Gunditjmara
Encyclopedia
Gunditjmara, or Gundidj for short, are an Indigenous Australian group from western Victoria (Gunditj = belonging to, mara = person). Their neighbours to the west were the Buandig
people, to the north the Jardwadjali
and Djab wurrung
peoples, and in the east the Girai wurrung
people.
The name may also be spelt Gournditch-Mara. Sub-groups, based on differing dialects, include Dhauwurd wurrung. Alternative names include Dhauhurtwurru (language name), Kunditjmara, Gournditch-mara, Kuurn-kopan-noot (language name) Kirurndit, Tourahonong, Weeritch-Weeritch, Ngutuk ("thou" by adjacent tribe), Villiers tribe, Spring Creek tribe (a grp), Port Fairy tribe (a grp), Gournditch-Mara, Gurndidy, Dhaurwurd-Wurrung.
, Lake Condah
and the surrounding river systems being of great importance to them economically and spiritually. They had a sophisticated system of aquaculture
and eel
farming as well as stone dwellings. They built stone dams to hold the water in these areas, creating ponds and wetlands in which they grew Short-finned eel
s and other fish. They also created channels linking these wetlands. These channels contained weirs with large woven baskets made by women to harvest mature eels.
. Under dispute was the carcass of a beached whale. There is some current debate as to the veracity of reports regarding this massacre. However, diary reports of the time refer to a skirmish, involving Gunditj throwing spears and whalers firing guns. Though no mention of any fatalities were first recorded by Robinson, he later summised in his official report that there were many killed, with only two surviving. This summisation being based upon his Aboriginal interpretors who did not speak the local dialect. Not two months after writing his interpretation of this clash, stating of no incidence of any remaining local Aboriginals, a letter from the Portland Police Magistrate to Governor Latrobe stating of up to 200 Aboriginals amassing at the Convincing Ground contradicts Robinson's journal.
, a mission
outside Warrnambool. In 1987, the Victorian Labor government
under John Cain
attempted to grant some of the Framlingham State Forest to the trust as inalienable title, however the legislation was blocked by the Liberal Party
opposition in the Victorian Legislative Council
. However, the federal Labor government under Bob Hawke
intervened, passing the Aboriginal Land Act 1987, which gave 1130 acres (5 km²) of the Framlingham Forest to the Framlingham Trust. Although the title is essentially inalienable, in that it can only be transferred to another Indigenous land trust, the Framlingham Trust has rights to prevent mining
on the land, unlike trusts or communities holding native title
.
In 1993, the Peek Whurrong speakers of the Dhauwurdwurung (Gunditjmara) Nation purchased the Deen Maar
under the auspices of ATSIC for the Framlingham Aboriginal Trust, with the intention that it become an Indigenous Protected Area, it was granted this status in 1999. It is the first IPA in Victoria.
Gunditjmara people from the Lake Condah and surrounding area fiercely fought for the recognition of their traditional owner rights. In 1987 (along with the Framlingham community) received recognition through the Australian Government's Aboriginal Land (Lake Condah and Framlingham Forest) Act 1987.
The Lake Condah Mob launched their Native Title Claim in August 1996 and following eleven years of self determination, the Lake Condah Mob are scheduled to received formal recognition for their Native Title Rights in March 2007.
On 30 March 2007, the Gunditjmara
People were recognised by the Federal Court of Australia to be the native title-holders of almost 140,000 hectares of Crown land
and waters in the Portland
region. On 27 July 2011, together with the Eastern Maar People, the Gunditjmara People were recognised to be the native title-holders of almost 4,000 hectares of Crown land in the Yambuk region, including Lady Julia Percy Island, known to them as Deen Maar.
Through organisations like Winda Mara Aboriginal Corporation and the Gunditjmara Native Title Claimant Group (now the Gunditj Mirring Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation have initiated many important projects that are based on the principles of sustainable development and broader community engagement most notably, the Lake Condah Sustainable Development Project.
The Lake Condah Mob of Gunditjmara people have acquired around 20 square kilometres of properties along the highly significant Budj Bim National Heritage Landscape. The properties features the traditional constructed aquaculture system and sites of permanent settlement. The Gunditjmara's sites of permanent settlement dispel the myth of Gunditjmara being nomadic.
The Budj Bim National Heritage Landscape in this area has been listed as a Heritage Place on the Australian National Heritage List
.
Buandig
The Buandig people are Indigenous Australians from the Mount Gambier region in western Victoria and south-eastern South Australia.-Traditional Lands:...
people, to the north the Jardwadjali
Jardwadjali
The Jardwadjali people are Indigenous Australians who occupy the lands in the upper Wimmera River watershed east to Gariwerd and west to Lake Bringalbert. The towns of Horsham, Cavendish, Coleraine, Asply, Minyip and Donald are within their territory...
and Djab wurrung
Djab Wurrung
The Djab wurrung people are Indigenous Australians who occupy the volcanic plains of central Victoria from the Mount William Range of Gariwerd in the west to the Pyrenees range in the east encompassing the Wimmera River flowing north and the headwaters of the Hopkins River flowing south. The towns...
peoples, and in the east the Girai wurrung
Girai wurrung
The Girai wurrung are Indigenous Australian people who traditionally occupied the territory between Mount Emu Creek and the Hopkins River up to Mount Hamilton, and the Western Otways from the Gellibrand River to the Hopkins River...
people.
The name may also be spelt Gournditch-Mara. Sub-groups, based on differing dialects, include Dhauwurd wurrung. Alternative names include Dhauhurtwurru (language name), Kunditjmara, Gournditch-mara, Kuurn-kopan-noot (language name) Kirurndit, Tourahonong, Weeritch-Weeritch, Ngutuk ("thou" by adjacent tribe), Villiers tribe, Spring Creek tribe (a grp), Port Fairy tribe (a grp), Gournditch-Mara, Gurndidy, Dhaurwurd-Wurrung.
Society
They were traditionally river and lake people, with Framlingham ForestFramlingham, Victoria
Framlingham was an Aboriginal reserve established by the Board for the Protection of Aborigines in Victoria, Australia in 1861. It was located beside the Hopkins River in the territory of the Girai wurrung near the boundary with the Gunditjmara, not to far from Warrnambool on the south-west coast...
, Lake Condah
Condah, Victoria
Condah is a small town in south west Victoria, Australia and is located on the Henty Highway north of Heywood. At the 2006 census, Condah and the surrounding area had a population of 272.Condah Post Office opened on 12 May 1868 and closed in 2001...
and the surrounding river systems being of great importance to them economically and spiritually. They had a sophisticated system of aquaculture
Aquaculture
Aquaculture, also known as aquafarming, is the farming of aquatic organisms such as fish, crustaceans, molluscs and aquatic plants. Aquaculture involves cultivating freshwater and saltwater populations under controlled conditions, and can be contrasted with commercial fishing, which is the...
and eel
Eel
Eels are an order of fish, which consists of four suborders, 20 families, 111 genera and approximately 800 species. Most eels are predators...
farming as well as stone dwellings. They built stone dams to hold the water in these areas, creating ponds and wetlands in which they grew Short-finned eel
Short-finned eel
The short-finned eel, Anguilla australis, is one of the 15 species of eel in the family Anguillidae. It is native to the lakes, dams and coastal rivers of south-eastern Australia, New Zealand, and much of the South Pacific, including New Caledonia, Norfolk Island, Lord Howe Island, Tahiti, and...
s and other fish. They also created channels linking these wetlands. These channels contained weirs with large woven baskets made by women to harvest mature eels.
Convincing Ground massacre
In 1833, whalers clashed with the Kilcarer Gundidj on the beach at PortlandPortland, Victoria
The city of Portland is the oldest European settlement in what is now the state of Victoria, Australia. It is the main urban centre of the Shire of Glenelg. It is located on Portland Bay.-History:...
. Under dispute was the carcass of a beached whale. There is some current debate as to the veracity of reports regarding this massacre. However, diary reports of the time refer to a skirmish, involving Gunditj throwing spears and whalers firing guns. Though no mention of any fatalities were first recorded by Robinson, he later summised in his official report that there were many killed, with only two surviving. This summisation being based upon his Aboriginal interpretors who did not speak the local dialect. Not two months after writing his interpretation of this clash, stating of no incidence of any remaining local Aboriginals, a letter from the Portland Police Magistrate to Governor Latrobe stating of up to 200 Aboriginals amassing at the Convincing Ground contradicts Robinson's journal.
Eumerella Wars
Deen Maar was the site of conflict between the indigenous people of the area and European colonists. This conflict is referred to as the Eumerella Wars and took place over 20 years in the mid-19th century. The remains of people involved in the conflict are at Deen Maar.Recent History
From the late 19th century many moved into, or were moved into, the Framlingham Aboriginal StationFramlingham, Victoria
Framlingham was an Aboriginal reserve established by the Board for the Protection of Aborigines in Victoria, Australia in 1861. It was located beside the Hopkins River in the territory of the Girai wurrung near the boundary with the Gunditjmara, not to far from Warrnambool on the south-west coast...
, a mission
Mission (station)
A religious mission or mission station is a location for missionary work.While primarily a Christian term, the concept of the religious "mission" is also used prominently by the Church of Scientology and their Scientology Missions International....
outside Warrnambool. In 1987, the Victorian Labor government
Australian Labor Party
The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...
under John Cain
John Cain II
John Cain , Australian Labor Party politician, was the 41st Premier of Victoria, holding office from 1982 to 1990.-Biography:...
attempted to grant some of the Framlingham State Forest to the trust as inalienable title, however the legislation was blocked by the Liberal Party
Liberal Party of Australia
The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...
opposition in the Victorian Legislative Council
Victorian Legislative Council
The Victorian Legislative Council, is the upper of the two houses of the Parliament of Victoria, Australia; the lower house being the Legislative Assembly. Both houses sit in Parliament House in Spring Street, Melbourne. The Legislative Council serves as a house of review, in a similar fashion to...
. However, the federal Labor government under Bob Hawke
Bob Hawke
Robert James Lee "Bob" Hawke AC GCL was the 23rd Prime Minister of Australia from March 1983 to December 1991 and therefore longest serving Australian Labor Party Prime Minister....
intervened, passing the Aboriginal Land Act 1987, which gave 1130 acres (5 km²) of the Framlingham Forest to the Framlingham Trust. Although the title is essentially inalienable, in that it can only be transferred to another Indigenous land trust, the Framlingham Trust has rights to prevent mining
Mining
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, from an ore body, vein or seam. The term also includes the removal of soil. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock...
on the land, unlike trusts or communities holding native title
Native title
Native title is the Australian version of the common law doctrine of aboriginal title.Native title is "the recognition by Australian law that some Indigenous people have rights and interests to their land that come from their traditional laws and customs"...
.
In 1993, the Peek Whurrong speakers of the Dhauwurdwurung (Gunditjmara) Nation purchased the Deen Maar
Deen Maar Indigenous Protected Area
Deen Maar is a coastal property located in south-west Victoria, Australia bounded by the Eumeralla River and Bass Strait. It has an area of 4.53 square kilometres. The country consists of limestone ridges, wetlands, lakes and sand dunes. It is the traditional home of the Peek Whurrong speakers of...
under the auspices of ATSIC for the Framlingham Aboriginal Trust, with the intention that it become an Indigenous Protected Area, it was granted this status in 1999. It is the first IPA in Victoria.
Gunditjmara people from the Lake Condah and surrounding area fiercely fought for the recognition of their traditional owner rights. In 1987 (along with the Framlingham community) received recognition through the Australian Government's Aboriginal Land (Lake Condah and Framlingham Forest) Act 1987.
The Lake Condah Mob launched their Native Title Claim in August 1996 and following eleven years of self determination, the Lake Condah Mob are scheduled to received formal recognition for their Native Title Rights in March 2007.
On 30 March 2007, the Gunditjmara
Gunditjmara
Gunditjmara, or Gundidj for short, are an Indigenous Australian group from western Victoria . Their neighbours to the west were the Buandig people, to the north the Jardwadjali and Djab wurrung peoples, and in the east the Girai wurrung people.The name may also be spelt Gournditch-Mara...
People were recognised by the Federal Court of Australia to be the native title-holders of almost 140,000 hectares of Crown land
Crown land
In Commonwealth realms, Crown land is an area belonging to the monarch , the equivalent of an entailed estate that passed with the monarchy and could not be alienated from it....
and waters in the Portland
Portland, Victoria
The city of Portland is the oldest European settlement in what is now the state of Victoria, Australia. It is the main urban centre of the Shire of Glenelg. It is located on Portland Bay.-History:...
region. On 27 July 2011, together with the Eastern Maar People, the Gunditjmara People were recognised to be the native title-holders of almost 4,000 hectares of Crown land in the Yambuk region, including Lady Julia Percy Island, known to them as Deen Maar.
Through organisations like Winda Mara Aboriginal Corporation and the Gunditjmara Native Title Claimant Group (now the Gunditj Mirring Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation have initiated many important projects that are based on the principles of sustainable development and broader community engagement most notably, the Lake Condah Sustainable Development Project.
The Lake Condah Mob of Gunditjmara people have acquired around 20 square kilometres of properties along the highly significant Budj Bim National Heritage Landscape. The properties features the traditional constructed aquaculture system and sites of permanent settlement. The Gunditjmara's sites of permanent settlement dispel the myth of Gunditjmara being nomadic.
The Budj Bim National Heritage Landscape in this area has been listed as a Heritage Place on the Australian National Heritage List
Australian National Heritage List
The Australian National Heritage List is a list of places deemed to be of outstanding heritage significance to Australia. The list includes natural, historic and indigenous places...
.
Gunditjmara of note
- Reg SaundersReg SaundersReginald Walter Saunders MBE was the first Aboriginal commissioned officer in the Australian Army. Enlisting as a soldier in 1940, he served during World War II in North Africa, Greece and Crete before being commissioned as a lieutenant and serving as a platoon commander in New Guinea in...
, the first AboriginalIndigenous AustraliansIndigenous Australians are the original inhabitants of the Australian continent and nearby islands. The Aboriginal Indigenous Australians migrated from the Indian continent around 75,000 to 100,000 years ago....
commissioned officerOfficer (armed forces)An officer is a member of an armed force or uniformed service who holds a position of authority. Commissioned officers derive authority directly from a sovereign power and, as such, hold a commission charging them with the duties and responsibilities of a specific office or position...
in the Australian ArmyAustralian ArmyThe Australian Army is Australia's military land force. It is part of the Australian Defence Force along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. While the Chief of Defence commands the Australian Defence Force , the Army is commanded by the Chief of Army...
. - Richard FranklandRichard FranklandFor the nonconformist minister, see Richard Frankland Richard Joseph Frankland is an Australian playwright, scriptwriter and musician. He is an Aboriginal Australian of Gunditjmara origin from Victoria. He has worked significantly for the Aboriginal Australian cause.-Biography:Richard J. Frankland...
, playwright and musician. - Norm McDonald, AFL player.
- Archie RoachArchie RoachArchie Roach is an Australian musician. A singer, songwriter and guitarist, he survived a turbulent upbringing to develop into a powerful voice for Indigenous Australians, a storyteller in the tradition of his ancestors, and a nationally popular and respected artist.- Biography :In his own words,...
, singer. - Chris Johnson, Brisbane Lions AFL player.
- Nathan Lovett-MurrayNathan Lovett-MurrayNathan Lovett-Murray is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the Essendon Football Club in the Australian Football League....
, Essendon AFL player. - Wally LovettWally LovettWally Lovett is an indigenous former Australian rules football player who played in the VFL in 1982 for the Collingwood and in 1983 and 1984 for the Richmond Football Club.-External links:...
, Richmond and Collingwood AFL player. - Andrew LovettAndrew LovettAndrew Lovett is an Aboriginal Australian rules footballer who played in the Australian Football League for Essendon between 2005 and 2009...
, Essendon AFL player.