GWEAGAL INDIANS IN AUSTRALIA

THESE FOLKS ARE A CLAN OF THARAWAL IN NEW SOUTH WALES. THEY LIVED ON THE SHORES OF BOTANY BAY. THEIR TERRITORY WAS NOT CLEARLY DEFINED. THEY WERE NORTHERNMOST OF DHARAWAL NATION.

THEY WERE A FIRE CLAN. A TRIBE CONSISTED OF ABOUT 20 TO 50 PEOPLE WHO LIVED IN THEIR TERRITORY. THEY HAD STRONG SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC TIES. THEY HAD WRITTEN LANGUAGE. THEY HAD TIES TO SACRED SITES. THEY KNEW HOW TO LIGHT FIRES. THEY WORE LITTLE CLOTHING AND HAD A WOVEN HAIR SASHE. THEY MADE A POSSUM SKIN COAT FOR WINTER. THEY PUT RESIN IN THEIR HAIR FOR A MOPLIKE APPEARANCE AND USED NATIVE ANIMAL'S HIDE AND MAKE CEREMONIAL COSTUMES. THEY GROUND THEIR AXES BY STREAMS. THEY USE IGNEOUS ROCKS FOR AXES. ONE ANTHROPOLOGIST DATED THE GROOVES TO BE 3000 YEARS OLD.

THE ABORIGINES WERE GUARDIANS OF SACRED WHITE CLAY PITS. MEMBERS OF THE TRIBE1000'S OF MILESTO 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.. IT WAS AN ANTIACID. IT WAS A DIETARY SUPPLEMENT.

CAVES WERE IMPORTANT TO ABORIGINALS. THEY OFTEN LIVED IN CAVES AND WERE USED AS BURIAL SITES. IN KERNELL THERE IS A SKELETON CAVE WHERE A SMALLPOX VICTIMS WERE BURIED IN 1789. MANY CAVES HAVE HUMAN REMAINS. DURING HEAVY RAINS PEOPLE WERE TRAPPED IN CAVES. SOME CAVES HAVE OYSTER SHELLS THERE AND OTHERS ARE ADJOINING THEM WITH CARVINGS. ONE CAVE HAD OCHRE AND A SPEAR HEAD AFTER EXCAVATION. THEY USED CAVES ON MICKEY'S POINT AND RADSTOW THAT WAS NAMED AFTER AN ABORIGINE. IN WINTER THEY BUILT FIRES IN CAVES 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 THEIRSTAPLE. THESE FOLKS WERE HUNTERS AND GATHERERS AND FISHED AND THEY ONLY CAUGHT WHAT THEY COULD EAT IMMEDIATELY. THESE ABUNDANT FOODS MEANT THESE FOLKS WERE LESS NOMADIC THAN THOSE OF OUTBACK AUSTRALIA. MIDDENS HAVE BEEN FOUND IN GEORGE RIVER WHERE SHELLS, FISH BONES AND OTHER PRODUCTS HAVE BEEN PLACES. THIS INDICATED LONG PERIODS OF CAMPING.MIDDENS HAVE BEEN TEST EXCAVATED.

THE GWEAGAL ABORIGINES MADE FIRST CONTACT WITH JAMES COOK AND OTHERS FROM EUROPE IN 1770. THE ABORIGINES YELLED AND SHOWED SIGNS OF AGRESSION, INTIMIDATION, STRENGTH AND WEAPONRY. SOME ABORIGINES WENT INTO THE ROCK AND BUSHES . SOME WARRIORS THREATENED ON THE ROCKS, WARNINGS THEM OF THE SPEARS. ONE MUSCUT SHOT WOUNDED AN ABORIGINAL. SPEARS WERE INEFFECTIVE. NO ONE MADE FRIENDS WITH COOK AND THEY AVOIDED THEM IN THE DAILY LIFE AND WATCHED THEM WITH CAUTION.

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

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