The Kulin People

PROJECT

www.j aconline.com.au The Kulin people

The Kulin are the Indigenous people who traditionally occupied the land encircling Port Phillip Bay (see the map below). They comprised five language groups: the Boonwurrung, the Woiworung, the Taungurong, the Djadjawurung and the Wathaurong. Though the people had different dialects, they were linked by common elements in their language, as well as by their respect for the land, and their shared spiritual beliefs and practices. Sometimes all Kulin people gathered in one place to join in ceremonies and to trade. Such events were commonly where disputes were settled and marriages arranged. Generally, the Kulin people got on well with one another, although they were not so friendly with the nearby Kurnai. A good primary source of information about the Kulin is the biography of William Buckley, an escaped convict. He lived with the Wathaurong people between 1803 and 1835, before returning to live with Europeans. Here's some of the things he said about the Wathaurong. On the people themselves '… generally of a middle stature [height], with a dark complexion … many of them would be good looking [if] did they not … [plaster] their Map by MAPgraphics Pty Ltd, Brisbane hair and [daub] their faces and bodies all over with pipe-clay and ochre. Their hair is … straight … it gets frightfully cut and hacked about sometimes by shells and flints.' On catching possums To check if there were possums up a tree, they would breathe'… hard on the bark, so as to discover if there were any opossum hairs left attached to it when the animal ascended.' On catching fish ‘[They] … get some dry sticks, cut them into lengths of ten or twelve feet [3–4 metres], tie several of these together into a kind of faggot [bunch] and then light the end … they [then] go into the water, and the fish seeing … [the brightness of the burning sticks] crowd around and are easily [speared].' On their shelters ‘… branches of trees [were] thrown across each other, with strips of tea tree and pieces of bark placed over as an additional shelter.' On the arranging of marriages When clans met, parents would ' bring out their very elegant, amiable [friendly], marriageable daughters to be seen … and, of course, courted.' On a married man’s death His wives would 'become the property of the dead man's oldest brother, or his next of kin’. At funerals, women would cry loudly and cut 'their faces and legs into ridges and [burn] the edges [of the wounds] with firesticks.' On avoiding insects They carried '… lighted fire sticks, holding them windward.' © John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd 2004 2004-07-02-kulin.pdf (Page 1 of 2) PROJECT

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Use the information in this worksheet, and in the references listed below, to complete the following activities.

1. Use an atlas and a map of Victoria to find the name of three towns or cities that lie within each of the five language group territories of the Kulin people...... 2. List the two pieces of information you have discovered about the Kulin people that most interested you. Explain your choice...... 3. What rights did the Kulin people enjoy before the arrival of European settlers? Try to list as many specific examples of each. (For example, they enjoyed the right to freely assemble and to conduct their ceremonies and day-to-day business as they pleased.) ...... 4. How do you think Kulin people would have felt about being increasingly denied these rights as the European settlement of Australia advanced? ......

Based on the information you have gained by completing the activities above, prepare and present a short roleplay for the class in small groups (e.g. a scripted dialogue, a mime with accompanying voiceover and music, or interactive visual display). Your roleplay will demonstrate a typical day in the life of the Wathaurong people. In the light of these presentations and your general knowledge, discuss as a class how you think the day-to-day lives of Indigenous people changed when the Europeans arrived. Consider to what extent this change represented a loss of their civil, economic and political rights.

References: SOSE Alive 3, pp. 4–7 ▪ SOSE Alive History 2, pp. 4–7 ▪ Jacaranda 5th edition atlas ▪ www.jaconline.com.au/sosealive/sosealive3 (or www.jaconline.com.au/sosealive/sahistory2) and click on the Kulin people web links for this chapter ▪ online worksheet for SOSE Alive 3, chapter 1 ‘Buckley’s chance’