CAP 2023 PAPER The Aboriginal Community Cultural

Landscape

February 2013

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Produced by Southern Rivers Catchment Management Authority 2013

Disclaimer

In line with the principles of resilience thinking, this CAP 2023 paper is subject to the inclusion and

incorporation of new information as it becomes available.

The information contained in this document is believed to be correct at the time of printing.

Appropriate care and diligence will be used with the information provided. The State of NSW, its

agents and employees, disclaim any liability to any person in respect of anything or the consequence of

anything done or omitted to be done in reliance upon the whole or any part of this document.

Images

All images in this report are subject to copyright©. All images were provided by Southern Rivers CMA

staff and Michael Fiedler, unless otherwise stated.

Requests and enquiries concerning the contents of this report should be addressed to:

Southern Rivers CMA

Level 1, 84 Crown Street

PO Box 3095

WOLLONGONG NSW 2500

Telephone: 02 4224 9700

Facsimile: 02 4224 9669

Email: southern@cma.nsw.gov.au

Website: www.southern.cma.nsw.gov.au

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The Aboriginal Community Cultural Landscape

1. Introduction

This paper is intended to promote discussion and feedback on how the Aboriginal

cultural landscape should be considered in the delivery of natural resource

management services in the Southern Rivers region and has directly informed the

development of CAP 2023.

It provides information on some of the places, seasons and events of significance to

the Aboriginal community and suggests priorities for government investment in

supporting the Aboriginal Community Cultural Landscape. It is recognised that the

places and features listed in this paper represent only a small sample of those that are

significant to the Aboriginal people of the region.

In developing these priorities for action, the CMA’s Aboriginal Support Officers

consulted with a number of Local Aboriginal land Councils, Aboriginal Affairs NSW and

local community members.

We encourage further input from the community in order to make this paper as

accurate and inclusive as possible.

2. General description and history

It is our understanding that there are 13 Aboriginal tribes of the South Coast. One

tribal group extends to the north of the Southern Rivers region with the remainder

falling within the region. These twelve tribal groups are the Allowrie, Wodi Wodi,

Wodi Wandian, Jerrinja, Murramarang, Walbanga, Brinja Yuin, Djirranganj,

Wathargandals or Wallagadarn, Dhawa, Munkata Yuin and Wherriya or Araluen

people. There are four language groups with several dialects within the area –

Ngarigu, Dyirringan, Dhurga and Dharawal.

There are also tribal groups on the high country including Ngarigo, Walgalu, Southern

Ngunnawal and Yuin. There may be other Aboriginal groups that are important to

acknowledge that we are not yet aware of and so we encourage such people to make

themselves known so we can adjust this paper accordingly.

The Southern Rivers region consists of an area of 32,000 sq km encompassing a great

diversity of vegetation, geology, landforms and soils and seascapes. All these

environmental variables had an influence on the way Aboriginal people used,

occupied and managed the area in the past.

There were two main exoduses that influenced distribution of Aboriginal people

across the Southern Rivers region – from Delegate and from Braidwood. These two

incidences show clearly how Aboriginal people left one area and moved to another

for reasons that left them displaced. The removal of Aboriginal people from tribal

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areas to reserves and to missions happened throughout the entire region. The

following excerpts are taken from Eggloff et al. (2005) describing these two events:

The Delegate exodus

Arthur McLeod was born in Delegate when the Kooris were still

very much tribal. They lived off the land, eating only traditional

foods like porcupines, kangaroos. He belonged to the Monaro

tribe. When the families at Delegate heard of the Kooris down at

Eden whaling, many of the men went down there to join the

whaling crews. They often visited Wallaga, Lake Tyers and

Orbost.

Things were getting difficult at Delegate, the tribe went to look at

other areas. They all dispersed until only Arthur's family was left,

(and) the Solomons. They finally went to Orbost. Some people

went to Lake Tyers, others to Wallaga Lake. From Orbost Arthur's

family went to Bermagui. The older people went in a horse and

sulky, the children walked. Some people went into the mountains

at Cann River and lived in bark humpies. They lived on hunting

and they sold rabbits to feed themselves (Mathews 1965).

The Braidwood exodus

As a consequence of the dispossession resulting from the British

settler pastoral invasion, Braidwood became a melting pot of

Aboriginal groups from Goulburn, Bungonia, Jembaicumbene, the

Shoalhaven River and the local people (Murphy 1845). As early as

1846 it was reported that ‘the Murray blacks lately killed two

Braidwood blacks, and drove the whole of them down to the sea

coast, where they remain...’ (Allan 1846). This was perhaps the

first wholesale exodus of Braidwood peoples caused by a tribal

dispute exacerbated by British settlement.

In 1872 Mondalie alias Jack Bond and his son Alick made an

official deputation to Police Constable Brennan for a gazetted

reserve in the region:

'We have come to you to intercede for us in getting the

Government to do something for us. Araluen Billy, our king, is old,

and cannot live long; my wife Kitty and self are old, too. I have

assisted the police for many years, and we want to get some land

which we can call our own in reality, where we can settle down

and the old people can call their home. Everyone objects to our

hunting on his land, and we think the blacks are entitled to live in

their own country.'

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Mondalie requested land fronting the Shoalhaven at the base of

the Jingera mountain, but the suggestion was rejected because it

was considered to be too close for safety to the property where

Tommy Clarke, the bushranger's parents lived (Brennan 1907).

The following year, when Bradbury died, many of the young and

able-bodied Braidwood men and their families left for the coast

but some elders remained (Brennan 1873; Hogg 1925).

Braidwood had become a place of bad memories and broken

dreams. Mondalie moved to Moruya where his descendants

made strong connections with the local peoples and intermarried.

The forced removal of children in NSW between 1883 and 1969 also affected the

distribution of Aboriginal people on the coast. The boys were sent to Kinchela Boys

Home in Kempsey and the girls were sent to either Bomaderry or Cootamundra Girls

Homes.

The landscape is rich in spiritual and cultural heritage values to Aboriginal people who

have occupied this place for thousands of years. The differing landscapes are dotted

with various sites including stone artefact assemblages, rock shelters with art and/or

cultural deposits, axe grinding grooves, middens, burials, scarred/modified trees,

stone arrangements/bora grounds, stone quarries, fish traps and ceremonial sites.

There were a number of migration routes, bridle trails or Dreaming trails across the

region. These routes connected people to the landscapes within country and to

seasonal resource usage, ceremony and gatherings.

Various climatic, environmental and ecological features influenced these migrations:

• Seasonal differences in climate included hot/cold, dry/wet, windy/still.

• Food or other resources were only available at certain times, so people moved

through the entire landscape according to the time of the year, e.g. using the

mountains for shelter and protection in the cold season and the coast and

waters in the hot season.

• The coming of the Bogong moths (valued for their rich fat reserves) could have

signified the onset of the hot season and Aboriginal people living in the south

coast region were known to have feasted on the moths, particularly during the

summer when they were plentiful. The moths were either killed or stupefied

by the heat and smoke of torches, and then their bodies collected. Groups

could number over 400 and moth collection activities were accompanied by

appropriate ceremonies and rites of initiation.

• The first flowering of a certain type of wattle signified the returning of the

whales on their journey south and the beginning of the hot season.

Formatted: Font color: Auto

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The concept of totemism is interlinked with the traditional cosmological belief and

sustainable use of the natural environment and continues to be an integral

component of Aboriginal people’s cultural identity.

Totems and laws around family groupings are extremely important. In this region,

having a totem has been likened to having a friend. The Dhurga term for friend is

‘mooji’ and one’s totem is known as one’s ‘moojingarl’. A number of researchers have

identified totemic affiliations across the NSW South East region over the last century

(Donaldson 2012).

3. Environments of Cultural Significance

The whole of the Southern Rivers region has Aboriginal cultural significance. Key

environments of Aboriginal importance include:

Mountains

These are areas of significant cultural importance and provide a unique environment

for:

• Men's ceremony

• initiation

• teaching

• Dreamtime stories

• communication

• resource collecting

• travel routes

• beacon sites.

Some are shown on the map in Figure 1 and include:

• Gulaga, which is very significant as a teaching place, with a Dreamtime story

that ties the Deua River to the Three Sisters in the Blue Mountains. Gulaga is

considered as mother.

• Pigeon House, which is a Men’s Dreaming and beacon site important for

communication.

Rivers

Rivers and their resources are shared places. Rivers of our region are culturally

significant for many reasons, including:

• Dreamtime stories

• resource collection

• reserves

• travel routes

• collection places for medicine

• ceremony.

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Some examples are shown in Figure 1 and include the Deua River which has

Dreamtime stories, resource collection, medicine and travel route significance, and

the Shoalhaven River which was significant for resource collection and for travel down

to the coast, and the manufacturing of sharp stone tools on sandstone outcrops along

the river corridor.

Valleys and Beaches

Valleys are culturally significant as they provide sheltered areas for healing,

ceremony, resources, travel routes and gatherings. Two valleys of particular

importance are Bendethera Valley and Araluen Valley.

Beaches and other sites were significant places for:

• wars and tribal resolution

• middens, which are mounds of shells, that can also contain fish bones and

stone tools and were left as an indication of what was last consumed at the

site so that the next clan to visit the site could choose to harvest an

alternative food resource thereby ensuring sustainability

• burials and ceremonials.

Two significant beaches are Sandon Point and Bellambi Point.

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Figure 1. Map of the Aboriginal cultural landscape across the Southern Rivers region.

Some examples of important places are shown. It is important to note that this map

it is not a comprehensive representation of all important Aboriginal places (this map

is shown in CAP 2023).

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4. Cultural knowledge and practice

There are a number of primary forms of knowledge and practice that are important to

secure for future generations. These include:

• cultural landscapes

• Dreamtime stories

• preservation of stone artefacts and understanding their usage

• the continuing of cultural practices such as tool making, fish hook making,

string and rope making, basket making and animal tracking

• the use of natural resources such as ochre and charcoal

• arts (e.g. painting, clothing, jewellery, dancing)

• bush tucker and medicine

• gatherings and/or cultural exchanges

• cultural excursions

• recording of cultural knowledge that is appropriate to each community.

Figure 2. Deua River excursion where Roderick Slockee is showing a Moruya Public

school group how to make fishhooks from shell.

Maintaining knowledge of the traditional use of the region's natural resources is of

prime importance for the ongoing sustainability of the Aboriginal culture. Some

examples of natural resource use in certain parts of our region include:

• Lomandra – rope, string and baskets

• Stringy bark – rope, string and dilly bags

• Black wattle – string, fishing line and eating sap, also used to stun fish

• Wombat berry – fruit eating

• Burrawang – eating

• Dianella – catching snakes. Blowing on a particular leaf from this plant sounds

like an injured wren and this attracts snakes so they can be caught for tucker

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• Echidna quills – decoration and jewellery. Also, one or two were given to

young boys travelling outside of country

• Ochre – ceremony and art

• Sarsaparilla – medicine

• Plantain leaves – made into a poultice to treat sores and ulcers

• Dulla – a herb that makes a good pain killer

• Paper bark – cooking or carrying things

• Banksia – firestick farming with the dried nut lighted

• Kangaroo and possum skin coats were provided to children as small rugs then

enlarged as they grew to adulthood. These were a very special possession with

a strong sense of identity for the individual.

Figure 3. Lomandra (in the foreground) has long green strap-like leaves and is used to

make rope, string and baskets.

5 Aboriginal Cultural Landscape

The South Coast of NSW is still home to many Aboriginal people. For at least 60,000

years they have cared for land and sea country. There have been efforts by

governments to support Aboriginal people and communities to reconnect with

Country and become involved in the recent natural resource management programs

and projects on their own lands and across the landscape. The importance of

engaging with Traditional Owners and Elders, Local Aboriginal Land Councils and the

broader Aboriginal community is becoming more widely understood.

Aboriginal people have cultural responsibilities and traditional knowledge and

spirituality which deserve respect. Natural resource management can provide other

benefits such as:

− Economic (eg business opportunities)

− Employment (eg equality, jobs)

− Social (eg. health, well being)

− Access to land and water resources,

Links between human health and environmental health are well recognised by the

Aboriginal community. This was evident through a social survey of the Aboriginal

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community undertaken by Southern Rivers CMA in 2008 and 2012 (Fenton 2012,

Figure 4 and 5).

Figure 4. Links between Aboriginal wellbeing and health of Country

Figure 5. Links between improved Aboriginal wellbeing and health of Country

This social survey also clearly demonstrated the high level of Aboriginal community

concern regarding issues such as decline in native animals and climate change. Of the

37 (predominantly coastal) Aboriginal people surveyed in 2012, nearly 70 % of

respondents considered decline in native animals as an important issue affecting the

health of the Country around where they lived. In contrast, less than 1 percent of the

coastal rural respondents from the broader community were concerned about decline

in native animals on their property. In addition, a far greater proportion of the

Aboriginal community expressed concern about impacts of climate change on their

surrounding environment as compared to the broader rural community.

The Aboriginal community are clearly a key stakeholder to engage and support in the

management and protection of the natural resources of the Southern Rivers region.

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6. Priorities for the Southern Rivers 2023 Catchment Action Plan

A state and transition model has been developed to help determine priorities for supporting the

Aboriginal Cultural Landscape of the Southern Rivers CMA region. The model presents ideas on

how the Aboriginal Cultural Landscape might look when it is in the most desired state possible. It

also presents ideas on an undesired state of the landscape and why the state of the cultural

landscape might change (see Appendix 1).

Evidence of the current state of the Aboriginal community cultural landscape has been drawn

from:

• Southern Rivers CMA social benchmark data (Fenton 2012)

• key contacts

• literature such as Eggloff et al. (2005) and Donaldson et al. (2012)

On the basis of this evidence the current state of the Aboriginal community cultural landscape is

believed to range from desired to undesired across many aspects of the culture. For example, the

extent to which knowledge of cultural practice has been retained in the desired state may vary

depending upon whether it is considered:

• specific to a local community

• about a particular landscape or environment

• about a particular aspect of culture (e.g. bush medicine, dancing, Dreamtime stories)

• gender specific.

Data collected through the social survey of Aboriginal people across the Southern Rivers region in

2008 and 2012 (Fenton 2012) clearly demonstrates variability in traditional knowledge (see Figure

6).

Figure 6. The state of traditional knowledge varies across the community.

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The desired state for the Aboriginal community cultural landscape has many dimensions and all

are integral to the whole. There is a clear threshold that represents a point of no return for the

state of the cultural landscape. When knowledge is not passed on before Elders are lost then the

knowledge loss may be irreversible. It is therefore critical that knowledge is passed on.

Figure 7. Mogo Local Aboriginal Land Council environmental team at Mogo Creek.

Suggested priorities are:

• Support the Aboriginal community in securing traditional ecological knowledge, particularly

where there is a risk of irreversible knowledge loss

• Support Aboriginal people in natural resource management, particularly where

opportunities for employment and training are created

• Support Aboriginal Land Councils to manage Aboriginal owned lands to protect cultural

landscapes and provide socio-economic outcomes for community

• Provide opportunities for Aboriginal people to access and use culturally relevant places and

resources

• Protect, value and embrace traditional ecological knowledge in the delivery of natural

resource management

• Encourage a sense of shared culture in the broader community to enable all to promote,

protect and preserve Aboriginal culture and heritage.

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Key actions are:

• Work in partnership with Aboriginal communities to create suitable natural resource

management employment opportunities and associated training

• Support Aboriginal Elders in creating 'Elders in the making'

• Support communication between Elders and youth

• Share cross-cultural landscape knowledge and practices

• Celebrate examples where Aboriginal cultural knowledge and practice have been secured

• Build capacity of Aboriginal land managers by supporting implementation of Land and

Community Business Plans and the development of Land and Sea Country Plans where

there is community interest.

• Encourage a sense of pride amongst the Aboriginal youth in their Indigenous culture via

educational and cultural programs

• Create practical solutions to regain cultural practices, e.g. visiting museums and/or cultural

exchanges to other areas

• Create exchange between different language areas/tribal boundaries to regain cultural

practices.

• Regularly evaluate delivery of natural resource management to ensure Aboriginal cultural

heritage is valued and protected

Figure 8. Deua cultural exchange with elder Patricia Ellis, James Nye and Kobi Parsons.

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References

Allan, J 1846, ‘Select Committee on Aborigines, Braidwood Report’, Votes and proceedings of the

NSW Legislative Council, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies,

Canberra.

Brennan, M 1907, ‘Reminiscences of the goldfields and elsewhere in New South Wales, covering a

period of forty-eight years service as an Officer of Police’, Brooks, Sydney.

Brennan, M 1873, 'Letter from Brennan (Araluen) to Judge McFarlane', in Smithson, M 1997,

Munkata Yuin, an unpublished study guide for secondary schools, p.193.

Donaldson, SD 2012, ‘Exploring ways of knowing, protecting & acknowledging Koori moojingarl

/Aboriginal totems across the Eurobodalla Shire Far South Coast, NSW.’ Report prepared for

the Eurobodalla Shire Council Aboriginal Advisory Committee. Draft Report 28th

June 2012.

Donaldson, SD, Ellis, P & Feary, S 2012, ‘Djuuwin Women’s Perspectives on the Moruya Deua River

Catchment’. Report prepared for the Southern Rivers CMA and Indigenous Knowledge

Holders.

Eggloff, B, Peterson, N & Wesson, S 2005, ‘Biamanga and Gulaga: Aboriginal cultural association

with the Biamanga and Gulaga National Parks’. Office of the Registrar Surry Hills NSW.

Fenton, M 2012, ‘Southern Rivers Catchment Management Authority: Aboriginal People and

Caring for Country Benchmarking Survey’. Report prepared for Southern Rivers CMA.

Hogg, A 1925, ‘Back to Braidwood Celebrations, 22nd November to 29th November 1925’, Direct

Publishing Company, Sydney.

Mathews, J 1965, 'Janet Mathews taped interview with Arthur McLeod', sound archives, Australian

Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, Canberra.

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Appendix 1. Aboriginal community cultural landscape model in CAP 2023