The central Victoria area has been inhabited for an estimated 40,000 years before European settlement.[lower-alpha 1] At the time of British settlement in the 1830s, the collective populations of the Woiwurrung, Boonwurrung and Wathaurong tribes of the Kulin nation was estimated to be under 20,000.[1][2][lower-alpha 2] The Kulin lived by fishing, hunting and gathering, and made a sustainable living from the rich food sources of Port Phillip and the surrounding grasslands.[2]
Due to the upheaval and disturbances from British settlement from the 1830s on, there is limited physical evidence of the Kulin peoples' collective past. However, there is a small number of registered sites of cultural and spiritual significance in the Melbourne area.[3][4]
When foreign people passed through or were invited onto tribal lands, the ceremony of Tanderrum – freedom of the bush – would be performed. This allowed safe passage and temporary access and use of land and resources by foreign people. It was a diplomatic rite involving the landholder's hospitality and a ritual exchange of gifts.
Notes
↑ "There is some evidence to show that people were living in the Maribyrnong River valley, near present day Keilor, about 40,000 years ago." (Presland 1997)
↑ Presland describes in some detail the archaeological evidence regarding aboriginal life, culture, food gathering and land management, particularly the period from the flooding of Bass Strait and Port Phillip from about 7–10,000 years ago, up to the European colonisation in the 19th century. (Presland 1994)
Eidelson, Meyer (1997). The Melbourne Dreaming. A Guide to the Aboriginal Places of Melbourne. Canberra: Aboriginal Studies Press. pp.8–9. ISBN0-85575-306-4.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
Ellender, Isabel; Christiansen, Peter (2001). People of the Merri Merri. The Wurundjeri in Colonial Days. East Brunswick, Vic: Merri Creek Management Committee. ISBN0-9577728-0-7. OCLC52505206.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
Pascoe, Bruce (1997). Wauthaurong Too Bloody Strong: Stories and life journeys of people from Wauthaurong. Apollo Bay, Vic: Pascoe Publishing. ISBN094708731-1. OCLC39078639.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
Presland, Gary (1994) [First published 1985]. Aboriginal Melbourne: The Lost Land of the Kulin People (Second ed.). Harriland Press. ISBN0-9577004-2-3.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
Presland, Gary (1997). The First Residents of Melbourne's Western Region. Forest Hill, Vic: Harriland Press. ISBN0-646-33150-7. OCLC222368168.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
The history of Melbourne details the city's growth from a fledgling settlement into a modern commercial and financial centre as Australia's second largest city.
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Wathaurong, also called the Wathaurung and Wadawurrung, are an Aboriginal Australian people living in the area near Melbourne, Geelong and the Bellarine Peninsula in the state of Victoria. They are part of the Kulin alliance. The Wathaurung language was spoken by 25 clans south of the Werribee River and the Bellarine Peninsula to Streatham. They were sometimes referred to by Europeans as the Barrabool people. The area they inhabit has been occupied for at least the last 25,000 years, with 140 archaeological sites having been found in the region, indicating significant activity over that period.
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