Archaeological Aspects of Aboriginal Settlement of the Period 1870
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Archaeological Aspects Of Aboriginal Settlement Of The Period 1870-1970 In The Wiradjuri Region by Peter Rimas Kabaila A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at The Australian National University May1999 1 Preface Development of this Research Topic My interest in the archaeology of landscapes was sparked in 1978 during research on the rural buildings ofLithuania which included a sketch plan (fig 1.2) and analysis of the layout of the birthplace of Antanas Mikaila drawn from memories and oral accounts (Kabaila 1980: 49-54). Many years later I chanced upon the investigative technique of correlating surface surveys with pictorial records and oral accounts to produce a re-creation, on paper, of the layout ofWarangesJa Aboriginal Mission as part of an Honours thesis in Archaeology in 1993. At the end of an initial field visit, I produced a hypothetical plan of the former mission. This was inferred by combining evidence on the ground with features shown in a 19th century newspaper illustration ofthe mission. I posted the plan to the regional state archaeologist, who replied saying that local oral tradition confirmed the drawn layout. Six months of detailed comparison of written records with surface survey and oral history followed, producing a detailed physical reconstruction with "snapshots" of the mission (fig 6.2) at various stages of its growth and decline (Kabaila 1993). The techniques developed at Warangesda were then used in conjunction with recollections of former inmates and staff to record the layout of the Cootamundra Aboriginal Girls' Home (fig 1.3), a study carried out for the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (Kabaila 1994). On the advice of Isabel McBryde, I then prepared a plan to extend the line of inquiry beyond Warangesda and Cootamundra to other places within the Wiradjuri region as a whole, which already had been studied chiefly from an historical and political standpoint by Peter Read (1983, 1988). There have been two other recent works on the Wiradjuri of importance: a history ofNarrandera by Bill Gammage (1986) and a thesis on boundaries at the time of"contact" by Ian White (1986). The present work is based primarily on survey and recording "in the field", carried out between 1993 and 1998. Data was initially compiled as artefact records (Appendix 1) and presented as a heritage place study in three fieldwork reports (henceforth these are referred to as Mumtmbidgee,· Lachlan,· and Macquarie ). 1 1 : Kabailn, P. 1995 (2nd edition 1998). Wiradfuri Places vall: The Murrumbidgee River Basin- including a section on Ngunawal country (Appendix 2, hereinafter cited as Murrumbidgee); Kabaila, P. 1996. Wiradfuri Places vol2: The Lachlan River Basin (Appendix 3, hereinafter cited as Lachlan); Kabai1a, P. 1998. Wiradfuri Places val 3: The Macquarie River Basin-and some places revisited (Appendix 4, hereinafter cited as MacqlUUk). 2 This thesis therefore is an attempt to document the surface remains of Aboriginal settlements after European colonisation of the Wiradjuri region. Wiradjuri country' covers a: large area ranging from 97,000 square kilometres (Tindale 1974: 201) to 180,000 (Horton 1994). Ideally one should carefully survey the entire region using detailed aerial photographs and teams of people who would return each year over several decades to progressively survey the whole arP.a. However such an approach is not feasible and sampling is generally carried out. Random sampling of areas within the region is possible but it could miss all the settlement sites, or the most important ones (Sanders et al. 1979: 18-19). Instead, a search through written records was the first guide, followed by interviews with Aboriginal people. There are times and places, as Flannery (1976: 136) had observed, "where knowledge is limited, and drawing a systematic random sample is the only justifiable procedure. In other times and places, with some prior knowledge, your instincts will tell you when you already have a really great site". The main reasons for Aboriginal settlement site location during this period, discussed in later chapters, were government planning, "spontaneous" growth, and the drift into "fringe" camps of towns. Resources, which typically influenced site distribution, were proximity to a -water supply, the presence of kinfolk and the attraction of towns. These were used by Aboriginal people mostly as a social, economic and subsistence resources in that they contained concentrations of containing people, employment and food supply. A few of the reserves were gazetted by the Aborigines Protection Board ofNew South Wales, later the Aborigines Welfare Board ofNew South Wales,2 on land where Aboriginal households were already camped. Even where such camps had not existed, new reserves were created which then became stopping places for Aboriginal households who absorbed the new reserves into their travel circuit. Many community settlements developed on or adjacent to official Aboriginal reserves recorded by government. The key documents for these are land lease documents in the so-called RAR and AR reels at the NSW Archives Office, and in the published summary of these archives, produced by the NSW Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs. All of the former settlement locations, known to living Aboriginal people, formed the list of places to be visited and investigated. Many are completely unknown to the local white community and may be forgotten by the new generation of Aboriginal people. Even finding 1 Country is used in this thesis iu both the Aboriginal sense as further discussed, as well as in the less defmed English language sense of"a tract ofland". 2 In the text referred to as the Board. 3 toponyms is a significant step. Naming gives meaning; hence everything that is named is thought to exist, and that which is not named, may be non-existent. Tlus is why the construction of a regional map showing a distribution of Aboriginal settlements, together with their local names, was a most important initial step. The preparatory work required visits to as many communities as possible within the Wiradjuri region, with local Aboriginal people assisting in locating and examining artefacts. The wishes of these people were also canvassed to find out what roles such research might have both for Aboriginal communities and for the wider public. The Wiradjuri Aboriginal Land Council then appointed me to undertake a study under the National Estate Grants Program to identifY sites of heritage significance in the region. This was a large survey and compilation project. Most of the work for this thesis is derived from this evidence, not from written sources. This research, with a reduced dependence on library facilities, led me to formulate a number of interpretations and techni4ues. The theory base included in this thesis is therefore a later layer, sometimes offurther derived, "second level", interpretations. For this thesis, the approach pioneered at Warangesda has been extended to combine evidence from human memory, written records, archaeological and field observation of archaeological and architectural features, to include a wide range of places in central New South Wales. While the "Wiradjuri region" is used to identity an area for study, it is not necessarily the extent ofWiradjuri speaking hunter-gatherers in pre-European times. The boundary used in this study is based on Tindale's estimate ofWiradjuri speaking peoples at the time of white arrival. Dislocation, resettlement and marriage links after European arrival took Wiradjuri descendants into areas outside the former language boundary, such as Redfern in Sydney and around Yass. Conversely, non-Wiradjuri people were resettlf"A from Ngiyampaa and Paakantyi (Barkindji) areas of Carowra Tank and Menindee to Murrin Bridge, situated in the former Wiradjuri area. For these reasons such places are included in this study. Town housing for Aborigines after 1970 and Aboriginal corporation housing after 1983 are examined in the thesis, but not listed as separate settlements: Table 1.1 Settlement overview (sites listed by river course) Yass Early town camps 1870s- little data, household cam~ e.g. showground Edgerton Station 1910-1916 managed station *Oak Hill 1888-1910 government settlement, 1916-1985 later community camp *"Blacks' Camp" 1890-1912 community camp 1916-1934 *Hollywood 1934-1960 unmanaged government settlement "New Mission" 1955-1965 fibro housing cluster condemned 1960s Cootamundra *Aboriginal Girls Home 1912-1969 girls' removal and training institution Brungle *Brun_Ele station 1890-1955 managed station, knoWn as old mission *Brungle camp 1955-1983 communi__ty cam_Q next to old "mission" *Penrith hut 1940s-1960s one of several off-reserve household huts Tumut household 1940s-1960s few known details, about 4 single household camps huts Wagga Wagga *Tintown 1935-1945 mixed race fringe cam!! Grong Grong *Grong Grong reserve 1884-1916 familY_ farmi~ reserve Brookong Street 1985- Aboriginal ~ claimed land Narrandera *Narrandera Sandhills 1916-1938 communi__ty cam_Q under local grazier patro~g_e *Hill60 1930s- privately purchased blocks, self-built huts on former poor whites' area *Woolscour 1930s-1940s community_ cam~ stock wateril!.[ reserve Darlington Pt. *Warangesda 1879-1884 missionary founded and managed settl.::ment, 1884-1925 later a govt. managed station Old people's camp 1879-1925 river side camps outside Warangesda boundaries *Police paddock 1925-1965 unmanaged government settlement, reused irrigation worker huts, nearby