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Aboriginal Victorians, the
Aboriginal Australians
Aboriginal Australians are the various Indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, such as Tasmania, Fraser Island, Hinchinbrook Island, the Tiwi Islands, and Groote Eylandt, but excluding the Torres Strait Islands ...
of
Victoria, Australia, occupied the land for tens of thousands of years prior to
European settlement. Aboriginal people have lived a semi-nomadic existence of fishing, hunting and gathering, and farming eels in Victoria for at least 40,000 years.
The Aboriginal people of Victoria had developed a varied and complex set of languages, tribal alliances, beliefs and social customs that involved totemism, superstition, initiation and burial rites, and tribal
moieties.
History
Prehistory
There is some evidence to show that people were living in the
Maribyrnong River
The Maribyrnong River is a perennial river of the Port Phillip catchment, located in the northwestern suburbs of Melbourne, in the Australian state of Victoria (Australia), Victoria.
Course
The Maribyrnong River draws its headwaters from near ...
valley, near present-day
Keilor
Keilor is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, north-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the Cities of Brimbank and Hume local government areas. Keilor recorded a population of 5,906 at the 2021 census.
Whi ...
, about 40,000 years ago, according to Gary Presland.
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.
[Gary Presland, ]
Keilor Archaeological Site
', eMelbourne website. Accessed 3 November 2008 A
cranium
The skull is a bone protective cavity for the brain. The skull is composed of four types of bone i.e., cranial bones, facial bones, ear ossicles and hyoid bone. However two parts are more prominent: the cranium and the mandible. In humans, the ...
found at the site has been dated at between 12,000 and 14,700 years BP.
Similar archaeological sites in
Tasmania
)
, nickname =
, image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates:
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdi ...
and on the
Bass Strait
Bass Strait () is a strait separating the island state of Tasmania from the Australian mainland (more specifically the coast of Victoria, with the exception of the land border across Boundary Islet). The strait provides the most direct waterwa ...
Islands have been dated to between 20,000 and 35,000 years ago, when sea levels were 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.
[Hanna Steyne]
''Investigating the Submerged Landscapes of Port Phillip Bay, Victoria''
, Heritage Victoria, who sources (Lambeck & Chappell 2001) and (Bird 1993, Bowler 1966, Holdgate et al. 2001), Accessed 3 November 2008[David Rhodes, Terra Culture Heritage Consultants, ]
Channel Deepening Existing Conditions Final Report – Aboriginal Heritage
'', Prepared for Parsons Brinckerhoff and Port of Melbourne Corporation, August 2003. Accessed 3 November 2008
There is evidence of occupation in Gariwerd (the
Grampians
The Grampian Mountains (''Am Monadh'' in Scottish Gaelic, Gaelic) is one of the three major mountain ranges in Scotland, that together occupy about half of Scotland. The other two ranges are the Northwest Highlands and the Southern Uplands. T ...
) – the territory of the
Jardwadjali people – many thousands of years before the last Ice Age. One site in the Victoria Range (Billawin Range) has been dated from 22,000 years ago.
During the
Ice Age
An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages and gree ...
about 20,000 years
, the area now the bay of
Port Phillip
Port Phillip (Kulin languages, Kulin: ''Narm-Narm'') or Port Phillip Bay is a horsehead-shaped bay#Types, enclosed bay on the central coast of southern Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. The bay opens into the Bass Strait via a short, ...
would have been dry land, and the
Yarra and
Werribee
Werribee is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, south-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Wyndham local government area. Werribee recorded a population of 50,027 at the 2021 census.
Werribee i ...
rivers would have joined to flow through the heads then south and south west through the Bassian plain before meeting the ocean to the west. Between 16,000 and 14,000 years BP the rate of sea level rise was most rapid, rising about in 300 years according to Peter D. Ward. Tasmania and the Bass Strait islands became separated from mainland Australia around 12,000 BP, when the sea level was about below present levels.
Port Phillip was flooded by post-glacial rising sea levels between 8000 and 6000 years ago.
Oral history
Oral history is the collection and study of historical information about individuals, families, important events, or everyday life using audiotapes, videotapes, or transcriptions of planned interviews. These interviews are conducted with people wh ...
and creation stories from the
Wada wurrung
The Wathaurong nation, also called the Wathaurung, Wadawurrung and Wadda Wurrung, are an Aboriginal Australian people living in the area near Melbourne, Geelong and the Bellarine Peninsula in the state of Victoria. They are part of the Kulin al ...
,
Woiwurrung and
Bun wurrung languages describe the flooding of the bay. Hobsons Bay was once a kangaroo-hunting ground. Creation stories describe how
Bunjil
Bunjil, also spelt Bundjil, is a creator deity, culture hero and ancestral being, often depicted as a wedge-tailed eagle in Australian Aboriginal mythology of some of the Aboriginal peoples of Victoria.
Creation stories
In the Kulin nation ...
was responsible for the formation of the bay,
or the bay was flooded when the Yarra River was created (Yarra Creation Story.)
Later
The
Wurundjeri
The Wurundjeri people are an Australian Aboriginal people of the Woiwurrung language group, in the Kulin nation. They are the Traditional Owners of the Birrarung (Yarra River) Valley, covering much of the present location of Narrm (Melbourne ...
mined
diorite
Diorite ( ) is an intrusive igneous rock formed by the slow cooling underground of magma (molten rock) that has a moderate content of silica and a relatively low content of alkali metals. It is intermediate in composition between low-silic ...
at
Mount William Quarry, a source of the highly valued
greenstone hatchet heads, which were 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. The quarry had been in use for more than 1,500 years and covered , including pits of several metres. In February 2008 the site was placed on the
National Heritage List for its cultural importance and archeological value.
In some areas semi-permanent huts were constructed and a sophisticated network of water channels were constructed for farming eels. During winter the
Djab wurrung
The Djab Wurrung, also spelt Djabwurrung, Tjapwurrung, Tjap Wurrung, or Djapwarrung, people are Aboriginal Australians whose country is the volcanic plains of central Victoria from the Mount William Range of Gariwerd in the west to the Pyrenee ...
encampments were more permanent, sometimes consisting of substantial huts as attested by Major
Thomas Mitchell near
Mount Napier
Mount Napier in Victoria, Australia, is one of the youngest volcanoes in Australia. It erupted about 32,000 years ago. It was named by Major Thomas Mitchell after the three Napier brothers, who he had served alongside during the Peninsular Wa ...
in 1836:
Two very substantial huts showed that even the natives had been attracted by the beauty of the land, and as the day was showery, I wished to return if possible, to pass the night there, for I began to learn that such huts, with a good fire between them, made comfortable quarters in bad weather.
During early autumn there were often large gatherings of up to 1000 people for one to two months hosted at the Mount William swamp or at
Lake Bolac
Lake Bolac is a town in the Western District region of Victoria, Australia. The town is on the shores of Lake Bolac, and the Glenelg Highway passes through the town. At the 2021 census, Lake Bolac and the surrounding area had a population of 3 ...
for the annual eel migration. Several tribes attended these gatherings including the
Girai wurrung,
Djargurd wurrung
The Djargurd Wurrong (also spelt Djargurd Wurrung) are Aboriginal Australian people of the Western district of the State of Victoria, and traditionally occupied the territory between Mount Emu Creek and Lake Corangamite.
Language
The Djargurd ...
,
Dhauwurd wurrung
The Gunditjmara or Gunditjamara, also known as Dhauwurd Wurrung, are an Aboriginal Australian people of southwestern Victoria. They are the traditional owners of the areas now encompassing Warrnambool, Port Fairy, Woolsthorpe and Portland. Their ...
and
Wada wurrung
The Wathaurong nation, also called the Wathaurung, Wadawurrung and Wadda Wurrung, are an Aboriginal Australian people living in the area near Melbourne, Geelong and the Bellarine Peninsula in the state of Victoria. They are part of the Kulin al ...
. Near Mount William, an elaborate network of channels, weirs and eel traps and stone shelters had been constructed, indicative of a semi-permanent lifestyle in which eels were an important economic component for food and bartering, particularly the
Short-finned eel
The short-finned eel (''Anguilla australis''), also known as the shortfin eel, is one of the 15 species of eel in the family Anguillidae. It is native to the lakes, dams and coastal rivers of south-eastern Australia, New Zealand, and much of th ...
. Near Lake Bolac a semi-permanent village extended some 35 kilometres along the river bank during autumn.
George Augustus Robinson on 7 July 1841 described some of the infrastructure that had been constructed near Mount William:
...an area of at least 15 acres was thus traced out ... These works must have been executed at great cost of labour ... There must have been some thousands of yards of this trenching and banking. The whole of the water from the mountain rivulets is made to pass through this trenching ere it reaches the marsh ...
The way of life of the Aboriginal people of
Western Victoria, who included the Gunditjmara, differed from other groups in Victoria in several respects. Because of the colder climate, they made, wore, and used as blankets, rugs of
possum and
kangaroo
Kangaroos are four marsupials from the family Macropodidae (macropods, meaning "large foot"). In common use the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the red kangaroo, as well as the antilopine kangaroo, eastern gre ...
. They also built huts from wood and local
basalt
Basalt (; ) is an aphanite, aphanitic (fine-grained) extrusive igneous rock formed from the rapid cooling of low-viscosity lava rich in magnesium and iron (mafic lava) exposed at or very near the planetary surface, surface of a terrestrial ...
(known as
bluestone
Bluestone is a cultural or commercial name for a number of dimension or building stone varieties, including:
* basalt in Victoria, Australia, and in New Zealand
* dolerites in Tasmania, Australia; and in Britain (including Stonehenge)
* felds ...
), with roofs made of
turf and branches.
The
Budj Bim heritage areas, which show extensive evidence of
fish-farming
upright=1.3, Salmon farming in the sea (mariculture) at Loch Ainort, Isle of Skye">mariculture.html" ;"title="Salmon farming in the sea (mariculture">Salmon farming in the sea (mariculture) at Loch Ainort, Isle of Skye, Scotland
Fish farming or ...
and traps for
short-finned eel
The short-finned eel (''Anguilla australis''), also known as the shortfin eel, is one of the 15 species of eel in the family Anguillidae. It is native to the lakes, dams and coastal rivers of south-eastern Australia, New Zealand, and much of th ...
s, around the
Lake Condah
Lake Condah, also known by its Gunditjmara name Tae Rak, is in the Australian state of Victoria, about west of Melbourne and north-east of Heywood by road. It is in the form of a shallow basin, about in length and wide.
The lake is locate ...
area, are in Western Victoria.
[ See also attached documents: National Heritage List ''Location and Boundary Map'', and ''Government Gazette'', 20 July 2004.]
Victorian Aboriginal languages
Thirty nine Aboriginal languages were spoken in Victoria at the time of European contact, according to
Ian D. Clark, although five of these languages are primarily located around the border areas with New South Wales and South Australia. Clark also identified 19 sub-dialects in seven languages. The Victorian Aboriginal Corporation For Languages (VACL) is the peak body for Aboriginal languages in Victoria and coordinates all of the community language programs throughout Victoria. The corporation is focused on retrieving, recording and researching Aboriginal languages and providing a central resource on Victorian Aboriginal languages with programs and educational tools to teach the indigenous and wider community about language.
[http://www.vaclang.org.au/]
In recent years there has been an upsurge of interest in the Aboriginal languages of the south-eastern corner of Australia. The boundaries between one language area and another are not distinct. Rather, mixtures of vocabulary and grammatical construction exist in such regions, and so linguistic maps may show some variation about where one language ends and another begins. Many Australian indigenous languages have declined to a critical state. More than three-quarters of the original Australian languages have already been lost, and the survival of almost all of the remaining languages is extremely threatened.
Communities throughout Victoria, supported by VACL, are reviving their languages through language camps, workshops, school programs, educational material for children, networking events, publications, music, digital resources, and dictionaries.
VACL is expanding into the use of interactive digital tools and apps for learning language. They have a number of digital applications to revive Victorian Aboriginal languages through traditional and contemporary stories. VACL supports education and learning activities in schools and communities around Victoria.
Marginal language groups in Victorian border areas with South Australia and New South Wales include Bindjali, Buandig, Jabulajabula, Ngargad, and Thawa.
There is considerable debate over the substance and location of North-eastern Victorian indigenous languages including Mogullumbidj, Dhudhuroa and Yaithmathang. Howitt considered Mogullumbidj the easternmost dialect of the
Kulin Kulin may refer to:
Places
*Kulin, Western Australia, a small town in Australia
** Shire of Kulin, a local government area
*Kulin, Iran, a village near Tehran
*Kulin, Lower Silesian Voivodeship, a village in south-west Poland
*Kulin, Kuyavian-Pome ...
speaking tribes of central Victoria, but Clark argues the name is a descriptive term of appearance.
[Ian D. Clark, 2010, "Aboriginal language areas in Northeast Victoria 'Mogullumbidj' reconsidered", ''Victorian Historical Journal'', Royal Historical Society of Victoria.: 2010, 81, 2, pp. 181–192. Accessed articl]
abstract
on 10 September 2011
First Peoples' Assembly
In November 2019, the
First Peoples' Assembly
The Victoria State Government, also referred to as just the Victorian Government, is the state-level authority for Victoria, Australia. Like all state governments, it is formed by three independent branches: the executive, the judicial, and th ...
was elected, consisting of 21 members elected from five different regions in the state, and 10 members to represent each of the state's formally recognised
traditional owner corporation
Native title is the designation given to the common law doctrine of Aboriginal title in Australia, which is the recognition by Australian law that Indigenous Australians (both Aboriginal Australian and Torres Strait Islander people) have rights ...
s, excluding the
Yorta Yorta Nation Aboriginal Corporation
The Yorta Yorta, also known as Jotijota, are an Aboriginal Australian people who have traditionally inhabited the area surrounding the junction of the Goulburn and Murray Rivers in present-day north-eastern Victoria and southern New South Wales ...
, who declined to participate in
the election process. The main aim of the Assembly is to work out the rules by which individual
treaties
A treaty is a formal, legally binding written agreement between actors in international law. It is usually made by and between sovereign states, but can include international organizations, individuals, business entities, and other legal perso ...
will be negotiated between the
Victorian Government
The Victoria State Government, also referred to as just the Victorian Government, is the state-level authority for Victoria, Australia. Like all state governments, it is formed by three independent branches: the executive, the judicial, and th ...
and individual Aboriginal peoples. It will also establish an independent "umpire" body to oversee the negotiations to ensure fairness.
The Assembly met for the first time on 10 December 2019
and again met over two days in February 2020. The Assembly hopes to agree upon a framework, umpire and process before November 2022, the date of the next state election.
See also
*
Aboriginal Housing Victoria
Aboriginal Housing Victoria (AHV) is a not-for-profit, registered community housing agency and is the largest Aboriginal housing organisation in the Australian state of Victoria. AHV was the first Aboriginal housing agency to be registered as ...
References
Notes
Sources
*
*
*
Further reading
*
*
Ian D. Clark, (c. 1990) ''Aboriginal languages and clans :an historical atlas of western and central Victoria, 1800–1900'', Dept. of Geography and Environmental Science, Monash University, Melbourne, Vic.
*
David Frankel (2017) ''Between the Murray and the Sea. Aboriginal Archaeology in Southeastern Australia'', Sydney University Press, Sydney.
*
* Sue Wessen, ''An Historical Atlas of the Aborigines of Eastern Victoria and Far South-eastern New South Wales'', Monash University Publications in ''Geography and Environmental Science'', Number 53, 2000, Monash University, Victoria
{{Indigenous Australians