GUNDANGARA PEOPLE IN AUSTRAILIA

THESE FOLKS ARE IN A CLAN IN INDIGENOUS AUSTRALIA. THEY LIVE IN EASTERN SOUTH WALES. THEIR TRADITIONAL LANDS ARE IN SOUTH HIGHLANDS. THEY LIVE IN SOUTHEAST REGION OF NEW SOUTH WALES FROM NEPEAN RIVER TO LAKE GEORGE.

IN 1802 FRANCIS BARRALLIER MET THE GUNDAUNGARE PEOPLE AND MOVED SOUTHWEST OF SYDNEY, THROUGH THE WOLLONDILLY RIVER. BARRALLIER NOTED THAT THE GUNDARANGARO BUILD HUTS FOR THE STRANGERS THAT THEY WISH TO RECEIVE AS FRIENDS.

IN 1816 14 FOLKS WERE KILLED BY TROOPS SENT BY THE GOVERNOR TO KILL ABORIGINES IN RESPONSE TO SOME ATTACKS BY ABORIGINES.

IN 1828 THERE WAS SOME INTERACTION BETWEEN SURVEYS - GENERAL AND THE GANDARANGARS. THEY BUILT A ROAD AND WERE GUIDES FOR MITCHELL. THEY WERE BADLY AFFECTED BY INFLUENZA EPIDEMICS OF 1846. BY 1845 THEY HAD ONLY 25 FOLKS. THEY BELIEVED IN ANIMAL PEOPLE WHO LIVED IN THE DREAM WORLD AND WERE KNOWN AS BRURRINGITLING. THEY LIVED IN THE CLOUDS AND MOUNTAINS, DENSE TREES, SCRUBS AND WATERHOLES. SOME COULD CHANGE THE SHAPE OF THE ENVIRONMENT,THEIR BODY AND DISAPPEAR UNDERGROUND. SOME HAD MAGIC WEAPONS AND HELPED BY DOGS.

THEY HAD AN IMPORTANT INITIATION CALLED DHARAMULAN. THE MYTH BASIS IS THAT MOVIES WERE BROUGHT TO THE PLACE WHERE THE CEREMONY WAS CARRIED OUT. THEY HAD PLACED RUGS OVER THEIR HEADS SO THEY SAW MOTHERS. THE DHARA - CAUGHT A BOY AND HIT HIM ON THE HEAD . ONE OF HIS INCISORS FELL OUT.

EVENTUALLY THE DHARA WENT INTO DIFFERENT TREES WHERE HE LIVED, EXCEPT DURING INITIATION CEREMONIES. A PIECE OF WOOD IS CUT FROM A TREE TO MAKE A BULLROARER. IT IS CALLED DHARAMULA.

THE GANDANGARA LIKE THE THARAWAL AND ARE IMPORTANT. THEY BURY THEIR DEAD UPRIGHT. SOME FOLKS THEY WRAP IN BARK CLOTH AND PLACE IN TREES, SURROUNDED BY CARVED TREES.

GWEAGAL ARE A CLAN OF THARAWALLEN IN NEW SOUTH WALES. THEY LIVED ON THE SHORES OF BOTANY BAY. THEIR TERRITORY WAS NOT CLEARLY DEFINED. THEY WERE NORTHERNMOST OF DARAWAL NATION.

THEY WERE A FIRE CLAN. A TRIBUTARY OF ABOUT 20 TO 50 PEOPLE WHO LIVED IN THEIR TERRITORY THEY HAD STRONG SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC TIES. THEY HAD NO WRITTEN LANGUAGE. THEY HAD TIES TO SACRED SITES. THEY KNEW HOW TO LIGHT FIRES. THEY WORE LITTLE CLOTHING. AND HAD A WOVEN HAIR SASH. THEY MADE A POSSUM SKIN COAT FOR WINTER. THEY PUT RESIN IN THEIR HAIR FOR A MOPLIKE APPEARANCE. THEY USED NATIVE ANIMAL HIDE AND MADE CEREMONIAL COSTUMES.

THEY GROUND THEIR AXES BY STREAMS. THEY USE AN IGNEOUS ROCK FOR AXES. ONE ANTHROPOLOGIST DATED THE GROOVES TO BE 3000 YEARS OLD. THE ABORIGINES WERE GUARDIANS OF SACRED WHITE CLAY PITS. MEMBERS OF THE TRIBES WALKED 100'S OF MILES TO COLLECT THE CLAY. IT WAS SACRED AND HAD MANY USES. THEY LINED THEIR CANOES SO THEY COULD LIGHT FIRES THERE; IT WAS A BODY PAINT; AND IT WAS ADDED TO BERRIES FOR A CEREMONIAL PAINT; AND IT WAS AN ANTACID. IT WAS A DIETARY SUPPLEMENT.

CAVES WERE IMPORTANT TO ABORIGINALS. THEY OFTEN LIVED I CAVES AND WERE USED AS BURIAL SITES. IN KURNELL THERE IS A SKELETON CAVE WHERE SMALL POX VICTIMS WERE BURIED IN 1979 MANY CAVES HAVE HUMAN REMAINS. DURING HEAVY RAINS SOME PEOPLE WERE TRAPPED IN CAVES. SOME CAVES HAVE OYSTER SHELLS THERE AND OTHERS ARE ADORNED WITH CARVINGS. ONE CAVE HAD OCHRE AND A SPEAR HEAD THEY FOUND AFTER EXCAVATION. THEY USED LEAVES ON MICKEY'S POINT AND RADSTOW WAS NAMED AFTER AN ABORIGINE. IN WINTER THEY BUILT FIRES IN CAVE'S AND PAINTED THEM ELABORATELY.

THE GWEAGAL HAD MANY RESOURCES. THESE FOLKS FISHED IN CANOES AND THEY CAUGHT WATERFOWL. THEY COLLECTED EDIBLE AND MEDICINAL SWAMPLANDS. BIRDS, EGGS, POSSUMS AND WALLABIES WERE THEIR STAPLES. THESE FOLKS WERE HUNTER AND GATHERS AND FISHING AND THEY ONLY CAUGHT WHAT THE COULD EAT IMMEDIATELY. THESE ABUNDANT FOODS MEANT THESE FOLKS WERE LESS NOMADIC THAN THOSE OF THE OUTBACK AUSTRALIA.

MIDDENS HAVE BEEN FOUND IN GEORGE RIVER WHERE SHELLS, FISH BONES AND OTHER PRODUCTS HAVE BEEN FOUND. THIS INDICATES LONGER PERIODS OF CAMPING. MIDDENS HAVE BEEN DISCOVERED ALONG THE COASTS AND SOME HAVE BEEN TESTED.

THE GWEAGAL ABORIGINES. MADE FIRST CONTACT WITH JAMES COOK. AND OTHERS FROM EUROPEANS IN 1770.THE ABORIGINES YELLED AND SHOWED SIGNS OF AGGRESSION, INTIMIDATION, STRENGTH AND WEAPONRY. SOME ABORIGINALS WENT WENT INTO THE ROCKS. SOME WARRIORS THREATENED CHURCHES, ROCKS, WARNING THEM OF THE SPEARS. ONE MUSCOT SHOT WOUNDED AN ABORIGINE MAN. SPEARS WERE INEFFECTIVE . NO ONE MADE FRIENDS ORIGINALLYWITH CAPTAIN COOK AND THEY AVOIDED THE ABORIGINES . THEY WATCHED THEM IN DAILY LIFE WITH CAUTION.

SOME GWEAGLE MEN TRIED TO APPROACH THEM WITHOUT HOSTILITY. COOK BROUGHT CULTURAL ARTIFACTS. FROM THE ISLANDS AND FLORA AND FAUNA. THEY FOUND 50 SPEARS. SOME THESE ARE ON DISPLAY IN CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY IN ENGLAND.

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