Wathaurong

The Wathaurong are an individual community of Indigenous people in Australia. They are part of the Kulin Nation of Aboriginal people and have lived in the southeastern area of the country near present-day Melbourne for more than twenty-five thousand years. They are also known as the Wadda-Warrung or the Wathaurung. European settlers named the Wathaurong ancestral lands Barrabool, so Indigenous people were also sometimes known by that name.

As the first inhabitants of the land, the Wathaurong and other Indigenous peoples are an important part of Australia’s history. The Wathaurong are remembered as the community that took in escaped English prisoner William Buckley in the early nineteenth century. Buckley lived as one of the Wathaurong for thirty-two years before returning to life among the Europeans.

Background

Australia was uninhabited until about forty to seventy thousand years ago. Archaeologists believe people from mainland Asia migrated to the Australian continent. Lower sea levels facilitated their journey, connecting parts of Asia with Australia by land bridges. These original inhabitants moved from north to south along the coastlines, mostly settling near the coasts.

During the eighteenth century, explorers and settlers from England and other European nations began arriving on the continent. The newcomers introduced new diseases to the area for which the Aboriginal people had no immunity. Many Aboriginal people died as a result. Indigenous peoples were also forcibly removed from their homes. Children were placed with white European families to prevent them from learning Indigenous ways. Some Aboriginal adults were forced into slavery. Disease, fighting, and mistreatment took a toll on the Aboriginal population, which was estimated to have dropped by about 90 percent by 1900.

Government reforms in the twentieth century led to improved treatment of Australia’s Aboriginal people and helped their population bounce back. Modern Australia is home to more than five hundred Indigenous nations. One of these is the Kulin Nation, which was historically concentrated near the Port Phillip area of South Victoria. The Kulin Nation includes five groups distinguished by their ancestral languages. These are the Boonerwrung, the Dja Dja Wrung, the Taungurung, the Woiwurrung, and the Wathaurong. Each of these groups was further divided into clans. Clans are smaller groups within the larger nation that share customs, traditions, and ceremonies. Clan members did business together and generally married within the clan.

Overview

The Wathaurong are comprised of twenty-five clans. Historically, the Wathaurong lived in round domed houses. The lower parts of these houses had stone walls, while the upper sections were built with mud-plastered sticks that created a small opening at the top to allow smoke to escape. These homes were often clustered around a similar but larger building that could hold about forty people at a time. These structures were used for larger gatherings and ceremonies.

The Wathaurong created flint tools such as axes, knives, spears, and grinding stones. They made weapons by adding sharpened edges of stone to sticks using kangaroo sinew—the strong tissue that holds muscles to bones. They also used tree resin as a form of glue to hold the tool’s parts together. These tools were used to craft other useful objects, such as bark canoes, bowls, and baskets made of grass.

The Wathaurong were hunter-gathers and used their tools to catch game and fish and forage for food. They used spears to kill small mammals, birds, snakes, and lizards. They also fished with hooks made of bird bones and shells. The Wathaurong harvested many types of plants to round out their diets. These included potatoes, yams, shoots, and plants with small leaves, such as watercress. A favorite cooking method was to use a basket made with rushes and add whatever meat and edible plants were available. The basket was sewn shut and placed under hot stones and coals in a community oven.

Although considerable time would have been spent in the hunting, harvesting, and preparing of food, the Wathaurong also devoted time to entertainment. Tribe members passed along their history and culture through song and dance. They used traditional drums with possum skin heads as well as wooden instruments such as clap sticks. They also conducted spiritual practices that revered a god known as Bundjil, the creator of the Kulin.

The Wathaurong lived as hunter-gatherers for centuries before they first encountered Europeans in 1802. On Christmas Day 1803, British prisoner William Buckley escaped from a prison settlement at Sullivan Bay with two other men. The others turned back, but Buckley continued to wander. In his travels, Buckley picked up a spear he found stuck in the dirt atop a grave. When he was later found by a group of Wathaurong, they believed he was the man who had been buried in the grave come back to life. He was taken back to the dead man’s family and lived with them for thirty-two years. He remained with Wathaurong until the tribe began planning a raid that would have killed some white men. Unable to allow this to happen, Buckley revealed the plot to the potential victims. As a result, he was pardoned for his crimes and his escape. He returned to life among the European settlers in 1835.

While most Wathaurong in the twenty-first century live a modern lifestyle, many continue to observe some ancient traditions. Like many Indigenous people, the Wathaurong face racial discrimination and a loss of important cultural aspects and language. They also face inequalities in access to healthcare and have a higher rate of infant mortality and lower life expectancy than non-Aboriginal people. In the twenty-first century, the Australian government has taken some steps to improve these problems.

Bibliography

“Aboriginal People.” Survival International, 2019, www.survivalinternational.org/tribes/aboriginals. Accessed 9 Feb. 2025.

“About Us.” Wathaurong Aboriginal Co-Operative, wathaurong.org.au/about-us. Accessed 9 Feb. 2025.

“Ancient Australia.” Oxford University Press, www.oup.com.au/‗‗data/assets/pdf‗file/0027/58176/Chapter-8-Ancient-Australia.pdf. Accessed 9 Feb. 2025.

“Australia Sorry for 'Mistreatment' of Aborigines.” National Public Radio, 14 Feb. 2008, www.npr.org/2008/02/14/18978384/australia-sorry-for-mistreatment-of-aborigines. Accessed 9 Feb. 2025.

“History.” Wathaurong Aboriginal Co-Operative, wathaurong.org.au/history. Accessed 9 Feb. 2025.

“Our People.” Australian Government, www.dfat.gov.au/about-us/our-people. Accessed 9 Feb. 2025.

“Wathaurong and the Land.” Torquay Museum Without Walls, 3 Oct. 2015, torquayhistory.com/wathaurong-and-land. Accessed 9 Feb. 2025.

Zimmer, Carl. “How Did Aboriginal Australians Arrive on the Continent? DNA Helps Solve a Mystery.” New York Times, 8 Mar. 2017, www.nytimes.com/2017/03/08/science/aboriginal-australians-dna-origins-australia.html. Accessed 9 Feb. 2025.