Lesson Two
Value of landscapes :
The first people of the Illawarra
Lesson delivery
Student directed
Lesson description
The relationship between the first peoples of the Illawarra and their landscape
Lesson time
90 minutes
Supporting materials
What's in a name?
This series of lessons uses the duel name Mount Keira / Djeera for the local landform that looms above the city of Wollongong.
"All Australians share a relationship to the land and the names we give to places convey their significance, sense of history and identity.
The New South Wales (NSW) Government is committed to recognising our Aboriginal cultural heritage by registering original place names given by Aboriginal people so that they sit side by side with existing European names. Since June 2001 the government has supported a dual naming policy for geographical features and cultural sites."- Geographical Names Board
Duel names for geographical features are becoming more common in Australia.
Choosing a duel name in an indigenous language is complicated because:
There was no written language on this continent, so many variations of spelling can be found. Djeera and Geera are both used for this landform.
Different pronunciations exist within the dialects of a language group, and even between the sexes and whether an individual was fully initiated. For Dharawal (also refered to as Tharawal) men, tooth evulsion- the deliberate removal of a front upper tooth, was practised as an initiation rite. This would change the way a man would pronounce words.
Neighbouring language groups would have different names for a landform.
The Fact Sheet regarding conventions for duel names can be found by clicking here.
ACTIVITY
Using an internet search
Find the names of three Australian landforms that now have duel names.
Then discover the meaning or origin of these names.
Record your research on your worksheet.
You may find different names for the same place, for example, the mountain that Lieutenant James Cook named 'Pigeon House' was known as 'Didthul' to the local coastal people of Ulladulla, but 'Balgan' to the nearby mountain people.
Humans and the landscape
Illawarra landscape
The Illawarra landscape has an overlay of human activity. The more recent human additions are obvious, but the overlay of modifications has occurred over thousands of years.
Long history
The long history of the overlay can be identified with close inspection of the landscape.
The Illawarra landscape is a product of the interaction of people and place, creating what geographers refer to as ‘sense of place’.
Sense of place
This ‘sense of place’ is the qualities of a landscape that make it unique and distinguishes it from other places.
The place shapes people’s personal, local and national identity.
People and place
The relationship with the landscape is central to the people that inhabit it.
Over hundreds, or even thousands of years indigenous peoples of the world have developed intense spiritual connections to the landscape and its landforms.
In the last lesson we learnt about the modern scientific knowledge of how the Illawarra landscape came to be; however, indigenous peoples (such as the Dharawal) have their own stories about how the world came to be.
Creation
Many stories passed down the generations involve supernatural beings that create the world and its geographical features. Other stories explain the origin of plants, animals and people.
Indigenous Australian stories are typically multi-layered, with the stories an education not only about how the world was formed, but also how people should interact with each other and their environment.
ACTIVITY
Watch the film below and listen to the Dreaming story of Oola Boola Woo and his daughters.
As you listen to the story note down key words or ideas.
Imagine you have been tasked with creating a picture book for Kindergarten children.
Choose one part of the plot, and draw an illustration.
A sentence of simple text to help interpret your scene can be added.
Connecting with local landforms
Watch the video that includes the dreaming story about how Mount Keira / Djeera (or Geera in this telling) and the Five Islands came to be.
On your excursion to Mount Keira / Djeera you will observe a series of sculptures that depict this story.
Spiritual value
The landscape and landforms of the Illawarra hold spiritual significance for the Dharawal people.
The landscape features and the living things that live on them connect the Dharawal to the Dreaming and ancestral creators.
A sacred site is a place of special spiritual significance to Indigenous Australians.
Uluru is one widely known sacred site for people of central Australia.
The summit of Mount Keira / Djeera is of similar sacred importance to local people.
Aesthetic value
'Aesthetic' value refers to the beauty that a landscape or landform has.
People have differing tastes, individually and culturally, so the aesthetic value of a landscape may not be appreciated equally by all.
People develop emotional attachment to the places that they live beyond simple appreciation of beauty. If change occurs to these geographic features it can provoke distress.
Economic value
We think of economy today in terms of money. But the word itself derives from the Ancient Greek for 'managing the household', or the production, use, and management of resources.
The Dharawal people did not use currency, but they certainly managed the landscape to produce all the food, water, shelter and entertainment they required.
The economic well being of the Dharawal depended on the sustainable use of the resources the landscape provided.
A managed landscape
Fire farming
Additional information on this practise can be found here
In 1815 the Illawarra was still being managed by Dharawal speaking people, and the mosiac pattern of ecosystems (frequently burned grasslands and less often burnt areas of forest) can be observed in this painting by Edward Close.
Economic importance of local landscape
'Social evolutionism' is an outdated concept that considers agricultural societies to be more 'advanced' than hunter gathering societies.
It is erroneous idea that can still be found in some modern Australian publications.
Hunting and gathering required an incredible knowledge of the landscape. Indigenous Australians needed to know hundreds of different species and their habitats, the annual cycles for their use, methods of catching, collecting and processing them, as well as how to produce the tools and equipment needed to catch or harvest these plants, animals and fungi.
To then also carefully incorporate fire to increase abundance and biodiversity in a sustainable ecological practise is arguably far more advanced in thinking then the use of the land today.
As lieutenant Cook observed and recorded in his journal:
"...they are far more happier than we Europeans; being wholly unacquainted not only with the superfluous but the necessary Conveniences so much sought after in Europe, they are happy in not knowing the use of them. They live in a Tranquillity which is not disturb’d by the Inequality of Condition: The Earth and sea of their own accord furnishes them with all things necessary for life..."
The Dharawal speaking people practised a sustainable economy for thousands of years.
The more recent arrivals did not.
We still do not today.
Initial European entry to the Illawarra was for the extraction of a single tree species, and the exploitation of the Red Cedar removed most of these trees rapidly.
The entry of agriculturalists after this violently transformed the landscape to accommodate just a few introduced domestic plants and animals.
The extraction of coal followed shortly afterward.
Trade
Ground edge axes were of great importance to the First Nations people of Eastern Australia. These tools were a form of technology used in this region for the last four thousand years.
The best stone to make these axes was found in only a few areas, so these tools were traded over hundreds of kilometres.
Archaeologists have been able to determine where ground edge axes originated from by sampling the mineral content of these tools.
The axes in this image were uncovered by a bulldozer on Mount Kembla / Djembla.
ACTIVITY
On your worksheet there is a map showing where ground edge axes were found, and where the stone they were made from is found.
Using google Earth determine the straight line distance (minimum distance) that these axes travelled from their origin to their last place of use.
The instructions for finding distance between two points in google Earth can be found here.
Art in the landscape
Modifying the landscape with art is an ancient human practise, and some of the oldest art in the world can be observed in Australia. Dharawal art in the landscape still remains were it has been protected from protected the elements and from people. These stencilled handprints and foot prints from inland of Unanderra are one of the more common images that remain.
ACTIVITY
The land now managed by Sydney Water is protected from most human activities. Even bushwalkers are prohibited from entering. This closure has protected the art sites of the Dharawal people and their ancestors.
In your work booklet a map of all the known rock art sites west of Wollongong. The size of each spot indicates the number of art works at a site.
Compare this Art site map with the map of the same region from Google maps.
Complete the legend on the Art site map.
Jumbulla - Land
ACTIVITY
After watching this video reflect on the information it contains.
Three
Record three things you have learnt from the video.
Two
Record two things that you found interesting from the video, and why these appealed to you.
One
Think of one question that you would like to ask the people who made this video.
The author of this page has made every attempt to present factually correct information in a culturally sensitive manner.
Please contact the IEEC if you believe errors have been made in this learning resource.
Select bibliography:
Bowern, N 2019 Aboriginal people of the Southern Highlands Berrima District Historical Society
Cahir, F, Clark, I D, & Clarke, P 2018 Aboriginal Biocultural Knowledge in South-eastern Australia CSIRO Publishing
Foley, D & Read, P 2020 What the colonists never knew: A history of Aboriginal Sydney National Museum Australia
Gammage, B 2011 The biggest estate on Earth: How Aborigines made Australia Allen & Unwin
Sutton, P & Walshe, K 2021 Farmers or hunter gatherers? Melbourne University Press
Wesson, S 2005 Murni dhungang jirrar : living in the Illawarra NPWS