of the same class ran off together they were punished by death if captured.A man was not permitted to speak to his wifes mother and could only do so through a third party. The men stood behind beating boomerangs. In fashioning their canoes the blacks showed a skill and craftsmanship that was surprising, considering that any form of building was to them practically an unknown art. The lads of the tribe were my playfellows. Search for a specific ancestor in FamilySearch. To make squares disappear and save space for other squares you have to assemble English words (left, right, up, down) from the falling squares. They were immediately followed by the hosts, each of whom carried green bushes in their hands. placed in a slanting position, forming a shelter, covered in on one side, leaving the other side open. Even the casual white man, uninitiated Into the ways of the chase, could have gleaned a living with little difficulty in that land of milk and honey. And the aborigines there being contaminated and emboldened by such example have lately become most troublesome at the different stations in that locality, killing sheep and spearing cattle, without concealment, and when spo- ken to threaten the lives of the shepherds. Illustration from Notes on the Aborigines of New South Wales - Plate 9 Bull-roarers used by the Australian Aborigines source: Wikicommons. The relatives of the novices now take them to some convenient place adjacent, and paint them all over with red ochre and grease. Just as preparations were being made for a continuation of the rites, some of the strange blacks raised an objection to my being present with a gun, for I had with me a small sixteen-bore fowling piece I Invariably carried on my excursions in the bush. These they shrew down to the ground among the women who scrambled and struggled for them with a great eagerness, each [woman] on securing a piece placing it in the woven dilly- bag. The men then dance and jump about in the ring, uttering guttural noises, the men of the new mob calling out the names of a few principal camping grounds in the country from which they have come. Snatching fire-sticks from the camp fire, they would hurl the blazing brands in the air, presumably at the clouds (yarreel), at the same time puffing loudly with the mouth (kurracar). They [the Gringai] are afraid of Coen, an evil spirit of the woods, which they say crammer (steals) them when they are nangry (asleep). [2] However, it has also been claimed that the language of the Wonnarua people is more closely linked to the Darkinjung language. The rugs they used were made of animals skins, principally those of opossums. Explore cultural objects, art and technology in the Australian Museum's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Collection. Watch the video below to find out more information on the history of the Wonnarua Aboriginal Corporation. Oysters were to be had for the gathering, and the blacks appreciated the succulent shell-fish mightily. His audience would listen intently until they had mastered the words, the tune and all the business that went with it. Bail catch fish, he said. Then panic stricken they turned to the cliff edge and sprang into space and so perished. 2.- About ten years ago on epidemic of a variolous nature carried off about a half of their number principally women and children and during the last five years, they have been reduced from thirty-five to forty per cent. Wauk Ivory as its name signifies, was the scene of a very big tribal fight in which the Kabooks utterly routed the Wallambas, as the latter never afterwards encroached upon the formers territory, but the casualties are of course unknown to us. Dungog Chronicle : Durham and Gloucester Advertiser (NSW : 1894 - 1954) Fri 12 Nov 1926 Page 3 OUT- RAGE BY BLACKS. The women belonging. It may be taken generally that sickness of all kinds was believed to be caused by the incantations and magic of the koradjis or medicine men of hostile tribes. They were distributed over the district in local groups known as Nurra were were located [in villages] at distances about [12 kilometres apart]. The novices are not allowed to leave the camp, but must sit in the shelter all day with their eyes cast down, some of their guardians remaining with them. I would respectfully call on His Excellency for instructions how to proceed that such evil and improper conduct may be speedily checked and further evil prevented. Figure 12: The men and novices silently surround the women at the Kweealbang. It was amazing the speed at which these seemingly cumbersome craft could be driven through the water by their owners, their lightness and shallow draught having a good deal to do with this. Of the ceremonies that they did permit white people to see, I was the fortunate spectator on one occasion, when I was about eleven years of age. The waters of the bay teemed with fish of every description, easily taken at all times. established a heifer station at Bakers Creek, twelve miles north-east of Gloucester, now known as Upper Ghangat. Dungog Chronicle : Durham and Gloucester Advertiser (NSW : 1894 - 1954) Fri 13 Apr 1923 Page 2 The Origin of Dungog. Thus Fanny would always have success at fishing because of the peculiar lure in her fingers. Discover the diversity of boomerangs in the Museum's collection, and learn about these distinctive cultural objects. Captain Moffatt and I agreed to set off at 2 to-morrow, that nothing may be left undone on this lamentable occasion. Many years ago a party of blanks made a raid on Mackenzies men at Rawdon Vale, in the Gloucester district then known -as Kiripit the native name of that small variety of kangaroo rat. The Gloucester Advocate (NSW : 1905 - 1954) Tue 7 Mar 1939 Page 4 Old Days and Blacks. The native name for the Williams was Durabang; the Paterson River, Yimmang. The Gringai had a great dread of thunder and believed it to be the demonstration of the anger of some supernatural being rebuking them for some impropriety. 1917. Robert Syron, The Kabook and Watoo People of the Gringai Barrington River Gloucester, NSW https://goo.gl/MfqAYm (SYR). After they had camped together the ceremony was complete. Arriving at the foot of the hill the men threw down their weapons on the ground, and springing on to the cleared space, danced on the fire with their bare feet until it was extinguished. No longer would they eat the female species of game, or collect fruits and yams or even eat with the women. Australian Indigenous family. Sunday, 9th June. Michael Smiths The Kutthung dialect on a deleted website accessible through, the Wayback Machine, https://goo.gl/twRvRg (KTT). . The spirit of Kawal is embodied in the wedge tailed eagle, found throughout the Hunter Valley. This position was held for some time. Dungog Chronicle : Durham and Gloucester Advertiser (NSW : 1894 - 1954) Tue 6 Jul 1943 Page 4 WILD BLACKS. Gordon Bennett (reprinted 1964) p3. The novices are conducted along the pathway to the goonambang, and are placed sitting down on a couch of small bushes and, Figure 10: Bull-roarers. This account is strangely brief. Discover your family history. The women and children are also told to lie down, and are covered over with rugs and bushes, some of the men running round amongst them to see that this formality is properly carried out. . The PCWP has askedfederal Environment Minister Sussan Ley to use Aboriginal heritage laws to protect the countryside around Ravensworth from further mining. What the guardian said, the boombits (initiates) believed. On the floor of the canoe, usually at the stern, there would be the inevitable mound of clay, the floating fireplace. I have mentioned that the aboriginals (possessed a keen sense of humor and were marvellously clever mimics. They went into the water-hole one after the other, and came out in the same way. When it became the custom to carry blankets they usually pinned them across their chests with a bone nose-peg. The markings as those who have seen the figures of early-day blacks will know when finalised were quite a white and weird color. Just as the t in tinko was turned into d in dingo so the t in Tugag became d, and the nasality of the final g being dropped the word became Dungag and Dungog. In the Wonnarua dreamtime the Hunter Valley was created by the great spirit, Baime (Byamee). Swiftly punitive bands were organised to hunt them down. This puts the novices in a great state of anxiety and alarm, but they are not allowed to speak or gaze about them. . Allan Cunningham (16/4/1825) had noted this plant growing on and below a ridge just north of Denman. Day broke and the sleeping blacks arose. Before finally quitting the main camp, a small sapling is cut down, and one end of it inserted firmly in the ground at the kackaroo, in a slanting position, the elevated end pointing in the direction of the new camp. and the only cessation was when all burst into screams of laughter. This being done, the whole force of the assembled tribes came up, running, shouting, and striking their shields with their clubs, and using a roarer which produced the most fearful and unnatural sounds. Ro, Cookies help us deliver our services. They had a clever and simple method of cleaning any fish they caught, and one that 1 have not seen practiced elsewhere. It could hardly be said that they had any conception of a God, yet they feared, and feared profoundly, some terrible invisible being they named Cooen supposedly capable of exercising a maleficent influence over their lives. In the early days of the settlement they had not come into very close contact with civilisation and he speaks of them as refusing to eat bread when it was offered to them. The latter keep marching on, and the keerang follow them till they arrive at a water-hole or running stream, which has previously been agreed upon as a suitable bathing place. The men belonging to the local tribe and other mobs, if any, who have arrived previously - who may be called the hosts, repair from the main camp to the goonambang, and sit down within it, having their faces turned in the direction of the camp. The bull-roarers are then given into the hands of the novices, who touch their bodies with them. The settlers of Port Stephens, reinforced by the small body of time expired soldiers, retained by the A.A. Coy, proceeded direct to the scene.. . Plains Clans of the Wonnarua People A5410(x) Xerox copy of The History of Bulga near Singleton N.S.W. Its history could impactthe future of mining in the valley. was open to attack from the Wallamba and Cape Hawke blacks [who] raided the run and speared the stock, driving many of the cattle [to the]unknown brushy headwaters of the Myall and Crowford to Bundbach, on the northern shores of Port Stephens. Many textiles reflect the traditional methods of production, design and use. The perpetrators were the Barrington River natives. A family tree is a diagram that shows the relationships between people in your family. . It was made of a flat piece of wood, a few inches in length, in which two holes were bored. On being asked by what jury he would be tried, the prisoner replied by black-fellows ; but this of course the Court was not empowered to grant. "It may be that the relocation partially mitigates the loss, but this is not evident in the statements of interviewed Wonnarua people," it said. Of course, the poor devils paid very dearly for this as the whites practically massacred the whole lot of them at MacKenzie Cliffs (Kerripit River), in 38. Sharks were about the only thing the blacks feared in the water. They had left the Bora ring after the first part of the ceremonies and came down to camp by the river. The language spoken around Newcastle and Lake Macquarie called by the aborigines Awaaba was much the same, and the whole language was named Kurring-gai by some, and Awaabakal by others. The men at Port Stephens did not employ this method the toe-hold affording them all the assistance necessary. Then there was the awfully cruel poisoning of the blacks at Bakers Creek out- station of the A.A. Co. Each tribe take their own novices away with them, and put them through the remaining stages of initiation in their own country. It would be no exaggeration to say that their aim was very accurate up to a hundred yards, and it was possible for them to throw the lance farther than this. 02 6571 1199, email 17.- half-caste lads are generally murdered always I believe. community together, who may be called the Chief Initiator, sends out messengers to all the neighbouring tribes whom it is desired shall be present. Dungog Chronicle and Gloucester Advertiser - Peep Into the Past March 24, 1932. On one occasion my father, having caught several of the youths in the act of purloining some of these delectables, remonstrated with them, and upbraided them sternly for stealing. The Wonnarua Strategic Plan 2009-2012 (WSP). This is known as a bora; a place where boys were initiated into manhood. Material on this site has different rights, uses, and permissions associated with it. The men and boys who remained at the water-hole or creeL in the busl, as soon as the keerang left them, proceeded to wash the coloring matter off their bodies. The next morning the women proceed again to the kweealbang and light a fire. necessity no doubt guided their deft hands, for the art of fashioning their weapons was inherited from countless generations who had to pit their wits against Nature in the battle for survival. Strings are bound tightly round the upper arms of the novices to make their muscles swell, which is supposed to cause their arms to grow stronger. Dungog Chronicle : Durham and Gloucester Advertiser (NSW : 1894 - 1954) Tue 21 Jun 1932 Page 6 TATTOOED BLACKS. Kabooks. . When the prongs were properly fashioned and barbed, the head would be fitted to the shaft with fibre cord and gum from the grass tree. . King Micky, of Cooplacurripa, was well tattooed on the chest and on the muscles of the arms. It was then wrapped in sheets of ti-tree secured by cords of string- bark fibre. up in the smoke, the men raise a guttural shout, and the women wave their arms up and down. A small collection from a cultural giant, discover the objects from China held in the Australian Museum's World Cultural Collection. He also created the first initiation site. At Port Stephens there were two varieties in general use. That night they camp in sight of the mens quarters, and each succeeding night they come a little closer, until at last they get right into the single mens camp. Thus was the culprit found. Dungog Chronicle : Durham and Gloucester Advertiser (NSW : 1894 - 1954) Fri 22 Dec 1905 Page 5 Scraps of Early History. The Aboriginal to-day pretends to know nothing but if full trust can be established it will be found that he does know. 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