Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Sydney's Original Inhabitants
Anthropologists believe that Aboriginal peoples
reached Sydney Harbour at least 50,000 years
ago. One of the clans of coastal Sydney was
the Eora. Their campsites were usually close to
the shore, particularly in the summer when fish
were plentiful. Plant and animal foods supplemented
their seafood diet. Artistic expression was a way of
life, with their shields decorated with ochre, designs
carved on their implements, and their bodies
adorned with scars, animal teeth and feathers.
Sacred and social ceremonies are still vital today. Oral
traditions recount stories of the Dreaming
(see p19)
and
describe the Eora's strong attachment to the land.
Aborigines Fishing
(1819)
Sixty-seven Eora canoes
were counted in the barbour
on a single day. Spears were
used as tools and weapons.
Hafted
stone axe
Berowra
Waters
This Berowra Waters
carving
is hard to inter-
pret; experts believe that
it may represent a koala.
The name Parramatta
means place where
eels lie down or sleep,
or the head of the river.
Glenbrook Crossing
The Red Hand Caves near
Glenbrook in the lower Blue
Mountains contain stencils
where ochre was blown
over outstretched hands.
Glenbrook
Parramatta
Glenbrook Caves
ochre hand stencils
Cabramatta
Cabramatta
means
land where the
cobra
grub is found.
ABORIGINAL ROCK ART
There are appxroximately 5,500 known rock art
sites in the Sydney basin alone. Early colonists such
as Watkin Tench said that paintings and engravings
were on every kind of surface. The history of col-
onization was also recorded in rock engravings,
with depictions of the arrival of ships and fighting.
Red Ochre and
Shell Paint Holder
Ochre was a common-
ly used material in rock
painting. Finely ground, then mixed
with water and a binding agent, it
would be applied by brush or hand.
TIMELINE
43,000-38,000BC
Tools
found in a gravel pit
beside Nepean River are
among the oldest firmly
dated signs of human
occupation in Australia
11,000
Burial site
excavated in
Victoria of more
than 40 individuals
of this period
20,000
Humans lived in the
Blue Mountains despite extreme
conditions. Remains found of
the largest mammal,
Diprotodon,
date back to this period
Diprotodon
50,000 BC
20,000 BC
28,000
Funerary rites at Lake Mungo,
NSW. Complete skeleton has been
found of man buried at this time
18,000
People
now inhabit the
entire continent,
from the deserts
to the mountains
13,000
Final stages of Ice
Age, with small glaciers
in the Snowy Mountains
23,000
One of the world's earliest known
cremations carried out in Western NSW
