They had a simple and quick method of their own, that used by their forefathers through centuries of time, one indeed common to savage peoples all over the world, the creating of a spark by the friction of two pieces of wood rubbed together. A troop of painted savages would bound into the magic circle, and prancing about and clash, ing thelir spears, would announce in hoarse tones that they could not find the poomblts, (the boys who were being initiated). or wattles as the blacks at Port Stephens called them, wer e very neatly fashioned and per- fectly balanced. Starving Aboriginal people began killing stock. Dungog Chronicle : Durham and Gloucester Advertiser (NSW : 1894 - 1954) Fri 22 Dec 1905 Page 5 Scraps of Early History. The fish spear (tutti) was .made In three distinct parts. This was done and Mr. Donelan accompanied me himself to Stroud, while the constables and soldiers went by water to Booral. I have already described how the fishing spears were made, and have told something of the skill with which they were used. The Keeparra Ceremony of Initiation. Some are said to have survived the operation for three days. . established a heifer station at Bakers Creek, twelve miles north-east of Gloucester, now known as Upper Ghangat. In their midst, throughout the duration of this fantastic dance, remained the youths who were being made poombit. The women were covered as in the other ceremony be- fore mentioned. The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser (NSW : 1803 - 1842) Tue 12 Aug 1834 Page 2 SUPREME CRIMINAL COURT. The company has spent more than$15 million formulating plans for the project, which includemoving the homestead to a nearby farm, or the town of Broke, 35km away. Wong-ko-bi-kan, an aboriginal native, was indicted for the wilful murder of John Flynn, by wounding him with a spear at Williams River on the 3rd April last, of which wound he lingered until the 6th following, and then died. One would he deputed to climb for the quarry, and with his tomahawk would set about making toe-holds In the bark up the straight bole. The keerang and other men who have remained in the camp then muster up all the women, and place them lying down round the fire, a little way outside the ring of bushes before referred to, the women of each tribe being kept in groups by themselves on the side next their own district, and are covered over with rugs and bushes. They disappeared in a northerly direction but were pursued by a party of armed soldiers and assigned servants and overtaken some twenty miles away. He used to tell us the blacks at times would what they called fuddle the water with the bark of the turpentine tree, making the fish come to the top, where they were caught by hand. On the following morning he would accompany the men to the weengarah, or meeting place where they assemble to discuss all such matters as they do not wish the women or uninitiated youths to take part in. The men make a guttural noise as the novices are shown each tree, and also in going from one tree to another. From the time the novices left the kweealbang until now they have been compelled to carry pieces of burning bark everywhere they went, but they are now released from carrying the firebrands any more. Here the final tragedy occurred; a stand was made by the blacks, but in vain. They never smiled nor did they ever applaud. Fame Cove was taboo after the sun had fallen, and no native would linger in that vicinity when the shadows began to lengthen. Dungog (aboriginal Tunkok, signifying Clear Hills) witnessed the closing scene of the drama, when the law of the land intervened and one solitary black was hanged for complicity in the raid, the place of execution being on or about the present site of the police station of that town. The waters of the bay teemed with fish of every description, easily taken at all times. After a great deal of fuss the men announced that they would make an- other attempt to find the poomblts, and to the accompaniment of clashing spears and hoarse shoutings, dashed out into the screen of bushes again. After the dances and games are over, one of the men sometimes sounds a goonandhakeea (excrement-eater) in the bush near the camp. We arrived at 4 p.m. and found Messrs. Jenkin and Swayne had returned from Lawlers and had found the whole flock of sheep, missing and all the people much scared. Some had straight, long shafts tipped with pointed bone, either of fish or animal; others were pointed and barbed. Among the tribes in the Williams valley it was not uncommon for the medicine- men of hostile tribes to sneak into a camp at night under cover of the darkness, or a cloud, and with a net of peculiar construction garrotte one of the tribe, drag him a few hundred yards from the camp, cut up his abdomen obliquely, take out the kidney and caul-fat and then stuff a handful of sand and grass into the wound. Marriages were arranged by the parents and kindred, and a wife was chosen from a neighboring tribe; for instance a man living at Gresford obtained a wife from the Hunter River. This would be chip- ped and shaved with extreme care until the desired curve had been ob- tained, when the finishing touches would be put on it with scrapers made of shells or glass. Renowned historian and Wonnarua descendant, James Miller explains in his book Koori a Will to Win: The land held the key to life's secrets. But men were callous, and life was cheap in those far off days, and tradition tells a yet weirder tale of a blood bounty at half a crown per head.. The Wonnarua Language & Culture Archive is owned and managed by the Wonnarua Nation Aboriginal Corporation (WNAC), and it has been created for educational purposes. Another group, the Wanaruah Local Aboriginal Land Council, declined to be interviewed, but it wasunderstoodthe group believed evidence of a massacre on the site was inconclusive. This also made it easier for the maker to scrape the billet down to the required thick- ness with the crude tools at his command. They immediately pack up all their movables, and start away some distance to another locality which has been previously decided upon by the headmen of the several tribes, and there they erect a new camp, being assisted in this work by some of the old men who have been directed to remain with them. A letter published in the Dungog Chronicle, by an RJ Hector in 1906 and based on a list of local aboriginal words originally compiled in the 1840s. A canoe-shaped vessel of bark a couple of feet long, was half filled with water and placed near him. I was present at [a corroboree] 55 years ago with the rest of our family. This puts the novices in a great state of anxiety and alarm, but they are not allowed to speak or gaze about them. Taking away the boys.On the evening of the day preceding the principal cere- mony, all the tribes remove their camps close to the kackaroo, or public ring, where they remain for the night. We must remember that the majority of these men were convicts and assigned as servants to the settlers or squatters, as they were more generally termed, Some of these assigned men were undoubtedly of a very depraved nature, . After this visit of the keerang the novices are allowed greater liberty, being permitted to sit up straight in the camp, and occasionally to stand. Through these holes two cords were threaded. These sheep were driven to Berrico at shearing time. The weight and strength of the whole spear was regulated according to the purpose for which It was specifically intended, thus the heaviest of them were utilised only for spearing the big sea mullet which swarm into the harbor in countless millions at certain seasons of the year. In this section, there's a wealth of information about our collections of scientific specimens and cultural objects. We would like to acknowledge the Wonnarua people who are the traditional custodians of this land. The principal headman then walks along the row of novices, bending down the head of each one until his chin is resting on his breast. On reaching the weengarah, which would be only a short distance from the camp, the messenger would tell the headman and elders the purport of his mission, and would hand them a white quartz crystal which had been given to him by the chief initiator when dispatching him on this errand. Discover the diversity of boomerangs in the Museum's collection, and learn about these distinctive cultural objects. Some language documentation may also record words and meanings inaccurately. Discover your family history. Dungog Chronicle : Durham and Gloucester Advertiser (NSW : 1894 - 1954) Tuesday 2 May 1922 p 3 CONFLICTS WITH THE NATIVES. Leaves are then thickly strewn on this bark, forming a kind of couch, and when the painting of the novices is completed, they are led into the ring and placed sitting down in a row on the couch of leaves - the novices belonging to each tribe being put in a group by themselves on that side of the ring which faces their own country. Arriving at the foot of the hill the men threw down their weapons on the ground, and springing on to the cleared space, danced on the fire with their bare feet until it was extinguished. Mr. McKenzie was, some four months later, accidentally killed fell off his horse while crossing the Cobark River opposite the reserve above Cobark House and his remains rest on a grassy knoll close by. The kinship group was the economic and social unit of the tribe. He said the absence of a recognised native title holder, as was the case in the Hunter Valley, couldfurther complicate claims. a stir when a detachment entered the circle, and with dancing, yelling, and gesticulations, and brandishing of arms at intervals, all made a rush to the fire, yelling, and jumping on it until extinguished, when they retired. It was isolated and open to attack. To dig his grave a spade was borrowed from us, and the excavation was made on the foreshores, a few yards above high- water mark. As part of the ceremonies, the aspirants undergo the ordeal of having an upper front tooth either bitten off or knocked out with a stick prepared for the occasion. Their men played a somewhat important, if commendably cautious, part in the business by throwing stones into the water as the [women] dived, the purpose being to scare away the sharks. They had knocked down and carried away eight colonial sheep; all the rest were stolen yesterday. Company first established itself on the shores of the harbor. Sharks were about the only thing the blacks feared in the water. Two fled south, one of whom (an elderly man) was overtaken early in the pursuit; the other a man named Green traversed the wild mountain[s] .. of the Upper Gloucester, Monkerai, Wangat and Chichester Rivers, resting only to fly again from the sounds of his relentless dusky pursuers. What was the nature of this preliminary induction I was never able to learn, But their period of probation must have been a trying one indeed. 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