FIRST AUSTRALIANS

First Australians

IMPORTANT
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander folk should be aware that this website may contain images, voices or names of deceased persons in photographs, film, audio recordings or printed material.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COUNTRY
We acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of the Wiilman, Kaniyang and Goreng country, which are all part of Noongar boodja, on which this website has been created, and pay our respects to their Elders past and present and emerging. We extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

PLEASE NOTE
I believe that our First Nations peoples stories need to be told and recorded for future generations. However, I don’t believe it is my story to tell. It is up to local Aboriginal people to tell their stories. About their past. About their history. About their culture. About their people. Therefore, although I would like to add their stories here, the information on this page is general in nature only.

Descendants of the Wiilman, Kaniyang and Goreng peoples are welcome to submit their history, stories and photographs for inclusion on this website.

MAP OF INDIGENOUS AUSTRALIA

This map attempts to represent the language, social or nation groups of Aboriginal Australia. It shows only the general locations of larger groupings of people which may include clans, dialects or individual languages in a group. It used published resources from the eighteenth century-1994 and is not intended to be exact, nor the boundaries fixed.

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ABORIGINAL DREAMING

Indigenous Australians are the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people of Australia, descended from groups that existed in Australia and surrounding islands prior to European colonisation. The time of arrival of the first Indigenous Australians is a matter of debate among researchers.

The earliest definitely human remains found in Australia are those of Mungo Man LM3 and Mungo Lady, which have been dated to around 50,000 years. Recent archaeological evidence from the analysis of charcoal and artifacts revealing human use has pushed this date back further to around 65,000.

Luminescence dating has suggested habitation in Arnhem Land as far back as 60,000 years. Genetic research has inferred a date of habitation as early as 80,000 years. Other estimates have ranged up to 100,000 years and 125,000 years ago.
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Although there are a number of commonalities between indigenous Aboriginal Australians, there is also a great diversity among different Indigenous communities and societies in Australia, each with its own mixture of cultures, customs and languages. In present-day Australia, these groups are further divided into local communities. At the time of initial European settlement, over 250 languages were spoken; it is currently estimated that 120 to 145 of these remain in use, but only 13 of these are not considered endangered.

The first inhabitants of Australia’s South West were the Aboriginal people, believed to have a connection with this land for almost 50,000 years. The aboriginal tribes of Australia’s South West enjoyed the abundant food and water found along the coastal plain. Conservationists by nature, they were semi-nomadic hunter-gatherers, who moved with the supply of food as the seasons changed, taking only what they needed to survive, maintaining a high regard for life and the land.

This is a fantastic resource for anyone researching local Aboriginal history or researching Aboriginal family histories.
Click HERE for a pdf copy of the book.

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ABORIGINAL HEROES

The 50th anniversary of the 1967 Referendum and the 25th anniversary of the Mabo Decision, offers an opportunity to celebrate some of the Aboriginal Australians who have dedicated their lives to justice and rights for their people throughout the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Significant national and Western Australian Aboriginal heroes and their legacies have been explored in this section. A list of the major committees and councils that some were involved in along the way also provides further information about their tireless work and campaigning.
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LOCAL NOONGAR HISTORY

(From the Premier Mill Hotel Website)

With a century of hindsight, it seems odd that the first permanent properties of the Katanning District – Yowangup, Coompatine and Indinup – should all adopt the Aboriginal names for the water sources at their centre. The pioneers intended no irony, and were probably right in thinking that the nomadic lives of the Aborigines would be largely unaffected by their presence. But they must have realised that a great wave of agricultural settlement would be disastrous for the original inhabitants.

Although cruelty and violence lay ahead, early dealings between black and white were characterised by a mix of incomprehension and respect. The first white settlers observed extraordinary hunting and tracking skills, and recognised the native’s intimate knowledge of land and season. But the newcomers, focused on their own engagement with the land, displayed little anthropological interest. They knew nothing of Aboriginal culture: the beliefs, social structure and rules of intermarriage that had evolved over thousands of years.
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FURTHER READING

Much of the information in the links below is understood by local Aboriginal people.For most have lived the experiences, the good and the bad, described therein.
However, it is also a good resource for the rest of us, the “Johnny-come-lately’s,to get some idea of local Aboriginal people, their culture, their stories, and their beliefs.

NOONGAR

The Noongar (/ˈnʊŋɑːr/, also spelt Noongah, Nyungar/ˈnjʊŋɑːr/, Nyoongar, Nyoongah, Nyungah, Nyugah, Yunga /ˈjʊŋɑː/) are Aboriginal Australian peoples who live in the south-west corner of Western Australia, from Geraldton on the west coast to Esperance on the south coast. There are 14 different Noongar groups: Amangu, Ballardong, Yued, Kaneang, Koreng, Mineng, Njakinjaki, Njunga, Pibelmen, Pindjarup, Wadandi, Whadjuk, Wiilman and Wudjari. The Noongar people refer to their land as Noongar boodja.
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CARROLUP REVISITED

A JOURNEY THROUGH THE SOUTH WEST OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA

Carrolup Revisited: A Journey through the South West of Western Australia is an exhibition that explores the power of influence and imagination. The Carrolup Native Settlement was established in 1915 and remained until the 1970s when it was later referred to as Marribank Mission.
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Nyungar Tradition
NYUNGARS OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA 1829-1914

By Lois Tillbrook
Prior to British colonisation and settlement at Albany in 1826 and the Swan River Colony in 1829, the south-western portion of Western Australia was occupied by several Aboriginal tribal groups. The term Nyungar (Nyungah, Noongah) translates as ‘man’ or ‘person’ and it refers to the languages spoken throughout the area which have come to be known collectively by this name. The area over which the Nyungar language was spoken extends from the coast south of Geraldton in an arc south-eastward, ending at the Great Australian Bight east of Esperance. The Nyungars of today count many of these Aborigines among their ancestors.

Background notice about the digital version of this publication: Nyungar Tradition was published in 1983 and is no longer in print. In response to many requests, the AIATSIS Library has received permission to digitise and make it available on our website. This book is an invaluable source for the family and social history of the Nyungar people of south western Australia. In recognition of the book’s importance, the Library has indexed this book comprehensively in its Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Biographical Index (ABI).
Read the book HERE
Or visit the
Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies HERE

NOONGAR LANGUAGE CENTRE

Learn about Noongar Language and Dialects
CLICK HERE

EXPLORING WOODLANDS WITH NOONGARS

Teaching Activities for Primary and Secondary Schools
(WA Department of Conservation)
CLICK HERE

THE PASSING OF THE ABORIGINES

From Project Gutenberg Australia

A Lifetime spent among the Natives of Australia
By Daisy Bates
CLICK HERE

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LINKS

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