Taungurong
Encyclopedia
Kulin
The Kulin nation, was an alliance of five Indigenous Australian nations in Central Victoria, Australia, prior to European settlement. Their collective territory extended to around Port Phillip and Western Port, up into the Great Dividing Range and the Loddon and Goulburn River valleys. To their...
alliance of indigenous Australians. They lived to the north of and were closely associated with the Woiwurrung speaking Wurundjeri
Wurundjeri
The Wurundjeri are a people of the Indigenous Australian nation of the Woiwurrung language group, in the Kulin alliance, who occupy the Birrarung Valley, its tributaries and the present location of Melbourne, Australia...
people. Their territory was to the north of the Great Dividing Range in the watersheds of the Broken, Delatite, Coliban, Goulburn and Campaspe Rivers. They were also known by white settlers as the Devil's River Tribe or Goulburn River Tribe.
The Taungurong people used the King and Howqua River
Howqua River
The Howqua River is a river in south-eastern Australia. It originates on the slopes of Mount Howitt before flowing through the Alpine National Park in Victoria...
valleys as a major route for trade or war between tribes. The Howqua River valley contains a number of archaeological sites of significance including at least two quarry sites for greenstone
Greenschist
Greenschist is a general field petrologic term applied to metamorphic or altered mafic volcanic rock. The term greenstone is sometimes used to refer to greenschist but can refer to other rock types too. The green is due to abundant green chlorite, actinolite and epidote minerals that dominate the...
, an exceptionally hard rock used for stone axes, spears and other cutting tools which the Taungurong traded with other tribes.
A raiding party of up to 40 Taungurong is believed to have been killed in May-June 1839 on Dja Dja Wurrung territory at the Campaspe Plains massacre
Campaspe Plains massacre
Campaspe Plains massacre, occurred in 1839 in Central Victoria, Australia as a reprisal raid against Aboriginal resistance to the invasion and occupation of the Dja Dja Wurrung and Daung Wurrung lands...
.
In February 1859 some Wurundjeri elders, led by Simon Wonga
Simon Wonga
Simon Wonga ngurungaeta and son of Billibellary, was an elder of the Wurundjeri indigenous people who lived in the Melbourne area of Australia.In 1840 Simon Wonga injured his foot in the Dandenongs...
(aged 35) and brother Tommy Munnering (aged 24) petitioned Protector William Thomas
William Thomas (Australian settler)
William Thomas represented Aboriginal people in various roles in the Port Phillip district during his lifetime.-Various official roles:...
to secure land on behalf of the Taungurong clans for the Kulin
Kulin
The Kulin nation, was an alliance of five Indigenous Australian nations in Central Victoria, Australia, prior to European settlement. Their collective territory extended to around Port Phillip and Western Port, up into the Great Dividing Range and the Loddon and Goulburn River valleys. To their...
at the junction of the Acheron and Goulburn rivers in Taungurong territory. Initial representations to the Victorian Government were positive, however the intervention of the most powerful squatter in Victoria, Hugh Glass, resulted in their removal to a colder site, Mohican Station, which was not suitable for agricultural land and had to be abandoned.
In March 1863 after three years of upheaval, the surviving leaders, among them Simon Wonga and William Barak
William Barak
William Barak , was the last traditional ngurungaeta of the Wurundjeri-willam clan, based around the area of present-day Melbourne, Australia...
, led forty Wurundjeri, Taungurong (Goulburn River) and Bun warrung
Bunurong
The Bunurong are Indigenous Australians of the Kulin nation, who occupy South-Central Victoria, Australia. Prior to European settlement, they lived as all people of the Kulin nation lived, sustainably on the land, predominantly as hunters and gatherers, for tens of thousands of years...
people over the Black Spur
Black Spur
The Black Spur is a road between the towns of Healesville and Marysville in Victoria, Australia.-Statistics:* Length : 30* Corner Ratio: 80%* Corner Speeds: 60-120 km/h* Legal Speed Limit: 80 km/h* Traffic : 2-5* Bumpiness: Smooth...
and squatted on a traditional camping site on Badger Creek near Healesville and requested ownership of the site. This became Coranderrk
Coranderrk
Coranderrk was an Indigenous Australian mission station set up in 1863 to provide land under the policy of concentration, for Aboriginal people who had been dispossessed by the arrival of Europeans to the state of Victoria 30 years prior. The mission was formally closed in 1924 with most residents...
Station.