Dja Dja Wurrung

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The Elder of Dja Dja Wurrung Aunty Sue Rankin on Human Rights Day 2005 in Melbourne

The Dja Dja Wurrung were an Aboriginal tribe , also known as the Jaara people and the Loddon River tribe . He lived in Victoria around the Loddon River and Avoca River in the Bendigo region and were part of the Kulin Alliance , which consisted of five tribes. The tribe of the Dja Dja Wurrung consisted of 16 clans, each with an elder .

history

The Dja Dja Wurrung were connected with their country and the dream time in which the world, the people and their culture were created in their mythical imaginations. The Dja Dja Wurrung were also part of the trade network that made it possible to transport goods and information over long distances. This trading network carried news of strange white men who settled in the land of the Eora in the early 1790s and that these people were moving further west and south-west of Sydney . Thomas Mitchel was believed to be the first white person to be seen by the Dja Dja Wurrung when he explored central Victoria in 1836 and found large areas of arable land. The conquest of the whites began in the Goulburn and Loddon districts in the following year by colonists who set up cattle stations and advanced.

It is documented that in 1789 an epidemic of smallpox killed half of Dja Dja Wurrung and in 1825. These epidemics , according to their mythology, caused a large rainbow snake , which they called Mindye , that sent Bunjil , a wedge-tailed eagle that blew magical dust over those who acted evil.

Munangabum

Munangabum was an influential leader of the Liarga Balug clan and spiritual leader of the so-called neyerneyemeet of the Dja Dja Wurrung , who survived the two smallpox epidemics and fought against European settlement in the 1830s and 1840s. On February 7, 1841 Munangabum was shot and wounded by settlers, while his fellow combatant Gondiurmin was killed at Far Creek Station west of Maryborough . Three settlers were later tried in court on May 18, 1841, but acquitted because the Aborigines were unable to prove the murder in front of the court. Munangabun was killed in 1846 by a rival Aboriginal leader from the south.

Rape and sexual interaction

A major cause of the border conflict was the sexual relations between the European settlers and Aboriginal women. The historian Bain Attwood suggests that the Aboriginal clans wanted to incorporate whites into kinship relationships based on reciprocity and community. However, this was seen by the white settlers as an offer of prostitution, which led to cultural misunderstandings and conflicts. Abduction and rape of Aboriginal women were widespread and resulted in numerous violent clashes. While most of the landowners ignored such sexual assaults by their staff or were involved in it, for example John Stuart Hepburn was a settler who stopped such acts between his employees and the Dja Dja Wurrung .

Edward Parker commented on this behavior as follows: Were the settlers generally to follow the example of Mr Hepburn, much of the liberal intercourse between the laboring men and native women, and consequently the endangering of property, would be suppressed . (German: "If the settlers had followed Mr. Hepburn's example of an equal encounter between workers and indigenous women, the land grab would not have been life-threatening.") In 1843 Parker affirmed this as his "firm conviction [...], that nine out." of ten outrages committed by the blacks “" (German: binding conviction [...] that nine to ten of the acts of violence were committed by blacks), which resulted directly or indirectly from the consequences of this sexual behavior. Since he recognized that the "working" the worst offenders were, he described it as "worth individuals claiming the rank of gentleman and even aspiring to be administrators of the law" (German: "individuals who the rank of gentleman claimed and even even saw themselves as law enforcement officials" who kidnapped Aboriginal women).

The widespread predation of Aboriginal women immediately led to an epidemic spread of venereal diseases such as syphilis and gonorrhea , which led to infertility of women and high infancy times.

massacre

In response to the European colonization of western Victoria in the 1830s and 1840s, the Aborigines responded to conflict by evicting sheep, to which the colonists responded with massacres several times. The Dja Dja wurrung saw two waves of colonization in their land: one from the south in 1837 and another from the north in 1845.

There is little evidence of indictments made by settlers in court, and in most cases, if any, the courts knocked them down because the courts rejected the Aboriginal evidence. In addition, the events that have become known are only those that have been brought before the court for legal action, as numerous incidents are not officially documented. Neil Black, a land grabber in western Victoria, wrote on December 9, 1839 about the usual practice of many settlers: “The best way [to procure a run] is to go outside and take up a new run, provided the conscience of the party is sufficiently seared to enable him without remorse to slaughter natives right and left. It is universally and distinctly understood that the chances are very small indeed of a person taking up a new run being able to maintain possession of his place and property without having recourse to such means - sometimes by wholesale ... "

Table: Reports of massacres in the Dja Dja Wurrung area up to 1859

date place Involved Aboriginal people Europeans involved Report of the killing of Aborigines
March – April 1838 Unknown Dja Dja Wurrung, clan unknown two Europeans Koonikoondeet and another man
Winter 1838 Darlington Station, approximately 10 miles from Lancefield Dja Dja Wurrung or Taungurong Captain Sylvester Brown's workers 13 people
June 1838 Waterloo Plains unknown Worker of WH Yaldwyn, CH Ebden , H Munro, and Dr W Bowman 7 or 8 people, possibly more
February 1839 Maiden Hills Dja Dja Wurrung, clan unknown John Davis and Abraham Braybrook, Convicts and William Allan Noorowurnin and one other person
May 1839 see Campaspe Plains Massacre Taungurong, clan unknown Charles Hutton and other settlers about 40 killed
June 1839 Campaspe Plains, see Campaspe Plains Massacre Dja Dja Wurrung, clan unknown Charles Hutton and members of the Mounted Police At least 6 people killed, many wounded
Late 1839 or early 1840s Middle Creek known as the Blood Hole Massacre Dja Dja Wurrung, clan unknown Captain Dugald McLachlan and other worker employees unknown
August 1840 unknown Dja Dja Wurrung, clan unknown one of Henry Dutton's servants Pandarragoondeet
February 7, 1841 14 Mile Creek , Glenmona Station west of Maryborough Dja Dja Wurrung, clan of the Algal gundidj William Jenkins, William Martin, John Remington, Edward Collin, Robert Morrison Gondiurmin and Munangabum wounded
May 15, 1844 100 km north of the Pyrenee Range Probably Dja Dja Wurrung Native Police Corps , led by Crown Commissioner FA Powlett and HEP Dana Leelgoner
June 28, 1846 Avoca River near Charlton Dja Dja Wurrung, clan unknown John Fox a person

Loddon Aboriginal Protectorate Station at Franklinford

Aboriginal farmers in the Loddon Aboriginal Protectorate in Franklinford (1858)

Edward Stone Parker was appointed Assistant Protector of Aborigines in England by the Colonial Office in the Aboriginal Protectorate of the Port Phillip District under George Robinson . He reached Melbourne in January 1839 and Robinson handed Parker the district in the northwest and the Loddon district in March. Parker established this protectorate by September 1839. The tasks of a protector included the protection of the Aborigines from "encroachments on their property, and from acts of cruelty, of oppression or injustice" (German: "Rights violations on their land, acts of inhumanity and injustices") Civilization of the Áborigines persecuted.

Parker immediately set up his base on Jackson Creek near Sunbury , which was close to the Aboriginal Protectorate. Parker, like Robinson and Governor George Gipps , intended that the protectorate stations for each district be located near the areas where the Aborigines had their food sources and in this way the border conflicts could be reduced. Governor Gipps approved the plans and each Protector's stations were approved in 1840. The choice of Parker for the Dja Dja Wurrung fell in September 1840 on the Neereman area on Bet Bet Creek , a tributary of the Loddon River . However, this area was unsuitable for agriculture and in January 1841 he selected an area on the north side of Mount Franklin on Jim Crow Creek with a spring of grizzly water. The area was selected with the support of Dja Dja Wurrung and Crown Lands Commissioner Frederick Powlett. Approval for this was granted in March and a large number of the Dja Dja Wurrung accompanied Parker there in June 1841. The station at William Mollison's Coliban Run was to be built, where a hut already existed as an outstation. The station became known as the Loddon Aboriginal Protectorate Station at Franklinford and the Dja Dja Wurrung gave the area the name Larne-ne-barramul, or area of ​​the emus . The nearby Mount Franklin was Lalgambook called.

Franklinford became very important to the Dja Dja Wurrung during the 1840s, as they received shelter and food there and could continue their traditional practice and semi-nomadic lifestyle if they wanted to. Parker employed a medical officer, Dr. W. Baylie, to deal with the numerous cases of illness.

Parker also intended to protect the Aborigines from those European settlers who had killed, including Henry Monro and his staff who committed murders in January 1840, and also William Jenkins, William Martin, John Remington, Edward Collins, Robert Morrison, the killers of Gondiurmin in February 1841. Both cases were put down by the court for inadmissibility and insufficient evidence from Aborigines by the court: Aborigines were declared pagans, unable to swear an oath on the Bible and therefore unable to tell the truth. The consequence of this was that the settlers were protected from criminal acts and made it extremely difficult for the Aborigines as witnesses in court if they then responded against the settlers with sheep theft.

The colonial government cut the funds for the protectorate several times from 1843. The Parker continued to live in Franklinford with his family after the Protectorate closed. Six Dja Dja Wurrung continued to settle in Franklinford, but one died in an accident or from a respiratory disease. Tommy Farmer was the last survivor of this Aboriginal group who left the country in 1864 and went to the Coranderrk Reserve, an Aboriginal mission station .

Collapse due to illness

Murders and massacres took their toll on the indigenous population during the border conflict, but disease played a far greater role in this. Smallpox epidemics had already decimated the tribes before they first met the Europeans. By the late 1830s, Aboriginal people suffered from diseases of tuberculosis , venereal diseases , bronchitis , flu , smallpox, measles, and scarlet fever . Venereal diseases such as syphilis and gonorrhea reached epidemic proportions and about 90% of the women of the Dja Dja Wurrung were infected with syphilis by the late 1841. As a result, the women became sterile, infected their babies, and experienced high infant mortality and falling birth rates. A doctor found that venereal diseases had gained the upper hand.

Aboriginal groups who had contact with the white settlers were most affected by disease. If they were in the same storage area for a long time, there was a high probability that they would suffer from lung and stomach problems. When some Dja Dja Wurrung died on the Franklinford reservation in 1841, the missing Aborigines were kidnapped to this place. Many deaths and diseases among whites in the years 1847-1848, who worked there, led the Aborigines attributed that they accepted the ground of Franklin Ford in 1847-1848 was malignant (German: malignant ). By December 1852 the population of Dja Dja Wurrung had dropped to about 142 people, from one to two thousand before the time of the first contact with whites 15 years ago.

Victorian gold rush

The gold rush in Victoria of 1851 put further pressure on the Dja Dja Wurrung , as around 10,000 prospectors invaded the area of Barkers Creek on Mount Alexander and other gold-bearing streams and destroyed many sacred places. The gold rush led to a crisis in agricultural labor and the farmers employed Dja Dja Wurrung seasonally or part-time as shepherds , drovers , auxiliaries and servants in their homes. Many of the Aborigines who could not find work with the land collectors survived marginalized in white society through begging and prostitution for food, clothing and alcohol. The availability of alcohol led to the construction of numerous restaurants in the bush as well as barracks serving grog in the vicinity of the gold fields. The drunkenness and alcohol addiction became a serious problem. The death rate increased during the gold rush.

According to oral tradition, numerous Dja Dja Wurrung avoided the north in order to avoid the problems of alcoholism, prostitution and begging that had led to their marginalization in white society.

A small group of the Dja Dja Wurrung , associated with Franklinford and Parker, worked the land there, built smelters, and sold their produce at the nearest gold field about two miles away.

Repopulation

An investigation of the conditions in Franklinford and Coranderrk in February 1864 by superintendents John Green and William Thomas revealed that the school in the Protectorate was incapable and that the farm was deserted. Green instructed the school to be closed and the children to be brought to Coranderrk, and Thomas agreed on this, but the latter resisted the demolition of the Protectorate station. Parker assisted Thomas in this. The Dja Dja Wurrung in Franklinford were forced to return to Coranderrk station. There were 31 adults and 7 children who belonged to the Dja Dja Wurrung .

Thomas Dunolly , a child of the Dja Dja Wurrung who was brought back to Coranderrk, played a significant role in the first organized protest for the preservation of Coranderrk by the Aborigines in the 1880s. Caleb and Anna Morgan, descendants of Caroline Malcolm who also returned to Coranderrk, were active members of the Australian Aboriginal League that William Cooper founded between 1933 and 1934.

On 26 May 2004 occupied Susan Charles Rankin , a Elder of the Dja Dja Wurrung , peaceful land of the Crown in Franklin Ford and called the country for Going Home Camp (German: returnee camp ) from. Prior to this occupation, Rankin asked the Victorian Department of Sustainability and Environment for evidence of ownership and whether it would be legal to occupy this land. The Daylesford attorney and the local DSE officer agreed that they “cannot produce these documents and doubt that such documents exist” (German: “cannot create these documents and doubt that they exist”).

Jaara baby

The origin of the Jaara baby , who died in the 1840s to 1860s, has not been proven. However, it is generally believed that it came from the Dja Dja Wurrung. According to reports, the baby was found in 1904 and kept in the Victoria Museum for 99 years until 2003, then handed over to the Dja Dja Wurrung community , who buried it according to their rites. The baby was of particular scientific interest as it was buried with a possum fur and 130 other European and indigenous artifacts.

Structure, boundaries and land use

The communities of 16 groups with their own land, called clans , were linguistically related and had cultural and mutual interests, totems , trade and marriage rules.

Connected to the land and resources, the clans limited these in terms of sustainability . For example, if a river or stream had few fish outside of regular fishing times or due to heavy fishing, the clan limited fishing until the stock had recovered. During these times, other food resources were used. This ensured the preservation of the food sources. In most of the Kuline areas, violations by travelers were punished with javelin throwing. Today these rules are no longer valid because the traditional clan areas, language groups and borders no longer exist and the descendants of the Wurundjeri live in modern Australian society.

Clans

Before the first European settlement existed 16 clans, each with an elder.

No Clan name Approximate location
1 Bial Balug Bealiba
2 Burung Balug Natte Yallock
3 Bulangurd Gundidj Mount Bolangum
4th Cattos Run Clan Bridgewater
5 Galgal Balug Burnbank and Mount Mitchell
6th Djadja Wurrung Balug unknown
7th Galgal Gundidj northwest of Kyneton
8th Gunangara Gundidj Larrnebarramul, near Mount Franklin
9 Larnin Gundidj Richardson River
10 Liarga Galug Mount Tarrengower and Maldon
11 Munal Gundidj Daylesford
12 Dirag Galug Avoca
13 Durid Balug Mount Moorokyle and Smeaton
14th Wurn balug between Carisbrook and Daisy Hill
15th Wungaragira gundidj High Avoca River and near St Arnaud
16 Yung Balug Mount Buckrabanyule

Aboriginal land

The land of the Dja Dja Wurrung stretched across Mount Franklin and the towns of Creswick and Daylesford in the southeast to Castlemaine , Maldon and Bendigo in the east, Boort in the north, Donald in the northwest to Navarre Hill and Mount Avoca, which marked the southwest border. This land also includes the Bendigo and Clunes gold fields in Victoria. They were named the Loddon River Tribe by the white settlers after the watersheds of the Loddon and Avoca River Tribe , which mainly flowed through their land.

Diplomacy as tanderrum

When strangers entered the land of Dja Dja Wurrung, they were invited to a tanderrum - freedom of the bush. This allowed them a safe passage and temporal use of the available resources. It was a diplomatic ritual that ensured hospitality and was accompanied by an exchange of gifts.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ smh.com.au : Aboriginals ready to fight for artefacts , July 27, 2004. Retrieved May 4, 2008
  2. ^ Bain Attwood: My Country. A history of the Djadja Wurrung 1837-1864 , p. 5. Monash Publications in History: 25, 1999, ISSN  0818-0032
  3. ↑ Gerry Gill: Sociologist presents the spiritual leader of the Jaara , University News, Vol 16 No 37, October 8, 2007. Retrieved November 12, 2008
  4. ^ Bain Attwood: My Country. A history of the Djadja Wurrung 1837-1864 , p. 4. Monash Publications in History: 25, 1999, ISSN  0818-0032
  5. ^ Ian D. Clark: Scars in the Landscape. A Register of Massacre Sites in Western Victoria 1803-1859 , pp. 99-100, Aboriginal Studies Press, 1995, ISBN 0-85575-281-5
  6. ↑ Keir Reeves: Munangabum Biographical Entry , Electronic Encyclopedia of Gold in Australia, June 28, 2007. Retrieved November 12, 2008
  7. ↑ a b c Bain Attwood, pp12-13, My Country. A history of the Djadja Wurrung 1837-1864 , pp. 12-13, Monash Publications in History: 25, 1999, ISSN  0818-0032
  8. ↑ a b c Bain Attwood: My Country. A history of the Djadja Wurrung 1837-1864 , pp. 34-36, Monash Publications in History: 25, 1999, ISSN  0818-0032
  9. ^ Ian D. Clark Scars on the Landscape. A Register of Massacre sites in Western Victoria 1803-1859 , pp. 85-100, Aboriginal Studies Press, 1995 ISBN 0-85575-281-5
  10. ^ Ian D. Clark: Scars on the Landscape. A Register of Massacre sites in Western Victoria 1803-1859 , p. 1. Aboriginal Studies Press, 1995 ISBN 0-85575-281-5
  11. ^ Ian D. Clark Scars on the Landscape. A Register of Massacre sites in Western Victoria 1803-1859 , pp. 88-101. Aboriginal Studies Press, 1995 ISBN 0-85575-281-5 Information condensed from description that used reports from historical sources
  12. ^ Bain Attwood: My Country. A history of the Djadja Wurrung 1837-1864 , pp. 7-9, Monash Publications in History: 25, 1999, ISSN  0818-0032
  13. ^ A b c Bain Attwood, pp23-28, My Country. A history of the Djadja Wurrung 1837-1864 , Monash Publications in History: 25, 1999, ISSN  0818-0032
  14. ↑ Parker Quarterly report June 1 - Aug 31, 1841, PROVic, VPRS 10/3, file 41/207 as referenced by Bain Attwood, pp26, My Country. A history of the Djadja Wurrung 1837-1864 , Monash Publications in History: 25, 1999, ISSN  0818-0032
  15. ^ Edgar Morrison, Frontier life in the Loddon Protectorate: episodes from early days, 1837-1842 , Daylesford [Vic.], The Advocate, ed. 1967
  16. ↑ Richard Broome: Aboriginal Victorians. A History since 1800 , p. 115, Allen & Unwin, 2005, ISBN 1-74114-569-4
  17. ↑ a b c d Bain Attwood: My Country. A history of the Djadja Wurrung 1837-1864 , pp. 37–45. Monash Publications in History: 25, 1999, ISSN  0818-0032
  18. ^ Ian D. Clark: Scars on the Landscape. A Register of Massacre sites in Western Victoria 1803-1859 , p. 88, Aboriginal Studies Press, 1995 ISBN 0-85575-281-5
  19. ↑ Margaret Murphy, 'Sovereignty, not sorry' ( Memento of the original from September 27, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Green Left Weekly, July 7, 2004. Retrieved December 25, 2008  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.greenleft.org.au
  20. ↑ Jaara re-occupation and camp ( Memento of the original from October 6, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Melbourne Indymedia, June 4, 2004. Retrieved December 25, 2008  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.melbourne.indymedia.org
  21. ↑ Baby carries baggage ( Memento of the original dated June 11, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.theaustralian.news.com.au archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , The Australian, September 10, 2003. Retrieved November 12, 2008
  22. ↑ Ian D. Clark, Table 3 Djadja wurrung clans , pp87, Scars in the Landscape. A Register of Massacre Sites in Western Victoria 1803-1859 , Aboriginal Studies Press, 1995, ISBN 0-85575-281-5
  23. ^ Ian D. Clark: Figure 9 Djadja wurrung language area and clans , p. 86, Scars in the Landscape. A Register of Massacre Sites in Western Victoria 1803-1859 , Aboriginal Studies Press, 1995, ISBN 0-85575-281-5