The Kulin People of Central

ong, long ago in the Creation, Lthe all-powerful Bundjil took the form of the eagle and created the Kulin people – their languages, their laws and their lands.

Later, Barwool, an ancestral headman, cut the Birrarung (Yarra River) to free the country of floodwaters. This inundated the plain where the Kulin had hunted kangaroo and formed Narrm ( Bay). The Kulin are a federation of five distinct but strongly related communities.

They prospered in approximately two million hectares of what is now known as south central Victoria.

The five communities are known as: Note: All locations • () and spellings are indicative only. of the Birrarung (Yarra) catchment • Boonerwrung of the bays and south coast • Taungurung of the Koriella catchment () When ngamudji (white men) arrived at Port Phillip in 1835 they pushed • Wathaurung aside the Kulin people and mission stations were built to 'look after' of the western plains this now displaced society. The first reserve was located at an important • Dja Dja Wrung meeting place beside Birrarung, where the Royal Botanic Gardens are of the northwest region (Loddon River). now situated. Later, a school for Aboriginal children was established at Each of these large groups are divided into a number of smaller, another important place where the Merri enters Birrarung. The land-owning communities. But all Kulin had as their defining social nearby, modern suburb of Fitzroy continues as a focus for the Aboriginal moiety (totem) either Bundjil, the eagle, or Waa, the raven (crow). population of . There are still reminders in Melbourne of An individual’s moiety, inherited from the father, dictated all behaviour, traditional Kulin life: a stands in ; rock wells social relationships, even marriage partners. Therefore a network of and shell middens still exist along the Narrm coast; and earth rings in alliances was created and maintained by regular meetings for trade, north west suburbs most likely hosted important ceremonies. All these initiations, celebrations and resolving differences. Sorcery, magic and special places are protected by State & Federal legislation. murrup (spirit) were also fundamentals of society – though little of Today Kulin people continue to live, practice and strengthen their culture their deep significance was ever written down. Such knowledge was in urban Melbourne and central Victoria. passed on by the oral tradition of the Elders.

Long before the Kulin had contact with the European world, they had References established complex trading networks. In the north of Woiwurrung Eidelson, M. 1997. The Melbourne Dreaming. Aboriginal Studies Press. country is Will-im-ee Mooring (Mount William) axe quarry. Murring Presland, G. 1994. Aboriginal Melbourne. McPhee Gribble. (axe heads) made from this treasured green stone passed by many Brough Smyth, R. 1878. The Aborigines of Victoria. Melbourne. transactions to what is now Adelaide and New South Wales. Few of these special axes were found in , probably because the Kulin Further Information www.yarrahealing.melb.catholic.edu.au and Gunai/Kurnai federation were not allies. Murring gained prestige www.blackpages.com.au the further they travelled. One highly crafted possum-skin cloak was www.abc.net.au/message required for exchange of three axes. Fine examples of craft and art can be found in Bunjilaka at Melbourne Museum and the Koorie Heritage Proudly supported by Trust Cultural Centre in the city. Parks Victoria, Aboriginal Affairs Victoria and Royal Botanic Gardens

The beautiful bark featured is of ‘Be-al’, the River Red Gum (E. Camaldulensis) Victorian Aboriginal Peoples

or Aboriginal people the place 1 now known as ‘Victoria’ has been F 2 home since the beginning of time. 9 10 11 Archeological evidence reveals a connection 12 extending beyond 40,000 years. Ancestors 3 of today’s communities witnessed volcanic 13 Mallee & 21 eruptions of Tapook (Mt. Napier) in the 4 Valley 30 31 west. They also hunted giant kangaroos and 5 23 22 worried over the rising seas, which marked 14 Central 20 32 the end of the last Ice Age. 6 15 Gippsland (Kulin) Western District 29 33 Today, Aboriginal concerns are about Western District 18 19 28 self-determination, restoring their lands 7 26 27 24 Note: All locations and and living their culture. 8 16 spellings are indicative only. 17 25 It is estimated that between 20,000 and 60,000 people, speaking over 30 languages, lived throughout ‘Victoria’ when Europeans 1 Njindadj 13 Barapabarapa 24 Boonerwrung 2 Ladjiladji 14 Dja Dja Wrung 25* Bratauoloong arrived in 1835. The rapid colonisation 3 15 26* Braiakauloong resulted in a devastating loss of languages, 4 Wotjobaluk 16 Djagurd Wurrung 27* Tatungaloong traditions and lives. During this violent period 5 17 28* Krauatungaloong of Victorian history, families were forced 6 Buandid - Bunganditj 18 Wathaurung 29 Brabralung off their lands and on to missions. These 7 Gournditch-Mara 19 Woiwurrung 30 Way Wurru 8 (Wurundjeri) 31 Dhuduroa were bitter-sweet places. They were a home 9 Jarijari 20 Taungurung 32 Ngarigu and haven from the violence but also a 10 Dadidadi 21 33 Maap (Bidawal) place where there was little choice except 11 Wadiwadi 22 Bangerang *Members of the conformity with Christianity and Western 12 Wembawemba 23 Ngurai-illam Wurrung Gunai/Kurnai federation ways. Ironically, it was from these missions that well-known activists rose to fight for Western District from Stawell north to Ngelbakutya (Lake Albacutya) and Gooro (Lake Hindmarsh). better conditions for their people. Aboriginal people have lived in Gariwerd Wirringer (Wirrengren Plain), in the middle (The Grampians) since before the last Ice Age. Today well over 25,000 Aboriginal people of this desert, was an important meeting The ‘old people’ left the most extensive rock live throughout Victoria, and this number place for people throughout this region and art in Victoria – over 120 art sites. The red is growing. beyond. became a major and white painted figures and hand stencils regional focus and was deliberately built on Murray River Valley hold the secrets of activities that went on an important place of traditional ceremony, for millennia. South at Carrap (), Otchout, the mighty Cod carved out the as well as being a known massacre site. people lived in semi-permanent, dome-shaped Millewa (Murray River) while fleeing the huts and harvested eels in long woven baskets Gippsland spears of Totyerguil, the hunter. The rich fixed to stone-walled channels. Lake Condah lands of the Millewa supported hundreds Aboriginal people have lived in the mountains became a mission station in 1867. People still of generations. Even when the river was of Gippsland and visited the rugged coast maintain strong ties there, and at Teerak – in flood people fished and moved about of sacred Wammum or Yirruk (Wilson’s the Framlingham station near Wheringkernitch in bark canoes, living on high earth mounds Promontory) for over 30 millennia. Some made (). Thousands of tourists visit while feeding on the abundance of food the long annual trek to the high plains for the Brambuk Cultural Centre in Gariwerd brought by the flood waters. These mounds ceremonies – timed to coincide with the to see contemporary art, crafts and performances harvest of the Bogong moth. The Lake Tyers can still be seen today. There are also and to explore bush tucker trails. mission was built in 1861 at Warnang gatty, a scarred trees from which slabs of bark favourite fishing place. Together with the later were removed to make canoes, bowls Mallee and Wimmera forest settlement of Jackson’s Track, these and shelters. Between rich Millewa Valley and the western places have been home for many Aboriginal Today, the people of the Murray continue plains lies a desert region. A Creation Story families. Traditional skills in baskets, spears, the struggle for the return of their homelands tells how Purra, an Ancestral Kangaroo Spirit, shields, and canoe making may be found in the at the Forest. marked the route of Barbarton () Krowathunkulung Keeping Place in Bairnsdale.

The beautiful bark featured is of ‘Be-al’, the River Red Gum (E. Camaldulensis)