Members of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities are respectfully advised that this exhibition and related materials contain mention of historical violence and the names and images of people who have passed away.

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I would like to acknowledge and pay my respects to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elders — past, present and emerging.

We are Darug, born of this land, born of the spirit. We have walked this land since the Dreaming.

Darug clan lands embrace the land, rivers and seas. From the Blue Mountains to the ocean, from Hawkesbury in the north and down as far as Appin in the south.

Our ancestors’ voices are echoed in our own as we still live in these changed but beautiful places.

This land has seen the Darug people gather here for thousands of years, to hunt and feast, to sing and dance in ceremony. It is a land rich in Dreaming. Ancient spirits of the Earth Creator live here and we are privileged to be custodians of this heritage.

Our mothers and grandmothers are our teachers, they teach us of the Dreaming, our language and our culture as their mothers before taught them. Our bodies and minds carry the seeds of their wisdom, the memories of a different past.

We may not look the way our ancestors did, we may not live the way they did but we are still here, we are still strong and we have more than sixty thousand years of culture in our blood and in our hearts. So tread softly on this ancient land, because our Dreamtime is still happening, our Dreamtime is forever.

Rhiannon Wright (Darug)

Photograph by Joy Lai, 2020

Photograph by Joy Lai, 2020

Tiati murra Daruga pemel. Koi murra ya pemel ngalaringi bubbuna. Ban nye yenma wurra nang. Nye dice gai dyi ya nangami dyarralang. Ngalaringi tiati ngalaringi nangami gai gu-ya willy angara gu-nu-gal da gu-nu-gal da la-loey moogoo cot-ballie nangami dice la-loey gnia tarimi gu-nu-gal. Jam ya tiati gnalaringi eorah jumna mittigar gurrung burruk.

This is Darug land. It is the land of our ancestors. Their spirits still walk among us. Spirits that have been here since the Dreaming. Our language and our culture has been passed down from generation to generation to continue an unbroken culture that has extended for thousands of years. In the language of our people, we welcome you to Darug lands.

Didyarigura.

Lyra, Rhiannon Wright, Aunty Edna Watson, Leanne Watson (Darug), photograph by Joy Lai, 2020

Dyarubbin, the Hawkesbury River, begins at the confluence of the Grose and Nepean rivers and ends at Broken Bay. This long, winding and ancient river has been home to the Darug people for millennia and is a vital and sustaining resource. Darug culture, spirituality and sense of being are all intrinsically connected to the river. Its bends and features are encoded with meaning.  

Dyarubbin’s fertile flood plains became prized agricultural land which was needed to support the early colony. 1794 marks the beginning of a period of devastation and loss for Darug people as settlers took land along the river, ultimately culminating in brutal warfare as Darug warriors fought to defend their lands and livelihoods.  

The landscape of the river, the people who live there and the way it is used today have changed, but Darug people still connect with and live on Dyarubbin. Darug knowledge-holders, artists and educators Leanne Watson, Jasmine Seymour, Erin Wilkins and Rhiannon Wright share their culture and stories of special sites along Dyarubbin as shared custodians of this beautiful and haunting place.   

This exhibition showcases research established by Professor Grace Karskens in ‘The Real Secret River, Dyarubbin’, a collaborative project with Leanne, Jasmine, Erin and Rhiannon which won the 2018–19 Coral Thomas Fellowship.

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Jacksonia scoparia is endemic to the east coast of the continent, with broom-like branchlets and yellow ‘pea’ flowers that bloom in spring.

Photograph by Joy Lai, 2020

Jacksonia scoparia is endemic to the east coast of the continent, with broom-like branchlets and yellow ‘pea’ flowers that bloom in spring.

Photograph by Joy Lai, 2020

Photograph by Avryl Whitnall, 2020

Photograph by Avryl Whitnall, 2020

Shaws Creek Aboriginal Place in Yellomundee Regional Park is a significant site for Darug people. Erin says that it was a traditional river pathway to the Blue Mountains and a plentiful source of food. Aboriginal women fished along the river’s length and collected mussels until at least 1948, according to some oral histories. Today, Aboriginal people still meet and gather here, maintaining their connection to Country as custodians through firestick farming (cultural burning), cultural practice and dance.

Gumin (casuarina trees) line the entire length of the river and traditionally have indicated where water can be found. Erin tells the story of how, if Darug children get lost, they are told to find and sit under gumin as snakes won’t come near the needles underneath the tree. They are told to hold one of gumin’s puckered seeds, known as ‘worry seeds’, and roll it around in their hands to take their worries away until their parents can find them. The worry seeds are then placed in the sun which soaks up the last of their fears.

by Aunty Edna Watson
acrylic on canvas
lent by Leanne Watson

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Photograph by Joy Lai, 2020

Photograph by Joy Lai, 2020

Yarramundi Reserve is at the intersection of three major rivers and was an important meeting place for neighbouring nation groups. The Gandangara travelled along the Nepean, the Darkinjung through the Grose and the Darug through Dyarubbin to come together for ceremony, trade, food and resources. Erin says that people would collect pebbles from the riverbed and sit along its banks to make stone axes, spears and tools.

Yarramundi Reserve is also sometimes known as the site where Yarramundi (also recorded as Yellomundee) and Gombeere, who were both guradyi (clever man or doctor) met Governor Arthur Phillip in 1791, but the actual location was closer to Bardonarang Creek. This meeting nonetheless marked the beginning of rapid, violent and irreversible change for Aboriginal people of the area. Erin recounts that just downstream there is a massacre site, and that much of the fiercest resistance was fought nearby as Aboriginal people defended their sovereignty and land.

by George William Evans
watercolour
SV/123

by Reverend John McGarvie A 1613 p26a

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Dyarubbin flowed through the agricultural heartland of the early colony which was crucial to its survival, but the taking of land for farming and settlement came at great cost to Darug people. One of the largest and wealthiest landowners was Andrew Thompson, a convict who became a chief constable at Bulyayurang (Windsor). Thompson is remembered as a hero for saving settlers from drowning in the floods of 1806 and 1809.

But for Leanne, Rhiannon and Jasmine, his legacy is deeply contested. Thompson also led a party of settlers that massacred Darug people at a camp at Yarramundi in 1805. In this reprisal for the killing of three settlers, seven, eight, or possibly more Darug ancestors were killed, including leader and cross-cultural spokesman Yaraguwayi. That Thompson would have overseen, facilitated or been aware of other violent crimes against Darug people as chief constable further complicates how he might be remembered. Leanne, Rhiannon and Jasmine believe that the veneration of Andrew Thompson and the failure to confront the darkest aspects of colonial history in this region contributes to the continued erasure of Darug people who have lived at Bulyayurang, and along this part of Dyarubbin, for millennia.

by George William Evans watercolour PXD 388 vol 3 f7

by Charles Rodius
charcoal sketch
PXA 1005 f5

by Charles Rodius
charcoal sketch
PXA 1005 f5

Local Aboriginal people often visited the town and mingled with settlers, especially Nurragingy (Nirgengay), the leader of the ‘South Creek Tribe’, his wife Mary and sons Bobby and Billy, their children and the rest of the band, who were very well known. In the 1840s local Aboriginal men showed off their boomerang-throwing skills in Thompson Square for a crowd of onlookers. Later in the 19th century the river’s Aboriginal people gathered at the Windsor Courthouse every year on the Queen’s Birthday to pick up blankets — a small, ritual reparation for all that had been stolen from them.

Professor Grace Karskens, Dyarubbin story map, 2018–21

Dyarubbin is known for its mercurial flooding. The river flows down from mountain ranges and twists through gradually narrowing sandstone gorges which, during high rainfall, can create a bottleneck effect. The flood cycles of Dyarubbin are necessary to maintain the health of natural ecosystems and deeply enrich the alluvial soil of the surrounding floodplains.

For Darug people, there are spiritual dimensions to the flooding of Dyarubbin. Leanne, Jasmine, Erin and Rhiannon tell us that flooding is a message from Gurangatty, the Great Eel creation ancestor spirit who tore through Darug Country to create a sacred path that became Dyarubbin. When the river floods it is a sign that the spiritual world is unbalanced. It is also an important reminder from Gurangatty to understand and respect the river and its mighty flood power.

This 360-degree panorama depicts the severe flood of Dyarubbin in 1816. In the second sketch from the left, Andrew Thompson’s Red House (a) and Windsor Toll House (c) can be seen. Wianamatta (South Creek) is represented by the single dotted line.

by an unknown artist
watercolour
PX*D 264

by an unknown artist
watercolour
PX*D 264

by an unknown artist
watercolour
PX*D 264

Andrew Thompson’s Red House (a) and Windsor Toll House (c) can be seen in this sketch.

by an unknown artist
watercolour
PX*D 264

Andrew Thompson’s Red House (a) and Windsor Toll House (c) can be seen in this sketch.

by an unknown artist
watercolour
PX*D 264

by an unknown artist
watercolour
PX*D 264

by an unknown artist
watercolour
PX*D 264

by an unknown artist
watercolour
PX*D 264

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Photograph by Joy Lai, 2020

Photograph by Joy Lai, 2020

Photograph by Joy Lai, 2020

Photograph by Joy Lai, 2020

Photograph by Joy Lai, 2020

Photograph by Joy Lai, 2020

Photograph by Joy Lai, 2020

Photograph by Joy Lai, 2020

Cattai is dugga (brush forest) Country. In pockets here today, Jasmine and Leanne tell us that plentiful resources for Darug people can still be found, including bush foods, tools and medicines. Spinach-like warrigal greens, native raspberry and wombat berry vine all grow in the area, as well as sandpaper fig used to sharpen tools, and native geranium, used as a poultice for arthritis.

Jasmine and Leanne believe that Cattai marks the beginning of the Great Eel story. It is here that the landscape changes from sand to sandstone. Rock engravings can be found on the biggest bends of the river, each telling the story of the Great Eel as you pass through Darug Country. Sadly, some of those engravings are said to have been destroyed, and the places where these foods and resources can be found have been neglected. Jasmine and Leanne call this wirri nura: bad Country, sick Country. The resilience of the plants, which continue to grow despite this, is remarkable.

Gunira (yam digging sticks) were traditionally used by Darug women to harvest yams grown in the fertile soil of riverbanks. Women carved their gunira from wood in unique shapes and designs that were individual to them. Here are bula guni (two yam digging sticks) and one paddle known to have come from Dyarubbin. Further information about their provenance and the ancestors who made them were not recorded.

Hawkesbury Historical Society Collection, courtesy of Hawkesbury Regional Museum

Photograph by Joy Lai, 2020

Photograph by Joy Lai, 2020

Photograph by Joy Lai, 2020

Photograph by Joy Lai, 2020

Photograph by Joy Lai, 2020

Photograph by Joy Lai, 2020

Photograph by Joy Lai, 2020

Photograph by Joy Lai, 2020

Photograph by Avryl Whitnall, 2020

Photograph by Avryl Whitnall, 2020

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Credit

Photograph by Avryl Whitnall, 2020

Photograph by Avryl Whitnall, 2020

Photograph by Avryl Whitnall, 2020

Photograph by Avryl Whitnall, 2020

A place of enormous spiritual significance for Darug people is one of the resting sites of Gurangatty, the Great Eel creation ancestor spirit, in one of the deepest parts of Dyarubbin. Leanne, Jasmine, Erin and Rhiannon say that the swirling on the water’s surface here is symbolic of the Great Eel, who is connected to water, whirlpools and flood power. Further downstream is Durumbuluwa, a placename which means ‘zone of the rainbow’ or ‘path of the rainbow’. Further still, at Wuwami, Gurangatty is said to keep watch from a steep rock shelf. Jasmine says Wuwami connects the Great Eel to stories of the Rainbow Serpent across the continent.

in 'Native names of places on the Hawkesbury', 1829
by Reverend John McGarvie
A 1613 p 25

in 'Native names of places on the Hawkesbury', 1829
by Reverend John McGarvie
A 1613 p 25

McGarvie’s list of Aboriginal placenames along Dyarubbin adds further insight into the story of Gurangatty. On this list, significant and spiritual placenames like Wuwami and Durumbuluwa can be found and mapped to their original location through the Real Secret River, Dyarubbin project. Dorumbolooa (third word on the list) is now Durumbuluwa in line with contemporary linguistic approaches. Wowawme (fourth word from the bottom) is likewise now Wuwami. The placename is formed by two stem words: ‘Waway’ means ‘monster fish spirit’ and ‘mii’ is ‘eye’ according to Professor Grace Karskens and linguist Dr Jim Wafer.

At Wuwami, Gurangatty can be seen in the cliff face. He casts his eyes over Durumbuluwa, the ‘zone of the rainbow’.

Photograph by Joy Lai, 2020

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The old Sackville Aboriginal Reserve was established formally in 1889 by the Aborigines Protection Board and is a small portion of land on the banks of Dyarubbin at Cumberland Reach. Jasmine, a descendant of the Morley family who had lived on the reserve, compares the land to a wet, sunless prison — narrowly wedged on a ‘dog’s leg’ between the river and the base of a sheer cliff face. Far from prime agricultural land, Aboriginal people’s ability to thrive, grow food or hunt there was seriously inhibited. Jasmine says that Aboriginal people living on the reserve were treated as a curiosity, often taken away to perform in gumleaf musical performances for the local colony. It is remembered as a sad place by some descendants today.

Geoff Ford collection
courtesy of Grace Karskens

Jasmine says that Aboriginal people living on the reserve were expected to pay board to live on their own land. Many worked on the nearby property Lilburndale in exchange for wages and rations, shown in the Hall family accounts and receipts from 1866-84. Working for low wages and basic rations was an exploitative system seen by many as virtually indistinguishable from slavery. Workers could be forced or coerced into employment that was unsafe, underpaid or unfair. This system was perpetuated by the various protection acts passed by state governments which continued to force Aboriginal people onto reserves, restricted movement and tightly controlled many aspects of Aboriginal people’s lives.

Matthew Smith Hall papers
MLMSS 842

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Photograph by Marika Duczynski, 2020

Photograph by Marika Duczynski, 2020

Photograph by Avryl Whitnall, 2020

Photograph by Avryl Whitnall, 2020

Photograph by Joy Lai, 2020

Photograph by Joy Lai, 2020

Photograph by Joy Lai, 2020

Photograph by Joy Lai, 2020

Photograph by Joy Lai, 2020

Photograph by Joy Lai, 2020

Photograph by Joy Lai, 2020

Photograph by Joy Lai, 2020

Marramarra National Park is rich in Darug cultural heritage. Situated within the park, the Canoelands rock art cave is filled with ochre and charcoal paintings of echidnas, turtles, tiger quolls, ancestor beings and more, which suggests that the cave was not an ordinary place of shelter but a significant and special site. Above the cave, a series of waterholes can be found and on the lip of the highest one there are axe grinding grooves.

Jasmine, Leanne and Rhiannon believe that the circular motif seen on the interior cave walls, joined by one continuous line, may represent the surrounding water holes — plentiful across the whole area — which then connect with creeks lined with yet more special sites. This abundance and interconnectedness is reflected in the name of nearby Maroota, meaning ‘the place of many springs’. Keeping the waterholes and creeks healthy and flowing in such hot and dry Country would have been of the utmost importance to the ancestors taking care of this place.

The Dyarubbin story map takes you on a journey through Darug and Darkinjung Country.

As you scroll along the river on this map, the Aboriginal place names will appear as green dots. If you click on these points you’ll see McGarvie’s original spelling, then a phonetic reconstruction, and a suggested meaning, or ‘gloss’, for the name, if one is available.

This interactive story map was developed by Grace Karskens with Leanne Watson, Erin Wilkins, Jasmine Seymour, Rhiannon Wright and Cindy Laws (Darkinjung)
Designed by Geographic Names Board/Spatial Services NSW
2018–2021

Marika is a Gamilaraay and Mandandanji writer, curator and Project Officer in the Indigenous Engagement branch working to amplify Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voices and perspectives within libraries and collections.

Darug knowledge-holders and storytellers (in alphabetical order by surname):
Jasmine Seymour 
Leanne Watson 
Erin Wilkins 
Rhiannon Wright   

With the generous support, research and collaboration of
Professor Grace Karskens