Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
Kangaroo and campfire
KING GEORGE SOUND, WESTERN AUSTRALIA, 1833
This is the first known Aboriginal map drawn in pen and ink on paper. There is no indication
of exactly where this is, or from which direction Galiput - its creator - intended it to be
viewed, and it may not have mattered. It is accessible to us now, because Galiput explained
its meaning to an onlooker, John Morgan, who recorded the legend for us in text below the
map - or perhaps, to one side of it. This is written in a sort of pidgin English, as if trying to
mimic a translator's pronunciation. Morgan also numbered key points important in the story
of this 'native encampment' and its landscape.
Within the camp are separate areas for the women and children (at point 1), for the married
men (written as point 7 but more likely to be point 4) while the single men camped some
distance apart (point 2, at top right). Having set the scene of his tale, Galiput starts the action.
'Some morning sun get up vera early', when the married men would call the single men and
all would go down to a nearby lake (point 6) to fish. Afterwards, the party would move on
