Aboriginal History of our area
Aboriginal contact[edit]References to Aboriginal people in the Carlingford historical record in the 18th, 19th and into the 20th century remain scant and further research is necessary. There are many historical ambiguities and uncertainties around clan, language and cultural groups of the area.
The inhabitants of the Carlingford area at the time of the arrival of the First Fleet at Port Jackson in 1788 were the Wallumedegal or Wallumattagai people.[2] This clan were observed to live in the area bounded approximately by the Parramatta River in the south, the Lane Cove River in the east, the Parramatta area in the west and ranged north for an uncertain distance.[3] The Wallumedegal appear to have been of the Eora language group.[4] The clan name seems to have been derived from wallumai, the snapper fish, combined with matta, a word used in association with ‘place’ or sometimes ‘waterplace’.[5]
Evidence of fire-stick land management along the northern banks of the Parramatta River were observed in February 1788 by an exploring boat party headed by Captain John Hunter and Lieutenant William Bradley[6] in such places which became known as Kissing Point and Meadowbank.[7] The green pasture created by the Aboriginals’ land management encouraged game to graze and allowed for their organised harvesting. Around and above these pastures backing up into the Carlingford area were thick, tall stands of Blue Gum High Forest.[8]
The dispossession of the Aboriginal people in the Parramatta area began soon after the arrival of the colonists at Port Jackson. The British established a military post at Parramatta in November 1788 which displaced a group of Burramattagal people into Wallumedegal land at Kissing Point.[9] The devastating impact of smallpox on Aboriginal populations[10] and further incursions of the colonists into the area in the 1790s greatly disrupted Aboriginal life.
Early land grants in the Carlingford area in the 1790s included those to Cox, Mobbs[11] and Arndell.[12] Around 1800 about 100 Aboriginal people were noted as living around Cox’s Brush Farm on the Carlingford-Eastwood border.[13] By 1827 the numbers of Aboriginal people in the area were observed to have dropped considerably.[14]
The inhabitants of the Carlingford area at the time of the arrival of the First Fleet at Port Jackson in 1788 were the Wallumedegal or Wallumattagai people.[2] This clan were observed to live in the area bounded approximately by the Parramatta River in the south, the Lane Cove River in the east, the Parramatta area in the west and ranged north for an uncertain distance.[3] The Wallumedegal appear to have been of the Eora language group.[4] The clan name seems to have been derived from wallumai, the snapper fish, combined with matta, a word used in association with ‘place’ or sometimes ‘waterplace’.[5]
Evidence of fire-stick land management along the northern banks of the Parramatta River were observed in February 1788 by an exploring boat party headed by Captain John Hunter and Lieutenant William Bradley[6] in such places which became known as Kissing Point and Meadowbank.[7] The green pasture created by the Aboriginals’ land management encouraged game to graze and allowed for their organised harvesting. Around and above these pastures backing up into the Carlingford area were thick, tall stands of Blue Gum High Forest.[8]
The dispossession of the Aboriginal people in the Parramatta area began soon after the arrival of the colonists at Port Jackson. The British established a military post at Parramatta in November 1788 which displaced a group of Burramattagal people into Wallumedegal land at Kissing Point.[9] The devastating impact of smallpox on Aboriginal populations[10] and further incursions of the colonists into the area in the 1790s greatly disrupted Aboriginal life.
Early land grants in the Carlingford area in the 1790s included those to Cox, Mobbs[11] and Arndell.[12] Around 1800 about 100 Aboriginal people were noted as living around Cox’s Brush Farm on the Carlingford-Eastwood border.[13] By 1827 the numbers of Aboriginal people in the area were observed to have dropped considerably.[14]
Source: Wikipedia; Carlingford/Epping- Partners in History