The mans widow then made her camp fire by the grave-side, and every evening as the sun was sinking, she began her loud mournful wailing for the dead. If the course of performances in the bush have been completed, the boys may be returned next day, but if some further instruction is necessary, the date is arranged accordingly. These two massacres are said to have taken about two hundred lives and the natives were still being pursued towards the Upper Arundel from where they could escape into The Falls Country. The words were: Pindi pindeingy pindreingl cou-a-yana poon-maree wyv-gneahu Yangaronga gnaralonga cou-a-yana poon-maree wy-gneahn. The massacre at Kiripit occurred in 35, and resulted in the death of five of Mackenzies convict shepherds. Strings are bound tightly round the upper arms of the novices to make their muscles swell, which is supposed to cause their arms to grow stronger. A census taken by Dr. McKinlay in the early [1830s] showed that there were about 250 blacks in the valley of the Williams. Join us, volunteer and be a part of our journey of discovery! Birds were easily secured and were an abundant part of the daily meal. Naturally they avoided as much as possible the necessity of going through this process. Other traditional plant foods include the bulbs of many orchids and the starch from the crown of tree ferns and the starch from stinging tree roots being roasted to make bread. The only record of punitive expeditions I can vouch for are as follows: In 1835, on the occasion of the great raid on Mackenzies shepherds, at Kiripit, now Rawdon Vale, the A. The Wonnarua people's traditional lands are located in the Hunter Valley area of New South Wales. When I departed from Port Stephens in 1873 to go to Queensland the tribe had dwindled to about fifty members. They disappeared in a northerly direction but were pursued by a party of armed soldiers and assigned servants and overtaken some twenty miles away. The men at the goonambang had already been informed that the boombits were on their way. What was the nature of this preliminary induction I was never able to learn, But their period of probation must have been a trying one indeed. They would treat him hospitably, and talk with him about general matters of tribal interest. Gordon Bennett (reprinted 1964) p11-12. The Wonnarua people's traditional lands are located in the Hunter Valley area of New South Wales. As everything relating to these ceremonies is kept very secret it is only hearsay. There I. saw a large fire burning in the centre of a cleared oval space. Very carefully was the length of bark separated from its hold so that not a crack appeared in Its tough surface. The 1923 Dutton Family Tree Mystery . Others say, You should not interfere with [Ko-ens possum], or he will come and kill both us and the boys. Two bull-roarers are then heard close by, and some of the men call out to those throwing the sticks, We told you to beware of Goign - here he comes ! This is said to impress the boys with supernatural terror. In the proximity of the new camp, on the side of it nearest the place to which the novices will be taken by the headmen, a piece of tolerably level ground is selected, and cleared of all timber and loose rubbish, and a large fire kindled in the middle of it. Name (required) The illustration above is captioned Natives returned from fishing and sub captioned Drawn by Mr R. Browne No. It is on record of authentic nature that incredible crudities were practised upon the poor blacks by some of these hardened wretches. The opossum, with his pronounced eucalyptus flavor, was also esteemed a great delicacy, and these dainty little arboreal citizens received scant consideration when the tribe was on a foraging expedition. Dungog Chronicle : Durham and Gloucester Advertiser (NSW : 1894 - 1954) Fri 22 Dec 1905 Page 5 Scraps of Early History. The settlers from the Williams River side came across to the head of the Gloucester driving the blacks before them while the settlers on this side drove all the blacks up the river and at last cornered them on the small flat above McKenzies cliffs where they shot men women and children without mercy or consideration. Turning their attention from the cattle raid, the blacks attacked the hut where the A. In Australian Aboriginal mythology, Baiame (or Biame, Baayami, Baayama or Byamee) was the creator god and sky father[1] in the Dreaming of several Aboriginal Australian peoples of south-eastern Australia, such as the Wonnarua, Kamilaroi, Guringay, Eora, Darkinjung, and Wiradjuri peoples. Sir, I have the honor to acknowledge receipt of your letter of the 19th instant relative to the individual named in the margin [Cooky], and have no hesitation in saying, from the peaceable, honest, and orderly conduct of the blacks in this quarter for many months past it would be perfectly safe to return Cooky to his tribe nay I am sure it would do great good, for he is an intelligent fellow, and will communicate to his friends all he has seen - and come through since they parted, this paving the way to their future improvement, while it must ensure gratitude and good will to the whites. ENRICH https://goo.gl/17pRS8. In every creek, in every gully, lay dead blacks, and Ganghat became anathema; a place accursed, Then another name arose tor the locality Belbora (now mostly called Belbowrie.) Baal Bora to signify that the circular ceremonial of the Boombit should never more be enacted there Dungog Chronicle : Durham and Gloucester Advertiser (NSW : 1894 - 1954) Fri 9 Nov 1923 Page 3 The Pioneers. At various times they were ordered to assume uncomfortable positions and to remain so until the sun crossed the sky. In most seasons the blacks slept between two small fires, getting the warmth on both sides of their bodies so that they could slumber in a reasonable degree of comfort. In 1999 the Wonnarua Nation Aboriginal Corporation acquired the site of the former St Clair Mission where their forebears lived. As soon as they are covered over, the women keep up a humming noise the same as they did on the morning the novices were taken away from the kackaroo. While the women used the lines, the men mostly fished with the spear, and they were extraordinarily skilful. The Kabook and Watoo people of the Gringai clan of the Worimi Nation (The Cook family) have lived continually in the Barrington for over 189 years recorded by the first white settlers 1826, until the present Cook Family Descendants from the Kabook and Watoo people speak the Kattang (or Gathang) language and it has been recorded that they are the last of the true custodians and Clan within the boundaries of the Allyn and Williams river up stream to Gummi Falls on the Manning River known as Kummi Kummi (Place of many Crystal stones), Barrington Tops (Beann Beann), Rawdon Vale, Barrington, Gloucester up to the Manning river down to Cresford the Karuah River and the Bulliac Tugrabakh Bora Ground area, some 13km from Gloucester. Wading through the complexities of the situation is now the responsibility of Ms Ley. The men would decorate themselves with pipe-clay and ochre, painting fantastic patterns about their faces and bodies, and they would wear head-dresses of weird and wonderful designs. Sharks were about the only thing the blacks feared in the water. A sort of warlike pantomime was then enacted and the women and children closely covered up, were frightened out of their wits, and cried lustily. Figure 5: Richard Browne (17711824). In fashioning their canoes the blacks showed a skill and craftsmanship that was surprising, considering that any form of building was to them practically an unknown art. [8], A range of alternate names for the Wonnarua people are Wanaruah, Wanaruwa, Wonnuaruah, Wannerawa, Wonarura, and Wonnahare. 1 have been informed that in some tribes the blacks use a vine to aid in climbing, putting it round the tree and working It upwards to form a continual support. Knocks and bumps, cuts and scratches, sustained in the ordinary course of daily life, troubled them not one whit. The Blacks of Dungog, Port Stephens and Gresford. Can you list the top facts and stats about Wonnarua? At this camp they are also required, on more than one occasion, to drink the urine of some of the men, collected in a coolamin for the purpose. Throughout the Gringai country [there] were many [aboriginal cemeteries]. They were covered with pieces of bark and bushes. Fitzpatric seems to play down the extent of these engagements. The rugs they used were made of animals skins, principally those of opossums. I was in company with my old friend the late John Hopson on the tableland when he found a stone axe-heart there. Before finally quitting the main camp, a small sapling is cut down, and one end of it inserted firmly in the ground at the kackaroo, in a slanting position, the elevated end pointing in the direction of the new camp. When the Wonnarua see the wedge tailed eagle, they know Kawal is looking over them, protecting them. Eighty years have elapsed since that tragic story was enacted, and only a fragmentary history remains of .it to-day. The stripping operation was carried out with an exact judgment, lines being cut cross- wise with a tomahawk around and across the tree so that the section removed would be of the required size and shape. The novices are then helped to their feet, and are taken to each of the marked trees in succession. 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. 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. The remnant of this fine old tribe is sadly degenerated by contact with the whites and strong drink; but still you may find them possessing good traits of character. Thank you for reading. Women were not allowed to see drawings of Baiame nor approach Baiame sites, which are often male initiation sites (boras). At Port Stephens the tribe was happily situated in the matter of provender. Derby [carried] the letter. I was working at Irwins once and remember the [women] coming down opposite Tillegra house. The markings as those who have seen the figures of early-day blacks will know when finalised were quite a white and weird color. The men, exultant over the result of their prowess would immediately proceed to make a fire. This left a white, flax- like fibre, very tough and strong. If some of the men have remained in the camp all day, they also will proceed to the goonambang and meet the others there. [The canoes] were generally 15 feet long, and with a fair beam, required some handling by an amateur. Privacy policy "There seems to be some sort of view that Indigenous groups need to be reaching consensus on all matters," he said. As with all aspects of Aboriginal history in the Hunter Region, evidence relating to diet is almost exclusively related to the coastal areas. At other times the soldier bird is imitated; sometimes the flying fox [fruit bat], the native bear [koala], the rock wallaby, the wombat, and other animals. But the blacks remained, and many of my earliest recollections are of them. sunrise, one of the headmen pretends to see a large brown squirrel [possum] going into a hole in a tree growing near the camp, and asks one of the men to catch it. Before being lowered into the grave the medicine man, standing at the head, spoke to the corps to find out who caused its death, and he received answers from the other medicine men at the foot. FamilySearch is an international, nonprofit organization dedicated to helping all people discover their family story. There was, I knew, another and more pregnant reason that no one would disclose. 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. . was open to attack from the Wallamba and Cape Hawke blacks [who] raided the run and speared the stock, driving many of the cattle [to the]unknown brushy headwaters of the Myall and Crowford to Bundbach, on the northern shores of Port Stephens. Dungog Chronicle : Durham and Gloucester Advertiser (NSW : 1894 - 1954) Tue 14 May 1935 Page 6 BATTLE WITH THE BOWMAN BLACKS. Hall and Mr. Darch followed them soon after, the whole party intending to go on to Gloucester to-night, as soon as the moon rises. Cabbage Tree Island was literally covered with them then, and I recall dropping fourteen in one discharge of my little double-barrelled gun. [Coen] delighted in tormenting and carrying them away when he could get opportunities. No doubt the Idea was that the fire would dry up the teeming heavens, and the artificial gusts from their mouths blow the storms away At Port Stephens it was the custom, when some of the boys had reached that stage of adolescence that their admission to the full privileges and prerogatives of the adult men of the tribe was deemed advisable by the older wiseacres, to segregate them for preparation for the ceremonies. Take em feathers out. When the offending plume was removed Billy was immediately placated and was ready to start. Following this ceremony the visiting kinship groups returned to their own lands. The other men then go and pick up the bushes thrown down by the keerang, and pull the leaves off them, making a continuous grunting, noise while so employed. Long Tommys [wife] picked up a fire stick and flattened Flash Tommy out. As soon as they had prostrated themselves they were covered up with blankets and possum skin rugs by an old black who kept guard over them, with a heavy waddy in his hand, ready to knock any of the women on the head if they evinced signs 0 f restlessness or undue curiosity In the proceedings. @!Jnm=z9A0h>n~q8FZG7dJNe)u&k3mNImpTyJdqynqM|49z?1Lg9RWy5HBJ4E>+w 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. What this Initiatory preparation was I never learned, for the boys maintained a strict silence on the subject. When not in use for this purpose the peg was kept in the cartilage of the nostrils which were pierced for the purpose. The removal of Cabeen Paddy [recently mentioned] and Cocky from this quarter has had the desired effect. On the north, the Manning for some distance bounded this territory and they occupied the country as far west as the Barrington Tops, which, according to the old residents of the Upper Allyn River, they visited in summer time. . He then gave the people their laws of life, traditions, songs, and culture. 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. Eleven blacks were killed and the child recovered. Scott Franks, of the Plains Clans Wonnarua People (PCWP), believedthe colonial past of the RavensworthEstateinvolvedthe brutal massacre of First Nations people. 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. This was carefully secured, taken out into the bay, and, with great solemnity, committed to the deep. This, I was told, was the end, but to me it now seems clear that it was the beginning of the ceremonies, being the time when the contingents have arrived, and before the final part when the boys who are initiated are taken from their mothers. Some of the game caught during the day is cooked for the novices, the bones and sinews being taken out of it, and the pieces cut small, so that they may not be able to distinguish what animals flesh is being given to them. After Mr. McKenzies death Mr. Simon Lord, a well-known Sydney merchant (after whom Lords Creek is named) of the early Forties of last century, took over the management of the Rawdens properties for a few years and until they were sold. Family tree diagrams have the same basic design. | I think 1838 would be nearer the mark. The PCWP has askedfederal Environment Minister Sussan Ley to use Aboriginal heritage laws to protect the countryside around Ravensworth from further mining. Som e of them were notched at inter- vals along their whole length, or else carved in fantastic patterns. [1], The Gringai are a known clan of the Wonnarua people, whose traditional lands are the Allyn River valley,[9] and include what is now known as Dungog, Paterson, Gresford, Brookfield,[7] Tocal,[10] to the headwaters of the Williams and Chichester rivers. After the novices have been about a week at the keelaybang another mob of men from the womens camp make their appearance during the afternoon. Groups living near the Wonnarua include the Darkinjung and the Wirad. The edible fruits found in the Barrington Tops area include: orange thorn, wild apple tree, giant stinging tree, figs, native cherry, geebung, na tive raspberry, lillypilly and medicines like Kangaroo apple and corkwood. We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Australians and Traditional Custodians of the lands where we live, learn, and work. This continued until the grass began to shoot on the grave, and then one night the tribe suddenly disappeared and we saw nothing of them for several months. Excellence, E: Emailsingleton-h.school@det.nsw.edu.au. In the course of time, they were, therefore, thoroughly disciplined and properly trained. The tribe had no special leader or chief during my memory of them, the older. I further observe that the party who apprehended him and some others were subpoenaed on his trial, and the reward for his apprehension as notified in the Government Gazette of the 15th July 1835 (10) ordered by the Colonial Secretary to be paid to them. The blacks mistook the whip cracks for gun shots, and made tracks for safety. singleton-h.school@det.nsw.edu.au. The white people who recorded the language had no linguistic training, and little appreciation of the difficulties of translating between two disparate cultures. . Cook [wrote]: The native blacks are very savage in this locality and it is necessary that we should all carry arms when travelling. The novices and guardians occupy a central position, and the rest of the men camp under the remainder of the shelter, in both directions. According to the Wonnarua dreamtime the Hunter Valley was created by the great spirit, Baime (Byamee). This mighty unknown was not in any way associated with such natural phenomena as thunder or light- ning, nor did he seem to have any particular dwelling place. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: Email (required) (Address never made public). Some sheets of bark are now laid on the ground just inside the boundary of the back part of the ring, or, in other words, on that side of it which is farthest from the pathway leading to the goonambang. The Blacks of Dungog, Port Stephens and Gresford. These are excerpts from publicly available documents, mostly from the 1800s and early 1900s relating to the Gringai, giving an indication of their customs and way of life. Another superstition was in regard to the treatment of a sufferer from internal pains. Baime awoke and created everything, the mountains, plains, rivers and every living thing. . The language spoken around Newcastle and Lake Macquarie called by the aborigines Awaaba was much the same, and the whole language was named Kurring-gai by some, and Awaabakal by others. 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 [women] sat in a row with little packets of sand which they beat with their hand to keep time. I once inquired the reason of this fear of the place and was quaintly informed that too many shark were there. . Through these holes two cords were threaded. This communication when handed to Mr F t, he, as the blackfellow describes, read it, tore it to pieces, and when throwing the fragments into the fireplace, said in a contemptuous manner, There, go and bring another, threatening at same time to shoot him if he did not instantly leave the place. On arriving at the circle they walked once round it, and then entered it through the opening in its wall, the women at the same time going out of it by stepping over the embankment at the other end, where they remained as spectators. The body was dropped in sideways and after a stone hatchet and a club were placed beside it the grave was filled in and the ceremonies ended. Having made the necessary arrangements, Captain Mof- fatt, Mr. Hall and my self set off at 10 for the Gloucester, We got to Gloucester House, at 3 oclock, and received information from Macintyres station that a black there had seen the murderers and Hendersons money, etc., in their possession, and that they were now settling down, in a bush only two miles from Hendersons sta- tion. After the owner had spent some time in exhibiting his prize, a comrade would calmly approach him and secure possession of it to go through the same performance. One man, Green, escaped to Underbank after a flight of over 25 miles; the last spear was thrown almost in sight of Underbank House. Then there was the awfully cruel poisoning of the blacks at Bakers Creek out- station of the A.A. Co. He did not own the land, the land owned him. The Grengai tribe were possessed of a wonderful marriage law, which prevented relations from marrying, and this law extends to Queensland. 101 0 obj
<>stream
When the Wonnarua see the wedge tailed eagle, they know Kawal is looking over them, protecting them. Sir By the directions of T. Cook, Esq., our Supt of Police, and in explanation of that part of your letter to him dated the 30th July, relative to the aboriginal black named in the margin [Jemmy], I do myself the honor to inform you that the said black native was tried at this court on 29th January last, and found guilty of an assault and robbery, and committed to take his trial before the Supreme Court. It is quite true, he added, when it is said that no white man ever saw a bora ceremony. The guardians or some of the other men then shout out, as if addressing someone, The boys are here yet! A few would be detailed as beaters, driving the mob towards the armed hunters hidden in the bushes. Tra ditional hunting grounds were depleted, and sacred sites were destroyed. In response to the PCWP's application for Aboriginal heritage protection, she appointed an independent anthropologist to prepare a wide-ranging report. On the 30th last I discov- ered in the bush opposite iny residence, three head of Mr Myles cattle speared. When this painting is completed, two of the men go ahead by themselves, each of them carrying one or two boomerangs in his belt and one in his hand; in the other hand he carries a small bough ready for use by and bye. In referring to the Manning River blacks he mentions two . Here a boy drew on all his previous learning to become one with the land and he was given the opportunity to demonstrate his knowledge of every animate and inanimate object. Snakes were greatly esteemed by our epicurean friends, their flesh, when roasted, being beautifully white and apparently very tasty. The kangaroo, practically ex- tinct about Port Stephens now was in the middle decade of last century, the favorite food of the blacks. 69 0 obj
<>
endobj
The new-comer announced hls name and business and within a few seconds the whole crowd were jabbering ex-citedly and happily. On the floor of the canoe, usually at the stern, there would be the inevitable mound of clay, the floating fireplace.