Topics: Culture

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Central - view

Auntie Pat also asked local people what they wanted her to take back to Sydney: "Ningla-ana: I am hungry for my mother (ie. land)”. This became a slogan for the early land rights movement.

West - view

how spirits visited at her grandmother’s house and the one that escorted her mother: “just looking after” her.

West - view

The Duck River Basin in the Silverwater area used to be a meeting place for trade.

West - view

He wants to see Darug people in charge of Darug land

Central - view

Redfern Oval on Saturday nights used to be a big meeting place, recalls Uncle Allan Madden . Sometimes people were “charged up” and it was also the place where planning for many of the big organisations was discussed: the Aboriginal Medical Service and Legal Service. The Palms Milk Bar , just up the road, was another gathering place. Related videos: You don't have to be a pisshead to be Aboriginal

West - view

Currently Chris works as a cultural interpreter for NSW National Parks . For Chris Tobin, his identity gives him heritage, responsibilities and a deep sense of belonging.

North West - view

fight to protect a local art site

West - view

Uncle Neddy , who cared for him and shared old stories and knowledge with him and his mother

Central - view

Uncle Gordon Briscoe remembers The Greek Café in Redfern as a place of continuity for Aboriginal people. It was a convenient meeting place for families where they could have tea or a milkshake and then hop on a tram and explore the rest of Sydney.

South West - view

Auntie Frances Bodkin describes how stories travelled across the continent, tracing trade routes

West - view

being shown sites at Penrith.

North Coastal - view

a recent ceremony and re-understandings have brought them together again .

South West - view

Auntie Glenda Chalker discusses the history of known remains from the Appin Massacre of 1816, which some of her ancestors survived and some may not have

Central - view

the power of creating and letting all Aboriginal people dance in their own way, be that traditional or contemporary.

South West - view

Auntie Frances Bodkin explains how Aboriginal science, unlike Western science, has always highlighted the importance of connections

West - view

Uncle Gordon Morton speaks of his work with archaeologists to preserve artifacts

North Coastal - view

Women’s and Men’s Business that is all through this country

Before Cook - North Coastal - view

Other discoveries in middens include bone points with drilled holes or grass-tree resin glued to them, and small stone tools. Women collect shellfish. Men use spears for fish, eastern grey kangaroo, swamp wallaby, red necked wallaby. Men and women hunt bandicoot, echidna, goanna, snake and birds and many other species. Huts are made of grass and bark ‘Kokorre’ . A drink is made ‘Bool’ from soaking Banksia blossoms in water and allowed to ferment to make an invigorating drink. Koories carry out annual burn-offs in late winter to assist in the capture of grass-eating animals. The green pick attracts game such as kangaroos and emus so they can be managed in a sustainable way. They gather sometimes annually at sites where traditionally food is available, for ceremonial business or for settlement of grievances, initiation ceremonies, betrothal and marriage, corroborees for the renewal of the natural environment and benevolent spirits. Bora grounds are used for some ceremonies. Clan meetings attract large numbers from Manly Cove, Collins Cove and Farm Cove. (Attenbrow 2003)

Before Cook - North Coastal - view

The Guringai (Kuringai) speakers are thought to be the original inhabitants of northern Sydney and the inner eastern harbour regions. Guringai-speaking clans of about 40 to 60 people were made up of smaller extended family groups of perhaps a dozen people.

Before Cook - North Coastal - view

The Cameraigal were considered by the first fleet author Collins  as “by far the most numerous tribe of any within our knowledge” (Collins 1975, p. 453). Richard Hill of the Aborigines Protection Board wrote that the “Cammera” people extended from the northern part of Sydney Harbour, “say from North Head to Lane Cove River or estuary, right away north to the Hawkesbury, and away east to the sea coast” (Hill and Thornton 1892). Cammeragal, therefore, seems to have been a collective name for a strong alliance of clans on the north harbour of Port Jackson. In the harbour area of Port Jackson, people may have called themselves Eora and the name for man or people was ‘mulla’ . This was recorded in vocabularies by Phillip Gidley King, William Dawes, John Hunter and Daniel Southwell. Recent research suggests that ‘Eora’ did not signify a definite clan or group. The consensus among linguists is to describe the language spoken in this region as the Sydney language as suggested by Dr Jakelin Troy. (Troy 1994)