Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers and readers are advised that the following content includes names, images and stories of people who have died.
The first people to come to the land now known as Australia are believed to have arrived between 50,000 and 100,000 years ago. Their ancestors had travelled hundreds of thousands of years earlier out of Africa.
They moved around their tribal homelands according to seasons, sources of food, and social ceremonial purposes. Initially they were hunters and gatherers but they developed into farmers, fishers, engineers and fire-stick agriculturalists. They navigated through their tribal lands, which had boundaries that were respected and protected, using passed-on knowledge of astronomy, geography, landmarks, and rock-art maps. Aboriginal people recorded this knowledge in traditional song cycles, stories, dance and art which were often the basis of ceremonies.
By singing the songs in the appropriate sequence, Aboriginal people could navigate vast distances, often travelling through the deserts of Australia’s interior. The continent of Australia contains an extensive system of Songlines, some of which are of a few kilometres, whilst others traverse hundreds of kilometres through lands of many different Aboriginal peoples. Some were used as trade routes and others guided them to ceremonial places.
These routes through the landscape came to be believed to have been travelled during the Dreamtime (or Alcheringa) and featured a series of landmarks thought to relate to events that happened during this time.
In areas of denser occupation like along rivers or routes leading to resources, there would have been visible well-trodden paths but on less travelled routes Songlines were the means of navigation.
More about Songlines here: First Roads
The Wurundjeri people were the custodians of the land in the Port Phillip Bay region, including the area of the current City of Brimbank, for over 40,000 years before European settlement. St Albans lies within the area which was occupied by the Kurung-Jang-Balluk and Marin-Balluk clans of the Wurundjeri people (also known as the Woiwurung language group), who formed part of the larger Kulin Nation. Other groups who occupied land in the area included the Yalukit-Willam and Marpeang-Bulluk clans. There is a Locality Map below.
Aboriginal groups chose campsites close to rivers and creeks; traditionally used as travelling routes and sources of food. Canoes were made from bark, carefully removed from trees with a tomahawk and pole. Bark was also used to build shields, containers and temporary shelters. A number of trees in the area still bear marks from bark removal by Aboriginal people.
Fish and eels were a large component of the Aboriginal diet, caught with spears and sophisticated traps made from woven plant fibres and stones. Other commonly hunted animals include kangaroos, possums, bandicoots, wombats, koalas and birds.
The tuber of the yam daisy was a staple for Aboriginal people. This plant was found in abundance on grassy plains and the banks of creeks and rivers.
Ceremonies were an important part of Aboriginal life, the most common being the Corroboree.
Yarra River tribesman man in corroboree attire 1858-59.
Wurundjeri man ornamented for corroboree Photo: Antoine Fauchery circa 1858
Copyright: State Library of Victoria Accession Number: H84.167/52
Corroborees involved elements of dance, song, ritual and discussion, and were held for a variety of purposes including the rituals of marriage or initiation, was well as the resolution of trade or other disputes. Some European observers referred to corrobborees as war dances, and some recognised pure theatre:
“Suddenly, all was attention, waiting and watching for the entrance of the artists. The women performers entered first. They carried their opossum cloaks to act as musical instruments and seated themselves in a semicircle, with the opossum rugs stretched across their knees so that the skins acted as drums, the basic instrument of their orchestra. The leader entered, carrying in hand a corroboree stick of dry resonant wood about eighteen inches long. With faultless ease he took up his position between the women and the fire. As he turned towards the women, be made a droning sound, then struck the sticks. The great corroboree dance began.
The women beat their opossum skins in perfect unison. The dancers entered; they carried corroboree sticks and arranged themselves in straight rows. The leader scanned the company. All was ready. He beat his sticks with a rhythm that was taken up by the women and dancers. The exact group unison awed the spectators who sometimes praised or criticized in hushed whispers.
The dancers moved sideways then back; to the other side, then back; advanced, then retreated. While keeping up his nasal drone, the leader quickened his time: the dancers quickened their steps.
Once more the leader turned to the women, who raised their voices in song. He then turned to the dancers. They shook them-selves and leapt into the air to incredible heights. At last, taking a deep breath, they uttered a loud, shrill yell in such unison that it seemed to come from one voice. Thereupon, they vanished into the bush for a short rest, after which they appeared again.
This time the dancers formed a curved line, went through more steps, stampings and shakings of the body. In song, the women raised their voices to the loudest pitch, then lowered them to a soft cadence. The dancers formed in lines of four deep. In a flash, the perfect order was transformed into chaos, just as quickly, order and rhythm were restored. They shouted, stamped and jumped, the women beat louder and louder, their voices rose to the utmost pitch and volume. With decision, the leader struck his sticks. The great cadenza was over.”
Agnes Paton Bell, Melbourne: John Batman’s Village, Cassell Australia, 1965; pp34-35
Locality Map
With the onset of European settlement in the 1830s, the clans caring for the land in this area quickly disintegrated due to the spread of diseases brought by the Europeans and the serious mistreatment by some settlers.
As a result of this dramatic decline in the area’s indigenous population, few Aboriginal accounts of the region’s past exist.
Therefore, most information about Brimbank’s indigenous landowners is derived from the accounts of the Europeans who first settled in the area.
A total of 157 registered Aboriginal archaeological sites exist within this area; with the oldest artefacts found to be over 30,000 years old. Skeletal remains over 6,500 years old from a gravesite were found in Green Gully.
In addition to numerous stone and bone artefacts, scarred trees and silcrete quarry sites have been found along the Maribyrnong River, Taylors Creek and Steele Creek.
Some of the above information was obtained from the Brimbank City Council site:
https://www.brimbank.vic.gov.au/council/about-brimbank-council-and-community/history
The following descriptions of indigenous people in the area was obtained from: Thomas Flynn, ‘A History of Braybrook District’, typescript, Braybrook, 1906.
“During the early days of his settlement he had many dealings with the blacks, but they did not cause him much trouble. There were not many of them in the locality, as the absence of forests made game somewhat scarce.
Mr Alfred Solomon, who was born a few years after the family was established here, speaks of his father’s treatment of the natives. It was his rule not to allow them to bring their weapons, when visiting the homestead to receive food and presents, but they rarely showed any signs of hostility. A good deal of consideration was exercised towards them. They were very much interested in the ways of the white people, and nothing seemed to astonish them more than to see his father shave. They appeared to be always on the move from one part of their tribal territory to another in search of food. He has witnessed the Corroboree and others of their customs, and was, when a boy, very much in touch with the tribe. He has often seen a black fellow stand in the river and display his quickness of eye and sureness of stroke by striking fish with his spear as they swam around him.“
Another entry by Thomas Flynn:
The Marin Balluk were the people of the area west of the Maribyrnong on the eve of white settlement, occupying land extending to Kororoit Creek to the west and Sunbury to the north. Their alternative clan name and the name of their dialect was ‘Boiberrit’. They were part of the Wurundjeri or Woiworung tribe and members of the Kulin nation. The Marin Balluk men, writes Robert Mate Mate, had nose perforation and their hair was plaited with red ochre. Their head man was Bungerim.
In recent times more people have been investigating Aboriginal accounts of events after the arrival of Europeans and many dark secrets have been revealed about how some settlers treated the indigenous population. This is starkly demonstrated by the following map.
This map shows the locations of known killings of Aborigines by Europeans for the 18 years between 1836 and 1853. The deaths of several thousand people are represented. Many thousands more died beyond prying eyes. This map was compiled for the Koorie Heritage Trust’s publication ‘Koorie’ in 1991. More information about Aboriginal culture can be found at the following sites:
I thank Joe Ribarow for sourcing much of the above material.
Joe Ribarow has also researched what is known about individual members of the First People and composed the following stories about them. These stories add to our understanding of the First People and give more insights to how the invaders saw them and how they treated them.
A Summary of the Fate of the First People
When European settlers arrived in Australia in 1788, they brought with them attitudes and systems that profoundly disrupted and harmed Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. The settlers claimed land under the concept of terra nullius (meaning “land belonging to no one”), ignoring the fact that Indigenous peoples had lived on and cared for the land for over 65,000 years. Indigenous communities were forcibly removed from their land, and sacred sites were destroyed or taken over. This loss of land and resources was devastating, as it not only disrupted traditional ways of life but also severed deep spiritual and cultural connections to Country.
In addition to dispossession, the settlers introduced violence, disease, and policies of assimilation that caused widespread suffering. Many Aboriginal people were killed in frontier conflicts, and diseases like smallpox, to which they had no immunity, led to massive population loss. Children were taken from their families as part of the Stolen Generations, a government policy aimed at erasing Indigenous culture. These actions led to long-term trauma and disadvantage that are still felt in Indigenous communities today. The mistreatment of Indigenous Australians during and after colonisation remains a painful part of the nation’s history and is central to ongoing calls for truth-telling, justice, and reconciliation.
Addendum
My 1960s High School textbook on Australian history, “Australia and Her Northern Neighbours” by D. E. Edgar, shows how lowly the First Nations people were regarded. “Aborigines” are only acknowledged in two paragraphs of a book which was used to teach Australian history. Even two paragraphs give us insight into the attitudes to First Nations that were prevalent in the 1960s.
“The seventy sheep brought out with the First Fleet had hairy fleeces and were only good for food, not wool. In any case, Australian grasses were hard, the climate and aborigines unkind, and within a year only one sheep remained. Others had to be brought from Europe.” p43
“Aboriginal art must be mentioned as an indigenous art of great skill and character. The aborigine’s sense of design and clarity of meaning in spite of the use of symbols in painting and carving could well be adopted by young artists in Australian art. The landscapes of aborigines such as Albert Namatjira stand outside both native and Australian art. They tend to be interesting as curiosities, while illustrating potential artistic ability.” p203
The only other information about First Nations that I recall from my childhood are pictures of black men holding spears and boomerangs.
Some years ago, I decided to find out more about the First Nations people of Australia and started searching for information to deepen my understanding. When I started this website about the history of St Albans, I decided that for completeness, it should begin with stories about the First People who lived in the area. I hope this page will provide a better understanding of their history – before European settlement – and shed light on the attitudes toward, and treatment of, First Australians by those who came later.
This painting by Albert Namatjira – Waters of the Finke (1958) sold for $245,455 in 2021.
This painting by William Barak – Figures in Possum Skin Cloaks (1898) sold for $500,000 in New York in 2022.
Nick Szwed
April 2025