Dharawal

This article is about the Australian Indigenous group. For their language, see Tharawal language.

Not to be confused with Dharawala people.

Dharawal is a term referring to the groups of Aboriginal Australian people who shared the Dharawal language.^[2] Traditionally, they lived in defined hunter–fisher–gatherer family groups or clans with ties of kinship, along the coastal area through what is now the Campbelltown, Wollongong, Port Kembla, Sutherland Shire and Nowra regions of New South Wales.

Dharawal People

aka: Dharawal, Darawal, Turawal, Thurawal, Turuwul, Five Islands tribe, Cowpastures tribe, Shoalhaven tribe, Tharawal (AIATSIS), nd (SIL)[1]
Sydney Basin bioregion
Hierarchy
Language family:	Pama–Nyungan
Language branch:	Yuin–Kuric
Language group:	Yora
Group dialects:	Tharawal[2]
Area
Bioregion:	Sydney Basin
Location:	Sydney and Illawarra, New South Wales
Coordinates:	34°S 151°E / -34; 151
Rivers	Georges and Shoalhaven
Notable individuals
Bundel Gogy Bill Worrall Wagin Yugur Arawarra Rosie Russell Jack Carpenter Captain Brooks (Munnag) Tullimbah Biyarung (Biddy Giles) Joe Anderson Broughton (Toodwik) Broger Johnny Crook (Yunbai) John Pigeon (Warroba) Stewart (Nillang)

Traditional lands of Aboriginal tribes around Sydney^[a]

Etymology and alternative names

Dharawal means cabbage palm.^[3] Alternative spelling and pronunciation of this term include: Tharawal, Darawad, Thurawal, Turrubul, Turuwal and Turuwul.^[4]

Country

According to ethnologist Norman Tindale, traditional Dharawal lands encompass some 450 square miles (1,200 km²) from the southern shore of Botany Bay, along the Georges River to Campbelltown and then south through Port Hacking, Wollongong to the Shoalhaven River and the Beecroft Peninsula.^[4]

Clans

The Gweagal clan of the area now referred to as the Sutherland Shire were also known as the "Fire Clan". They are said to be the first people to make contact with Captain Cook. The artist Sydney Parkinson, one of the Endeavour's crew members, wrote in his journal that the indigenous people threatened them shouting words he transcribed as warra warra wai, which he glossed to signify 'Go away'. According to spokesmen for the contemporary Dharawal community, the meaning was rather 'You are all dead', since warra is a root in the Dharawal language meaning 'wither', 'white' or 'dead'. As Cook's ship hove to near the foreshore, it appeared to the Dharwal to be a white low-lying cloud, and its crew 'dead' people whom they warned off from returning to the country.^[5]

The Cubbitch Barta or Cobbitty Barta (meaning place of white pipe clay)^[6] clan were located in the Narellan and Campbelltown region of what is now the outer south-western suburbs of Sydney. They were also known by the early British colonists as the "Cowpastures tribe" as this was the area where the lost cattle from the First Fleet were rediscovered. A registered Indigenous land use agreement was made by modern representatives of the clan for Helensburgh in 2011.^[7]

The country of the Wadi Wadi clan (also known to the colonists as the "Five Islands tribe" referring to the Five Islands just off the coast of Port Kembla) includes the Illawarra, Wollongong and Port Kembla areas. The Dharawal name for the Five Islands is Woolyungah, which is now incorporated into the name of the adjacent city of Wollongong.^[8]

Around the Shoalhaven River region and northern part of Jervis Bay, the various clans such as the Numbaa, Meroo, Jerringong and Worrigee were known to the colonists collectively as the "Shoalhaven tribe". The descendants of these people are now referred to as the Jerrinja.^[9][10]

There is some debate as to the southern extent of the Dharawal speaking people and where those who spoke the Dhurga language (which is quite similar to Dharawal) began. At the time of British colonisation this was a border region between the two groups and it is possible Dharawal was spoken as far south as Ulladulla.^[10]

Lifestyle

The Dharawal people lived mainly off the produce of local plants, fruits and vegetables, as well as by hunting marsupials such as kangaroo and possum, and also by fishing and gathering shellfish products. The women collected vegetable foods and were well known for their fishing and canoeing prowess. There are a large number of shell middens still visible in Dharawal country and a glimpse of the Dharawal lifestyle can be drawn from the analysis of the midden sites. Their main source of carbohydrate came from collecting and treating the seeds and roots of the burrawang plant, and then grinding and cooking the resultant flour into flat bread-like cakes.^[8]

Portrait of Bill Worrall from the Five Islands Tribe

The Dharawal had various totems but sea mammals such as dolphins, porpoises and whales had special status amongst these people.^[11] The historical artwork (rock engravings) of the Dharawal people is visible on the sandstone surfaces throughout their language area and charcoal and ochre paintings, drawings and hand stencils can be found on rock surfaces and in rock shelters and overhangs.^[12]

For example, there is a public viewing site of one group of engravings at Jibbon Point, showing a whale and a wallaby. According to an early Dharawal informant, Biddy Giles,^[b] these images commemorated notable events, a successful hunt and the stranding of a whale.^[14][15]

See also

• Eora
• Gweagal