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The Anaiwan and Kamilaroi peoples
It is important for all of us to acknowledge the traditional owners of our area and this page contains a little about the Aboriginals who lived in the Bundarra area. If anyone wishes to contribute a little more to this page please email your information to us.
It is also important to remember that virtually all of Aboriginal history is handed down as oral history and therefore much has been lost due to albeit well intentioned interference from Anglo European colonists
It is important for all of us to acknowledge the traditional owners of our area and this page contains a little about the Aboriginals who lived in the Bundarra area. If anyone wishes to contribute a little more to this page please email your information to us.
The Aboriginal people of Bundarra were an integral part, and contributed to the town’s growth during the 1850’s when local Aboriginal’s were employed as shepherds and to harvest the wheat, whilst property owners were trying to eke out their fortunes digging for gold. In the 1890’s a young Aboriginal woman by the name of May Yarrowyck whose mother had died during childbirth, trained in nursing at St Vincent’s hospital. On her return she worked for many years as a midwife in and around Bundarra riding great distances to deliver babies on some of the isolated selections, no doubt many of the people who are in Bundarra owe their existence to May’s competence in delivering their ancestors.
There is also an Aboriginal legend around place called (Rumbling Mountain) George’s Mount a rocky , scrub covered hill that periodically rumbles and the ground shakes for miles around. The local Aboriginal people would not go near the place.
The legend is as follows:
A big old blackfella the head of a powerful mob, came into conflict with a huge kangaroo and they started to fight. Neither one could conquer the other and the battle lasted for eons. After fighting for so long they became tired and rested for a time of many months and then restarted the battle.
The rumbling is the angry voice of the blackfella and the thumping and shaking of the surrounding countryside is caused by the kangaroo beating his massive tail on the ground.
There are quite a number of Bora rings in the area, there was a Bora ring on Abington station where men performed their initiation ceremonies
William Ridley’s document containing some Kamilaroi language from is available here for download, please be aware that Ridley was a missionary so it has a religious basis it is not meant to offend, it is merely to give those who are interested a knowledge of pronunciation and word usage, it is also free to download and reproduce from Project Gutenberg.
Click on this link to read the story of Queen Mary Ann who was an Aboriginal shepherdess in the Bundarra area in the earlier part of the 20th century, also included on this site is a Kamilaroi Dreamtime story about Bundarra included on this site. Perhaps the most apt description for the Dreamtime is that it is every-when, that is; yesterday, today and tomorrow all occurring at the same time.
Aboriginal heritage is made up of places, stories and knowledge which have as much value and relevance today as ever before. Continued use of wild resources for foods, medicines and materials, and aspirations for an active role in the management of protected areas, are testament to this.
For the custodians of the land being part of looking after it is one way of getting back a little of themselves, not just their heritage and culture, but they are getting back to themselves and with their land, and what they consider to their and our actual mother….the earth. The earth is considered to be our blood and flows through the land. Every headland, every rocky outcrop, will be mystical or have a story to it.”
Sacred sites such as Mt Yarrowyck and others around the Bundarra/Uralla are “locations of worship, the abode of ancestors, a place of learning, a source of identity and community coherence. They are the store house of sacred materials and are valued in mythology, territorality (sic), identity, cultural transmission, security, economy, reciprocity, politics and education. The sites are real, relevant and reinforcing. If these places had significance in the past, their stature has grown in the present.” (Cane 1990:59).
Within the area there is extensive evidence of inter-regional trading along the various flow lines and complex inland rivers and movement away from these areas, be it for religious or political reasons, was supported by a series of strategically located water sources scattered throughout the catchment. Physical proof of the inhabitancy of Aboriginal peoples in the catchment includes middens, quarries, rock shelters, open camp sites, burials, stone arrangements, scarred and carved trees, rock paintings and engravings.
All over NSW mountains contain important and often secret ceremonial sites, to which access is restricted to the uninitiated.
The Anaiwan people of the NSW Northern Tablelands tell of two brothers who were always fighting over food, women and weapons. The brothers were eventually banished to the far ends of Anaiwan country and turned into mountains. The two brothers now protect their land and people.”(Ethel De Silva in Ahoy and Murphy 1996: 30)
Because of their prominence in the landscape, mountains are at the centre of territorial organisation and spirituality for Aboriginal people. They often form a natural border between neighbouring countries and give a distinct identity to people to whom they are important.
The Anaiwan people were nomadic people, due to necessity created by the conditions and changing seasons. Traditionally, they were 'hunters and gatherers', the men hunted native wildlife such as kangaroo, snakes and emus, while the women caught smaller animals and picked fruits, honey and seeds. Their lifestyle was to co-exist with, and maintain a balance with nature.
Trees supplied many of the fundamentals of life; food, fire fuel, weapons, everyday items and shelter as well as a place for burying of the dead. Carved trees were closely associated with bora grounds and it is believed that this practice is an extension of a similar tradition of most NSW communities.
Bush Tucker and medicinal plants used by the Anaiwan and Kamilaroi were:
Acacia (Wattle):Seeds were collected from under the tree, roasted and ground for damper. The seeds of wattle taste like a blend of coffee, chocolate and hazelnuts. The sap of the wattle was eaten as a sweet. Insects (lerps) attack the branches which causes glistening lumps of gum to form. These balls are sweets - hard on the outside and syrupy sweet on the inside.
Callistemon (Bottlebrush):The leaves of bottlebrush can be crushed and mixed with boiling water for a delicious lemon-flavoured tea. Traditionally, the blossoms were treated as sweets by children, who licked the sticky pollen from the stamens.
Banksia :Native to the New England region and can be found in poor granite soils. The flower heads were either sucked to extract sweet pollen or infused in water to make a slightly alcoholic drink.
Grevillea:The flower heads were used for sweets and drinks (as above) but seeds were used for food as well. As grevilleas attract birds to nest in them, they were also a source of eggs and bird meat during early spring.
Leptospermum (Tea-tree):This plant was used primarily as bush medicine, as the leaves have the familiar antiseptic aroma, and could be used as a kind of tea. Traditionally, this tea was used as an efficient remedy for coughs and colds.
Melaleuca (Paperbarks):The paper-like bark of this tree was used as a banagde for wounds and broken bones. The flower heads were sucked to extract the sweet pollen and the leaves were used for rubbing on the skin to deter biting insects.
Lomandra:The long pliable leaves were used for basket and bag weaving. The leaf bases can be used as a thirst-quenching snack.
Eucalyptus:The eucalypts or gum trees were one of the most versatile plants used by the Aboriginal people. The roots and limbs were used for making wooden tools (boomerangs, spears, harpoons), the bark was used for making coolamons (dishes), shields, canoes, and burial slabs. Roots were used for extracting water in arid areas, seeds were used for making damper or cakes, grubs that live in the wood were a food source and galls were either made into carrying containers or for transporting babies.
Xanthorhoea (Grass trees):These plants yielded edible starch, nectar, shoots, grubs, and glue (resin) that was used to fasten stone axes to their handles and spear points to shafts and spears
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