Kurnai
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The Aboriginal tribe of the Kurnai or Gunai lived in southeast Australia in an area that extends largely over Gippsland and the southern slopes of the Alps from Victoria . The Kurnai had no friendly relations with their neighbors, the Wurundjeri and Bunurong peoples. From the 1820s onwards, many of the Kurnai offered fierce resistance with numerous violent confrontations against European settlement, but also fought primarily against the Bunurong.
Clans and clan areas
There are five main clans in the following areas:
- The area of Bratowooloong is in South Gippsland , which extends from Cape Liptrap and Tarwin Meadow east to the mouth of Merriman Creek and inland to approximately Mirboo around Port Albert and Wilsons Promontory .
- The Brayakuloong clan has its tribal area around Sale , Providence Ponds, Avon and Latrobe Rivers; west of Lake Wellington to Mounts Baw Baw and Howitt .
- The Brabuwooloong live in central Gippsland on the Mitchell , Nicholson and Tambo rivers ; south around Bairnsdale and Bruthen .
- The Tatungoloong were near Lakes Entrance on the coast, along Ninety Mile Beach and across Lake Victoria and Wellington from Lakes Entrance southwest at the mouth of Merriman Creek, also on Raymond Island in Lake King.
- Krauatungalung are near the Snowy River , Cape Everard (Point Hicks) to Lakes Entrance; on Cann, Brodribb, Buchan and Snowy-Rivers and inland the Black Mountain .
The Kurnai tribe included the land of the Bidawal Aborigines in the east around the Cann River and Mallacoota and that of the Kulin tribes in the west, where Melbourne is located. There is evidence that people settled at Cloggs Cave near Buchan as early as 17,000 years ago .
The Kurnai speak different dialects by region.
Genesis
It is said that the first Kurnai came from the northwest mountains with a canoe on his head. He came to be known as Borun, the pelican. He crossed the Tribal River, where the city of Sale is today, and went west to Tarra Warackel (Port Albert). As he walked he heard a sound like tap dancing all the time, but he couldn't figure out where it was coming from. Borun set down his canoe in the deep water and discovered, to his surprise, that there was a woman in it. It was Tuk, the musk duck. He was very happy to see her and she became his wife and mother of the Kurnai Aborigines.
Resistance to European settlement
- Main article: → Gippsland massacre
The Kurnai defended themselves against the European settlement of their country and it is extremely difficult to precisely determine the number of those killed in this guerrilla confrontation or the number of massacres. It has been proven that around 300 Aborigines died and it is estimated that more than 1,000 have died. A list containing letters and diaries of the massacres has been in the Museum of Victoria since 1991:
In 1863, pastor Friedrich Hagenauer set up the Rahahyuck Mission on the banks of the Avon River near Lake Wellington to accommodate the Kurnai from West and Central Gippsland. The mission's goal was to dissuade the Kurnai from their rituals and culture; to christianize them. It was closed in 1908 and the few people still living there were moved to Lake Tyer .
Individual evidence
- ^ Josephine Flood (2004) Archeology of the Dreamtime . Page 25. J. B. Publishing, Marleston. ISBN 1-876622-50-4
literature
- Gippsland Massacres: The Destruction of the Kurnai tribes 1800-1860 by PD Gardiner, 2001, Ngarak Press, ISBN 1-875254-11-0
- Our Founding Murdering Father: Angus McMillan and the Kurnai tribe by PD Gardiner, 1990, Ngarak Press, ISBN 1-875254-01-3
- Through Foreign Eyes: European perceptions of the Kurnai Tribes of Gippsland by PD Gardiner, 1994, Ngarak Press, ISBN 1-875254-13-7
- The language of the Kurnai Tribes of Gippsland by PD Gardiner, 1996, Ngarak Press, ISBN 1-875254-19-6