The Melbourne Dreaming, Which Later Inspired and Ancient History
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Melbourne Dreaming A GUIDE TO IMPORTANT PLACES OF THE PAST AND PRESENT Meyer Eidelson i CONTENTS Dedication xx About the author xx About this book xx Foreword xx Acknowledgments xx Introduction xx Precincts xx Organisations xx Images xx Further reading xx Index xx Barak by Florence Ada Fuller, 1885. Reproduced with permission of the State Library of Victoria. Precinct contents City centre and surrounds 1. Birrarung (Yarra) art and heritage walk xx Of interest: Yarra Yarra Falls xx 2. Indigenous art collection xx Dedicated to William Barak, Ngurungaeta (clan leader) of the 3. Koorie Heritage Trust xx Wurundjeri, who died at Coranderrk, Healesville in 1903. As 4. Freedom Fighters execution site xx a boy, he was present at the signing of John Batman’s treaty 5. Old Melbourne Cemetery site xx (the Melbourne Treaty). An outstanding leader in the struggle 6. Bunjilaka Cultural Centre xx for Aboriginal rights and justice, he guided his people with 7. Billibellary’s Walk xx courage and wisdom through extraordinary times. 8. Fitzroy Gardens scarred tree xx 9. Melbourne Cricket Ground xx 10. Kings Doman Resting Place xx 11. Aboriginal reserve site xx and Aboriginal heritage walk ii iii East Morington Peninsula 12. Stonnington Indigenous History Trail xx 33. Baluk Arts xx 13. Ngargee (corroboree) tree xx 34. Collins Settlement xx Of interest: Wurundjeri Council xx 35. Bunjil’s Cave xx 14. Merri Creek Aboriginal School Native Police xx 36. Coolart xx and the Protectorate Station Of interest: Bunyips at Tooradin xx 15. Bolin Bolin Billabong xx 16. Scarred Tree xx 17. Dandenong Police Paddocks Reserve xx Inner north 18. Fitzroy Aboriginal heritage walking trail xx 19. Derrimut gravestone xx 20. Raid at Hall Reserve xx Of interest: Melbourne Treaty site xx 21. Scarred tree xx 22. Keelbundoora trail xx Outer north 23. Earth rings xx Of interest: Wil-im-ee Moor-ring xx (Mount William quarry) Of interest Coranderrk Aboriginal cemetery xx West 24. William Cooper Bridge xx 25. Grimes Reserve xx 26. Solomons Ford fish trap xx 27. Lily Street lookout and quarry xx 28. Kulin Wetlands xx South Of interest: Boon Wurrung Foundation xx 29. St Kilda Ngargee tree xx 30. Point Ormond Hill lookout xx 31. Bayside Coastal Indigenous Trail xx 32. Mordialloc Aboriginal Reserve xx iv v ABOUT THE AUTHOR ABOUT THIS BOOK Meyer Eidelson was born in Melbourne, and has always Melbourne Dreaming is both a guide book and an alternative lived there. His love affair with the Melbourne landscape has social history of the events and cultural traditions that have been expressed through fifteen previously published books shaped Melbourne Aboriginal people’s lives. It aims to set in Melbourne. Most were produced to raise funds for show where to look to gain a better understanding of the environmental and historical organisations that cherish their rich heritage and complex culture of Aboriginal people in city. Melbourne both before and since colonisation. His parents were Holocaust survivors who arrived in Australia It was first published in 1997. This is a completely updated in 1949 after their extended families perished. This family and expanded edition. history has strongly influenced Meyer’s writings which Melbourne Dreaming provides practical information on explore identity, home and place as well as reconciliation. visiting both historical and contemporary sites located As a naturalist he believes that Aboriginal spiritual and in the city centre, surrounding suburbs and outer areas. ecological beliefs are the philosophy most attuned to the Arranged into seven precincts, Melbourne Dreaming takes Australian landscape. you to beaches, parklands, camping places, historical sites, In the 1990s he worked for the Victorian state government for exhibitions, cultural displays and buildings. seven years in partnership with Aboriginal organisations to For Melbourne’s Aboriginal people the landscape prior to build self-managed services for Koorie elders across Victoria. European settlement over which we travel was the face of In 1997, he approached Aboriginal Affairs Victoria and the divine – the imprint of the ancestral creation beings traditional owners with the concept of creating the first that shaped the landscape on their epic journeys. Exploring guide book to Melbourne’s Aboriginal places to improve Melbourne’s Aboriginal places is a way of paying respect to awareness of Koorie heritage. The result was the first book this sacred tradition while learning more about our shared of its kind, The Melbourne Dreaming, which later inspired and ancient history. editions of Aboriginal Sydney and Aboriginal Darwin. Today Sites include locations and traces of important places before Meyer is the owner of ‘Melbourne Walks’ which provides European settlement in 1835 such as shell middens, scarred guided heritage activities across Melbourne. trees, wells, fish traps, mounds and quarries. Others sites describe critical events that occurred because of the impact of European settlement. More recent places are the focus of contemporary life. What these places share in common is that each illustrates an important part of the overall story of the Melbourne’s first inhabitants, the Kulin. Stories and photographs of some places of interest which have restricted access or cannot be visited have also been included. vi vii Melbourne Dreaming is a step towards assisting visitors, Getting around local residents and students to understand the enormous Melbourne’s suburbs and transportation radiate out from economic, cultural, social and historical contributions of the CBD so our book starts with the city centre precinct and Aboriginal people to the city. extends out to east, west, north and south. As a guide, the Terms book provides practical information such as maps, street directory references, transport options, and facilities at Since 1969, ‘Koori’ or ‘Koorie’ is a term used widely by the sites. Availability of facilities can change over time so Aboriginal people in southeast Australia to describe check for up-to-date information before visiting. Bicycle and themselves and differentiate from other Aboriginal walking paths are included as most sites in this book are communities. The terms ‘Kulin’ (the people), ‘wurrungs’ located on these trails. (language groups) and ‘Aboriginal people’ are also used in this book. For information about the many sites managed by Parks Victoria, contact: Aboriginal languages were oral not written languages. In written form, it is spelt with many variations: for example, Parks Victoria Information Centre there are over sixty versions of ‘Boon Wurrung’. Today T: 13 1963 or 8627 4700 organisations are encouraged to consult and develop e: [email protected] protocols with local Aboriginal communities when deciding w: www.parkweb.vic.gov.au on appropriate names and spellings. We have chosen spelling for places and names that makes meanings as Public transport clear as possible while also including some variations to acknowledge that different spellings are widely used today For public transport information, including timetables, maps by Koorie communities and others. and fares, contact: Woiwurrung (today Wurundjeri) and Boon Wurrung languages Public Transport Victoria are estimated to have up to 93 per cent of words in common. t: 1800 800 007 6.00 am–midnight seven days a week Both used the term willam meaning house, home or place w: www.ptv.vic.gov.au. so willam is used to describe sites where people camped for Ticketing: the myki smartcard is required to travel on the purposes such as socialising, food gathering, performance, city’s metropolitan trains, trams and buses. They are available ceremonies, law business or trade. from main rail stations, retail outlets such as newsagents and Some historic accounts have been quoted verbatim to convenience stores, online, and by phone: 13 6954. Full provide important insights into the past while recognising fare myki cards can be purchased from myki machines at the language used may include terms not in use today and all metropolitan train stations as well as major tram and bus which may be considered inappropriate to a contemporary interchanges. For more information on myki, visit: http://ptv. reader. vic.gov.au/tickets/myki viii ix Bicycle ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Melbourne is reasonably flat and well suited to cycling. There are many cycling routes throughout the metropolitan area. It This publication could not have been produced without is an ideal way to explore the city centre and inner suburban information provided by Aboriginal Affairs Victoria, staff areas. Bicycles can be taken on suburban trains free of charge of Parks Victoria, Victorian Aboriginal Corporation for during off-peak times. Bicycle hire is available through many Languages (VCAL), Sista Girl Productions, Dean Stewart, outlets including Melbourne Bike Share which is designed for Museum of the West, National Gallery of Victoria, Aboriginal easy hire and return around the inner city. heritage staff of the Melbourne City Council, National Parks Victoria and the City of Port Phillip, Melbourne Museum’s Car Bunjilaka Centre, Phil Wierzbowski of Coastcare Victoria, Baluk Arts, Pamela Pedersen and many others too numerous To visit some sites, it may be more practical to travel by car. to mention. The personal assistance of Amanda Palmer was There are some toll roads in and around Melbourne. For essential to complete the book. more information on the location of these roads and paying tolls, contact: We particularly thank Carolyn Briggs of the Boon Wurrung Foundation, Darren Griffen and Stephen Fiyalko of the CityLink Wurundjeri Tribe Land Cultural Heritage Council Inc and the t: 132629 Victorian Aboriginal Heritage Council for providing access to w: www.transurban.com.au the Victorian Aboriginal Heritage Register. We are grateful to Judy Williams, the Koorie Heritage Trust ABORIGINAL HERITAGE ACT Librarian who recommended reprinting the book, and for the All Aboriginal cultural sites and relics in Victoria are assistance of Bill Nicholson and Bill Nicholson Senior of the protected by the Aboriginal Heritage Act 2006 which Wurundjeri Council.