Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Indigenous Victoria
Victoria's Indigenous peoples lived in some 38 different dialect groups that spoke 10 separ-
ate languages. These groups, some matrilineal, others patrilineal, were further divided into
clans and sub-clans, each with its own complex system of customs and laws, and each
claiming custodianship of a distinct area of land. Despite this, the British considered the
continent to be
terra nullius
- 'a land belonging to no one'.
The Wurundjeri were a tribe of the Woiwurrung, one of five distinct language groups be-
longing to southern Victoria's Kulin Nation. They often traded and celebrated with their
coastal counterparts, the Boonwurrung, among the towering red gums, tea trees and ferns
of the river's edge, as well as with other Kulin clans from the north and west.
As the flood-prone rivers and creeks broke their banks in winter, bark shelters were built
north in the ranges. Possums were hunted for their meat and skinned to make calf-length
cloaks. During the summer, camps were made along the Yarra and Maribyrnong Rivers and
Merri Creek. Food - game, grubs, seafood, native greens and roots - was plentiful. Wurun-
djeri men and women were compelled to marry out of the tribe, requiring complex forms of
diplomacy. Ceremonies and bouts of ritual combat were frequent.
