It is customary for some Indigenous communities not to mention names or reproduce images associated with the recently deceased. Members of these communities are respectfully advised that a number of people mentioned in writing or depicted in image in the following pages have passed away.

This story may also contain words and descriptions that might be culturally sensitive, not normally used in certain public or community contexts. In some circumstances, terms and annotations of the period in which a text was written may be considered inappropriate today.

History, every history student learns, is written by the victors. But in writing about themselves, the victors must also write about those whose lands they have occupied.

This is a story of the Eora, created through a close and innovative interrogation of the European records of early colonisation. Compiled from letters, maps, prints, books and drawings, we can piece together a surprisingly rich account of Aboriginal lives and families after contact. Running contrary to the notion that colonisation completely displaced Aboriginal people, this account gives testimony to a continuing Indigenous presence in Sydney.

They lived here in the place we call Sydney, now a city of over 4 million people. It was a different country then.

United by a common language, strong ties
of kinship, and a rich saltwater economy,
 the Indigenous inhabitants survived as skilled hunter–fisher–gatherers in family groups or clans scattered along the coast.

They identified themselves as Eora (pronounced ‘yura’), meaning simply ‘the people’. A word derived from Ee (yes) and ora (here, or this place), it revealed their deep connection to the land.

Engraved in the sandstone throughout the Sydney Basin, the Eora created hundreds of galleries filled with totemic figures. Outlines represented sky heroes, men and women, clubs, shields, whales, sharks, fish, kangaroos, echidnas, birds and lizards.

These drawings were an eloquent witness to their culture, art and spiritual beliefs, marking a time before the arrival of the ‘people from the clouds’.

1788 marked the arrival of the Bèerewalgal, ‘people from the clouds’.

In January of 1788, after rejecting Botany Bay 
as unsuitable, Governor Arthur Phillip chose Sydney Cove in the harbour of Port Jackson as the site of the first English outpost and convict colony in Australia.

By early February, two boats commanded by Captain John Hunter of HMS Sirius had begun to survey, chart and rename the features of Port Jackson. Warrane became Sydney Cove, Wogganmagule (Farm Cove), Pannerong (Rose Bay) and Booragy (Bradleys Head). Burramatta (‘eel water place’) was at first called Rose Hill, but would later be renamed Parramatta by Governor Phillip.

During this time, the Eora were also documented. Different drawings and descriptions of the Eora within their landscape began to emerge: fishing from bark canoes, gathering by campfires, taking part in initiation ceremonies, burial rites and ritual revenge combats.

Much of what we know of the Eora between 1770-1850 has come from these early drawings and texts.

Mapping together documents from the Mitchell Library, State Library of New South Wales, Sydney, and other generous institutions including the National Library of Australia, Canberra, the following chapters tell a story of Aboriginal lives and families after contact. Arranged into four main sections (East, West, North and South), this story reflects the geographical location of the Eora clans (-gal) of Port Jackson and coastal Sydney.

The east was known as Cadigal country.

Deriving from Cadi (gadi), the name of the grass trees (Xanthorrhoea species) found in the area, the Cadigal was a harbour-dwelling clan, inhabiting the area from South Head, through the present Eastern Suburbs to Sydney Cove (Warrane), and ending at Darling Harbour (Gomora).

The Eora cut sections of spear shafts from cadi stems and cemented them together with its resin.

Scrolling down, you can see another depiction of these grass trees in the foreground of a print by Joseph Lycett. An English artist and engraver transported for forgery, Lycett’s work captures the Cadigal heartland around inner South Head (Burrawara), Camp Cove (Cadi) and Watsons Bay (Kutti). 

The Eora of coastal Sydney were overwhelmed by the shocking influx of new arrivals, many taken by smallpox within the first two years of contact with the Europeans.

Exclusion from traditional lands often led to violence and facilitated the severing of spiritual bonds to country. However, the Eora were resilient in their responses to the invasion.

German-born Charles Rodius was another European artist, known for documenting the Eora after contact. Working as a draughtsman and engraver in Paris, he was charged for theft and sent to New South Wales in 1829. Once in Australia, he was assigned, without salary, to the Department of Public Works.

Rodius frequented the nearby Domain, where he made many sketches of Aboriginal people, including the View from the Government Domain, Sydney 1833, in which fishermen at Woolloomooloo Bay (Walla-mulla) wore cut-off trousers, yet still used the traditional mooting or pronged fishing spear.

Wangal territory began at Memel (Goat Island), rounded the Balmain peninsula and ran west along the south shore of the Parramatta River, almost to Parramatta, home of the Burramattagal (Eel Place Clan).

Woollarawarre Bennelong (c. 1764-1813), considered one of the most significant Indigenous men in early Sydney, was a Wangal. Throughout his life, he served as an interlocutor between the Eora and the British, both in Sydney and the United Kingdom.

Under instructions from King George III to establish relationships with the indigenous populations, Governor Arthur Phillip kidnapped Bennelong in late 1789 and brought him to the settlement at Sydney Cove.

He was described as being 'of good stature, stoutly made', with a 'bold, intrepid countenance' at the time of his capture. Estimated to be around 25, he had an appetite such that 'the ration of a week was insufficient to have kept him for a day'.

Bennelong stayed in the Sydney Cove for about six months, before escaping from the settlement and renewing contact with Phillip as a free man. Learning to speak English, he maintained ongoing relations with the colony and in a gesture of kinship, gave Phillip the Aboriginal name Wolawaree.

In 1790, Bennelong asked the governor to build him a home on what became known as Bennelong Point, today the site of the Sydney Opera House. Two years later, accompanied by Yemmerrawanie, he travelled with Governor Phillip to England.

He returned in 1795 and died at Kissing Point, in Sydney's North West suburb of Putney, on 3 January 1813.

While Bennelong was in England, his brother-in-law, Gnung-a Gnung-a Murremurgan (or Anganángan), sailed across the Pacific Ocean on the storeship HMS Daedalus. A husband of Bennelong’s sister Warreeweer, Gnung-a Gnung- a was given the name ‘Collins’ by the English colonists, adopting it from Judge Advocate David Collins.

He travelled to Norfolk Island, Nootka Sound (Vancouver) and Hawaii, where King Kamehameha offered to buy him. In December 1795 Gnung-a Gnung-a was crippled by a spear in the back, thrown by Pemulwuy. He survived, but was found dead behind the Dry Store (the present Sirius Park, near Bridge Street) in January 1809.

Whilst the south side of Parramatta River was Wangal country, the north side, west of its intersection with the Lane Cove River, was home to the Wallumedegal or Wallamattagal, a name derived from wallumai, the snapper fish.

An Aboriginal man, with his long hair wrapped in paperbark strips, told the French artist Nicolas-Martin Petit that his name was ‘Cour-rou-bari-gal’. As Booragy or Búrroggy was the Aboriginal name for Bradleys Head, it is likely that he had replied to the artist’s question ‘What is your name?’ with kuri (man) and Boregegal (Bradleys Head Clan).

Other clans on the north shore of Port Jackson were the Cannalgal at Manly Beach, Birrabirrigal at The Spit and Gorualgal at Georges Head near Mosman.

First Fleet accounts also refer to the Cameragal, Cammeragal or Cameraigal, along the north shoreline opposite the Cadigal. While the Sydney suburb of Cammeray is named after the clan, its people were not only confined to that place.

The Cameragal heartland was Kayyeemy (Manly Cove), taken from the word camy or kami, the generic word for ‘spear’. It was the scene of much of the Eora’s early resistance to the white invaders, as well as the place where Arabanoo, Bennelong and Colebee were abducted under the order of Governor Phillip.

Bungaree (c. 1775-1830) was an Eora man from Broken Bay, north of Sydney. He played a key role in Australia's early coastal exploration. Accompanying Matthew Flinders on HMS Investigator between 1802-1803, Bungaree became known as the first Aboriginal man to circumnavigate the continent.

As part of this trip, Flinders was able to create the first complete map of Australia, filling in the gaps from previous cartographic expeditions. He regarded Bungaree as "a worthy and brave fellow" who saved the expedition on more than one occasion. Bungaree acted as the crew’s interpreter and guide, using his knowledge of Aboriginal protocol to negotiate peaceful meetings with the local Indigenous people.

Bungaree continued to act as a mediator between the English colonists and Aboriginal people throughout his life, ceremonially welcoming visitors to Australia.

In 1815, Governor Lachlan Macquarie presented Bungaree with a crescent-shaped metal breastplate and named him "Chief of the Broken Bay Tribe". He was given 15 acres (61,000 m2) of land on George’s Head to “settle and cultivate”, a fishing boat, clothing, seeds and farming implements.

Mrs Elizabeth Macquarie also gave Bungaree a sow and pigs, a pair of Muscovy ducks and outfits for his wife and daughter. Bungaree’s primary wife Cora Gooseberry, also known as Queen Gooseberry, was also given breastplates.

On the afternoon of 28 April 1770, the families of the Gweagal and Kameygal glimpsed a
‘big bird’, a vision from another world. This was the discovery ship, HM Bark Endeavour.

Gweagal (Fire Clan) country covered the southern shore of Botany Bay at Kundul (Kurnell) and Kurunulla (Cronulla), extending to the Woronora River in the west and the Georges River to the south.

The Kameygal (Spear Clan) occupied Kamay, the north shore of Botany Bay, and the country east of the Cooks River, including present day Botany and La Perouse. Their territory also followed the coast northwards to outer South Head, including Bondi.

Natives of Botany Bay, 1789, is perhaps the first image of Australian Indigenous people published in England after the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788.

While the bark canoe is realistically portrayed, the three men are depicted as ‘Noble Savages’, or classical Greek statues, with marble-like skin. Bringing to light the inaccuracies in early European documentation of the Eora, we now know that during this time only Aboriginal women used handlines when fishing from canoes.

Bidjigal (River Flat Clan) country spread west from Botany Bay to Salt Pan Creek, a Georges River tributary stretching north to Bankstown.

Pemulwuy (a name derived from bimul, meaning ‘earth’) was a leader of the Bidjigal. Considered a formidable Aboriginal resistance leader, he ambushed and fatally speared Governor Phillip’s convict game hunter John McEntire in December 1790.

Samuel John Neele’s 1804 engraving of ‘Pimbloy’ is the only known image of Pemulwuy. ‘The resemblance is thought to be striking by those who have seen him,’ wrote James Grant, captain of the sloop Lady Nelson.

Described by Marine Captain Watkin Tench as a ‘young man, with a speck, or blemish, on his left eye’, Pemulwuy led raids against the colonists, burning crops and killing livestock all over Sydney.

In 1801, Philip Gidley King outlawed Pemulwuy, offering spirits and other rewards for his capture, ‘dead or alive’. Pemulwuy was shot on 2 June 1802. He was decapitated and his head, preserved in spirits, was sent to Sir Joseph Banks in London. Whilst Sydney’s indigenous community has requested repatriation of the skull of Pemulwuy, at present its whereabouts is unknown.