1835
On 6 June 1835 John Batman met with eight elders of the Woi Wurrung people including Bebejan and Billibellary, the traditional owners of the lands around the Yarra River. The meeting took place on the bank of a small stream, likely to be the Merri Creek and treaty documents were signed along with exchanges of goods by both sides.[18] For a purchase price including tomahawks, knives, scissors, flannel jackets, red shirts and a yearly tribute of similar items, Batman obtained about 200,000 hectares (2,000 square km) around the Yarra River and Corio Bay. The total value of the goods has been estimated at about GBP 100 in the value of the day.[19] In return the Woiwurrung offered woven baskets of examples of their weaponry and two Possum-skin cloaks, a highly treasured item. After the treaty signing, a celebration took place with the Parramatta Aborigines with Batman's party dancing a corroboree.[20]
The treaty was significant as it was the first and only documented time when European settlers negotiated their presence and occupation of Aboriginal lands.[21] The Treaty was immediately repudiated by the colonial government in Sydney. The 1835 proclamation by Governor Richard Bourke implemented the doctrine of "terra nullius" upon which British settlement was based, reinforcing the concept that there was no land owner before British possession and that Aboriginal people could not sell or assign the land, and individuals could only acquire it through distribution by the Crown.[22]
Dispossession and conflict
Wurundjeri near Collins Street, Melbourne, 1839. Watercolour by W. Knight
Derrimut, an arweet of the Bunurong informed the early European settlers in October 1835 of an impending attack by "up-country people". The colonists armed themselves, and the attack was averted. Benbow from the Bunurong and Billibellary, from the Wurundjeri, also acted to protect the colonists in what is perceived as part of their duty of hospitality.[23]
In 1840, conflict erupted at the Battle of Yering, near present-day Yarra Glen, in which Border Police under the direction of Commissioner of Lands Captain Henry Gisborne captured Wurundjeri leader Jaga Jaga, eliciting a violent confrontation involving 50 Wurundjeri clansmen where shots were exchanged.[24][25]
As early as 1843 Billibellary requested land for the Wurundjeri to settle. In August 1850 it is likely that the Woiwurrung requested land at Bulleen, but Thomas rejected their request as being too close to white settlement. In 1852 the Woiworrung gained 782 hectares along the Yarra at Warrandyte, while the Boonwurrung were allocated 340 hectares at Mordialloc Creek. These reserves were never staffed by whites and were not permanent camps, but acted as distribution depots where rations and blankets were distributed, with the intention being to keep the tribes away from the growing settlement of Melbourne.[26] The Aboriginal Protection Board revoked these two reserves in 1862 and 1863, considering them then too close to Melbourne.[27]
Social impact
The Woi Wurrung and Bunwurrong people bore the brunt of the effects of British settlement in the Foundation of Melbourne from 1835 onwards, with the population declining rapidly. In the 27 years following the foundation of Melbourne, the population of Woiworung and Bunurong language groups was reduced from 207 to 28 people. Many people were killed by diseases, including venereal disease, introduced by the Europeans. The birth rate also drastically declined for Woi Wurrung and Bunurong with only five births between 1838 and 1848, while there were 52 deaths for the same period.[28] There is some white conjecture that infanticide was taking place. William Thomas remarked in 1844 that "Infanticide I am persuaded is most awfully on the increase though it cannot be detected—their argument has some reason 'No good pickaninnys now no country".[29][30] There is, however, no record of infanticide taking place pre-white settlement. Even Thomas says 'it cannot be detected', so it's as likely that conditions were so poor for Aboriginal people after white settlement that women were not conceiving or babies were dying in increasing numbers.
Native Police Corps
On the instructions of Charles La Trobe a Native Police Corps was established and underwritten by the government in 1842 in the hope of civilising the Aboriginal men. It was based at Narre Warren, but later moved to Merri Creek and continued in operation until disbanded in January 1853. As senior Wurundjeri elder, Billibellary's cooperation for the proposal was important for its success, and after deliberation he backed the initiative and even proposed himself for enlistment, but resigned after about a year when he found that it was to be used to capture and even kill other natives. He did his best from then to undermine the Corps and as a result many native troopers deserted and few remained longer than three or four years. Participation in the police corps failed to stop troopers participating in tribal ceremonies, gatherings and rituals.[31][32]
Coranderrk
In 1863 the surviving members of the Wurundjeri and other Woiwurrung tribes and speakers were given 'permissive occupancy' of Coranderrk Station, near Healesville and forcibly resettled. Despite numerous petitions, letters, and delegations to the Colonial and Federal Government, the grant of this land in compensation for the country lost was refused. Coranderrk was closed in 1924 and its occupants bar 5 refusing to leave Country were again moved to Lake Tyers in Gippsland.
Wurundjeri today
All remaining Wurundjeri people are descendants of Bebejan, through his daughter Annie Borate (Boorat), and in turn, her son Robert Wandin (Wandoon). Bebejan was a Ngurungaeta of the Wurundjeri people and was present at John Batman's 'treaty' signing in 1835.[33][34] Joy Murphy Wandin, a Wurundjeri Elder, explains the importance of preserving Wurundjeri culture:
In the recent past, Wurundjeri culture was undermined by people being forbidden to "talk culture" and language. Another loss was the loss of children taken from families. Now, some knowledge of the past must be found and collected from documents. By finding and doing this, Wurundjeri will bring their past to the present and recreate a place of belonging. A "keeping place" should be to keep things for future generations of our people, not a showcase for all, not a resource to earn dollars. I work towards maintaining the Wurundjeri culture for Wurundjeri people into the future.[35]
In 1985, the Wurundjeri Tribe Land Compensation and Cultural Heritage Council was established to fulfill statutory roles under Commonwealth and Victorian legislation and to assist in raising awareness of Wurundjeri culture and history within the wider community.[36]
Wurundjeri elders often attend events with visitors present where they give the traditional welcome to country greeting in the Woiwurrung language:
Communities consisted of six or more (depending on the extent of the territory) land-owning groups called clans that spoke a related language and were connected through cultural and mutual interests, totems, trading initiatives and marriage ties. Access to land and resources, such as the Birrarung, by other clans, was sometimes restricted depending on the state of the resource in question. For example; if a river or creek had been fished regularly throughout the fishing season and fish supplies were down, fishing was limited or stopped entirely by the clan who owned that resource until fish were given a chance to recover. During this time other resources were utilised for food. This ensured the sustained use of the resources available to them. As with most other Kulin territories, penalties such as spearings were enforced upon trespassers. Today, traditional clan locations, language groups and borders are no longer in use and descendants of Woi Wurrung Tribes including the Wurundjeri tribe people live within modern day society.
Tribes / Clans
It is generally considered that before European settlement, six separate clans existed:
Wurundjeri-balluk & Wurundjeri-willam: Yarra Valley, Yarra River catchment area to Heidelberg
Bulluk-willam: south of the Yarra Valley extending down to Dandenong, Cranbourne, Koo-wee-rup Swamp
Gunnung-willam-balluk: east of the Great Dividing Ranges and north to Lancefield
Kurung-jang-balluk: Melton to Werribee River to Sunbury
Marin-balluk (Boi-berrit): land west of the Maribyrnong River sunshine and Sunbury
Kurnaje-berreing: the land between the Maribyrnong and Yarra Rivers
Diplomacy[edit]
Tanderrum
When foreign people passed through or were invited onto Woi Wurrung lands the ceremony of Tanderrum – freedom of the bush – would be performed. This allowed safe passage and temporary access and use of land and resources by foreign people. It was a diplomatic rite involving the landholder's hospitality and a ritual exchange of gifts.
Language
Main article: Woiwurrung language
The Wurundjeri people were part of the Woiwurrung language group; each clan spoke a slight variation of the Woiwurrung language. Some basic terms include;
bulluk, balluk: swamp
Nira: cave
willam, wilam, Illam, yilam: hut, camp, bark
gunung, gunnung: river
ngamudji: red colours during sunset, white man
The Jindyworobak Movement claim to have taken their name from a Woiwurrung phrase jindi worobak meaning to annex or join.
Religion
The Woi Wurrung people shared the same belief system as other Kulin nation territories, based on a creative epoch known as the Dreamtime which stretches back into a remote era in history when the creator ancestors known as the First Peoples travelled across the land, creating and naming as they went. Indigenous Australia's oral tradition and religious values are based upon reverence for the land and a belief in this Dreamtime. The Dreaming is at once both the ancient time of creation and the present day reality of Dreaming. There were a great many different groups, each with their own individual culture, belief structure, and language. These cultures overlapped to a greater or lesser extent, and evolved over time. The two moiety totems of the Wurundjeri people are Bunjil the Eaglehawk and Waang the Crow.
Dreamtime stories
Bunjil & Pallian Creation Story: Bunjil is the Creator spirit of the Kulin People.
Mindi: Mindi is a rainbow serpent from the northwest who spreads disease to those who have been bad, but cannot act without Bunjil's permission.[39]
Recreation
Main article: Marn grook
William Thomas, a Protector of Aborigines in Victoria witnessed Wurundjeri people playing the game of Marn grook in 1841, according to Robert Brough-Smyth, in The Aborigines of Victoria, (1878):
The men and boys joyfully assemble when this game is to be played. One makes a ball of possum skin, somewhat elastic, but firm and strong. The players of this game do not throw the ball as a white man might do, but drop it and at the same time kicks it with his foot. The tallest men have the best chances in this game. Some of them will leap as high as five feet from the ground to catch the ball. The person who secures the ball kicks it. This continues for hours and the natives never seem to tire of the exercise.
The game was a favourite of the Wurundjeri-william clan and the two teams were sometimes based on the traditional totemic moeties of Bunjil (eagle) and Waang (crow). Robert Brough-Smyth saw the game played at Coranderrk Mission Station, where ngurungaeta William Barak discouraged the playing of imported games like cricket and encouraged the traditional native game of marn grook.[40] There is some debate about whether the game influenced or was the origin of Australian Rules Football.[41]
As late as 1862 the Wurundjeri were "often seen in their possum skin coats, armed with spears, and retreating mainly to the unsold hill north of Collingwood where they camped with their dogs, played football with a possum-skin ball and fought with other Aborigines", according to researchers McFarlane and Roberts, reported on in the Herald Sun.[42]
Places of significance
Bolin Bolin Billabong in Bulleen, a reach in the river cut off around 1100AD
Scarred tree in Fitzroy Gardens, the scar is left after a canoe has been cut out of the trunk
There are a number of significant sites, in particular those found near the Yarra & Maribyrnong Rivers and the Merri Creek where corroborees were held between clans and perhaps neighbouring territories to share in music and dance, exchange news and trade. Other places of significance for the Wurundjeri people include:
Kings domain Resting Place: In 1985 the remains of 38 Victorian Aboriginal people held by the Museum Victoria, including Wurundjeri people, were reburied here.[43]
Queen Victoria Market: burial site for many Aboriginal people as well as European settlers.[44]
Corner Franklin and Bowen streets: First public executions took place in Melbourne on 20 January 1842, of two Tasmanian Aborigines: Tunnerminnerwait and Maulboyheenner, who had conducted a successful guerilla style resistance campaign around Western Port.[45][46]
Jolimont: gatherings of Kulin territories around the site of the MCG and Yarra Park. See also Fitzroy Gardens Scarred tree.[47]
Bundoora Park: extensively used for bark and quarrying silcrete, fifteen archeological sites in the area.[48]
Burnley Park Corroboree Tree...[49]
Fawkner Park: favourite camping ground.[50]
Bolin Bolin Billabong in Bulleen: location of sacred and social interaction between clans.[51]
Gellibrand Hill and Moonee Ponds Creek Valley. A 1991 archeological survey located 31 sites, including camping grounds, silcrete outcrops and scarred trees.[52]
Birrarung: the primary river flowing through the territory, a major food source and meeting place...[53]
Warrandyte: a gorge in the middle reaches of the Birrarung, named for the actions of the dreamtime figure "Bunjil"
Pound Bend, Warrandyte
Mount William stone axe quarry near Lancefield: tool making[12][54]
Dights Falls area: meeting place for corroborees, Mission School location, Native Police Corps.[55]
Heide Gallery, Templestowe: Scarred Tree.[56]
Merri Creek including the Treaty Site with John Batman.[57]
Solomons Ford on the Maribyrnong River: location of fish and eel traps.[58]
Lily Street Lookout, Avondale Heights: location of a silcrete quarry for stoneworking.[59]
Brimbank Park, Keilor. Over 25 archeological sites.[60]
Taylors Creek Quarry, Keilor.[61]
The Sunbury earth rings, Sunbury.[62]
Coranderrk Mission Station, Healesville.[63]
Wurundjeri people[edit]
Notable Wurundjeri people at the time of British settlement included:
Bebejan (?-1836): ngurungaeta and father of William Barak and brother of Billibellary
Billibellary (1799–1846): ngurungaeta of the Wurundjeri-willam clan
Simon Wonga (1824–1874): ngurungaeta and son of Billibellary
William Barak (1824–1903): last traditional ngurungaeta of the Wurundjeri-willam clan
Tullamareena: present during the founding of Melbourne
Derrimut (1810–1864): a Bunurong elder associated with the Woiwurrung
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