Aborigines of Bulleen: The history of the Aborigines of the Wurundjeri Tribe who inhabited the area which became the City of Doncaster and Templestowe.
Irvine Green (DTHS 1989).
This publication endeavours to tell the story of the Aborigines whose land
was taken over by the white settlers and now comprises the area of Doncaster and Templestowe. It is the story of their life and customs and the events that took place after white men came until no more Aborigines were living in the area. Many people now consider that such a story should be told by Aborigines themselves. But surely it is part of the responsibility of white people to look back at the whole episode that was brought about by white people themselves. During recent years the name "Koorie" has been adopted by Aborigines as their name and is in general use. However, "Koorie” came from New South Wales and was never used by the Wurundjeri, and therefore inappropriate to use here.
Studio Photograph of Aborigines with Weapons in Preparations for a Cobboree (LaTrobe Collection - State Library of Victoria)
An early settler once observed, "For all their lack of civilisation and their primitive life, they live together more successfully in this harsh land than we do."
Life of the Wurundjeri
For thousands of years Aborigines across the land that is now the City of Doncaster and Templestowe. Over that time momentous events have changed the landscape and altered the climate, but these original inhabitants of the land evolved a way of life that enabled them to survive.
When the first English surveyors came to map the area, they found Aborigines camped among the lagoons of Bulleen. Years later, when the original inhabitants had left their tribal grounds, signs of their occupation were found by European
settlers who had taken over the country. For example, many of the large red gums growing on the river flats of Bulleen, Templestowe and Warrandyte had scars on their trunks - scars where the natives had stripped the bark to make a canoe, a shield, a cooking vessel or a crib for a baby. These trees indicated a camp site corroboree ground. They were generally called "canoe trees” or “shield trees”, but are now referred to as "scarred trees”. The Aborigines consider such trees to be sacred, for
they are a tangible link with their ancestors.
Canoe Tree (Sacred Tree) at Heidi Gallery Park, Bulleen
Workmen making Williamsons Road last century found Aboriginal bones, wrapped in bark, opposite the site now occupied by Shoppingtown and orchardists would sometimes turn up stone hatchets with their ploughs. John Hutchinson, the pound keeper, found a quantity of edge-ground hatchets near the junction of Warrandyte and Pound Roads, indicating a meeting-ground where the tribes had gathered to trade. Also, along the river bank at Warrandyte, mounds of clay with ashes, charcoal and animal bones were left where black women had cooked meals in earth ovens.
When we think of Australian aborigines, the image we have comes from the north of Australia where tribes have been studied, written about and photographed in recent years. The typical image of a tall, well-built Aborigine Standing on a hilltop holding a spear and dressed only in a loin cloth was valid for the warm northern climate, but Melbourne winters are cold so that the original inhabitants of this district wore clothing. There were many other differences as well, for customs and language varied throughout Australia.
The tribe whose territory included the area of Doncaster and Templestowe was the Wurundjeri. They were part of a larger Tribe, the Woiworung, who claimed as their territory the basin of the Yarra and all the streams flowing into it. The Wurundjeri occupied the area south of the Yarra from Gardiners Greek, past the northern slopes of the Dandenongs to the Upper Yarra. The name Wurundjeri is made up of two words, Wurunn, meaning the white Manna Gum that grew along the river flats, and Jeri, meaning a grub, similar to the Witchetty grub, which lived in the roots of the tree. The Wurundjeri people were given the name because they ate the grub. They also enjoyed a sweet drink made from a white fungus which grew on the Manna Gum. Europeans named the tree after likening the fungus to Manna from heaven.
The Woiworung belonged yo a confederacy of five tribes called Kulin. They traded with each other for articles not found in their own area and met for games and corroborees. One of the most important functions of the association was to enable marriages between members of different tribes, for Aborigines could not marry within their own tribe. Tribes outside the Kulin were looked down upon and called savages.
The Wurundjeri were fine men, intelligent and well-built, with an average height of 178cm. The men carried little fat, and had tough, sinewy figures. The women were shorter, and if food was plentiful, carried more fat than men. Their bodies suited a mode of life that demanded stamina and skill in hunting, rather than brute strength. They wore little clothing during the day in summer time, but always wore a girdle from which they hung an apron and their weapons, such as a boomerang, spear thrower or stone hatchet. Both men and women kept their hair away from their eyes with a headband.
In cold weather, and at night, they kept themselves warm with cloaks of possum skins sewn together. The men draped these cloaks over the left shoulder and across their body to leave the right arm free to carry and use weapons.
The Australian aborigines were a civilised people. They lived an ordered life with a strict code of conduct and had an accumulation of knowledge with deep religious beliefs. They did not have a written language, but being free from the restrictive logic of a written language, they were able to combine the reality of everyday life with the unreality of their dreamtime.
Living Areas
The Wurundjeri had permanent corroboree sites in the area that became The City Of Doncaster and Templestowe. In Bulleen, reed-fringed lagoons covered the river flats. The largest lagoon, called Lake Bulleen, lay where the freeway now meets Bulleen Road. The abundance of water birds, fish, eels and edible roots made the area a favourite meeting place. They called it "Bolin”. Bolin was an important place, for here the Wurundjeri would meet the rest of the Woiworung and often other tribes of the Kulin. They also held corroborees on the river slopes alongside Thompsons Road and on the northwest slope at the corner of Pound and Warrandyte Roads. The Wurundjeri also camped with other tribes for games at Wonga Park.
When the whole tribe formed a camp, everyone knew what to do. The head man and elders planned where to camp and placed the huts according to the rules of the tribe. Half an hour after arriving, what had been a quiet corner of the bush would be replaced by a bustling camp. In the vicinity of the camp, the environment would be devastated with trees stripped of branches and bushes uprooted.
Survival controlled all actions. A large body of people could not find enough food in one place, so the tribe would divide into small family groups and move off separately. They would go to an area, in search of game or to where berries were ripe,
roots ready to dig, or eggs could be found. A variety of food, including fresh fish, helped keep a balanced diet. Once the decision was made to move camp, there was no argument, everyone knew what to do. They walked to their destination regardless of sickness, birth or death. It was like a military operation, the men walking through the bush in a ’V’ formation to form a trap as they hunted for kangaroo or wallaby, or scaled a tree for a possum, the women and children brought up the rear. Those who were too young, too old or ill to walk were carried. The Wurundjeri were very kind to their young, old or ill. The woman carried their possessions in reed baskets and at the same time carried babies or young children.
As the party went along, the children collected gum or knocked down birds, and the women dug up roots or collected grubs. The party also carried firesticks, as making fire was a tedious operation. When the firestick, usually a dead branch or piece of burning bark, started to go out, they would start a fire by holding the stick against some dry grass. However, after rekindling the firestick in this way, the blacks never bothered to put out the burning grass, which would often start a bushfire. The aborigines didn’t need fo bother about conserving the bush. When one area was despoiled, they simply moved on to a fresh area. There was plenty of bushland, and few people, so conservation was not essential.
While on the move, the tribe would cover about eight kilometres in a single day. The women arrived at each new campsite early to get a fire going. At these temporary campsites, they slept in a simple shelter of branches, which would give protection from the wind, or of sheets of bark to keep off the rain. The Wurundjeri took more care to erect miams (huts) at their destination: in some places permanent huts of saplings and turf were constructed.
Typical Encampment Showing Arrangement of Miams (LaTrobe Collection - State Library of Victoria)
Aboriginal camp ca. 1858: Richard Daintree 1832-1878, photographer.; Antoine Fauchery 1823-1861, photographer: albumen silver 20.5 x 26.3 cm. Copyright status: This work is out of copyright Subjects: Aboriginal Australians -- Dwellings -- Victoria; Aboriginal Australians -- Clothing -- Victoria; Group portraits; Albumen prints. Reproduced in: Sun Pictures of Victoria : the Fauchery-Daintree collection, 1858 / Diane Reilly & Jennifer Carew. South Yarra, Vic. : Currey O'Neill, 1983, p. 111. Original title lower left below image: Camp of Blackfellows.
Tribal visits
Social visits were popular among the people of the Kulin.. A strict ritual controlled the meeting of different tribes. Before any visit, a messenger first made arrangements with the visiting tribe, then ushered them in when they arrived. Rules of protocal governed the choice of messenger and his procedure. The headman of the host tribe selected as a messenger a man of the same totem as himself and directed him to an elder of the same totem in the other tribe. The messenger carried a message stick as an aid to memory. Notches and cuts in the stick conveyed information, such as, 5ree cuts on a certain side meant three days or perhaps three men. The messenger would present the stick and explain the meaning of the notches. On his return he had to report back to the headman first. The whole tribe greeted him with great excitement and animated talk. Aborigines enjoyed news and gossip, gathering in excited groups to talk and laugh.
Trespass on another’s tribal land meant instant death, but a visitor given permission to visit would be treated with courtesy and friendship. While the host tribe served food and water, the visitors sat on seats that had been prepared for them from logs. The Wurundjeri carried out the ceremony of welcoming guests with a routine developed over thousands of years.
The assembling of a tribe or the arrival of visitors was celebrated with a corroboree. These were descriptive dances which tell a story or express the feelings of the performers. The men danced while the women beat a rhythm on a skin stretched between their knees. Corroborees were part of the oral tradition. The songs were stories passed down over many years and the dances were passed down over many years and the dances choreographed events in the history of the tribe. A corroboree was also a time when youths were initiated, but not in front of the gathering. They were taken off to a hidden area in the bush, for this was a secret ceremony to prove that the youth was ready to take his place among the men of the tribe. In later years when Barack, a leader of the tribe, was asked whether his initiation had been painful, he replied: “I was a man”.
As an early settler observed, "The faculty of the Australian aborigine for finding his way through the bush, seems closer to intuition than reason", for the Aborigine did not use the sun as a guide to direction. His memory for small details was remarkable. Details such as the shape of a tree or hill and patterns of rocks were learnt as a continuous song, which he chanted as he went along. Just as aboriginal literature was preserved by memory and taught in strict schooling sessions, so were their maps preserved by memory in the form of songs. Visitors would follow traditional walkabout routes, such as the route to the mountains, which followed the present line of Bulleen Road.
Games
After the formalities of a corroboree were completed, the aborigines held contests and games. The aborigines enjoyed their meetings and games, for they were sociable people who loved to meet friends, hear news, gossip and laugh. They enjoyed life and had a keen sense of humour.
Men demonstrated their skill with spear and boomerang throwing (the name Warrandyte was made up of the words, warran - to throw and dyte - the object thrown at). Others would challenge each other to wrestling matches. They stood with arms on each other's shoulders, and the aim was to throw the opponent to the ground.
It was football that really excited the crowd. Two teams, each from a different totem or tribe, played with a ball made from rolled-up possum skins. The game started with the teams lined up opposite each other. The object of each side was to keep possession of the ball, which was either tossed by hand or kicked from one player to another. The players would leap to catch the ball, then kick it. There were no goals and no winner; they played for the enjoyment of the game, both players and spectators getting very excited, the women and children running alongside shouting and yelling.
In 1856 boys from Melbourne Grammar School and Scotch College tried out this Aboriginal game, except that goal posts were added to decide a winner. There were fifty players on each side on a large field with goal posts half a mile apart. This historic match was the origin of Australian rules football.
Daily Life
Every day the men hunted for food, the women dug for roots and the children helped or played games that taught them the skills needed for adult life.
In summer, when the land was dry, they lived in cool areas by the river, at Warrandyte or Bulleen, where eels or fish were plentiful. The men speared eels or caught them by hand, after feeling for them with their feet. Fish were speared or caught in fish traps. In autumn they collected food from plants, fruit or seeds of white mangrove and kangaroo apple, and roots of bulrushes that grew around the lagoons. In winter they moved to the hills where there was shelter and dry wood for fires. Here they hunted for kangaroos and possums.
When a Wurundjeri man killed a kangaroo it was divided according to tribal rules. Being heavy, it would be cooked where it was killed, The entrails were taken out and if the skin was not needed, the animal would be cooked whole. One forequarter was kept by the hunter for his wife and family, a leg or the other forequarter was taken by his comrades, the head and a foreleg went to the man’s mother and father, a hind leg and the loins went to his wife’s father and mother, and the tail to anyone else. If a man only killed enough for his own family, then it needn’t be distributed among others. Food was never passed by hand. To avoid evil magic, it was thrown on the ground for the other person to pick up.
The women cooked food in ovens which, over the years, grew into mounds of cinders, calcinated clay and charcoal. They first dug a pit in soft ground with their digging sticks, then lit a fire in the bottom to heat up the earth and lumps of clay or stones. When the fire had died down they placed the animal in the pit with layers of damp grass underneath and bark on top. They put more hot stones over this and covered it with earth. In an hour or two the food was taken out, well cooked and clean.
After eating the flesh of a possum, they pegged out the skin on a sheet of bark, to dry in front of the fire. To make the skin flexible it was scraped with a sharp splinter of stone or a kangaroo’s tooth. The women sewed the skins together to make a cloak, using animal sinews for thread and a sharp piece of bone to pierce a hole. Often up to eighteen skins were used for a single cloak.
The Wurundjeri people spent many of their evenings working while seated around the campfire. The women sewed or weaved baskets while the men made weapons. Each sex had a characteristic sitting position. The men sat with their legs crossed, a heel under each buttock, as they formed, shaped and decorated their personal possessions. The women squatted with their legs together and heels out to one side.
The adult male recognised no authority in anyone, although he was thoroughly submissive to custom. In domestic life, the man was despotic towards his wife, and also towards his children until they left the family home. His authority ceased when his daughters married. He could ill-treat his wife, give her away, or kill her, and the tribe would not interfere, although her brothers would avenge the death. They believed that the children came from the man, and the woman only took care of them. One man, vexed with his son, said, "I am here and there you stand with my body.”
The tribe enforced constancy among wives and chastity on unmarried daughters and to ensure this, observed customs and practices in family life. A woman never sat alone in a miam in which there was another man, and she talked with a man only in the presence of her husband and only when spoken to. When a man had to ask a woman a question he spoke at a distance and loud enough for others to hear. Unmarried girls were kept separate from males, except young boys. They slept in the family miam with their brothers until the boys reached the age of nine or ten, then the boys had to move into the batchelor miam.
When a pregnant woman was about to give birth she was taken into the bush by an elder woman who looked after and encouraged her. The companion would rub her stomach and chant encouraging words to the baby, such as "Here is your mother. Here is your auntie. The world is a beautiful place, hurry up and see for yourself.
Mothers suckled their children up to the age of three, for much of their food was too hard for infants. A woman could care for only one baby at a time, so unwanted babies were smothered at birth, particularly if they were girls. In fact until a boy had been born, any girl baby was killed.
Parents were fond of their children, especially boys, indulging them in every way. Boys were rarely disciplined and grew up spoilt and self-willed. Mothers were foolishly indulgent. On walkabout a mother would often carry a boy who was too lazy to walk, even though she may be laden with baskets holding family effects. These self-willed little tyrants met a different treatment after the age of about ten, when they moved into the batchelor’s miam. Their free and easy life ceased. They became servants to their elder brothers and the unmarried men. They were disciplined, were last to be fed and were given the worst position at the fire.
The people of the Wurundjeri were fun-loving and enjoyed games. The boys held make-believe battles with toy spears and shields, and they practiced spear throwing. As targets, they bowled round pieces of bark along the ground. Women and girls played a game with string, similar to "Cat’s Cradle". Young children amused themselves with half-fledged birds and young animals, which they killed at the end of the game. Both boys and girls enjoyed swimming, laughing and shouting as they played in the water.
Group Wearing Their Winter Dress (LaTrobe Collection - State Library of Victoria)
Disputes
A tribe lived in harmony when no other tribe was present. Often they would go for as long as a month without even a minor argument. Disputes usually arose as a result of adultery or at the time of a wedding when passion and jealousy was aroused by the shortage of females for marriage. Since many female babies were killed at birth, there were less girls than boys, also some older men had more than one wife, so many of the young men had little chance of finding a "lubra". The unlucky batchelors would throw boomerangs at the bridegroom and then a general family fight would take place. Adultery would keep a camp arguing continuously for weeks.
Grievances or disputes were heard by the whole group around the fire at night. The injured person would state his case and after much discussion a solution would be reached. The tribe was so well disciplined that everyone would abide by the decision. If the man was considered guilty, he had to stand up to the tribe as they aimed spears at him. The guilty man could protect himself with a shield and needn't be injured; the important thing was to stand up to the tribe.
Economy
Although private property amongst the Aborigines consisted only of the utensils and weapons carried in their bags, the bush and all it contained was the tribe’s general property. For this reason, when a hunter made a kill, the food belonged to the community. No one went without, and if others lacked, they considered it a right to share.
Trading was an important part of aboriginal economy. The Wurundjeri made their own possessions, but by trading obtained those they were unable to manufacture. Hatchets with sharpened edges could be made only at places like Mt.William, near Lancefield, or at Geelong, where hard flint could be used to grind the stone to a sharp edge. To make a hatchet they bound the stone heads onto a wooden handle. As well as hatchet stone, wooden items, skins, rugs, reeds, pigments, shells and food items were all bartered among the Kulin confederacy of tribes. A system of trading routes was established to give access to trading grounds.
An early settler once observed, "For all their lack of civilisation and their primitive life, they live together more successfully in this harsh land than we do." It has often been said that Aborigines lived with the environment. Possibly they had created their own environment. Hunters lit fires to clear areas of grass land to attract kangaroos into their hunting ground. Some fires they started accidently, others they lit during cool weather to clear an accumulation of undergrowth that could cause a wild fire during hot summer days. Women practiced a form of agriculture. They dug for roots, loosening the soil, encouraging regrowth and extending the areas of food supply.
Religion
Different tribes had their own burial customs. The Wurundjeri wrapped their dead in bark and left the body in a tree, where it would be out of reach of predators. When dry, they buried the body in a shallow grave, laying the dead man’s personal belongings alongside him, and then stuck his spear-thrower upright at the head of the grave. At the head of a woman’s grave, the mourners placed her digging stick, her personal implement, that she had always carried and used every day.
The aboriginal remains discovered by Thomas Petty, many years ago in South Doncaster and those in the burial site in Williamsons Road were buried according to this custom.
Possibly Thomas Petty reburied the bones in ground now covered by Harcourt Street. After the arrival of white settlers the dead were no longer placed in trees before burial. The two blackfellows graves in D'Arcy’s paddock, alongside Wetherby Road, date from after the arrival of the whites.
After bereavement the Aborigines expressed their grief with wild lamentations and painful cuts to their bodies. When the mourning was over the deceased’s name could not be spoken. The memory was still too painful. After a time, about six months, sometimes the dead person’s name was again used, but then it was prefixed by the words "poor fellow", such as "poor fellow Jacky".
Aborigines attributed all deaths, other than from old age or violence, to magic. If a man died because a bone had been pointed at him or if he had been sung to death, then his death had to be avenged by his next of kin. When the culprit was found, the avenger killed him and took his kidney fat, for that took his strength.
A religion of myths and spiritual beliefs controlled all their actions.. The Wurundjeri believed in two principal deities, Bungel, the maker of the earth, man and all the animals, and Pallian who made the sea, rivers, creeks and all the fish in them. Bungel, a great man, was once on earth and is now in the sky, and considered to be the star Altair. Bungel held up his hands to the sun to warm them and the sun warned the earth, which opened up and blackfellows came out.
All aborigines divided their world into two moieties. The Wurundjeri called them Bunjil and Wang, but every tribe had their own names. All individuals were either Bunjil or Wang. A man who was Bunjil had to marry a woman who was Wang, and a man who was Wang married Bunjil. They avoided inbreeding by strict adherence to this law, punishable by death. In the Kulin confederacy children always took the moiety of their father. Also a man had to marry a woman from a different tribe.
As well as their moiety each person belonged to the tribal totem, totems were usually a bird. The Wurundjeri totem is still the bronze wing pigeon. Totems were similar to the idea of reincarnation. In the Dreaming, before the world took its present form, all things, birds, animals and the earth came from a common ancestor. Therefore people are related to all things in nature.
Sacred places arose from unusual events or rare sightings. For instance, near the home of Ben Atkins in Newmans Road, Templestowe, two trees had met in an arch and grew on as one tree. This tree was a sacred site.
Their knowledge of the land and the plants that grew on their land, enabled the Aborigines to find food and live in this harsh country. Their beliefs made a spiritual bond between man and the land. When a settler once picked some wild flowers to take to his wife, an Aborigine said," You should not have picked those flowers, they were my friends." The Wurundjeri felt themselves to be a part of the land. It was the meaning for life. Without the land, there was no reason for life.
Making Fire
Creation of Man
Punjil one day cut, with his large knife, two pieces of bark, mixed up a lot of clay, and made two black men, one very black and one not quite black, more like dirty red brick. He was from morning to night making them; it was not a bright day then, but the sun was like blood red all day. He began to make man at the feet, then made legs and so on to the head. He then made the other in like manner, and, smoothing them both over with his hand from the foot to the head, he put on one’s head curly hair and named him Kookinberrook; on the other straight hair and named him Berrookboorn. After finishing the two men, Punjil looked at them, was pleased, and danced around them. He then lay on each of them, blowing into their nostrils, mouth and navel, and the two men began to move. He bade them get up which they did {young men, not like piccaninnies}; he told them their names; he showed his brother Pallian the two men he had made.
Creation of Woman
The next day Pallian was in a creek paddling about beating in the water, in which he used to indulge. After some time, the water got thick like mud, so that he could scarcely move; he plucked off a small bough from a tree that hung over the creek, and looked through the bough at the water, and said "name you." He beat harder and harder, and saw near him come up four hands, then two heads, and so on, till breasts and two human figures complete appeared. Pallian exclaimed, "little my brother Punjil, me make two Bagrooks." He beat again the waters, and the two lubras came above the water and fell on the land, but they could not move; he carried one and then the other to his brother Punjil, who breathed into their nostrils, mouth and navel, and Punjil gave them names - to one Kunewarra, to the other Kuurrook. They gave each Koolin a lubra, Punjil put a spear in each Koolin’s hand, and Karakarook, daughter to Punjil, put, in each lubra’s hand, a kannan {digging stick}. The two men were taught to spear kangaroos, emus etc. and the two lubras to get gum, roots, bandicoots, grubs, etc. One morning when they awoke, they "no see Punjil, Pallian, and Kaarakarook"; "they had gone up above”. The blacks say all this took place "very far, far away" to the northwest.
For thousands of years the Australian people had lived isolated in the southern continent, unaware that, in the northern hemisphere there were other people, with different cultures.
Making a Bark Canoe
The aborigines selected a large tree with thick bark, a little bent so the final canoe would have a curve to lift the bow out of the water. The shape of the canoe was marked out with an axe, then they commenced cutting the bark around the edges. They began at the bottom and as they cut higher, toe holds were cut as steps to climb the tree, cutting with one hand they held on with the other using a stout branch propped against the tree. When the strip of bark was cut all round it was hammered with the blunt edge of the axe, then they forced a long pole under the loose edges and the bark was freed from the tree and gently lowered to the ground.
The canoe was laid upside down and a fire of dried leaves and twigs lit under it. The fire, which burnt out after a few minutes, had dried out and toughened the bark which tended to curl into the right shape. Then they turned the canoe right side up and placed two sticks as thwarts to keep the sides in place. The bow was forced into a raised position by placing a log under it, finally the stern was packed with clay to make it watertight. After leaving a few days to dry, there was a large canoe, ready for use.
Settlers moved into the bush that had been the hunting grounds of the blacks, scattering the natural game. Food became scarce because sheep and cattle disturbed the plants whose berries and roots provided food.
Coming of White Men
There are indications that human life existed in Australia one hundred thousand years ago, there is actual evidence of people living here fifty thousand years ago and Aborigines were certainly in the Bulleen area for the past five thousand years. During all that time great changes have taken place. Volcanoes have erupted, covering the land west of Melbourne with lava and volcanic ash, then ice covered the higher land, and the sea sank leaving the bay and Bass Strait dry ground. The ice melted and the sea rose again, with the waters of Port Phillip Bay lapping the hill where the Shrine of Remembrance now stands. Vegetation has changed; becoming at one time a rainforest then returning to the eucalypt bushland of today. Through all these changes the Wurundjeri people have adapted and adjusted their life to the conditions of the environment. They survived because they adapted.
In 1803, when Grimes came up the Yarra to Dights Falls, a group of Wurundjeri men stood and stared at these "white fella". They didn’t know it then, but this visit was the forerunner of a change in their lives far greater than anything they had experienced before. It would also affect them in ways far beyond their capacity to adapt.
Reports of sightings of these alien men made exciting gossip during the next thirty years, then in 1835 the Aborigines flocked to the Yarra to marvel at a ship tied up to a gum tree on the bank of the river. There were white men and women swarming around the ship and on the land.
The strangers handed out gifts which were eagerly received by the natives; blankets, as warm as their possum skin cloaks, mirrors, in which they could see themselves just like looking in a pool of water; hatchets, sharper and harder than any they had known; and flour, a food finer than the meal they could grind.
Tribal life was disrupted during the following months. The Wurundjeri’s love of excitement, animated talk and free gifts of food attracted them to the growing white settlement. At night members of the Wurundjeri and the rest of the Woiwurrong often held corroborees for the fascinated audience of settlers. It was an exciting time and they forgot the daily routine of tribal life, hunting, cooking or mending tools.
The British Government was most concerned about the welfare of the Australian aborigines. (After all, the English were the people whose concern for the natives of the world had led them to abolish slavery.) When Batman and his party left Van Diemen's Land to found a settlement at Port Phillip, Governor Arthur, following directions from London, gave strict instructions that the Aborigines be looked after. The government planned to civilize them by teaching the natives to read and write, to learn a useful trade and of course to be converted to Christianity. George Langhorn was asked to open a mission station. He established it in the area that is now the Botanical Gardens. Langhorn attracted pupils to the school by giving children three meals a day and offering adults, flour, sugar, salt, beef, pork and soap in exchange for a few hours of work a day. At first the mission was a success, but soon the aborigines drifted away.
The township of Melbourne grew rapidly as more immigrants arrived. Soon the crowds of aborigines became a problem as they begged for food and their many dogs roamed the streets. Some men gave the natives drink and encouraged them to fight, also the English women, newly arrived in the town, were embarrassed to see the black women, bare from the waist up. Langhorn moved his mission to Narri Narri Warren. There the Wurundjeri would be away from the town, for, he said "They had become addicted to alcohol, tea and milk".
Langhorn was able to attract children to his mission and found them quick to learn, but the elders of the tribe repeatedly took their children away. There was a clash between the two different cultures. The English belief in the importance of education, being able to read and write and the civilising influence of Christianity, was not understood by the Wurundjeri people. The elders of the tribe saw their children as wasting their time when they should be learning the skills of hunting, gaining a knowledge of the bush, and learning about the edible shrubs and roots.
Settlers moved into the bush that had been the hunting grounds of the blacks, scattering the natural game. Food became scarce because sheep and cattle disturbed the plants whose berries and roots provided food. The settlers' sheep grazed and crops grew on land that had been tribal territory. The Aborigines could not understand that these belonged to the settlers. They had always believed that whatever grew on the land belonged to everyone. After an incident at Warrandyte James Anderson wrote a statement to the magistrate.
"...on Thursday last I went down to the potato field to see if any of the blacks, about fifty of whom were encamped close to the station, had stolen any potatoes, on coming to the field I found the potatoes all torn up and dug up apparently with sticks. I proceeded to the black’s camp and on my arrival I called out to the natives that they had been amongst my potatoes and that I would go to Melbourne and have them taken up - upon my saying this they made a noise and several of them stood up and seized their muskets - two or three were standing together and among them Jackie Jackie. One shot was fired from themselves but I cannot not tell which fired it as my eyes were turned away at the moment. I heard the ball whiz past me into the scrub. I saw Jackie Jackie with a musket, he had been around the premises the night before and on my asking where he was going to sleep, he said at Mr Jackson’s which is ten miles away.
"I believe him to be the author of the outrage and by that a warrant may be issued for his apprehension."
George Robinson, who had been appointed Chief Protector of Aborigines, on hearing of their difficulties in obtaining food, had given them muskets to help with hunting. The settlers became greatly concerned that the Aborigines were carrying firearms. After the incident when Jacky Jacky fired at Anderson, a party of troopers were sent to capture Jacky Jacky and disarm the Aborigines, They managed to capture him but he escaped when they were distracted by a large group of hostile blacks who threatened the troopers with muskets. A serious situation could have developed but the Troopers used great restraint in dispersing the Aborigines without firing a shot. Later the muskets were recovered.
Wives of the settlers were afraid of the Aborigines, specially when the men were away. Often, if they saw blacks in the vicinity, would talk loudly, calling out as though talking to their husbands. At Deep Creek a black carrying a rifle walked into Mrs Knee’s hut while she was on her own. He put the rifle down on the table and demanded food. She was frightened but gave him some food. He took it and left.
The Wurundjeri, once the proud inhabitants of this land, were now without food and unwelcome by the settlers. In 1839 the British Government, hearing of the Aborigines’ plight, endeavoured to help them by forming the Port Phillip Protectorate.
Five protectors were appointed and large areas of land set aside for reserves, also rations of food and blankets were regularly distributed. William Thomas became the protector for the Wurundjeri and their neighbours the Bunurong tribes. Thomas was the most conscientious of the protectors. He lived with the tribes, taking his wife and children with him, and getting to know the Aborigines.
During these early years many settlers treated the Aborigines well and made friends with them. When the wife of John Chivers died, the Wurundjeri women took John’s children each day, looking after them while he was away at work. Some Aboriginal men found occasional work with settlers, stripping bark, sheep shearing, or working as shepherds or stockmen. Also some tried to earn money or food by selling skins in Melbourne. However they could never understand the idea of regular daily work, which had never been part of their life.
Major Newman, a retired army officer, treated the Aborigines badly. He was a harsh taskmaster, accustomed to being obeyed and punishing any disobedience. He soon infuriated the black men. One group put on war paint and set out to kill the Major. His wife Catherine was warned they were coming, and being a resourceful woman, damped down the fire in their turf hut and hid her husband up the large chimney. The blacks forced their way into the hut, looked around, never thinking to look in the fireplace and, not finding the Major, left. Catherine quickly helped her husband down from the chimney. He was half suffocated and his whiskers were badly singed.
In 1842 Governor LaTrobe ordered the formation of a native police force. There had been a previous attempt but it had failed. This time Captain Dana, a capable man, was appointed to form one. He approached William Thomas, who took him to see Billibellary, the headman of the Woiwurrong. The three men sat on a log in the bush while Danna talked. Billibellary held up seven fingers and said "Come back in seven days. I think about it". A week later Billibellary came in with twenty-five volunteers.
As an incentive the men were given colourful uniforms. A green jacket with possum skin facings, black or green trousers with a red stripe and a green cap with red stripes around it. They became well trained and rode with pride. At first the troopers earned a good reputation. They were sent to disperse aggressive blacks, to escort settlers through dangerous areas and to recover lost stock. Unfortunately the police soon became heavy drinkers and when sent against hostile tribes, dispensed justice with brutality. By the end of ten years the men had all left and the police corps was abandoned.
The last corroboree in the Melbourne district took place in 1852. William Thomas sent a report to Governor Latrobe:
"The Yarra blacks were engaged with the farmers by the Plenty, and most of the Western Port blacks in the country of Mornington were engaged at different stations. In February 1852 some Western Port blacks returned from Gippsland bringing about ten Warrigal blacks with them. I tried to remove them, they promised day by day to leave. While engaged with them near Unwins Survey, south of the Yarra... Some messengers were dispatched, and Melbourne had, in a few days, three encampments within ten miles of it. They begged very hard to remain and said they would leave in three weeks and not come near the town. They had not met for years and wanted to have, once more, some corroboree together.
"I got the three encampments at length to one spot in a government reserve on a bend of the Yarra about twelve or thirteen miles from Melbourne, [Pound Bend] and addressed His Excellency upon the indulgence that was granted, and day after day, for fourteen days did they enjoy themselves.
"From that time however, they visited Melbourne, scenes of the most awful dissipation ensued. As they shifted from one spot they would be found two or three miles nearer to Melbourne in another direction, until in April and May, from morning to night, there was nought but drunkenness. While I was hastening one party off, two were murdered and three were subsequently found dead, which with a previous murder at Brighton, regularly disgusted the public. After aid by the police, I got the Goulbourn, Barrabool, Booning and Gippsland blacks off, assuring them that never more should there be an assemblage. By the end of June, the Yarra blacks were settled at the ranges and the Western Port near the coast."
The government named William Thomas as Guardian of Aborigines when the protectorate was ended in 1849. He continued to help his adopted people, but by the end of the 1850’s he became ill and died soon after. William Thomas had worked hard showing great understanding. He had won the respect of the Wurundjeri, who called him "Good Father".
John Green, an itinerant lay preacher, took an interest in the plight of the Aborigines, who were now under the leadership of Barak, an exceptionally capable member of the Wurundjeri. The government appointed Green as Guardian of Aborigines in 1861. The next year he persuaded the government to provide land for an Aboriginal settlement at Coranderrk, near Healesville. Here the men cultivated land, running a successful hop farm. They formed a village with a school, church, bakery, dairy, hop kiln, stables, and a collection of well-built cottages. Coranderrk became a success. The Aborigines adapted to a new way of life, developing a sense of pride, but the government did not give the settlement the support it deserved. John Green understood his people and managed them well, but the Aboriginal Board considered him to be slack, not enforcing strict discipline. Green resigned and from then on, Coranderrk declined, till in 1924, all the Aborigines were moved to Lake Tyers.
Some of the men would not go. They could not face another change and came back to their old tribal territory. There they lived by doing odd jobs such as cutting firewood and mending fences. A few of these were still living at Warrandyte in the 1920’s and 30’s. Barak, after leading his people for many years, died in 1903. He was the last full blood Wurundjeri.
For thousands of years the Australian people had lived isolated in the southern continent, unaware that, in the northern hemisphere there were other people, with different cultures. These cultures were developing and their populations expanding. The Aborigines briefly encountered other people when, Asian, Portuguese and Spanish sailors visited this remote land. These early visitors were explorers in search of riches, but it was just a matter of time before visitors came in search of land, for the population of the Northern Hemisphere was growing. It happened to be England that had both the need and the knowledge to form a colony.
For thousands of years the Australian aborigines had survived because they had adapted to their environment, but when faced with another culture they could not adapt fast enough and so they were doomed. On the other hand the English invaders lacked the understanding to appreciate the need to integrate the native population into their new colony.
Aborigines of Bulleen: The history of the Aborigines of the Wurundjeri Tribe who inhabited the area which became the City of Doncaster and Templestowe.
Irvine Green (DTHS 1989).
First Printed 1989 by Templestowe Historical Society Copyright 1989 Irvine Green. 81 McGowans Road Donvale 3111 Original PDF Scan.
National Library of Australia: Card Number and ISBN 0 947353 00 3. NLA Record.
Publication: Aborigines of Bulleen
When people think of aborigines, they often base their concepts on the people of the Central Australian or the tropical parts of Australia. The aborigines of the temporate zone lived rather differently and this is graphically shown in Irvine Green's latest book "Aborigines of Bulleen".
This book traces the lives of Doncaster - Templestowe aborigines from the earliest years to the time when white men took over their lands. It describes the effect of the arrival of the new settlers had upon the lives and customs of the aborigines and the problems these people had in adjusting to white men's viewpoint.
Irvine Green has drawn on detailed research to give the reader a clear picture of the everyday life of the Wurundjeri tribe who inhabited the area now known as "Doncaster and Templestowe". He describes their hunting and food gathering skills, their religious and social customs always with the ready sympathy necessary to a full understanding of the aboriginal psyche.
A map has been included to illustrate where the Wurundjeri tribe lived, with sites of aboriginal corroboorees and other remains clearly marked. This adds to the interest and involvement of local readers.
There is an aura of mysticism in the relating of some aboriginal legends which gives us the feeling of the spiritual relationship between the Aboriginal people and the land they fell so close to. This book has
filled a gap in the series of booklets already, published by our society. It has given the story of the Wurundjeri tribe its rightful place in the early history of Doncaster and Templestowe.
Source: 1990 03 DTHS Newsletter
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