Bundanoon - Notes on Aspects of Aboriginal Cultural Heritage - Part 2 from 1851

Part 1 to 1850 | Part 2 from 1851

1851

- Blanket distribution at Berrima, 1851. See listing Bowern 2018, 75.

- Reverend W.B. Clarke, Survey of Aborigines of the Berrima district, as part of a Church Missionary Society survey, 1851. The parson at Berrima, W.Stone, enclosed a detailed Return, which had been compiled in association with the issue of blankets. This return is reproduced below. 

Aborigines of the Berrima District

Return showing the Numbers, Names and Ages of the Adult Aborigines in the District of Berrima on the 24th May 1851. Specifying their individual Characters; their places of resort; and their Social Condition i.e. whether single or Parents, whether living in a complete State of Nature, partly civilised, or in employment by Europeans, and in the latter cases, what are the names and avocations of the employees.

No / Aboriginal Name / English Name / Age / Their Place of Resort /  [Comment]

1 Yewga / Joe Wild / 35 / Mittagong and Berrima / (Good whilst in town. Works at wood cutting for the inhabitants. Married)

2 his wife Gralin / Polly Wild / 30 / do. / (Fond of spirits. Lively disposition)

3 Boonda / Jacky Plowright / 42 / about Berrima / (Well behaved and works at wood cutting occasionally. Married)

4 his wife Helamar / Mrs Plowright / 40 / do. / (Harmless poor creature)

5 Yellore / Billy / 25 / Currickbilly / (Rather wild. Fond of .............. Married) 

6 his wife Bimduck / Louisa / 15 / do. (Unknown) / 

7 Murreoora / Nelly / 40 / Morder to Yellore / (Unknown. Single) 

8 Whowa / Cocky / 40 / Sutton Forest / (Wild. Married) 

9 his wife Nuella / Polly / 28 / do. / (Fond of Grog) 

10 / - / Phillip / 28  / Kangaroo Ground / (Well behaved. Very proud of his personal appearance. I have often seen Phillip go to the nearest creek to wash his teeth and stand admiring his reflection in the water. Married) 

11 Biugilla / Jackey / 30 / Currickbilly / (Cunning rogue. Married) 

12 his wife Jeraugba (Good) / Jenny / 25 / do.

13 Woonoowolling / Betsey / 35 / Mittagong / (Unknown. Parent. Lives with a Shepherd of Mr Cordaux’s named James Turner. She is a Half-Caste and very fine working woman) 

14 Cowarim / Jenny / 20 / Bullio / (Unknown. Single) 

15 Mooramin / Sally Bariley / 25 / Bondooley / (Hard working. Married) 

16 Mooroon / Billy / 50 / Bong Bong / (Wild. Married) 

17 his wife Yerrebie / Mary / 40 / do. / (Wild) 

18 Berrigo / Mary / 50 / do. / (Wild. Single)

19 Mallong / Jem / 45 / Sutton Forest / (Unknown. Single)

20 Middong / Charley / 35 / Bambala / (Well behaved. Single) 

21 Mogonang / Neddy / 40 / Berrima / (Cunning rogue. Single. And presently attached to the Mounted Police. Is very useful in the Bush at tracking Bushrangers) 

22 Cooewea / Charley / 28 / Sutton Forest / (Clever fellow, and at times works hard for t h e Married) his wife 

23 his wife Jellonga / Biddy / 30 / do. / (Unknown) 

24 Nillga / / 50 / Sutton Forest / (Unknown. Parent. Mother to Neddy no.21) 

Note: I have guessed at the age, as none of them could tell it, the answer of all being that they "cannot keep count", yet strange to say, most of the men play a game at cards called "All Fours" which requires some knowledge of figures to play well - and I have seen some that play very well, as far as I could judge. There are more Blacks in their Tribe, but they neglected to attend for their Blankets, and I have no knowledge of them, unless I see them normally. W. Forster. 

Return showing the Numbers, Names, and Ages of the Children of Aborigines in the District of Berrima on the 24th May 1851. Specifying whether wholly Aboriginal or Half-Caste. 

No / Aboriginal Name / English Name / Age / Whether wholly Aboriginal or Half-Caste

1 / - / Maggy / 13 / Wholly Aboriginal 

2 Belliot / Jenny / 17 / do. / (Has a Half-Caste Child named x)

3 Gadina / - / 3 / Half-Caste 

4 Jingrain / Lizzy / 9 / Half-Caste (Daughter to Betsey (No 13) who lives with the Shepherd named Turner)

5 Bindrooly / Mary Caine / 14 / Half-Caste (is Married) 

6 Gurraja / - / 17 / Wholly Aboriginal 

7 - / Bob Nimonet / 16 / Half-Caste (In the Service of Capt. Nicholson J.P.) 

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1853

* Louisa Atkinson, The Native Arts, No.1, Illustrated Sydney News, 26 November 1853. Description of an Aboriginal burial mound and carved trees at Mount Gingenbullen, Sutton Forest. cf. Illert 2003, Various 2016 and Bowern 2018. 

The Native Arts No.1. 

In wandering over this vast continent, we cannot fail to be struck with its utter absence of ancient remains. No sign of antiquity exists - not a structure of former art. A piece of common pottery would be an object of interest, and set us questioning: "Who made it, and how long is it since it was constructed?" The native graves - the only artificial elevations we can trace, are of recent date. But, if the field of speculation is limited, it is likely to become lessened, as the aborigines have almost relinquished the little attempts at art we find. We have mentioned the graves as the only durable constructions existing, and will devote the present paper to the subject, reserving the articles of dress, and domestic and war implements, for a future number. Sir T.L. Mitchell describes the Tombs on the Bogan as covered like our own, and surrounded by carved walks and ornamented grounds. On the Lachlan, under lofty mounds of earth, seats being made around. On the Murrumbidgee and Murray, the graves are covered with well thatched huts, containing dried grass for bedding, and enclosed by a parterre of a particular shape, like a whale boat. Others, on the Darling, were `mounds surrounded by, and covered with, dead branches and pieces of wood. On these lay the singular casts of the head in white plaster.' We have inspected a grave, or perhaps we might call it a tumulus, which resembled a large hillock some 100 feet long, and 50 in height, and apparently formed the burying place of many persons. The last interred there was the body of an old man, and this was upwards of thirty years ago. The mound is oblong, and to all appearance, entirely formed of earth, probably on a low natural elevation. The large trees surrounding the mound, are carved with various devices, and others, at intervals, on the slope leading to the valley below. The tumulus is situated on the level of a mountain side, at an elevation of about 2,700 feet above the sea, and 700 feet above the level of the wooded table land. Below the tumulus, on the slope of the mountain, are extensive marks of excavations of the soil. The construction of this mount must have been a work of labour and time; and, in strong contrast, we may mention a few instances of interments within the last few years. A native black of the locality died, but was not buried in this tomb - a large nest of the Termites being scooped out, and the body tied into a sitting posture, and enclosed within it. No trees were carved. It was a melancholy instance of the degraded state of the wretched aboriginal race, as a care of the body of the dead seems inherent in the human breast, in proportion to the advance of civilization. In the case of an infant who died, or was probably murdered, some time since, the corpse was burned and interred in such a shallow grave, that portions of the half consumed bones were perceptible. The accompanying sketch will give a correct view of the locality. Even in connection with the idea of death and mortal decay, it is a pleasing spot, richly clothed with grass and flowers, and shadowed by fine trees, while between the forest boughs we catch a rural scene of fields and dwellings. How great the change from the time when the native blacks toiled in the erection of that tumulus! Now their foot rarely, if ever, treads there, and the sleepers are unknown and forgotten.

1854

- 1 September 1854: William Macarthur writes a letter to Emily Macarthur (Mrs James Macarthur) referring to the botanical expertise of the Illawarra Aborigine known as Doctor Ellis. At the time W. Macarthur was compiling a list of botanical names, with their corresponding Aboriginal names, for plants of Illawarra, the South Coast and Camden. The following summary of that letter was written by Miss Annette Macarthur-Onslow, Illawarra Historical Society Bulletin, June 1983: 

Dr Ellis, Botanist William Macarthur writes about the rain-forest brush near Wollongong and Jamberoo, where he was identifying and collecting plants, and says: "I have not got on so fast as I might have done for want of ‘Dr Ellis’ who has been ill, or is ill, and has not joined me." He goes on to write of one particular brush where he had been on an earlier expedition [c1840] with George Macleay when, after collecting twenty-three species of plants, they thought they had exhausted it. "This time," he says, "with the aid of an opera glass, I have been able to find 12 fresh specimens not before g o t ... besides these we have got much finer specimens of a good many we had before - I sadly miss ‘Dr Ellis’ who could give me the aboriginal names of almost every tree." [Refer under 1861 for William Macarthur’s published list of botanical specimens from Illawarra, with corresponding Aboriginal names compiled with the aid of Doctor Ellis]

* Louisa Atkinson, Native Arts No.2, Illustrated Sydney News, 4 February 1854. Description of Aboriginal possum skin rug and other ornaments, from the Sutton Forest area. 

Native Arts No.2 

In their native state, when independent of the Government blanket and the worn clothes of the charitable, the skin of the opossum was a valuable article to the aborigines of Australia, and preserved with some care. When the skin is not required, the animal, before cooking, is merely plucked of its fur, which is, if requisite, employed in the formation of yarn, a description of which will follow. But when the native intends to make a cloak, the skin is carefully removed and pegged by means of numerous wooden skewers to a small sheet of bark cut for the purpose. In some cases the raw surface is rubbed with fine wood ashes, and the fur always put next the bark. When dry, the skin is squared, and the process of carving commences; this is done by the females, and is a very tedious task. The operator seats herself on the ground, and folding the skin, still with the fur inside, places it within her knees, and with a sharp stone removes portions of the inner skin, or that part which formerly adhered to the animal, the process is very slow, and in cases where the carvings are in woves and circles, the operation is the work of patient labour of some days' duration. So far prepared, the bark of the currijong is stripped and the fibres next the wood selected: two skins are placed together and pierced, and the currijong fibres passed through, securing and neatly sewing the skins together. The cloak is thus gradually enlarged, often to a great size, and is, when completed, a warm and durable robe. During the process of carving, the skin is softened by fat and ochre, and becomes, in consequence, of a red hue within. The yarn, as before stated, is made of the fur alone, and twisted between the palms of the hands, which primitive spinning is performed with great rapidity; the yarn, when finished, is simply passed many times round the waist, falling in numerous pendant ends. This, in the wild state of the aborigines, was there sole summer's dress. Of the more ornamental part of the costume we may mention the smooth white bone passed through the cartilage of the nose, and the Kangaroo teeth suspended from the ends of the hair. But perhaps the ladies of Sydney should like to have a complete description of a native belle - here, then, is her portrait. The naturally glossy black hair falls in many ringlets round her swarthy neck; but, with a copious lubricative of fat and red ochre, has assumed a sanguineous tint. A band, netted with currijong cord in round meshes is passed round the head, and the teeth before mentioned clatter gently when she moves; her necklace, many yards in length, is passed in increasing circles round the neck. It is of a golden yellow, and made of the jointed stalks of a parasitical rush found on decaying timber, which are cut into oblong beeds and strung. The opossum skin cloak is placed beneath one arm and secured on the opposite shoulder, falling with some taste round the slender form. The foot and ankle are always small and without ornament. An essential part of the dress is the netted wallet, suspended over the shoulders, and in which the extra raiment and food, and the carefully concealed and mystic charmed pebble are carried. The net is similarly made to the head-band - the latter, in cases of mourning, is whitened with pipeclay, and the face also. The arrangement of the cloak displays the tatooing on the arm and shoulders, which is effected with great agony. Such is an aboriginal girl in full costume; and with her large dark eyes and white teeth, her free movements and retiring manner, when as yet she is free from the evils gained about the settlements of the white men and public houses, she is an interesting object. Shall nothing be done for the souls of such? If the Prophet had bid us do some great thing, would we not have done it? We send our missions to the north and south - east and west, while at home our black, aye and white populations are heathers. In a future number we hope to describe the missions of the Blacks, and illustrate the articles here described.

1855

* Hamilton Hume, [Review] A brief Statement of Facts in connection with an Overland expedition from Lake George to Port Phillip, in 1824, 34p. Source: Sydney Morning Herald, 20 April 1855, 2. Hume therein remembers his first visit to Bong Bong in 1817. 

Transcript: To carry out this determination I set out in search of a sheet of bark suitable for a canoe, such as the natives use; after a good deal of trouble, I got the bark and succeeded in forming the canoe, but unfortunately, and to my great disappointment; it cracked and became useless for my purpose. Returning to the camp, I immediately set to work, took the wheels off my cart, covered the body of it with my tarpaulin, and made of it a very excellent and serviceable punt. This expedient I had seen adopted by Mr. Surveyor Meehan, in the year 1817, when crossing Bong Bong River while flooded.

1857 

* Justices of the Peace - Kenneth McKenzie, Esq., 15th December 1856, Bundanoon, Molong, The Empire, 17 March 1857. 

1859 

- May: Sale of 88 acres at the head of Bundanoon Creek, about 2 ½ miles south-easterly from C. Throsby’s 640 acres …. Also reference to Little Bundanoon Creek, New South Wales Government Gazette, 12 May 1859. 

- June: …. We have no reason to doubt but that Mr. Moss has succeeded in marking a practicable dray road from the points mentioned to the Goulburn table land above Bundanoon Creek on the Kangaroo River. A Government surveyor is expected very shortly to accompany Mr. Moss to report on his line of road, The Empire, 1 June 1859. 

- July: Surveyor Rowland to Surveyor General re geology around Bundanoon Creek and likelihood of finding gold, Illawarra Mercury, 15 June 1860. 

- December: Gold prospecting at Bundanoon Creek. 

1860 

- Gold discovered at Bundanoon Creek between Morlya Mountain and the Shoalhaven River by Mr Moss, Armidale Express, 7 January 1860. 

- Gold diggings on Bundanoon Creek, The Empire, 12 May 1860. 

1861 

* Sir William Macarthur, Specimens of Woods Indigenous to the Southern Districts, Catalogue of Natural and Industrial Products, New South Wales International Exhibition, Government Printer, Sydney, 1861, pp. 15-43. This is a catalogue of native woods from Illawarra and southern New South Wales (including the Camden and Appin areas), listing the European, Aboriginal, and scientific names for each variety of wood. It was compiled by Sir William Macarthur, one of the exhibition commissioners, with assistance from Edward Hill and Reverend James Hassall. It appears that Macarthur received information on Illawarra trees from the Aboriginal known as Doctor Ellis, possibly during the 1840s - see under 1854. The following list (cf. Organ 1990) is a summary only of the complete catalogue entries, in which the woods are divided into three groups as follows: A - Forest, B - Barren scrub, and C - Rich brush, or cedar brush. Of the 194 samples listed, only 116 are given Aboriginal names. Where no ‘Local Name’ is given, the scientific name is inserted in square brackets. The Aboriginal names given are taken from the following localities: * Illawarra ** Berrima | County Cumberland and Camden + Brisbane Water Descriptive notes are also inserted with each entry, where relevant.

- June / July - Lots sold at junction of Bundanoon and Deep Creeks, about 5 miles from Sutton Forest, The Empire, 23 July 1861. 

* Louisa Atkinson, A Voice from the Country article regarding flowers, shrubs, etc. in the region, Sydney Morning Herald, 10 April 1861.

1863

* Louisa Atkinson: A Voice from the Country - A Winter's Picture in the Table Lands of the South, Sydney Morning Herald, 2 July 1863. Reminiscences regarding the murder of some European sawyers in the Shoalhaven forests by Aborigines, possibly during the 1820s. 

A Voice from the Country - A Summer Picture 

Another picture on a summer's day, long passed, will lead the reader away from peaceful harvest fields and sheep cuts, to a tract of country where the red cedar grew. Here were employed two sawyers, far away from all other white men. "Alone in the desert," leading the life that other sawyers lead, a bark "shanty" for their home; going once a fortnight, or perhaps once a month, to some settled district for a supply of provisions; seeing no one but the occasional drivers of the dray which comes for the timber sawn - not that the dray can approach the pits, in all likelihood, but has to be relinquished at some distance, and the cedar dragged by bullocks to it. The peculiar life they led made these cedar-sawyers a class. I have heard of such men pondering over hidden lore, and counting the rings in the trees they fall, and drawing inferences therefrom, but fear they are the exceptions to establish the rule, that the sawyers are a reckless, improvident brotherhood, who earn much money, and spend it in drunken outbreaks when they leave the gullies. Whether the two sawyers in question were rustic philosophers of "good fellows" at the Sawyers' Arms, I cannot say. 

There were blacks in those days who occasionally frequented these cedar brushes, and in the hearts of two awoke a growing cupidity, which fixed its longing eyes upon the rations of the white man; a plan was laid, and the unsuspecting victims fell into it readily. Feigning to know where cedar trees of great size were to be found, they led the men along a shelving ridge of rocks. A black proceeded as guide; his comrade walked between the sawyers. They were going in single file along this "kangaroo path," on the side of the cliff; at a given signal, each turned on his victim, and with one blow of his club felled him to the ground, and hurled him over the pass. Fearful that their work was not completed, they hastened, by a circuitous way, below. One only was there - dead - but in their dread of discovery, they cut out his tongue, that he might not speak if the body were ever found; probably having an idea that his ghost would "walk", and it too might be tongueless. The other man was not to be found; however he must be dead, and they hastened to the shanty for their reward - the food and clothes of the victims. The protecting hand of God had lodged the second sawyer among the tangled brushwood, thus breading his fall and concealing him from view. In time, he aroused, weak and in pain, but not mortally wounded, and succeeded in struggling through the friendly branches to the ground, and thence to a settler's hut, where his tale of horror was told, and information given to the police. Their task was a difficult one. In that unbroken twilight forest, where were they to seek the aggressors? The brother-in-law of one was applied to, and ordered to give them up. He declined, was threatened with consequences, but was immovable; so he was marched a prisoner before my father, the head magistrate. The man professed his ignorance of the whole affair, yet there was reason to suspect that he knew where his relative was, and a metal crescent which had been given him for former good services it was decreed should be removed till he redeemed his character. Meekly, with tearful eyes, he bowed his head while the much-cherished ornament was taken from his neck; his gun, too, was forfeited. In course of time both were, however, restored to him. One of the murderers had been discovered and tracked by men on horseback. Mile after mile fled the savage, hotly pursued and gained upon, till, though out of sight, the distance was so lessened that, faint not, of, lady reader! he was smelt out. Let us suppose that some Bimmel or Ferica of this Southern land had surrounded him, as with a cloud, in delicate aromas, rather than in rancid opossum's fat, or the grease of snakes, intermingled with yellow earths and the red of iron. He was caught, and bore the punishment of his misdeeds in transportation; returning years afterwards to his native tribe, a wiser, if not a better, man.

* Louisa Atkinson, A Voice from the Country, Sydney Mail, 12 September 1963.

A Voice from the Country - Recollections of the Aborigines 

These unhappy races have become rather a tradition, than reality, already in many districts. Their personal appearance is very similar, although the dialects of different tribes vary considerably, they are usually short, particularly the woman, slender and active, with dark - but not African black skins. Black hair, frequently curling, never woolly, or straight, and large beautiful eyes; the nose is broad and spread at the nostrils, the point compressed towards the lip; the lips thick and prominent, mouth wide; the teeth a fine white. The habits of these races were wandering; they lived by the chase, having no idea of cultivating the soil, and it is a noteworthy fact that the Allwise has implanted no indigenous cereal, excepting grasses, in this wide region, which commands so vast a difference of climate end soil. Nor have we roots to take the place of the taro, sweet potato, and yam of the South Sea Islands. Thus, while the American Indian tills his maize, the African his rice, and the inhabitants of the Pacific these esculent tubers, the Australian tribes seemed destined for a race of hunters - hence wanderers. To the European was reserved the developing these sources of wealth and plenty. That a people, whose lives are bound by no tie to particular localities, should display the habits of this people, we might reasonably expect; yet these movements were circumscribed, as any infringement on neighbouring territories was fatal in its results. Their dwellings were of a description most readily constructed, soon dilapidated, and forsaken without regret. Sometimes a sheet of bark supported on end in an inclined position by a small pole, at others, a few branches placed round a triangle, formed by partially severing a sapling so as to bend both ends to the ground, and supported in the middle by a sloping forked stick, were the materials almost always employed, but occasionally these were rendered more comfortable, and impervious to wind and rain, by being built over with grass. As the tribe travelled together, or in parties of several families, a number of these gunyah might sometimes be seen near each other, yet each was so arranged that its open side was turned from its neighbours. 

On one occasion, when the remnants of three different friendly tribes had assembled for a grand corroboree or dance, I made plan of the encampment; each tribe was slightly apart from the other, divided by a sort of street. Thus, the inviters were clustered in the centre, having, I think, seventeen camps; the Picton tribe on the right hand, five camps, and the Shoalhaven on the left, comprising ten or eleven gunyahs, consecutively forming a village. In a few days' time, the leaves on the branches of which the shelters are formed, wither and fall. The light spray with which alone they supply their fires, is gathered, the small arboreal animals killed, and the larger game driven away; while the refuse of the slaughter, the May Fair scatterings of rags (since they have received old clothing from the whites), and the piles of ashes conspire to make change desirable. Accordingly, the gin forms her few movables into bundles, swings them across her shoulder with her babe and net containing any provisions she may possess, a charm-stone, &c , and follows her lord, who carries his spears and weapons, to some other convenient spot where an alfresco hamlet is improvised. In their domestic life their habits were simple; food was always roasted by being flung on the glowing embers, and scorched rather than cooked. Although infanticide prevailed, such children as were suffered to live were treated with indulgence - spoilt, in fact. The men were severe to their wives, striking and even killing them - when under the influence of anger, but I believe these cases were far less frequent when they had not lost virtues and acquired vices from the so-called Christian people who invaded them. Plurality of wives was practised occasionally. Their government was extremely simple, being vested in a chief, for whom they appeared to feel much deference, but no state or wealth was attached to the honour. In the Shoalhaven district was, some years since, still a number of aborigines, perhaps a hundred. The chief of this tribe was called Jim Vaugh, a European designation of course He was a short, stout man, with a large face and head, per-eminently plain, to which was added pockmarks, he having suffered from smallpox when it proved so destructive to the natives, shortly after the founding of the colony. He remembered and described the visit of the first white people to Shoalhaven, being at the time on the coast and seeing them, while hidden among the rocks, land from a boat. Jem had a large family ; one of his sons was six feet high ; a daughter and her family were rendered conspicuous by suffering from leprosy in the head, which destroyed the hair, another son, known by the name of Burrura Jacky, having lived at a station with some white persons, wished to settle and selected an island in the Shoalhaven River at Burrura , here he erected log hut for himself and wife, and cultivated maize and pumpkins, but as soon as his crops were eatable the tribe collected around, and never left till they had consumed all that his industry had raised, he tried this several times with the same result, and then relinquished it in despair, and returned to the wandering habits of the tribe Burrura Jacky was a sensible, proud, independent man, and good looking. 

During my stay on the river, he and some other men, in conformity with their custom, went to a distance to the "wild blacks," as they said, and stole some women, one of these women was accompanied by a very pleasing child. After a short time the mother escaped, but could not take her little girl. The distress of the child was most affecting ; day and night her shrill tones calling on her mother, might be heard. Often we saw her wandering along the river's bank uttering the Coo-e, or some words. Probably the woman was unwilling to leave her, for, after a short time, she was seen in the tribe again. Jim Waugh lived a similar life to the others hunting his own game, sleeping in a rude gunyah, and fishing in the river. It was known that at different periods he had eight wives, but at this time he was alone. Just below the navigable part of the river, where its bed is no longer impeded by pebbles, is a low island covered with casuarina paludosa. On this, or the neighbouring shore lived two aged women, one, Nelly the wife of Jim, a dethroned sovereign evidently, the other her blind companion. Both of these women were remarkably small and ugly. It was but necessary to mention Nelly to the chief to arouse the savage in him, then would he swear, stamp his feet on the ground, yell, and threaten her with instant death. Had he been so disposed he might have gone to the place where she was, but perhaps life was spared her on condition of a perpetual banishment to this spot. If these threats of Jim Vaugh were repeated to Nelly, they produced the most extravagant laughter and enjoyment, she would beg again and again to have the piquant scene rehearsed, at each time clapping her hands, dancing, shrieking, and laughing in all the extravagance of savage mirth. Her enjoyment was shared in a lesser degree by the little blind dame. What was the foundation of this antipathy and banishment from home and tribe it could not be ascertained - Nelly was so old and ugly as to hardly provoke "the green eyed monster". The women were generally met with on the river, in a canoe formed of a sheet of bark tied together at either end, and appeared to support themselves by fishing. Another son of the old chief was named Jemmy Meretta, and was a handsome though rather short man, sensible, and able to speak English fluently; his wife was a beautiful young woman, mother of three boys, fine little fellows; she appeared to be sinking in a decline. A fourth son, Jackey Urutta, was also distinguished for his good sense and great conversational powers. The blacks are close observers and great mimics, and go where they will they gather all the news, and will repeat in a circumstantial manner. Whenever Jackey Urutta visited us he would tell where he had been, whom he had seen, and repeat their conversations with the utmost minutiae. The only direct instance of exertion of authority which I ever witnessed was under the following circumstances: - Jem Vaugh and his tribe were encamped on Oldbury, in the neighbourhood of Berrima, and the old chief came to visit the friends he had known on the Shoalhaven; he found some of the family engaged in making pastry in the kitchen, and while he stood talking, a Bathurst black who was visiting the tribe entered and asked for flour, then for an order on a miller on the estate, and finally for sixpence, all these requests being denied he retired, and it was presently discovered had stolen a six penny coin which lay on the table. Jem was made acquainted with the loss, he stepped into the verandah and uttered a rapid "hi, hi, hi". The culprit, who was at some distance, immediately returned, put down the money in silence, and withdrew, evidently bowing to the rule of the chief whose subject for the time being he was. This was the only act of dishonesty I ever knew any of them guilty of, and their honesty arose not from want of opportunity, as the reverse has frequently been the case. Their dispositions are fitful, easily depressed or elevated, their feelings are quickly moved to tears or laughter. They attach themselves warily to those who show them kindness, and are ready to exhibit their friendship in various ways. 

A curious instance of this occurred some years back, and might have led to tragical results. A widow lady and her family, who had suffered much and been forced to seek a shelter at her cattle station, was one day accosted by a black who had been employed by the police in tracking bushrangers and had formed one of the mounted police force. He wished for a confidential conversation, the lady walked to a short distance from her dwelling, still in sight of her rather anxious family, for the aboriginal in question was not regarded with much confidence. "Mrs.-," he said, in a mysterious tone, "you used to have big house and plenty jumbucks (sheep), me bin say where are they all gone?" A reply that those who should have guarded the orphans property had abused their legal power, excited him to fury, with an oath he exclaimed, referring to one in question, "I'll shoot him " "No, no, that will never do," was the alarmed reply. "Bail shoot? I see ! make too much noise, I'll spear him." Quite satisfied with the prudence of this arrangement, the man explained where he could surprise his victim on a solitary path he occasionally had occasion to traverse. Much alarmed lest he should carry this murderous intention into effect, but unable to make this zealous sable friend see any moral objection, the lady suggested that she would tell the Governor. This idea was seized upon warmly: "Yes, tell Minter Gubbener, say Mister Gubbener currajong him - currajong him." This meant hang. To appease him, it was promised that the Governor should be requested to have the extreme penalty of the law put in force upon the delinquent. Sad as such a code of action is, the feeling of devotion on the part of the black was certainly to his credit, while his rude ideas of right would be all in favour of summary punishment upon the offender. To such an extent is this the case, that should one of a neighbouring tribe commit a murder, the relatives of the sufferer consider it right to kill the first person of that tribe they can, irrespective of its being the actual offender. Many instances of fidelity and affection in a more commendable shape exist, many have been employed as guides to exploring parties. On one occasion Jem Vaugh was acting in this capacity, and being taken beyond his accustomed haunts, actually lost himself and party, provisions were exhausted, and the frightful end of starvation in those intricate wilds stared them in the face; the quick eye of the savage, however, detected a supply, and on two days he cut down trees containing the comb of the native bee, the honey supported the gentlemen who was with him till they recovered themselves from their unpleasant position. 

The aborigines appear to pity the Europeans, as persons under self-imposed slavery to toil, holding themselves as quite their superiors. The difference of employer and employee they appreciate, and distinctions of Australian born, or otherwise "You brudder of mine, all same as me, native," is a high mark of esteem. The man, to whom reference has been made as the champion of the rights of his bereaved white friends, was a small, ugly fellow, who had met with a severe wound on the mouth at the time his tooth was knocked out, in consequence of which, that always wide feature was rendered crooked , his brows were beetling and scowling, his neck so thin as to appear wasted, while the chin and back part of the head protruded greatly. His name in his tribe was Woomby, but he was commonly called Neddy, to which was added King, but this title was only nominal and not recognised by his tribe, whose territory was the district of Berrima and Bong Bong; they spoke the same dialect as the blacks of the Shoalhaven, and were friendly with, and visited them. Self esteem was strongly developed in Neddy. On one occasion he was going as guide to an exploring party and a horse w as provided him. He complained that the stirrup irons would hurt his bare feet, and begged for an old pair of boots, which were given, a servant standing by began to laugh at the poor creature, saying, 'You are no gentleman - you are no better than a beggar." Instantly irate, the black turned from one to another, demanding if he was not a gentleman. The scene was excessively ludicrous, the tattered clothes of the claimant of honours was like a burlesque upon his assumption. It required repeated assurance that he was quite a gentleman, and his tormentor an ignorant fellow who did not know a gentleman when he saw him, to appease his feeling". Some time after this he said to a member of the family he was then about to act as guide for, "If you want me write to me Missis-, ' " Indeed,' she replied, " Where shall I write to you, Mr Neddy ' " Write to me,' he returned, with the air of a sovereign, "Mr Edward Rex, care of Mrs -" "Edward Rex ' Are you a king, then?' "Yes, Missis -; yes, ma'am, you write me, Edward Rex, when you want me, an' I come." Of course some person had called him by this title. On another occasion when the tribe were moving, the same lady was surprised to see Neddy apparently waiting near the house when she arose in the morning. On surprise being expressed that he had not accompanied the tribe, he returned with numerous bows, amounting to salaams, " O Misses-do you think I would go without saying, good morning Missis, good morning Missis, ' and he bowed himself from the presence, to hasten after his fellows. A natural politeness is very general among them, the manner of the women is often graceful and modest, where they live retired from the contaminating influence of the dregs of society, with whom alone they have the misfortune to mingle. Intemperance is one of the vices so sadly prevalent among them, they know what its fatal results are, lament them, but have not courage to resist. How frequent is the paragraph in the country paper of an aborigine's death from this cause, how many have sunk unrecorded. A great sin lies on us as a people, for much has been done to injure, and little to benefit the poor original possessors of our farms and runs. Neddy, of whom mention has been already made, fell a victim to this vice. He had been drinking, was taken to the lock-up, and turned out, after a week's confinement, in a dying state. A gentleman who had ridden into town, was addressed in a careless manner by a person, with the remark, "There is a black fellow dying." Shocked at the intelligence he crossed the street and found the wretched sufferer exposed to a cold wind and rain, powerless and speechless, but sensible, for when addressed by the familiar voice he turned his great black eyes upon the speaker. The gentleman's expression of indignation and astonishment in various quarters brought the subject under the notice of a publican who had Neddy conveyed to his place, where he died. "Only a black fellow," is carelessly uttered. The soul is unheeded and untaught, or it is said, that they are incapable of instruction. I must confess that in most instances I do not think that the "right person has been in the right place." Is it likely that one who cannot attract, or hold the attention of those whose countryman he is, and whose language he speaks, could arrest the attention of savages, or speak, through the ear to the heart? In instances where the reverse has been the case, good has resulted. In educational matters the aborigines are quick to learn. To us they appear destitute of all systems of theology, all religious worship, but they so love to draw the veil of mystery round their beliefs and actions that it is not improbable that we are, and ever will be in the dark on these subjects. Visible deities, that is idols, they have none, no act of worship is ever seen, perhaps ever practised. A black who was travelling with a gentleman through a lonely and mountainous country, pointed out a stone placed in the forked branches of a tree, stating that some black man had put it there that the sun might sink no lower till his mother had crossed the mountain. Was this a rude indication of sun or fire worship? - the most primitive of all reverences. (To be continued). 

* Louisa Atkinson: A Voice from the Country: Recollections of the Aborigines, Sydney Mail, 19 September 1863. Refers to the Aborigines of the Sutton Forest district from the 1820s and 1830s. It also refers to the large burial mound at Mount Gingenbullen  in which an old man was bured 44 years prior i.e., constructed around 1818).

A Voice From The Country - Recollections of the Aborigines 

The Aborigines freely admit their belief in evil spirits - and the existence of souls after death. Thus, at first, they believed the white-skinned races to be the dead, alive again, and called some by their supposed former names. Under ordinary circumstances the name of the departed of his death is never mentioned; "him tumble down," is the only information that can be obtained relative to one deceased. A gentleman, to whom they were much attached, had died, leaving a widow and young family; a number of natives assembled to visit her, and see the new inmate - born since they had been there last; after gratifying their wish to see all the orphans, the widow exhibited a lock of her deceased husband's hair. Instantly horror and grief seized upon the party; men and women bowed their heads and wept, till at length one women approached and whispered, "Missis, neber you show that to blackfellow; neber any more." All the possessions of the dead are buried with them, and anything they may have made use of during their illness. The mode of interment is to confine the bands round the knees, drawing them up to the chest; a shallow grave is then dug, the corpse placed in it, and built over with earth - the stems of the trees in the vicinity being carved with simple devices. On a high hill, a few miles from Berrima, is situated a tumuli. Forty-four years since an old man was buried there; but there is reason to believe the mound contains other remains. The grave is probably one hundred feet long, by forty high, of a gentle conical form, covered with herbage, and surrounded at its base with trees, which, on their sides fronting the mound, were carved in forms suggesting the native shield and boomerang - weapons used chiefly in war. There could be little doubt but what the tumuli is all, or is part artificial, rising thus abruptly from the hanging level in the mountain side; on the slope beneath it are traces of extensive digging and removing of soil, and rocks, and a line of trees are marked to the level, natural cleared, land below; this has given rise to the supposition that the flat has been the scene of a battle, the dead being carried up the hill, and the mount erected by the number of survivors assembled. But beyond supposition nothing can be ascertained. The blacks themselves either cannot, or will not, give any information. Of late years they have excavated the large ant hills, and buried their dead in them, neglecting the carving of the trees. It was the custom of the women to assemble round the grave, probably those related to the departed only, wailing and lamenting, striking and lacerating themselves with sharp instruments, and drawing strings across the lips till they bled. 

A peculiar custom was the breaking out one of the front teeth of the male and, among the coast tribes, cutting off the first joint of the female's fourth finger. When the lads were about twelve or fourteen, this was done by a man upon whom was conferred magical powers; a man called Mullich, belonging to the vicinity of Picton, was the only one I ever heard particularised; he was unusually tall, and was supposed to walk on the tops of the trees, and perform other marvellous feats. For some time the lads are not permitted to mingle with the tribe, or eat particular food. The tooth is knocked out by the point of a boomerang, thrown at them. Should they disobey the regulations deadly consequences ensue. Mullich is supposed to have cognisance of their movements and notions. On one occasion two lads partook of a duck, which they had by some means killed; Mullich learnt it, no doubt holding the boys in such terror that some of them would inform him; in consequence the lads were surprised when asleep, stunned by the blow of a club, and an insidious poison, administered to them, under which they sank in about three months. Dancing was their great pastime, and required great practice; it was confined to the men, the women being mere spectators, or musicians; an opossum skin cloak was folded, the skin side out, and beaten with small sticks, the women droning a monotonous chant. The figures were varied - the movements generally slow, and displaying great physical strength. I witnessed two dances on the Shoalhaven. A Bathurst black had been some months located in the tribe - the dancing master, in fact, teaching them new dances; the result was what I saw. A small flat, thinly wooded, was the spot selected, the night was dark; when the party of spectators arrived nothing was to be seen or heard; presently, with a sudden peculiar inflection of the voice, a number of men sprang from behind trees, holding in their hands a tuft of lighted ferns and bark, which they deposited on the ground; the partial illumination revealed the white or yellow lines painted on them in the form of skeletons, while the sable skin, where ever exposed, was lost to view in the obscurity of night. It was a dance of Death. A circle was formed, each performer leaning at an angle impossible to a civilised being, unless after great practice, then with a pave-driver's breath they simultaneously fell at an opposite angle. After several such changes of attitude, a more stirring movement took place; the heels were brought with great violence to the ground, and a tremulous agitation given to the muscles. A vibratory motion was communicated to the ground for some distance. 

One of the Bathurst dances was an imitation of the bounding of an emu, the hands being raised before the face to represent the flat bill; another was the kangaroo dance. Two large sheets of bark had been cut and painted, to rudely resemble giant figures, a head and shoulders being cut out and painted, the rest lined in the skeleton fashion which imparted so ghastly an appearance to themselves. The pigments employed were pipe-clay, yellow ochre, and red clay. What part the figures were to play we did not learn, or only a scenic effect, not usually employed by them. The whole thing bore evidences of having been arranged with an eye to startling effectiveness; the painting, the sudden appearance form behind the trees, the fires, the extraordinary feats of muscle testified to the pains and time devoted to this sole amusement. I was told by a medical gentleman that many years ago he witnessed a dance in which two figures were introduced, daubed over with spots of paint, and that the performance was a representation of the sufferings of the blacks under the small-pox. For a considerable time before these corroborees take place the natives assemble and practice, messengers are sent to all the detachments of the tribe, and sometimes neighbouring tribes; a general encampment takes place, and the dance is repeated for some nights in succession. The heavy beating of their feet can be heard for at least a quarter of a mile. The corroboree is kept up far into the night. After these exertions the men pass a great part of the day in repose; the women wandering about with the children begging, or catching small animals, such as the oppossum. If they require the skin for cloak-making it is stripped off and pegged out on a small sheet of bark, the fur within, warm ashes are rubbed over it to expedite its drying; after this it is carefully scraped with a sharpened flint or bit of glass and then carved, by being folded in peculiar forms, and the inner skin removed, so that the pattern, usually angles or curves, is rough; into these red ochre is rubbed; so slow is the process that a single skin will occupy a woman all day to carve. They are squared and neatly sown together with sinews - a slender piece of bone constituting the needle in former days. If the skin is not required the fur is merely plucked from it, and probably spun into yarn, between the fingers; this yarn is worn many times twisted round the waist, and depending in ends round the body; it was the usual dress of the men formerly. The currajong, Hibiscus heterophyllus, has a fibrous bark; from this they form fine cors, which, by means of a hooked bone, is netted into the bag, always carried by the women, and fillets to bind round the head; when mourning, this band is whitened. 

The hunting the kangaroo, emu, and native dog is confined to the men; near streams the men are expert in spearing fish; the women will stand all night in water fishing for eeling: they employ a hook. Their personal decorations are almost confined to general lubricating of the skin with the fat of the animals they kill, and colouring the hair with ochre. The women are tattooed about the arms and shoulders, and put whitened bones through the cartilage of the nose. They also suspend the teeth of the kangaroo and native dogs from their hair. Occasionally, feathers are stuck round the band binding the hair; but this is not general. While the child which is reared is treated so tenderly, carried in the warm cloak or the mother, hanging at her shoulders, and the orphan is adopted unto some family, many infants are destroyed not only at birth but even days afterwards; some are left in the bush to perish. The songs of the aborigines are monotonous, the same sentence being frequently repeated. One is an imitation of the noises of the laughing jackass, dacelo gigantea; in this, the acme of perfection seems reached when an abrupt pause can be made while running up the gamut. Another stave was interpreted thus, by a black - "Him gib 'backs, tea, and sugar, Ball wheelbarrow come up yet, Mr ---- break him neck." and so forth, the chorus being an aside comment of the disappointed claimants of the oft made and ever broken promised; the wheelbarrow - meaning the dray - not yet arrived from Sydney with supplies. A third song hinges on a tradition. Once upon a time a boy developed so great a partiality for the flesh of the quail that he ate so much as to cause him to change into one of the birds in question, and he ever wanders about singing in "quail's language" his history; a warning to all gourmands. Their name for the quail is guenonbetong, by which name the bird boy is known. The inflections of the voice in singing are a peculiar, spasmodic gasp, loud utterences, dying away to under breath, sudden pauses and starts. Their names were frequently given in reference to some peculiarity of their birthplace - that place being their inheritance; thus a many named Philip was called by his tribe Burrengumbie, having been born at and inherited a place of that name, so called from the hills. A man named Cobbon Jack, i.e. Big Jack, had a son which received the diminutive of Jackey Nerang (little or the less). This man's gin was given to he practice of infanticide, which he objected to, and requested a lady to adopt his son should he die, and leave it to the heartless Jenny's care. She promised to do so, and inquired by what name the child should call her, "howar," (mother)? queried Cobbon; on her assenting and repeating the word, he manifested great delight; little Jackey was henceforth called Gerrida, from his birthplace, the blacks explaining that he was going to be gentleman now, implying that a name emanating from landed possessions carried rank with it, as the Scotch lairds were called by the names of their estates. Some had more than one property; the son did not appear to inherit from the father. Jim Vaugh, whose native name was Yarrawambie, claimed several mountains on either side of the Shoalhaven, and used to delight in gaming and bestowing them on the lady to whom reference has been made. Their names were Coolondo, Cooloolondal, and Illarro. The name lady, in the territory of another tribe, was presented by an aged woman with land, which she used to say, spinning round on one foot, with her arms extended, belonged to her "all about, all about, all about." I never heard of another instance of a woman possessing land. 

Places, like people, were named after some peculiarity. Jindenda, on the Shoalhaven, was so called from the apple tree, angophera lanceolata. Tom Thumb's Lagoon at Illawarra was called Bettria Berrie, which means "make haste," in reference to the waves tumbling in. The boys early learn to throw the spear and boomerang, having small weapons suited to their strength. So expert do many become in throwing the latter - a curved piece of wood slightly convex - that they can make it describe a circle in the air, and return to them again; it is used in war and hunting. The spear is formed of two parts: the shaft, usually the flower stem of the grass tree, xanthorihaea hastile, to which a sharp heavy end is attached by being bound with fillers cemented with the yellow resin of the grass tree; this point is usually like the boomerang and clubs, formed of the roots of trees, indurated in hot ashes. The spear is held by means of a stick, on which it rests, while a sharpened end folds the spear; this is called a wammera, and is held between the thumb and middle finger, the first being raised to its extremity; the arm is then drawn back, and then propelled forcibly forward, the spear being projected to a great distance; the wammera is retained. The fishing spear is three pronged; a jagged one is used in time of war, for which purpose, alone, the clubs are constructed. The shield, melathon, is of wood, a small handle being carved out of the solid substance, for the hand; it is a diamond shape, so that the point presented a sharp pointed edge, yet skilfully used, it would catch and turn the direction of the assailant's spear. The melathon was carved, and painted red and white. A kangaroo hunt was an animated scene; a number of black men armed themselves with spears, and surrounded a tract of land frequented by those animals, narrowing their circle until the game were within the reach of their weapons, when a general spearing began. The method of fishing was very similar; at the season when the fish were returning to the sea, after having ascended the rivers to spawn, they barricaded the stream across with branches, so that the water percolated, and the fish were retained, and easily speared and piled on shore; fires were kept up, and roasting and feasting, followed by the lethargy of repletion, were continued for days. A very favourite food is honey. The bee of Australia is small, and the sting almost free from pain; it formed its comb in hollow trees; the keen eye of the savage detects the bees at their hive, and he quickly ascends, having previously provided himself with a bark bowl cut off the bend of a tree, or a small bangalee made of a small sheet of bark, tied together at each end. The agility displayed in ascending a tree is surprising; supposing the Aborigines with a mago or stone hatchet, or the iron tomahawk of the whites in his hand; a small notch is made in the bark, in which to rest the large toe, a second about a yard further up, supposing he started with the right foot, a little to the left to this he strides, and so on, clasping the trunk of the tree with one arm. Or twinning a tough creeper round the tree and his body, he works himself up the stem. The hive reached, some dark comb is discovered containing a liquid fine-flavoured honey. The English bee has thriven so well, and scattered itself so widely, as almost to have usurped the place of the native insect, which it kills to possess itself of its honey. Both men and women are agile climbers. The opossum, and squirrel and bear are all found in holes in trees or their branches, and could not be reached without great exertion. In addition to such food the women eat ants' eggs, and, with both sexes, the flesh of snakes and iguanas are held in high estimation. The women are not permitted to partake of all food. My own impression is, that in all of these customs, connected with the knocking out the tooth, the severing the female's little finger, the smooth white stone she carries in her wallet, and indeed the whole practises, there is a reference to spirits, a recognising of Deity, in some crude, uncertain, mystic way - a mystery which shall be carefully kept a mystery from the curious white invader. It is a matter of course to pronounce them the lowest scale in the human ladder; the last link between man and monkey; a degraded people incapable of improvement; beyond the pale of civilization, and destitute of religion, and recognising only an evil spirit. An idolator accustomed to worship the ostensible would look on the Christian religion as a mystery - bowing the knee to the Invisible - our stand point is not such as to enable us to clearly limit the beliefs of the Australian aboriginal. For my own part I would be loath to come to any conclusion, and state it is a fact. As a characteristic anecdote, mention must be made again of Jacob, the tall son of the old chief, Jem Vaughan. he had dreamed that he should die, and in conformity with their custom set about making the prophecy correct by refusing all food; his despondency and evident sinking attracted the attention of a lady, who, by dint of coaking, laughing at, and remonstrating, succeeded in getting him to partake of nourishment, and his life was saved; had no such friend been at hand, he would have succumbed to an imaginary decree. Attempts have been made to seduce the blacks to settle and cultivate the soil; but unsuccessfully. A "black school" was established at Blacktown; the children returned to their tribes as soon as they could. "Liberty's sweet," said a gin, as she mended an old dress which had been given her; "I can work and read too; but it's confined living with white people, and I get tired of it - these are inconveniences; but then I'm free--" A gunyah and a scorched possum before a house and white bread, and the bowing to another's will - "For Britons never will be slaves," might have been the benighted creature's catechism. "I was at black school, and can read," was a decided boast, but there the scholar's satisfaction ended. The wife of Cobbon Jack, already alluded to, used to live at a farm-house as domestic servant, for weeks at a time, and could cook and wash, and she was said to be a very proficient laundress; she dressed neatly, was clean and useful, but would tire of settled occupations, and return to her tribe and husband. Many men and lads are employed as drovers and horse breakers - pursuits they like, and are valuable assistants in these capacities. They likewise learn to reap and hay make, and succeed well; but the cruel practice of repaying them in great measure with rum yearly proves fatal to many. They are predisposed to inflammatory attacks, which are aggravated by intemperance and exposure to the weather when stupified, and the mortality is proportionate. "They give us rum; and lots of blackfellows die each year," sorrowfully said one sensible man to the writer.That the spirit is greatly diluted is true, but a very little will intoxicate them - even strong sugar mixed with water; the washings of the sugar bag is sufficient. Soon will the tribes have passed from the land. The Richmond tribe is reduced to one; the formerly large tribe in the district of Berrima is nearly, or quite, extinct; and so it is throughout the settled districts. When drinking, they often murder each other; a very handsome young man, named Joe You-no-You was clubbed to death in a drunken affray many years since; and many others at various times. Another, an aged man, with a white beard, called Colonel, became deranged, and wandered away into the woods, alone, and feeble, and it is believed, perished, as he has never been heard of since. The few Aborigines for considerable distances collected to seek him, and if they found his body, interred it in sorrow, as the last of his tribe, and with their usual love of mystery concealed having done so; their idea being, that to speak of the dead angers them, and disturbs their repose.

* Louisa Atkinson: A Voice from the Country: Incidents of Australian Travel, Sydney Morning Herald, 9 November 1863. Makes reference to Shoalhaven and Sutton Forest Aborigines during the approximate period 1820s - 1840s: 

....Many tribes are now extinct, their voices are silenced; but that very silence pleads eloquently for the living - they went down untaught, except in evil - wasted by disease introduced by civilised sins, - the "place that once knew them knows them no more for ever" - their very graves are generally unknown. But thousands live, the echoes of thousand feet sound in the far interior, the young and the old are there; they have shown us that the feelings of common humanity animate their breasts, that there are materials to work upon; would that my ....... 

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1868 

- Coal mine developed at Bundanoon. Gold mining continues. 

- September: Death of Billy Blue of the Bong Bong tribe, buried at Sutton Forest.

1870 

- 1870: AONSW Col. Sec. Correspondence Index, Bench Berrima, Return of Aborigines, letter no.4349.

- Tourist description of area, Sydney Morning Herald, 20 September 1870. 

- Meeting of Bundanoon residents to request a public school, Goulburn Herald, 29 October 1870. 

1871

* Louisa Atkinson, The Fitzroy Waterfalls, Sydney Morning Herald, 2 January 1871. Article referring to Aborigines in the region of the Shoalhaven River during the 1820s and 1830s [Part of original newspaper mutilated and unreadable]. 

The Fitzroy Waterfalls 

Not far from Moss Vale a lane leads from the main road and crosses the line - by this we started to the Waterfall. .....One of the deep glens a few miles from Fitzroy Falls was the scene years since of a fearful tragedy. Two sawyers were engaged in felling timber in the dense woods of Merilie, when some blacks visited them - they were numerous then - and offered to conduct them to far finer trees. The men fell into the trap and started with their sable guides. The path selected was along the ledges of a cliff overlooking a deep wooded dell. A native went first, then the two sawyers, and the rear was brought up by the second aboriginal. On this narrow ledge where cruelty was centred in securing a ...., and at a signal turned upon the sawyers and with a single blow from a club cast them into the glen. One was knocked out and did not immediately die. The other sawyer did ...... assistance ..... Both the aboriginals, I believe, were captured; one escaped and ran for miles, but was ultimately retaken. The motives assigned was the desire to possess the sawyers' flour. These very gullies were the witness of very different conduct on the part of an aborigine, - conduct showing affection and generosity. My father [James Atkinson] had been out exploring, accompanied by a black, the chief of the Shoalhaven tribe, and making their way back over the grassy mountains, were lost in the valley of the Merilie. We must remember that each tribe had its certain hunting grounds, beyond which it could not pass without intruding upon, and provoking the vengeance of the neighbouring tribe; hence the old king's ignorance of the country. In those massive woods and gully-riven tracts it was not easy to find a way of escape - the provisions, already exhausted, came to an end. In this emergency the black sought some alleviation of their difficulty, and killed a large iguana, which he roasted for his white companion, positively refusing to partake of it himself; so, when he discovered a bees' nest, the comb was transferred to a bangale, or small bark basket or vessel, and served to support my father for three days, until they found their way on to the tract; but the black did not eat any of it, his relief was to tighten the belt of oppossums' fur yarn around his waist as hunger gnawed. "Masser (he said) could not do so well as blackfellow without food." Even then Jim Vaughan was an old man. He could remember seeing the French ships off the mouth of the Shoalhaven River [Most likely the Dumont D'Urville expedition which visited Jervis Bay in November 1826.], and the terrible destruction among the native tribes by smallpox - he was much marked by it himself. In after years, when very aged, he loved to dwell on those days in the Merilie gullies, and recount his care of "Masser." Poor creatures! with their sins and good qualities; friendships and hatreds, so quickly to have passed away! We may spare their memories a few minutes, even when standing on the summits of the cliffs overhanging the sunken course of the creek, which has just hurled itself from our level to that below, in the fine Fitzroy Falls. A conspicuous object from where we stand is the rock-crowned mountain rising before us, as if filling the mouth of the gorge. There is Bobatoo, and said to be not only unexplored, but, that it cannot be scaled in consequence of its rock-bound walls. The summit appears level and wooded. The marshes and woods around the top of the falls, while very barren, are adorned by numerous flowering plants. Many ferns grow in the crevices of the rocks and I observed some parasitical orchids. The creek appears deep, and is reputed to be stocked with fish, worth catching. There are two other falls within a few miles, one near Merilie, the other at the Sassafras. L.C [Louisa Calvert]

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1872

* Hamilton Hume, A Brief Statement of Fact, Yass, 1872. First published in 1855.

1874

- 1874: AONSW Col. Sec. Correspondence Index, Police Magistrate, Berrima, re blankets Aborigines, letter no.4067.

1875

* Reverend William Ridley, Kamilarioi and Other Australian Languages, Sydney, 1875. 

1887

* E.M. Curr, The Australian Race, Government Printer, Melbourne, 1887. 

* J.L. Mann, Mann's Aboriginal Names, 1887-1907, Mitchell Library, Sydney.

1891

* The Census, Bowral Free Press and Berrima District Intelligencer, 22 April 1891, 2. One Aborigine present.

1894

* Death of Toby, Bowral Free Press, 19 September 1894, 2. Obituary of oldest local Aborigine.

1898

* J. Larmer, Vocabulary of Native Names 1832-1852, Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Historical Society, 2 November 1898.

1901

* R.H. Mathews, Gundungarra Language, Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, Philadelphia, 40, 1901, 140-8. 

1904

* A Yabba Yabba and Corroboree of the Winge Carribee Tribe, Robertson Advocate, 19 July 1904, 2.

Transcription: A Yabba Yabba and Corroboree of the Wingee Carribee Tribe. [Per Favor of the Editor] That remarkable discovery, at the Gib quarries, of an ancient manuscript bearing on the former civilisation of Australia, reminds me of a tradition of the Wingee Carribee tribe of blacks, a branch of the famous Kamilaroi tribe, whose territories ranged from the Moonbi mountains and Liverpool Plains in the north to Twofold Bay in the south. The headquarters of the Wingee Carribee tribe was at Boo-ral, and their sacred bora ground was the Gib mountain. They roamed from Taralga to Burrawang, and round about from Marulan to Picton. In those days Wingecarribee Swamp and the Bong Bong River teemed with wild fowl, and succulent eels and tasty crayfish; the open glades were full of kangaroo, and the scrubs alive with wallabies and bandicoots; the juicy 'possum was in every tree, and screeching flocks of cockatoos and parrots wailed for the sly curving boomerang to spin amongst them, knocking down a meal at every throw. 

The territory of the Wingee Carribees was an ideal Aboriginal paradise, and they ought to have been the happiest of darkies; but alas! they were not. The white man had come to the land, and his encroachments and evil ways were sowing trouble amongst the tribe. Some of their young men had ventured into the white settlements about Liverpool, and returned with marvellous tales, and all the conceit of travellers; no longer did they reverence the old men of the tribe, but even dared to "yee yee" when the old men spoke. They talked about changes and reforms, they even said that the gins were meant for something better than digging yams and cooking 'possum, that they deserved a voice in tribal management inasmuch as did so much for tribal maintenance; and beyond all, they dared to say "gwaijooboon molgeeree"' (we will bring it to pass soon). So there was trouble and social upheaval among the Wingee Carrlbees. Two parties were formed. The young men with advanced views, and the old men with conservative clinging to the traditions of the post. 

The leader of the reform party was called "Gween" (i.e., a "white" man). He had travelled far and wide amongst the district of the Kamilaroi race, and was of broadened views and enlightened judgement. He foresaw that his people must move with the times, or go under in the march of modern ideas. He knew of the shameless imposition in the name of government under which they had suffered in the past, from the old fossils; and so impelled by a worthy ambition to better his race, as well as by the wishes of the more civilised of his comrades, he became their leader. The leader of the old-fashioned crowd was also well up in the ways of white men; he had been captured by the settlers about twenty years before the time of which I write, and having been taken (to Sydney) was kept there some time before being allowed to return to his tribe; to propitiate him and his people he was presented with a brass chain and plate, and on the latter was inscribed "Bury-mee Billy, madow yabba yabba," the last part of which meant "chief speaker." Billy was very proud of his title, and on the strength of it assumed to claim a leadership; he was well versed in all the wiles of his race, and had acquired many tricks from the whites, above all he had learned the (low) white man's idea, that patriotism is a splendid card to play when it enables you to scoop the poor. So he talked much about sticking to the old tribal customs, and especially the custom of looking upon him as a leader. He took the old men on one side and treated them to drinks of "bool," and even ventured to give a feast to a "boggeeny" who commanded a certain influence with some of the gins. He told his countrymen that he had "plenty pfella friend alonga guv'ment," that he could get "plenty pfella blanket, plenty pfella sugar, plenty pfella "bacca." 

Now about the time the parties became well defined there arose a desire among the Wingee Carribees to have a proper chief; for years there had been no real chief, but Bury-mee Billy had assumed to be chief, and the elders had allowed the assumption. At last public opinion clamoured for the matter to be settled, and so it was decided to hold a big corroboree and choose a chief. The date was fixed for the 10th day of the 8th moon, and the place was to be at the chief camping ground at Boo-ral. They came from all parts, and all were arrayed in their best pipeclay and 'possum rugs. Many bees' nests were laid under tribute to manufacture "bool;" kangaroos were slaughtered, and heaps of 'possum and wombat waited to be devoured. Even the gins wore an animated appearance, for they expected to have a say in this "yabba yabba." All the " boogeenies " were there, as busy as the devil in a gale of wind; one had decorated himself with a scrap of blue and a scrap of yellow ribbon, others had bits of old blue shirts (these latter were much admired by the gins), and a good many sported fragments of old yellow convict dress, rubbish brought from England, and left lying about, ugly stains in a fair land. Others were decorated with green rushes or boughs; but the majority were content to stick to their pipeclay and 'possum skin, believing that "Nature unadorned is still adorned the most." 

The momentous day at length arrived. The forenoon was spent in feasting; 'possum, kangaroo, and wombat disappeared with marvellous celerity, only bones were left, over which gins, picanninies and dogs wrangled and fought; big "coolamons" of "bool" were passed from gaping mouth to mouth, and some grew fierce from its effects, and some grew sleepy; shrunken waists were distended like a blown up football, and by the time the sun was in mid-heaven nearly all were asleep, and the camp, save for a few wrangling old gins, was as peaceful as a sty after the pigs are fed. Evening came and the scene was changed. All had slept off their surfeit and prepared for business. Two huge fires blazed at opposite ends of an open space; near one a screen of boughs hid the gin's, around the other squatted a concourse of men. Then arose Bury-mee Billy to urge his claims to be chief. He give his speech as he would have uttered it in English, only retaining a few native expressions: 

"Yoo'a ! yee' dthoo countrymen ! dis pfella bin you chief dis long time. See 'em dis pfella heelaman (hare he pointed to his breast plate), plenty big white man gib it me dat ; dat pfella white man say, "you good black pfella Billy, you keep 'em dat heelaman, mine gib it you blanket, pflour, bacca, tomahawk, you gib it alonga you countrymen.' Yar' lo ! cobong budgeree dat pfella Billy. You keep 'em me you chief mine gib it you all white pfella gib me. Baal gammon. (Grunts of approval.) What for dat pfella Gween bin wantem mine place. Baal budgeree. Him only walk about chap: no belonga dis camp. Mine belonga dis camp since picaninny. Goos (how long since) Gween bin come along dis camp? All same ooroobai (mushoom) no findem dis day, findem tomorra, no findem nex day. Dis pfella coming (audience) know mine good pfella. Big pfella all same as googooburra, sit down dis camp long time, big pfella cobbers, big pfella bingie, yooa !! You makit me you chief. Yoo'a ! Kuman'aveadrink." 

Thus spoke Billy, and then rose his rival, who said: "Baal you lettem Billy gammon you. Me no yabba 'bout Billy. You likem Billy best you makem chief, you likem me best you makem me chief. Mine belonga to you all same Billy, mine camp alonga you all same Billy. Me bin walk about plenty, see plenty. Yaadoo dthoo ngaan'- yes (I have been looking, i.e., kept my eyes open). Me bin see 'nother pfella plenty tucker, plenty blanket, plenty sleep, plenty sixpence ; him say ' alright my time, budgeree for me, don care dam for 'nother chap so long mine get it cobong bingie.' Gwai geeree (by and by) you pfella work all same white man. Erei boggarra (at sunrise) you bin work, eerei goreina (at sunset) you bin work, no have blanket, no have tucker, no have sixpeace. Big pfella have plenty ; he go yeeran yeenggeera (grinning to himself), say common pfella blackpfella plenty pfella fool. Ba-I mine bin wantem you blanket, I you tucker, only wantem every pfella have plenty blanket, plenty tucker. Huntawong ! (look out) dat old pfella way buildem gunyah for himself, dis new pfella way buildem gunyah for everybody. Old pfella way likem brolga, sing out, makem big row, do nothing. Always say "gwai geeree, gwai geeree (i.e., by and by, like political promises of the past). New pfella say gwai na (i.e., now, at once). Baal my makem promise, only try to do murrumbung (my best). Yoo'a !" 

And here Gween sat down amidst a chorus of approving grunts. It would be tedious to give all the speeches, to give them in original would be mystifying, to translate would entail loss of beauty and much eloquence. Enough to say the partisans of either side grew fierce and fiercer and gradually passed from words to deeds. Nulla-nullas were wielded and waddies thrown. The gins, knowing they had now a chance to claim their rights, joined in the fray with piercing yells, and wildly flourished yam sticks, the picanninies squealed with delight and hurled surreptitious eggs (overripe), the dogs joined chorus and yelped along the outskirts of the battle, and at last by a majority of nulla-nulla blows and yamstick pokes Gween was chosen chief, and Bury-mee Billy cast out of the chief place. He retired to Sydney, and his former friends gave him a Government billet. Thus happily ended the first attempt at reform among the Wingee Carribees, and they said 'Ngee'na yool (we did it all by ourselves) Yoo'a ! Yoo'a ! Yoo'a !" LUBRA.

1907

* R.H. Mathews, Contributions to the Ethnography of Australians, Mitteilungen der Anthropologischen Gesellschaft, 27, 1907, 18-38.

1918

* Robert Etheridge, The Dendroglyphs or 'Carved Trees' of New South Wales, Sydney 1918. [Reprinted 2011].

1919

* R.H. Cambage, Exploration beyond the Upper Nepean in 1798, Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Historical Society, 28 October 1919.

* W.W. Thorpe, Aboriginal drawings in rock shelters at Bundanoon, N.S. Wales, Records of the Australian Museum, 7(4), 1909, 325-328. Investigations of the art within two rock shelters, including photographs and drawings.

1921

* R. H. Cambage, Exploration between the Wingecarribee, Shoalhaven, Macquarie and Murrumbidgee Rivers, Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Australian Historical Society, 26 July 1921. 

1926

* Old Time Bowral ... Black's Corroboree near Boowlby Street, The Southern Mail, 9 November 1926, 2. Transcription: Mr. George Willis tells of the old days :- My father was making bricks in Bowral before 1863 for Charker's Hotel, now the Imperial. He came to Bowral with my father and mother on a horse team from Camden in 1863, when I was nine years old. ...  Blacks used to come from the Coast to Berrima for their blankets. They sometimes camped in the scrub where the horse shows are held now and I used to watch their corroborees there... 

* Old Shoalhaven Relic, Shoalhaven News and South Coast Districts Advertiser, 9 October 1926, 2. Transcription: OLD SHOALHAVEN RELIC. Recently Mr. Lindon Biddulph, a native of Shoalhaven, forwarded to the Mitchell Library an Aboriginal breast-plate presented to Nemmit, chief of the Sutton Forest tribe, in 1825. The plate is said to be of an earlier date than any other in the Mitchell Library. The plate was found in 1876 (50 years ago), by a member of the Biddulph family, at the blacks camping ground, Sandy Point, on 'Eree' Estate, Shoalhaven River, 14 miles upstream from Nowra. 'Eree' was purchased from Mr. Hyam, of Nowra, by the Biddulph brothers (Lindon and Tregenna), and in 1855 they went to live there. Nemmit and his followers from the adjacent high country made Sandy Point, on the river, their camping ground, generally about harvest time, in order to assist in harvesting and pick up anything they could could lay their hands on — square bottle rum being the main thing, with plug tobacco and old clothes next in demand.

1928

* Southern Mail, 8 June 1928.

1929

* P.H. Morton, Aboriginal Place Names, Sydney Morning Herald, 16 February 1929, 16. Refers to names in the Illawarra and Bong Bong region.

1932

* Aboriginal Tribes in this District - Study of Customs, Goulburn Evening Penny Post, 11 May 1931, 1.

1934

* Billy Blue's Gold, The Scrutineer and Berrima District Press, 18 April 1934. Transcription: The Cedar-Cutter's Goldmine. In Bundanoon Gorges. Considerable interest has been shown in the recently published articles in the 'Scrutineer' and also city papers concerning the cedar getter's gold-mine that are believed to exist in the Bundanoon gorges. There appears to be little doubt in the minds of some of the local residents that the cedar-getter did find the gold there, as he insisted to have sold half a pannikin full to a Mr. Binghman at Sutton Forest, who was a storekeeper there. Mr. Steve Garbutt says that his mother's people saw the gold shortly after the cedar-cutter sold it. He purchased new clothes, as the ones he was wearing were literally torn to shreds. He said he was looking for cedar and got lost. During his wandering he came across the gold. He may have come back later and mined the 500 ozs. The front of the present searchers' operations is within a mile of the Bundanoon gold-mine, states Mr. Garbutt, but on account of the undergrowth and the precipitous cliffs it is impossible to make any rapid progress. If the ill-fated "Southern Cloud" is found in this vicinity, the undergrowth could be burnt off to obtain access to the spot. The Aboriginal's mine may be in the bed of Bundanoon Creek about three-quarters of a mile above Tallowa Creek where the rocks are all on edge, like leaves of a book, and extend across the bed of the creek. Such rock formation is recognised as being favorable for auriferous bearing. The spaces between these rocks are hardly wide enough to permit of safe walking access, and are very dangerous in places, the Aboriginal may have made his discovery in a dry reason when there was very little water in the bed of the creek. it was stated that he dived into the bed of some creek and chipped it off the rock with a tomahawk. At any rate, the gold and specimens he brought in showed the tomahawk marks, and were very wet. When the railway was being made he remained most of his time about Foster's Camp (now Penrose). When he went away for a fresh supply of gold he usually was absent only, a short time. Billy Blue was the last king of the Bong Bong tribe. Mr. Garbutt has a large area of property to look after which takes up most of his time, but he states he is willing to give information to anyone interested in the search for the mine. or the missing plane that he and others have been searching for.

1937

* James Jervis, Spelled Them Differently. First References to Local Place Names, The Southern Mail, Bowral, 28 September 1937. Lists: Bargo, Belanglo, Bong Bong, Bowral, Bullio, Bundanoon, Cannagygle’s (Kannabygle’s / Carra-bija) Plains, Jellore, Mandemar, Mittagong, Paddy’s River, Tindoonbindal, Wanganderry, Wingecarribee. 

Transcription: Spelled Them Differently. First References to Local Place Names. Mr Jervis gives the following origins of local place names. If any reader can supply further information concerning them, or other names of places in the district, we shall be glad to hear from them. District Place Names. 

BARGO. — Caley refers to 'Barago' in a letter to Sir Joseph Banks on September 25, 1807. This is the earliest reference traced to the name. 

BELANGLO.— In March, 1827, Charles Throsby addressed a letter to the Colonial Secretary concerning land occupied by him for the previous four years at 'Belanglo'.

BONG BONG.— On March 19, 1818, Throsby's notes record that the party descended into "a country called by the natives Toombong". An added note refers to Riley's establishment. This was later Portion 32, Parish of Mittagong, about two miles upstream from the present Bong Bong bridge. Meehan's Field Book, No 143, states: "... our present station is called Toombong..." A letter to Charles Throsby from the Colonial Secretary on February 13, 1823, authorises him to occupy land at "the junction of the Wollondilly and Toombung Rivers". It seems then that the name Toombong was applied to the Wingecarribee River. On March 12 the explorers "set out through a bushy country to a forest hill called by the natives Boombong". Throsby's account mentions that the waters ran to the Shoalhaven, so that they were on the eastern side of the ridge which runs from Moss Vale towards Exeter. The "Forest Hill" was probably Mount Broughton on Portion 8, Parish of Sutton Forest. Meehan spells the name 'Boombuong', and, on April 19, 1820, 'Boombong'. The added notes to Throsby's account mention 'Mr Throsby's present establishment'. The country around Mount Broughton was later granted to Throsby's nephew. The name 'Bong Bong,' however, came to be applied to the village at the great bend of the Wingecarribee River, and to-day is used for a railway platform on the railway line some distance from the original location. Bong Bong [Mann's Aboriginal Names, Mitchell Library] is said to mean 'out of sight,' as the river loses itself in the swamp in dry weather. 

BOWRAL.— The earliest reference to the name 'Bowral' occurs, in Mitchell's Field Book [Field Book C 42, Mitchell Library] on May 31, 1828:- ...the hill on north of Mr Oxley's station...called by the natives Bowrel... Mitchell also mentions on May 25, 1829:- ...a naked rocky spot called by the stock people Gibraltar, ... and later: .... a rock named by the natives 'Bowral,' and by the stockmen 'Gibraltar'.

BULLIO. — S. Blackman was authorised to occupy 2000 acres near the land taken up by Dennis Green, known by 'the native name of Bullio'. This is the earliest reference the writer has traced to the name. 

BUNDANOON.— Throsby's Journal records the name "Bantanoon" (not Pantanoon) on March 29, 1818. Surveyor Harper was instructed to reserve 1200 acres of land, one boundary of which was to be 'Boon-doo-noon Creek,' by letter dated October 29, 1824. 

CANNAGYGLE'S PLAINS. — A name forgotten by the present generation is ' Cannabygle's Plains.' The Colonial Secretary, in a letter dated April 2, 1829, referred to 'a place on the Argyle Road...called Cannabygle, commonly known by the name of Little Forest'. This spot is in the Parish of Colo. The place is named after an aboriginal chief who was well known between 1800 and 1816. George Caley came across him during one of his exploratory journeys through the Cowpastures, when he was pointed out to the explorer. Caley spells his name as Cannabygal. Cunningham [Cunningham's Journal, Mitchell Library] who passed through the spot, mentions that it ....was called by the aborigines Carra-bija plains.... Macquarie camped there on October 17, 1820, and calls the spot 'Kannabygle's Plains.' Cannabygal appears to have been one of the leaders in the native outbreak which occurred in 1816. He was killed near Broughton's farm in East Bargo.] 

JELLORE.— An "eye sketch of part of the country to the south-west of the Cowpastures" taken by Charles Throsby between July 28 and August 13, 1817, shows "Killoorakan" and "Jeloura". Meehan's Field Book, No 143, refers to "Jeloura Hill". Throsby [Throsby Papers, Mitchell Library] later spells it Jaloore, and mentions Cooloorigan Hill on March 15, 1818. William Fotherly obtained a ticket of occupation for lands at ' Kilourakin,' at the head of the Nattai River, by letter dated September 24, 1823. 

MANDEMAR.— Oxley, on October 9, 1822, refers to "a very lofty forest hill in Mandamar...." 

MITTAGONG. — Macquarie's instructions under date April 9, 1816, mention ' Marragan' or ' Minnikin.' A note in Oxley's Field Book, No 119, refers to "a round hill in Mittagong". 

PADDY'S RIVER.— Paddy's River, or St. Patrick's River, was named by James Meehan, as Throsby's party reached that point on March 17, 1818. Surveyor William Harper, when working in that district, records in a letter dated February 27, 1824: — .... I met a fine stream of water called by the natives Marumbia, which by tracing ten miles in a west by south direction I found to be the stream marked in the chart at its junction with the Wollondilly as Patrick's River... The name was later spelled Murrimba. A name now well-nigh forgotten is the 'Ploughed Ground'. This lay near the present South Road beyond Black Bob's Creek, and was given because the country resembled ground turned over by a plough. 

TINDOONBINDAL. —Throsby records the name ' Tindoonbindal' on March 17, 1818, and his notes show that the spot was near Sutton Forest. Meehan records the name as Tin-bun-dun-day.' On October 19, 1820, Governor Macquarie mentions that ...the heavy Baggage was sent off at 11 o clock to-day with orders to proceed to-day only 9 miles to ' Tindounbindal.' A run of nine miles from Throsby's establishment would bring the travellers to Black Bob's Creek, near the Cross Roads of to-day. As this is the only spot where water is obtainable for some distance around, it is certain that the company camped there. 

WANGANDERRY. — William Cordeaux was authorised on February 6, 1823, to occupy 2300 acres "at a place by the natives 'Wangandarri'". 

WINGECARRIBEE. — The name 'Wingie Wingie Karrabee' occurs in the instructions issued to Captain Shaw, referred to above. 

----------------------

1947

* A.V.J. Parry, Bong Bong Blacks - Miss Loseby Remembers Them, The Southern Mail, 17 January 1947, 4.  

Transcription: Bong Bong Blacks Miss Loseby Remembers Them. Bowral's gracious near-centenarian, Miss S. G. Loseby, will be an honoured visitor at the ceremony at Bong Bong to-morrow (Saturday), when the Governor, Lieut-General John Northcott, C.B., M.V.O., will unveil the memorial to mark the site of old Bong Bong Village. In this connection it is interesting to note Miss Loseby's recollections of the aboriginals round Bong Bong, as she related them to me some little time ago. When Miss Loseby lived at what is now 'Harby Farm,' she occasionally saw 30 to 40 aborigines passing along the old Argyle Road, near her home. Sometimes they came to the house and asked in their own language, aided by signs, for food, being quite able to make themselves understood. Two gins, Clara and Caroline, particularly remained in Miss Loseby's memory; Clara used to say that they were tired of possum and ask for flour. The name of these native nomads was simply 'the Bong Bong blacks,' and they had no special camping place, staying no longer than three nights in one spot. This is believed to have been due to a superstition that some kind of spirit would take them if they remained longer. The men-folk often came to the house and asked for stringy-bark, supplies of which were always kept; on getting it they teased it up and made torches for fishing at night in the river. When they caught eels they ran a pole through their gills and took them to the surrounding farms, where they sold them for food and money. This was round about the 1860s, before Bowral was in existence. Miss Loseby has no recollection of seeing any blacks around after Bowral came into existence in 1861 or thereabouts. The aborigines' camps consisted of bark and bush lean-to's, and in build they were thin and slight, their stature being noticeably smaller than that of coastal natives where fish was available for food. Their main food was 'possum, and they used stone axes and later metal tomahawks to make steps in trees which they climbed in search of these animals. When seeking food from homesteads they asked only for flour. Tribal laws apparently forbade them to leave their own district, because of possible trouble if they encroached on the area of another tribe. The women were few, there being more males, and the gins carried their piccaninnies on their backs. Their only clothing in those days was blankets, which were supplied by the Government on Queen's Birthday, 24th May, the issue being eagerly anticipated by the aborigines. They had no covering on their feet, and frequently experienced trouble through frost-bite. In Miss Loseby's recollection they were never troublesome, either by way of interference with the white people or by theft, and there were very few piccaninnies. Their speech mainly consisted of their own language plus odd words of English which they picked up in their wanderings. Meaning of 'Bong Bong, ' according to "N.S.W. Place Names and Euphonious Words with their Meanings," by F.D. McCarthy, anthropologist to the Australian Museum, is, appropriately enough, 'many watercourses: many frogs." ... A.V. J. Parry.

1953

* W.A. Bayley, Kangaroo Valley, Kangaroo Valley Historical Committee, 1953, 82p.

1956

* Havard, W.L., Alan Cunningham's journal of a tour into Argyle, March-April 1824, Address delivered to the Canberra & District Historical Society, 4th September 1956.

1962

* James Jervis, A History of the Berrima District, Berrima County Council, 1962. 

1974

* Norman B. Tindale, Aboriginal Tribes of Australia, University of California Press, 1974. Notes extension of the Dharawal boundary into the Southern Highlands and to the west where it encounters Gundangurra.

1976

* Diane K. Eades, The Dharwal and Dhurga Languages of the New South Wales South Coast, Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies, Canberra, 1976. 

* Louisa Atkinson, Excursions from Berrima and a trip to Manaro and Molonglo in the 1870s, Mulini Press, 1980, 38p. Reprint of material published in the 1870s.

1984

* Bundanoon Explorer’s journal describes district as ‘Bantanoon’, The Canberra Times, 19 February 1984. @TROVE. 

1988

* Bessie Fackender, History of the Webb Family - Maidstone 1838 to 1988 Moss Vale, Weston & Co., Kiama, 1988.

* Carol Liston, The Dharawal and Gundangarra in Colonial Campbelltown, New South Wales, 1788-1830, Aboriginal History, 12(1), 1988, 49-62.

1989

* T.A. Meredith, The last Kooradgie: Moyengully, chief man of the Gundungurra people, 1989.

1990

* Michael Organ, Illawarra and South Coast Aborigines 1770-1850, Aboriginal Education Unit, University of Wollongong, 1990, 630p. 

* From Jordon's Crossing to Bundanoon: The Growth of a Highland Village, Bundanoon History Group, 1990.

1992

* Jim Smith, Aborigines of the Goulburn District, Goulburn & District Historical Society, 1992. 

* Link van Ummersen, Shoalhaven Aborigines : a collection of unpublished archival material specially relating to the Berry NSW area, Woolloomooloo, 1992.

1993

* Jim L. Kohen, The Dharug and Their Neighbours, Dharug Tribal Aboriginal Corporation, Blacktown, 1993.

* Michael Organ, Illawarra and South Coast Aborigines 1770-1900, Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, Canberra, 1993, 348p.

* Jakelin Troy, King Plates - A History of Aboriginal Gorgets, Aboriginal Studies Press, Canberra, 1993, 151p.

1994

* Jakelin Troy, The Sydney Language, Panther Publishing & Printing, Canberra, 1994. 

1996

* D. Horton, Aboriginal Australia [map], Aboriginal Studies Press, AIATSIS, Canberra, 1996.

1997

* Peter J. Dowling, A Great Deal of Sickness, PhD thesis, Australian National University, Canberra, 1997. Outlines the various post-colonisation plagues (e.g. smallpox, influenza, TB) that devastated the Aborigines of south-eastern Australia.

1998

* D.W.A. Baker, Exploring With Aborigines: Thomas Mitchell and his Aboriginal Guides, Aboriginal History, 22, 1998, 36-50. 

2003

* Chris Illert, Three Sisters Dreaming, or, did Katoomba get its legend from Kangaroo Valley, Shoalhaven Chronograph, Shoalhaven Historical Society, 2003, (Special Supplement), 40p. Includes discussion on Mount Gingenbullen burial site.

2006

* Kim Leevers, First contact/frontier expansion in the Wingecarribee area between 1798 -1821: Exploration and analysis, BA(Hons) thesis, University of Wollongong, 2006, 97p.

2007

* D. Johnson, Sacred Waters, Halstead Press, Broadway, 2007. 

2011

* Searching for a way between Bong Bong and the coast, Berrima District Historical and Family History Society, 2011.

* Sue Feary and Heather Moorcroft, An Indigenous Cultural Heritage Management Plan for the Bundanon Trust Properties, August 2011, 88p. Bundanon is located south-east of Bundanoon on the western edge of the Shoalhaven River, at the place variously called Illaroo, Burrier, Buangala and Bamarang and the previous domain of Aboriginal 'chief' Jem (Jim) Vaugh.

2012

* Ngaire Richards, Goulburn Mulwaree LGA Aboriginal Heritage Study, Australian Museum Business Services, January 2012, 56p.

2013

* J. Besold, Language recovery of the New South Wales South Coast Aboriginal Languages, PhD thesis, Australian National University, 2013.

* Kate Waters, Cullunghutti: The Mountain and Its People. A Documentary History of Cullungutti Mountain from 1770 to 1920, Report to the Community, NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service, 2013, 325p.

2015

* Indigenous peoples once thrived in the Wingecarribee district, Southern Highlands News, 9 February 2015. Three-part series.

* Various, Hume Coal Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Assessment, Papers and Reports, Native Title Tribunal, 1997-2016. Includes reference to the burial site located (?) at the base of Mount Gingenbullen, Oldbury, Sutton Forest.

2017

* Jim Smith, The Aboriginal People of the Burragorang Valley, Blue Mountains Education and Research Trust, Lawson, 2017.

2018

* Narelle Bowern, The Aborigines of the Southern Highlands (1820-1850), New South Wales, 2018.

* Chris Illert and John Murphy, The Tharumba Language of Southern New South Wales: Part 1 of Who was right - P.G. King or C. Darwin?, 2018, 24p. [Booklet] 

* Goulburn Mulwarrie Council Heritage Study Review, Sue Rosen Associates, January 2018, 158p. Includes a comprehensive section on the early colonial period, with extension into the Tallong area, south of Bundanoon.

2019

* Chris Illert, John Murphy and Michael Organ, The Three Traditional Aboriginal Languages of Victoria: Part 2 of Who was right - P.G. King or C.Darwin?, 2019, 41p [Booklet].

* Paul Daley, 'A big jump': People might have lived in Australia twice as long as we thought, The Guardian, 11 March 2019. Report on extensions to the age of Aboriginal occupation of Australia, beyond 100,000 years.

2021

* Chris Illert, John Murphy and Michael Organ, The Traditional Aboriginal Languages of Original-A and Original-B in western New South Wales: Part 3 of Who was right - P.G. King or C.Darwin?, 2021, 48p [Booklet].

-------------------

2) Aboriginal Names 

The following is a list of likely Aboriginal names of locations within and near Bundanoon, such as places, land forms and streets. Is it often the case that Aboriginal names were identified by local people to the first European surveyors who entered the area from the 1820s, and these have come down through the years. Other names may have been allocated in more recent times and perhaps have no local relevance. Identified streets are located within Bundanoon. 

Betula (Grove) 

Bindar (Cresent) 

Birriga (Avenue)

Bong Bong / Boomboong / Boombuong (location) 

Bumbaalaa / Bumbalaa (location, near Wingello)

Bundanoon (town) – “place of deep gullies” 

Caarne / Carns (location, south of Marulan)

Marulan (town) 

Meryla (mountain) 

Morlya (mountain) 

Nerrim (Street) 

Tallawaa / Tallowa (location)

Tallong (town) 

Tindoonbindal / Tin bun dun dal (location) 

Toombong (location) - referred to by Throsby 1818 re swamp / river near Bong Bong / Moss Vale

Uringalla (location / creek)

Werai (location) 

Wingello (town) 

Yarranghaa / Yarrunga (creek, flowing from FitzRoy Falls)

Yuille (Avenue) 

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3) Aboriginal Stories & Songs 

A number of Dreaming stories reproduced in Organ (1990 and 1993) apply to the area comprising the Illawarra and Shoalhaven and west towards the Wollondilly and Burragorang Valley. Specific reference to the Southern Highlands and Bundanoon is not contained within those cited or reproduced, though it is likely the stories, or variants, are applicable.

* Kangaroo Song (1828) - recorded by T.L. Mitchell near Mittagong. Refer under 1828 above for original transcription, and Illert 2021 for a detailed analysis and modern translation.

* Road Song (1828) - recorded by T.L. Mitchell near Mittagong. Refer under 1828 above for original transcription, and Illert 2021 for a detailed analysis and modern translation.

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Part 1 to 1850 | Part 2 from 1851

 

Appin massacre 1816 | Canabygle | Cook & Appin | Gingenbullen | Macquarie's War 1816 | Southern Highlands

Last updated: 8 November 2022

Michael Organ