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People of the Sydney Region
Introduction to Aboriginal Sydney
Much of what we know about the lives and cultures of the people
of the Sydney region before British colonisation comes from many
sources: written descriptions, oral histories, drawn and painted
illustrations as well as objects collected by the earliest colonists
and visitors to Port Jackson in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth
centuries, as well as the archaeological record.
The findings of Australian Museum archaeologist Dr Val Attenbrow's
Port
Jackson Archaeology Project, and research undertaken for her
book, Sydney's Aboriginal Past, provide a basis for the material
used on this site.
When the British arrived in January 1788, there were more than
1500 Aboriginal people living in the area from Botany Bay to Broken
Bay and as far west as Parramatta. They belonged to many clans including
the the Gadigal, Wangal, Wallumedegal, Boromedegal, Gamaragal, Borogegal,
Birrabirragal and Gayamaygal. They spoke languages now known as
Darug, Dharawal and possibly Guringai. To the south-west Gundungurra
and to the north-west of the Hawkesbury River Darginung was spoken.
Fish and fishing were an important part of life although a range
of marine and land animals as well as plant foods provided a varied
diet for people living near the coast.
Archaeological research on sites such as Aboriginal rock engravings
and shell middens* along with the excavated artefacts and food remains
provide a record of the distant past.
Using these sources, it is possible to bring together a picture
of the changing life of Aboriginal people in the Sydney region over
many thousands of years.
'The natives on the sea-coast are those with whom we happened
to be the most acquainted. Fish is their chief support.'
Judge Advocate and Captain David Collins, 1798
*Shell middens are archaeological deposits in which shells are
the dominant visible cultural items. They are the location of campsites
and 'dinner-time' camps, and the shells are principally the remains
of past meals.
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Copyright © Australian Museum, 2002
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