When they would emerge from the ordeal eventually, they would be haggard, thin and worn. Wonnarua Nation Strategic Plan 2009-2012 - https://goo.gl/HVVNFo. Discover cultural material and objects in our Indonesian collection. The Wonnarua Language & Culture Archive is owned and managed by the Wonnarua Nation Aboriginal Corporation (WNAC), and it has been created for educational purposes. Daily Performances at the Main Camp.- Every day the men go out hunting,, and meet each other in the evening an hour or so before sundown at the goonambang. [citation needed], In rock paintings Baiame is often depicted as a human figure with a large head-dress or hairstyle, with lines of footsteps nearby. After he finished creating, he jumped back up to the spirit world from Mount Yengo, which he flattened. One of the most remarkable beliefs I remember, also concerns [fishing] An aboriginal woman, Fanny, who was a servant of our family for many years, was in her girlhood days dedicated to the art of fishing. Baime has his arms stretched open protecting the Valley. The Wonnarua people ( / hw n r ju r /), a group of indigenous people of Australia, are those Australian Aborigines that were united by a common language, strong ties of kinship and survived as skilled hunter-fisher-gatherers in family groups or clans scattered along the inland area of what is now known as the Upper Hunter Valley, New South Wales, Australia. At other times the soldier bird is imitated; sometimes the flying fox [fruit bat], the native bear [koala], the rock wallaby, the wombat, and other animals. who fully believed in an after existence, and told me many curious and interesting legends, especially one relating to the stars. What the guardian said, the boombits (initiates) believed. 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. I was present at [a corroboree] 55 years ago with the rest of our family. 87 0 obj <>/Filter/FlateDecode/ID[<094F16A5768ACBD411B1DAC73AF11856>]/Index[69 33]/Info 68 0 R/Length 87/Prev 88046/Root 70 0 R/Size 102/Type/XRef/W[1 2 1]>>stream bUB 3H LB[ *Lzp+Fi= Before Baime there was nothing, everything was sleeping. No one worried about a Coronial inquiry in those days. To this, as the present means of quieting them, I was obliged to accede. [Coen] delighted in tormenting and carrying them away when he could get opportunities. The howling continued all the time. The mothers then pass out under the arms of the men; then the sisters pass out, and lastly all the other women and the men who had charge of them in the ring, and stand close by as spectators of the remainder of the proceedings. The other men then go and pick up the bushes thrown down by the keerang, and pull the leaves off them, making a continuous grunting, noise while so employed. Some of [the] superstitions were extraordinary. Copyright for this website is owned by the State of New South Wales through the Department of Education. Naturally there was someone or other among them who had a striking physical peculiarity, either an over-emphasised feature, a deformity, a trick of gait or speech common to himself. Sir, I have the honor to acknowledge receipt of your letter of the 19th instant relative to the individual named in the margin [Cooky], and have no hesitation in saying, from the peaceable, honest, and orderly conduct of the blacks in this quarter for many months past it would be perfectly safe to return Cooky to his tribe nay I am sure it would do great good, for he is an intelligent fellow, and will communicate to his friends all he has seen - and come through since they parted, this paving the way to their future improvement, while it must ensure gratitude and good will to the whites. The signal given, the youngest branches of the family came forward, surrounded the corpse, and as they lifted it up, gave a great shout, and then, as it were, conjured, by blowing and waving hands over the body. The form of the grave was oval, and its depth when finished short of four feet. As the smoke swirled and eddied about his curly head, the silence was broken as though this had been the signal for speech. As soon as a black got hold of a white mans tomahawk, he would remove the handle to substitute it with one of his own fashioning. I was molested only last week by wild blacks between Dungog and Stroud and discharged my musket at several who threw spears at us. With no knowledge of science to aid them, with only the most primitive ideas of handicraft as white men comprehend it, they could do a vast quantity of very excellent work in a very brief space of time. The Wonnarua people, otherwise written Wanarruwa, are a group of Aboriginal Australian people united by strong ties of kinship, and who survived in family groups or clans scattered along the inland area of what is now known as the Upper Hunter Valley, New South Wales, Australia. The Blacks of Dungog, Port Stephens and Gresford. The Earliest Inhabitants - Aboriginal Tribes of the District. The poisoning of Aboriginal people was known as the Harmony because in this way peace was supposed to be achieved. used or I believe ever heard of by our blacks. Their good temper and childish relish of fun was never more exemplified than when someone made a present to a stalwart black of an old hat, coat, or other discarded garment. He told those that were with him, to make the sign of peace with them which they did by waving the right hand over the head and then pointing to the ground. The perpetrators were the Barrington River natives. A large public circle was carved into the flat ground. Members are despatched to summon tribes from far and near, and on their return full preparations are made for the celebration, a place being selected and a day appointed. Even your best guess will do. When green, if the camp needed vegetables for the menu, they were roasted and eaten In that fashion. The novices are also forbidden to eat certain kinds of food until relieved from this restriction by the old men. . Here a halt is made, and the keerang start away back to the womens camp, and report that the men and boys will arrive in a few hours time. In the proximity of the new camp, on the side of it nearest the place to which the novices will be taken by the headmen, a piece of tolerably level ground is selected, and cleared of all timber and loose rubbish, and a large fire kindled in the middle of it. To the blacks the name became an anathema; knew them no more (sic). white stone to be carried back to the headman who sent him. One [researcher] described Frasers work as most unsatisfactory and unquestion- ably the most inaccurate and garbled account ever published about the Aborigines. Despite this demolition of Frasers credentials and abilities, the word Guringai wasnt demolished with its authors reputation and it was picked up from time to time until it became widely accepted as the name for the original inhabitants of northern Sydney or of their language. The Gloucester Advocate (NSW : 1905 - 1954) Tuesday 7 March 1939 p 4 Old Days and Blacks. Discover the diversity of boomerangs in the Museum's collection, and learn about these distinctive cultural objects. . Sunday, 9th June. It is today difficult to ascertain what actually happened at the climax of the ceremony, but the spiritual experience was to be impregnated in the memories of these young boys until their final return to the spirit world. It is an arduous task that Mr. Mackay and myself are called upon to perform each month, to wit, to walk to Stroud from Dungog for the purpose of administering justice, and as the way is beset with wild blacks, who frequently molest and threaten us Fitzpatric also mentions: Armed conflict with police at a place called (in de- rision) Waterloo, near Browns Creek. He comments: Police got the worst of it. Dont interfere with them ! The novices are told that the noise they hear is the voice of Goign, who would come and eat them if he got the chance. Another fishing superstition was In connection with eating fruit. I. am informed they are camped between my place and Mr Boydells. It would be made of a long, flat piece of hardwood, pointed at one end, fitted loosely Into the ey e and made firm with a wooden wedge driven along the side. No European casualties are mentioned but it said that the Aboriginals had acquired some guns which was the reason for the retreat. [citation needed], The missionary William Ridley adopted the name of Baiame for the Christian God when translating into Gamilaraay (the language of the Kamilaroi). The other method of securing fish was by spearing them. [4], In the area surrounding Awaba (Lake Macquarie) in New South Wales, Australia,[5][6] he was believed to have created all of the mountains, lakes, rivers and caves in the area. FamilySearch is an international, nonprofit organization dedicated to helping all people discover their family story. 'gxI'wHOs$;I qv,1*dFnuv1:d8G+2(Qke >W8T 9s+-uanLm It was the belief that when the name of the guilty person was called the corpse would start. They were not over-particular about the thoroughness with which the delicacy was cooked. The Kabook and Watoo people of the Gringai clan of the Worimi Nation (The Cook family) have lived continually in the Barrington for over 189 years recorded by the first white settlers 1826, until the present Cook Family Descendants from the Kabook and Watoo people speak the Kattang (or Gathang) language and it has been recorded that they are the last of the true custodians and Clan within the boundaries of the Allyn and Williams river up stream to Gummi Falls on the Manning River known as Kummi Kummi (Place of many Crystal stones), Barrington Tops (Beann Beann), Rawdon Vale, Barrington, Gloucester up to the Manning river down to Cresford the Karuah River and the Bulliac Tugrabakh Bora Ground area, some 13km from Gloucester. While the ceremonies were in progress, there would be an incessant noise of the bull-roarers (flat notched sticks whirled at the end of a cord to drive off debbil- debbils, keep the women at a distance, and impart the correct amount of terror to the trembling lads who were soon to become men. While the women used the lines, the men mostly fished with the spear, and they were extraordinarily skilful. See what others have contributed about your ancestors. Another bush dainty, easily procurable in the right season, was the curramali, a fruit that grew on a little vine in the bush. These aborigines spoke the language of, and intermarried with those of Maitland, less frequently with those of the Paterson River and rarely with those of Muswell- brook. Kabooks. This seemed to conclude one de- finite part of the ceremonies, for the women were not permitted to witness what followed. Various articles by Gordon Bennett, chiefly in the Dungog Chronicle (GB). The waters of the bay teemed with fish of every description, easily taken at all times. Across the range, on the watershed of the Paterson, was another, and an important branch of this tribe with whom the natives of the Dungog district inter-married, and Dr. McKinlay and Mr. J. W. Boy- dell record that these tribes married also with those of the tribes on the Gloucester watershed. The bearer, John McIntosh, ranger for our Association, will conduct any party that you will be pleased to send in the direction they are reported to be in. The principal bora ground was in Mr. Harold McLeods paddock and today one can see the ring plainly. But the blacks remained, and many of my earliest recollections are of them. describes how a band of blacks stole a child, the daughter of a Mrs. Easterbrook, whose husband was a clerk of the A.A. Company at Stroud. In my days they had progressed beyond the stage when they used the old stone tool, The tomahawk of the early days was a good deal different from the one in common use now. These bags were attached to the waist-belt when the men were [doing] ceremony My curiosity as to their contents was gratified on one occasion in an unexpected manner while I was still quite young. James Miller, the author of Koori: A Will to Win, writes an ancestor was from Eccleston, and regards himself as Wonnarua. They were distributed over the district in local groups known as Nuria and were located at distances about eight miles apart in what the histo- rians of those days termed villages. About this fire, and in lines radiating from the centre like spokes of a wheel, were a number of naked blacks, their heads bowed to the earth. Its history could impactthe future of mining in the valley. The mia-mias of these rude aborigines were of the most primitive description, being merely a few sheets of bark placed against a convenient log, or bushes roughly planted alongside some huge forest giant. One escaped death there only to meet it a few hundred yards across the river, where he was caught by the pursuing foe. Today 8.3% or 2,033 people in Singleton identified as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander in the 2021 Census. For the latest information, searchABC Emergency, For the latestweather warnings in the Northern Territory, search onABC Emergency. It will perhaps be interesting to describe another keeparra ground visited by me, which is situated between three and four miles north-easterly from the village of Gresford, New South Wales. 02 6571 1199, email The mysticism of the event was incomprehensible to them at this point, and complete trust in their guardian was all they had. To give th e canoe rigidity so that It could bear Its passengers safely, stretchers were ingeniously fitted at intervals along its length somewhat after the manner one sees In an ordinary clinker-built boat. What huge quantities of fish these blacks could eat! This would be chip- ped and shaved with extreme care until the desired curve had been ob- tained, when the finishing touches would be put on it with scrapers made of shells or glass. Snakes were greatly esteemed by our epicurean friends, their flesh, when roasted, being beautifully white and apparently very tasty. Virtual event 100% FREE | March 2-4, 2023. I have seen the totems Mr Bennett mentions small chrystally pieces of quartz, stalactites with beautiful natural facets sexagon, octagon, and other shapes. The second, which Mr Bennett seemingly refers to under Captain Reynolds, is apparently that expedition which led up to the encounter on Browns Creek, Wallamba, in which the whites were so decidedly worsted, that the locality of the encounter in question yet bears the name of Waterloo. If a boy wants anything, he must touch his guardian, who then commences asking him the most likely things, until he guesses correctly, when the boy nods assent. . . [There was] a fight between the Wallamba tribe and a portion of the Kabook (Gloucester, Barrington, Rawdon Vale tribes). P.S. Birds and fish, however, were cooked by being plastered with mud and placed amid hot coals or in a hole packed with heated stones. I happened to have a few emu feathers stuck in the band of my hat as an ornament. The Tribal group I belong to are known as the Gringai Clan and are a part of the Wonnarua people in general. As soon as the bull-roarers commenced to sound, the men of the new mob entered the goonambang, and walked round, and then started towards the kackaroo in a meandering line, in single file carrying their boomerangs and other weapons with them. Each child, at birth, was placed in a certain class or totem, and could only marry some person from an entirely different class or totem, their particular classification being indicated by its distinguishing name. The kinship group was the economic and social unit of the tribe. Glancing about I saw a strange aboriginal walking across a cleared space and approaching the camp. It is situated on the right bank of the Manning, a few miles from its source the source of the Manning being on the north-eastern slopes of Polblue. When the Wonnarua see the wedge tailed eagle, they know Kawal is looking over them, protecting them. The added leverage launch-* ed the lance with Incredible swift- ness. In Australian Aboriginal mythology, Baiame (or Biame, Baayami, Baayama or Byamee) was the creator god and sky father[1] in the Dreaming of several Aboriginal Australian peoples of south-eastern Australia, such as the Wonnarua, Kamilaroi, Guringay, Eora, Darkinjung, and Wiradjuri peoples. Derby is a King and speaks English well. Having made the necessary arrangements, Captain Mof- fatt, Mr. Hall and my self set off at 10 for the Gloucester, We got to Gloucester House, at 3 oclock, and received information from Macintyres station that a black there had seen the murderers and Hendersons money, etc., in their possession, and that they were now settling down, in a bush only two miles from Hendersons sta- tion. A man standing at the butt of the tree commences to cut steps as if going to climb it, and a few of the men run about and throw sticks at the [possums] tail. Boggle gives you 3 minutes to find as many words (3 letters or more) as you can in a grid of 16 letters. 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