Sydney Aboriginal Language Insights

SYDNEY CLAN BOUNDARIES: Cadigal and Wangal

For a number of years the University of Sydney has been acknowledging that it is situated ‘on Cadigal land’. But is it? There are few historical records giving an indication of the territory of the Cadigal clan. Some are presented here:

John Hunter

“The tribe of Camerra inhabit the north side of Port Jackson. The tribe of Cadi inhabit the south side, extending from the south head to Long-Cove; at which place the district of Wanne, and the tribe of Wangal, commences, extending as far as Par-ra-mata, or Rose-Hill. The tribe of Wallumede inhabit the north shore opposite Warrane, or Sydney-Cove, and are called Walumetta. I have already observed that the space between Rose- Hill and Prospect-Hill is distinguished by eight different names, although the distance is only four miles.”

Hunter, John. 1968 [1793]. An Historical Journal of Events at Sydney and at Sea, 1787-1792 / by Captain John Hunter, Commander H.M.S. Sirius; with further accounts by Governor Arthur Phillip, Lieutenant P. G. King, and Lieutenant H. L. Ball. Edited by J. Bach. Sydney: Angus and Robertson in association with the Royal Australian Historical Society. —p. 275

Watkin Tench

“The tribes derive their appellations from the places they inhabit: thus Càmeeragal, means the men who reside in the bay of Cameera; Càdigal, those who reside in the bay of Cadi; and so of the others.”

Tench, Watkin. 1979 [1789, 1793]. Sydney’s First Four Years, being a reprint of ‘A narrative of the Expedition to Botany Bay; with an account of New South Wales, its Productions, Inhabitants, &c., to which is subjoined, A List of the Civil and Military Establishments at Port Jackson’ and ‘A Complete Account of the Settlement at Port Jackson in New South Wales, including an accurate description of the Situation of the Colony; of the Natives; and of its Natural Productions’. Sydney: Library of Australian History in association with the Royal Australian Historical Society. —p. 292

Philip Gidley King

Australian	respelt	English	JSM	source
"Cadi"	Gadi =	"The tribe of Cadi are on the South side, extending from the South head to Long-Cove; at which place the district of Wanne, & the tribe of Wangal commences, extending as far as Par-ra-mata, or Rose-Hill."	Cadi :	King MS [:405:17] [BB]

Anon Notebook

"Càdigal"

gadigal =

"tribe at, near, Sydney; by bay of Cadi"

underneath-men :

Anon (c) [:43:3] [Syd]

Science of Man: Dept of Mines 1901

"Caddie"

gadi =

"South side of Sydney Harbour, from South Reef to Long Nose Point, Balmain."

SofM 19011022 [148 MINES–NSW] [:148.2:3] [Syd]

George Thornton

"Caddie" Gadi = "The native name of the country lying between Longnose Point, Balmain, and South Head, was “Caddie,” and the aboriginal term for a tribe or clan being at that time “Gal,” the tribe inhabiting that stretch of country between the points named were called “Caddie Gal.”" Cadi : Thornton, Notes [:7:2] [Syd]

LONG NOSE POINT

Two of the above refer to Long Nose Point—seen at the centre top of the following map:

From selectively drawing on the above information, modern websites confidently affirm precise clan boundaries — as in the following instance:

“The Cadigal and Wangal people
The Inner West Environment Group acknowledges that the corridor we are establishing runs through the lands of the Cadigal and Wangal clans of the Eora nation. Hawthorne Canal, formerly called Long Cove Creek, was the boundary between the Cadigal and the Wangal peoples’ lands.”

Hawthorne Canal is the blue streak descending from the bottom of Iron Cove

This website has deduced that Long Cove was Iron Cove, and accordingly that Cadigal territory extended to the Hawthorne Canal, at the head of Iron Cove, the location of which appears in the accompanying Google map.

The following historical photo also identifies Iron Cove with Long Cove:

The description reads: Long (Iron) Cove Bridge, Sydney

However, is this right? Where in reality is or was ‘Long Cove’? It is either Darling Harbour or Iron Cove.

LONG COVE: THE CASE FOR DARLING HARBOUR

Modern websites

A Wikipedia entry states:

“When the First Fleet reached Sydney Cove in January 1788, a consignment of 5,000 bricks and 12 wooden moulds for making bricks was included in the cargo carried by the transport Scarborough. This token consignment was adequate enough to enable the first settlers to make a start on the colony’s first buildings, until the location of a suitable site for brick-making could be found. A site deemed suitable for this endeavour would need to have a plentiful supply of clay and a ready source of fresh water. Approximately a mile from the settlement, at the head of a long cove (and consequently so named), a suitable site for brick-making was located. This site was later named Cockle Bay, and still later, Darling Harbour.[1]”

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cockle_Bay_(Sydney)]

The Darling Harbour case is supported by another website:

“Until the arrival of Europeans, the Cadigal people, the original inhabitants of the area around Sydney Cove, called Darling Harbour Tumbalong (place where seafood is found).

When Sydney was founded in 1788, the bay was called Long Cove because of its unusual length. The large shell middens left by generations of Cadigal people in the area soon saw the name Cockle Bay come into everyday use.”

[http://www.darlingharbour.com/sydney-Education-Heritage_and_History.htm]

David Collins: First Fleet Historian

Collins, in hsid Volume I, provided indicators of what was intended by ‘Long Cove’ in the following excerpts:

Page 17: bricks

A gang of convicts was employed, under the direction of a person who understood the business, in making bricks at a spot about a mile from the settlement, at the head of Long Cove; at which place also two acres of ground were marked out for such officers as were willing to cultivate them and raise a little grain for their stock;

Comment

Bricks were made at the head of Cockle Bay/Darling Harbour, as the following extract attests:

[http://www.frankmurray.com.au/?page_id=288]

Two more Collins extracts

Page 101: at the back of the settlement

“At a muster of the convicts which was directed during this month, one man only was unaccounted for, James Haydon. Soon after the muster was over, word was brought to the commissary, that his body had been found drowned in Long Cove, at the back of the settlement.”

Page 17: ‘a capital view’ of Long Cove from Government House

“The government-house was to be constructed on the summit of a hill commanding a capital view of Long Cove, and other parts of the harbour; but this was to be a work of after-consideration; for the present, as the ground was not cleared, it was sufficient to point out the situation and define the limits of the future buildings.”

Distances: ‘A mile from the settlement’

From the map above, the head of Darling Harbour (Cockle Bay) is under 2 km or about one mile from ‘the settlement’. This matches Collins’s description. By contrast, the head of Iron Cove is about 6-7 km at least from ‘the settlement’ or about four miles.

Further, Government House is unlikely to have had a ‘capital view’ of the head of Iron Cove, but might have had such a view of the head of Cockle Bay.

CONCLUSIONS

The evidence extracted from the writers of the First Fleet period indicates that Cadigal territory extended to the head of Darling Harbour (Long Cove), at which point Wangal territory commenced, and extended to Parramatta.

The University of Sydney would consequently be placed in in the District of Wanne, and not in the Cadi district.

Watkin Tench (cited above) stated:

On the modern UBD street directory map above, ‘the bay of Cadi’ may be identified as Watsons Bay from the beach at its southern extremity transcribed on the map as ‘Kutti’, but indubitably pronounced the same. (It can be seen at the bottom of the map, to the right of the inscription ‘Village Point’.)

SYDNEY CLANS

Finally, the following is a map of clans and indigenous place names of the eastern Sydney Harbour region:

Thursday 27 September 2012

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27 September 2012

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