Year 9 History Flashcards
Pre-Colonial Victoria
Migration to Australia:
Humans migrated from Asia to Australia via land bridges during the Ice Age (60–80,000 years ago).
Aboriginal arrival in Victoria dates back at least 40,000 years.
Archaeological Evidence:
Hearth at Keilor carbon-dated to 31,000 years ago.
Moyjil site (Hopkins River Mouth) debated as evidence of human activity, possibly dating back 120,000 years.
Aboriginal Beliefs:
Many Aboriginal beliefs reference being created by an entity, suggesting they have always been in Victoria.
Pre-Colonial Victoria:
Diverse language and cultural groups; over 39 languages spoken at the time of European arrival. Language groups divided into clans or family groups with defined regions.
Examples of Clans:
Wadawurrung divided into 25 clans:
Bengalat balug clan → associated with Indented Head
Burrumbeet balug clan → associated with Lake Burrumbeet
Broader Cultural Groups:
Language groups formed larger cultural groups or nations (e.g., Kulin nation). Groups engaged in intermarriage and trade.
Use of Land in Pre-Colonial Victoria
Victoria has numerous bioregions that were utilized in various ways by First Nations People.
Victoria has diverse bioregions: volcanic plains, coastal regions (plains and forested), river flats, lake districts, desert, mountains, and rainforests.
Aboriginal communities utilized these varied landscapes effectively:
Western plains had kangaroo and murrnong (yam daisy), harvested extensively. The Gunditjmara people in SW Victoria created complex eel traps at Lake Condah, supporting semi-permanent settlements.
River systems and southern coastline areas provided fish and shellfish; shell middens indicate Aboriginal presence.
Victorian Alps had seasonal Bogong moth influxes, sustaining populations. Honey was abundant, especially in Northern Gariwerd (Grampians).
Land resources were used for essential products and trade:
Mt Noorat served as a major meeting and trading hub in SE Australia. Possum skin cloaks were valuable for warmth in cooler
climates.
Sustainable land management practices included:
Controlled use of fire for regeneration and clearing hunting grounds.
Construction of elaborate fish and eel traps for food supply.
Aboriginal groups demonstrated expert knowledge and complex cultural practices: Semi-nomadic lifestyle based on seasons and food availability. Family, religious practices, and intergroup connections (marriages and trade) were deeply integrated into their culture.
Lore and Songlines
Lore: The overarching term for Aboriginal culture, including stories, customs, beliefs, and spirituality passed down through the Dreaming. Lore governs all aspects of life and is transmitted across generations.
Songlines: Aboriginal walking routes connecting key sites, guided by songs describing landmarks and directions. These are memorized and passed down, enabling navigation without maps. Songlines carry ancestral stories, form part of a clan’s identity, and were maintained through use and care before colonization.
Kinship
In Aboriginal Victorian cultures were known as complex codes of conduct that underpinned social hierarchies.
Kinship determines social standing, marriage eligibility, respect obligations, and trading relationships.
Extended family is important—children may call multiple people mother or father.
Kinship rules govern land ownership and regulate social relationships.
Moiety
Latin Word Meaning ‘Half”
Moiety Systems, everything, including people and the environment, are split into 2 halves.
A person’s Moiety can be determined by the mother’s (matrilineal) or the father’s side (patrilineal).
People who share same Moiety are considered siblings, they are forbidden to marry and have a reciprocal responsibility to support each other.
Totems
Natural object, plant or animal that is inherited by members of a clan or family as their spiritual emblem.
Totems define people’s roles and responsibilities, and their relationships with each other and creation Totems can be a natural landmass or waterway, plant or animal, and each family belonging to the nation is responsible for the stewardship of their totem which includes maintenance of sacred sites and ceremonies.
This also gives them intellectual copyright over art, dances, songs and stories. Totems are split between Moieties to create a balance of use and protection.
For e.g., members of one Moiety protect and conserve an animal, members, while of the other Moiety may eat and use the animal. This results in the sustainable use of the land and its resources.
Skin Names
Similar to a surname, indicating a person’s blood line. Each nation has its own Skin Names, and each name has a prefix or suffix to indicate gender.
Unlike surnames, husbands and wives don’t share the same Skin Names and the children don’t share their parents names.
Rather, Its a sequential system, so Skin Names are give based on the preceding name and its level in the naming cycle.
The role of clan in social connections
Connection through language group
Names
It was common for Aboriginal people to have various names and the name they were given as a child did not necessarily adhere to them all their life.
People sometimes exchanged names as a mark of friendship. This was typically done during a great ceremony or gathering so that it was announced to the whole community.
Personal names were not perpetual and a person would not be named after their father of mother. It was believed that being named after a deceased person could lead to an untimely death.
Once a person dies they are referred to by a general term. For e.g. in the Chaap wurrong people of SW Victoria this name was ‘muuruukan’ - dead person. Once mourning was complete, Names of deceased persons were forbidden to be mentioned.
Trade
Victoria was dotted with trade routes where different commodities were pasted from one group to another. Axe heads from Mt Willian were traded widely throughout Victoria as were possum skin rugs and weapons such as spears and waddys. Large groups of Aboriginal people would gather seasonally at specified places along these trade routes to trade, arrange marriages. settle disputes, renew alliances and exchange culturally significant information.
Conflict
Victorian Aboriginal had alliances with other communities that were usually based on distant kinship and marriage. For e.g., the Kulin people around Melbourne tended to marry and trade with other Kulin people.
People who were not of one’s nation or language group were often viewed with suspicion and enmity. People from other language groups and different nations were feared as enemies or sorcerers.
A semi permanent state of warfare existed between some language groups and even sometimes with neighbours. Warfare also resulted from dispute over trade, women or transgression over land or ritual transgressions.
Whlist violence was a common feature both within and between clans, it was contained through cultural practices, especially with neighbouring groups. An attack on one clan member was considered an attack on all clan members. Likewise, if revenge was undertaken and the exact perpetrator could not be found, family members of the clan could be held responsible.
Victorian Aboriginal communities were very fearful of sorcery. Many times if a death could not be explained it was believed that sorcery was involved. Many revenge killings took place because of such beliefs.
Unlike Europe, Asia, North and South America and Africa Wars in Victoria were not fought over the possession of land. Some violence occured due to people accessing resources or trespassing on sacred site without permission but never over the actual ownership of the land.
Sealers and Whalers
It is likely that European sealers + whalers sailed the waters around Victoria prior to European settlement.
The extent of this unknown, but whalers + sealers did operate extensively in Victorian waters after 1800.
Several reports indicate that sealers + whalers interacted with Aboriginal people in Victoria. These interactions were usually hostile, with Europeans stealing and abusing Aboriginal women.
Explorers
Convict settlements had already been established in NSW + Tasmania long before Europeans arrived in Victoria.
18 Jan 1788: 1st fleet arrived at Botany = 1st established European settlement at Sydney Cove (26th Jan 1788).
1788 -1842: 80,000 convicts transported to New South Wales
1804: Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania) settled = 76,000 convicts transported by 1853.
Once these settlements had been established, explorers mapped the Victorian coast.
1798: George Bass sailed through Bass Strait, sighting the coast around Wilson’s Promontory + Western Port Bay.
1800-1803: Other mariners continued mapping the Victorian coastline. James Grant + John Murray (in the Lady Nelson), Matthew Flinders + Frenchman Nicolas Baudin.
They Named various geographical features: Portland Bay, Lady Bay (Warrnambool), Cape Albany Otway, Cape Schanck, Arthurs Seat, Mornington, Indented Head, Corio Bay (Geelong), You Yangs, Swan Bay + Queenscliff.
Convicts
1803: A convict settlement at Sullivans Bay (near Sorrento) was founded, but failed due to a lack of timber + fresh water.
A convict from the settlement, William Buckley, escaped + lived in the Port Philip region for the next 32 years.
Buckley was initiated into the Wadawurrung tribe, engaging in their cultural activities + learning how to survive.
Buckley’s knowledge of the Wadawurrung reduced conflict with Aboriginal communities during early settlement.
Provided important detalis about the lifestyle + culture of Aboriginal People in Victoria prior to settlement.
Illegal Settlement
By 1820s, explorers began surveying the land + illegal settlements were developing.
1824: Hamiltion Hume + Willian Hovel reporting that land between Sydney + Port Philip contained fertile land.
1828: Willian Dutton set up a permanent whaling stations at Portland and what is now Dutton Beach + Narrawong.
Dutton Introduced pigs into Victoria + is believed to have had several ‘native discouragements but.
1834: Henty Brothers arrived in Portland Bay from Tasmania with livestock, establishing farm and pastoral run.
Despite warnings from the Govt of NSW, Sir Richard Burke, settlers sought to exploit the Port Phillip District.
Early 1835: Port Phillip Association, led by John Batman, formed by 15 leading colonists of Van Diemen’s Land.
Intended to view to purchase large tract of land from Aboriginal people on southern coast of Victoria.
29th May 1835: Batman arrived at Port Philip + rowed up the Yarra River, to Edgar’s Creek near Thomastown.
Signed 2 treaties with Wurundjeri elders in the area, argued that they ceded land to the Port Philip Association.
Claimed 500,000 acres north of Melbourne + 100,000 acres around Geelong.
26 Aug 1835: Proclamation by Govt Bourke declared Batman’s treaty invalid + settlers at Port Philip to be trespassers.
Some settlers feared Bourke wanted to turn the Port Philip District into a “reservation for the natives”.
Outcry had occurred in Tasmania due to the wiping out of Tasmanian Aboriginal people by settlers.
Oct: Bourke Wrote to his superior Lord Glenelg, recommending settlement proceed under control of NSW govt.
“The dispersion will go on not withstanding the discouragement, but accompanied by much evil that might be prevented by the guidance and control of authority opportunely introduced.
