Awaba or Lake Macquarie in 1841

Heritage Map of Lake Macquarie or Awaba with geological locations (NSW Department of Trade and Investment)

This gem of a chart of Awaba or Lake Macquarie was located in the DIGS database this morning by our colleague Mr Russell Rigby.

It is an historical chart or map of Lake Macquarie with geological locations marked including Aboriginal place names. The database says that the outline was sketched by W. Procter from his examination in August 1841 and base printed by W. Baker Lithographer, King Street Sydney. Extensive notes were possibly made by the Reverend W. B. Clarke regarding rock outcrops and the location of fossils.

Of particular note is the fossil forest that is referred to by the Reverend Lancelot Threlkeld as Kurra-Kurran. For further information on this petrified forest please consult the following resource “Fossil Pine Forest, Lake Macquarie: Compiled by Michael Organ, with assistance from John Byrnes” (14 April 2009) Available online here: http://www.uow.edu.au/~morgan/forest.htm

On Michael Organ’s page is a link to a online resource by Mr John Byrnes which leads to a dead link. We have retrieved the original document from the Internet Archive, and can be accessed here:

“Kurrur Kurran ~ Seeking all aspects connected with A Fossil Forest at Fennell Bay (NW corner of Lake Macquarie)” by John Byrnes (4.7MB PDF File)

Heritage Map of Lake Macquarie or Awaba with geological locations (Courtesy of NSW Department of Trade and Investment)

The place names and annotations recorded on the chart include:

AWABA (an extra ‘a’ is included in ink) or LAKE MACQUARIE

THE OCEAN

“Broughton’s Point” (Now Bolton’s Point)

‘Fossil trees’ are marked in ink further along towards what is now Fennel’s Bay. On the inset map this is marked in ink as “Kurran Kurran” and the Toronto-Coal Point peninsula marked “Tirabeenba”

“Ebenezer Colliery” and “Wharf” at modern day Coal Point.

The possible site of Reverend Threlkeld’s Mission House is also illustrated with a drawing of a house at modern day Toronto.

In ink are the words “Tree Fossil Beds” on the southern coastline and the words “Tir abeenba” over the peninsula of what is now modern Coal Point and Carey Bay. Compare this name for the peninsula  with another recorded by Henry Dangar in 1828 as “Derahbamtbah” See: http://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/2787133

“Erraring Bay”

“Wangee Wangee” (Wangi Wangi)

“Pulbah I[slan]d” and inside the island is printed “Burregorons I[slan]d” – is this a reference to Burigon, one time Chief of the Newcastle Tribe circa 1820?

“Point Woolstoncroft”

“Point Morrissett”

“Moon I[slan]d” is marked further down to the south of Catherine Hill Bay. Russell Rigby adds “there are several references in the 19th century to Moon Island as an area south of Catherine Hill Bay (hence Moonee Beach and Moonee Colliery) – now Flat Rocks?”

Further up coast is marked in ink “Wabung Head” at the southern end of Catherine Hill Bay

In pen adjacent to coastline is marked “Sand dunes Conglomerate Shales & Lignite Beds with trap dykes & faults”

Adjacent to present day Catherine Hill Bay is marked in illegible pen “Punibbo(?) Rozinba(?)”

“Coolocoolo” in ink near present day Caves Beach

Along present day Swansea is marked in ink “Fossil Tree Beds” & “Reefs”

Where Moon Island is today is marked in ink as “Nirritin I[slan]d” and below “Grits & Sand & Stones”

“Reid’s Mistake” (“Victoria Bay” in ink is marked)

“Shoal Point”

“Neck(?)” near modern day Black Ned’s Bay

“Keep Clear Point”

“Pelican Island”, in ink is marked close by “Mud Island”

“Canoe Point” and nearby in ink is marked “Kahiba” (close to “Kahibah” in Dangar’s 1828 Map see: http://catalogue.nla.gov.au/Record/2787133 )

“Fishing Point”

“Red Head”

In pen is marked “Coal Series(?)”

“Moderately elevated” is marked in pen along the coastline

In pen along coastline towards Red Head is marked “Sandy Dunes and Beach of blown? sand & shells”

“Three Hammocks”

“Flat Point”

The pen annotation on the side of the map – “The serious gale of April 1842 completely altered the entrance into the Lake WBC[?]“

Pen annotation near scale bar “incorrect scale”

Pen annotation top right corner (near Redhead) “33 [degrees] S”

There are also very faint & indecipherable pencil annotations in margin of map – we will need to see original to adequately decipher those.

There is also a square pencil grid drawn on map – was this done for reproduction at different size/scale?

1841 Awaaba Map overlay in Google Earth

KUR-RUR-KUR-RÁN  (Threlkeld 1834) “Forest of Petrified Trees”

Kur-rur-kur-rán (Kurrurkurrán) – The name of a place, in which there is, almost, a forest of petrifactions of wood, of various sizes extremely well defined. Situated in a bay at the N. W. extremity of Lake Macquarie. The tradition of the Aborigines is, that formerly it was one large rock which fell from the heavens and killed a number of blacks, which were assembled where it descended, they being collected together in that spot by command of an immense Guana, which came down from heaven for that purpose. In consequence of his anger at their having killed lice by roasting them in the fire, those who had killed the vermin by cracking, were previously speared to death by him with a long reed from Heaven! At that remote period the moon was a man named Pón-to-bung (Póntobung) , hence the moon is called he to the present day; and the sun being formerly a woman, retains the feminine pronoun she:. When the Guana saw all the men were killed by the fall of the stone, he ascended up into heaven, where he is supposed now to remain.
- Threlkeld, L. E. (Lancelot Edward), 1788-1859. An Australian grammar : comprehending the principles and natural rules of the language, as spoken by the Aborigines in the vicinity of Hunter’s River, Lake Macquarie, &c. New South Wales. Sydney : Printed by Stephens and Stokes, 1834. (p. 85)

Kurra Kurrarn is Blackalls Bay at the north-western extremity of the Lake, and is known as a site of water-covered pertrified forest. Large numbers of petrified wood pieces have been removed from the shallow waters and used to form front fences at homes in Blackalls Park.

According to the Awabakal legend, as told by Threlkeld, a huge rock fell from the shy and killed a number of natives assembled there by the command of an immense iguana, who had descended from the heavens to call these natives together. This reptilian spirit (a rare mention of reptile life in this form) was angry because natives had killed lice by roasting them on a fire. (These were probably a type of sea lice that occasionally invade Lake Macquarie). The iguana had previously dealt with natives who had killed lice by cracking them. This the iguana did by spearing them to death with a long reed from heaven.
- Percy Haslam Papers A5410(i) leave 4

Gionni Di Gravio
University Archivist and Chair of the Coal River Working Party

Government Farm c1810 Archaeological site visit

On the 29th August 2009 members of the University of Newcastle’s Coal River Working Party were invited to inspect the archaeological dig being undertaken on the site of the former Palais Royale (now KFC) site in Newcastle West.

This is the second visit to to the site to speak with archaeologist Matthew Kelly (AHMS) who was overseeing the investigation of the colonial history of the site. The previous day was spent with archaeologist Alan Williams inspecting the Aboriginal heritage finds.

Lycett painting of Newcastle circa 1817 showing former Palais site at far right. Courtesy of Newcastle Art Gallery (Photograph by Bruce Turnbull)

An early representation of the site can be found on this painting by Joseph Lycett, held in the Newcastle Gallery entitled “Newcastle, New South Wales, looking towards Prospect Hill.” circa 1816-1817. It appears as a small white dot at the right edge of the painting.
In the video topics discussed were:
1. the high research value of high resolution historic images being placed online by the University in the form of the Ralph Snowball images,
2. the discussion of ‘Trench 4′ the site of the Commandant’s Cottage circa 1810 on the site of the Government Farm,
3. McLellan Hellyer and Co. Ironmongers store destroyed by fire in 1890 see Image here
4. Aboriginal site, hearths and ancient dune system approximate dating (at the time of filming) to the Holocene 10,000 years and younger,
5. Dangar’s Meat Preserving Works 1848-c1854,
6. Demolition work undertaken on the former Palais Royale and subsequent damage to the site.

We are very interested in learning more of the colonial heritage of the site that involves the clearing of the land in the 1790s, the establishment of the Government Cottage and farm (c.1810), Henry Dangar’s Meat Preserving Works 1848-c1854, the Elite Skating Rink, McLellan Hellyer & Co., leading up to the Palais Royale.

Despite requests we are yet to see the second report of the archaeological dig encompassing the colonial history from this important site in Newcastle.

Gionni Di Gravio
Chair, CRWP

For more info:

Click here for the first report on Aboriginal Heritage of the site (11.4MB PDF)

Click here for a video presentation by Alan Williams (AHMS) 30th September 2011

Aboriginal Heritage Recommendations

On the 23 June 2011 a successful motion and order for papers by Greens MP David Shoebridge passed in the NSW Upper House. The Coal River Working Party were invited to view those papers on the 17 July 2011, and a delegation consisting of ten members traveled to the NSW Parliament to view them and suggest recommendations. Please see our briefing to the NSW Parliament on our thoughts on what we think needs to change.

University of Newcastle Coal River Working Party – 19/7/11

KFC Development – Aboriginal Heritage Review

 

Respect for Culture. There needs to be a greater respect for Aboriginal heritage and culture within Australia, through ongoing education and public information. At present, even though there are laws to protect Aboriginal heritage, there is scant regard for them and they can be circumvented within the development approval process, as was clearly demonstrated in the KFC development.

Evidence. It is impossible to write history without documentary records, and equally important that it is verified and corroborated by surviving physical evidence. Without documentary and physical evidence you don’t have a case in a court of law, and neither do you have a case for a culture, without evidence all you have are unsubstantiated stories. So, it is crucial that:

1. archaeological reports are made and completed,
2. are of the highest scientific standards,
3. are open to public scrutiny, and
4. are publically accessible for ongoing research.

The Law. Aboriginal heritage continues to be managed through the National Parks and Wildlife Act, which predominantly focuses on flora and fauna legislation. It is essential that a separate Act that primarily deals with Aboriginal heritage be developed, which many other States already have in place.

Terminology. It may be helpful to avoid the separation of histories as ‘Aboriginal’ and ‘Colonial’, and referring to both as ‘Australian History’. This would avoid the 200 year myopic view of Australian history as a ‘young’ country only 200 years old, and begin to absorb a more comprehensive history dating back millions of years, including geological, pre-historic, indigenous and colonial.

Aboriginal Heritage Impact Permit. The process of gaining an Aboriginal Heritage Impact Permit (AHIP) to legally damage and destroy Aboriginal artifacts needs to be urgently reviewed. Currently, almost 100% of AHIP applications are approved by the NSW government, many of which have been issued to other State Government departments, such as the previously known DECCW (1) . Legislation should focus on what the developer should do with the important heritage site, such as interpretation, visual displays, avoiding or at the very least minimising impacts on Aboriginal cultural heritage and should not focus on the methods used to destroy heritage.

Heritage Reports. The creation of archaeological heritage reports needs to be a more transparent and independent process.  At present, archaeologists are in the direct employment of the developers and are therefore placed in a difficult position, especially with the pressures from their employer to complete the job with minimal cost, rather than to thoroughly document the tangible evidence of past history on the site. In order to ensure the validity of results, archaeological reports should be created by an archaeologist(s) that are independent of the developer, and working under the aegis of the Government, such as the Department of the NSW Minister for Heritage.

All archaeological heritage reports, relating to Australian history (encompassing both European heritage and Aboriginal heritage), should be made available to the public via the public and University libraries. As it stands, completed reports are only available to the public at the decision of the developer. As such, most reports are not made accessible to the public and their validity cannot be publically scrutinised. What this means, in effect, is that our local history has been privatised, and we do not have access to our heritage.

For significant sites, such as this one, the resultant report from an archaeological heritage assessment must be made available before any development can commence. As evidenced with the KFC development, the Aboriginal archaeological report was released approximately 1-year after the KFC was built. At least 6,800 year old highly significant Aboriginal artifacts had already been destroyed by the time the report was released. It is imperative that it is a legislative requirement for all archaeological reports to be completed and released for viewing prior to the commencement of development. It is also imperative that archaeological investigations take place during the inactive period of a development site. An example is the current former Empire site, across the road from the KFC site which is currently lying fallow, with no development pressures – this is the time to conduct a thorough investigation.

Predictive Aboriginal Sites Map. It is vital that there is an early identification of Aboriginal heritage issues in the development planning process. There is currently no legislative requirement to identify Aboriginal heritage issues at the early stages of a development and therefore they are typically not mentioned by developers. It is important that funding be made available for local Council to prepare a predictive aboriginal sites map, to ensure that potentially important sites are identified and proper measures taken.

Indigenous Consultation. It is the view of the Awabakal Traditional Owners that, in this instance, they have been included within the consultation process with the Archaeologist Alan Williams, however they have not had much communication with the KFC site manager and/or the proponent regarding the proposed Aboriginal interpretation for the site.  With this in mind, at the time of the excavation they did feel that their efforts to bring their concerns regarding the importance of the Aboriginal and Colonial Cultural Heritage contained within the site fell on deaf ears.

1. See Answers by the relevant Ministers representing the Minister for the Environment and Climate Change, to Question on Notice Number 0127 (31 July 2007), Number 2091 (28 October 2008), Number 3009 (7 May 2009) and Number 3120 (17 June 2009), Legislative Council, asked by Ian Cohen MLC, as available to download at http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au.

(The University’s Coal River Working Party wishes to thank Melanie Patfield and Jane Ison who distilled the views of the participants and prepared the original drafts of this document. We also thank the ten participants that generously gave up their day to work on this matter.)

Dr Jim Wafer – On the Hunter River – Lake Macquarie language.

Dr Jim Wafer is a member of the Endangered Languages Documentation, Theory and Application (ELDTA) group at the University of Newcastle, Australia, and has worked with Australian Aboriginal languages for the past 35 years. He is currently collaborating with Professor Hilary Carey on an edition of Lancelot Threlkeld’s translations into the Hunter River-Lake Macquarie language.

On 21 June 2011 Dr Wafer delivered this paper in the Friends Reading Room, Cultural Collections, Auchmuty Library.

A reply to Dr Wafer’s paper was delivered by Mr Raymond Kelly, Associate Lecturer at the Wollotuka Institute.

Abstract:

Lancelot Threlkeld, to whom we owe most of our knowledge of the Hunter River-Lake Macquarie language (HRLM), recorded almost no indigenous texts, but devoted himself to scripture translation. From a linguist’s perspective this might perhaps be considered a deficiency, since it deprives us of the opportunity to understand HRLM verbal art as it was practised by the speakers themselves. Nonetheless, it gives us the chance to investigate semantically HRLM’s approaches to the issues of human subjectivity with which the scriptures deal, and these are less likely to be encountered in indigenous stories and songs.

Threlkeld uses two different words to translate “soul”: maray and minki. The first of these occurs more often as a translation of “spirit”, and the latter as a translation of “sorrow, sympathy, repentance”. Both words are polysemous in HRLM, and the present paper will demonstrate the range of their allusions, in the context of Threlkeld’s translations, and attempt to draw some broader inferences about the HRLM understanding of subjective processes.

NSW Upper House takes action for the sake of our Aboriginal Heritage

MOTION PASSED UNANIMOUSLY IN THE NSW UPPER HOUSE

LOSS OF UNIQUE ABORIGINAL HERITAGE IN NEWCASTLE WEST

That this House notes that:

1. Approximately one year ago a fast food restaurant costing $2.5 million was built in Hunter Street, Newcastle West, over one of the most significant Aboriginal heritage sites in New South Wales.
2. The Excavation Report for this site was not released until one month ago, almost a year after the restaurant was built, thus making its assessment of the heritage impact of the development redundant.
3. The Excavation Report found the site to be of “high to exceptional cultural and scientific significance” and should have been available before the restaurant was built so as to justify retention of the site as a state significant site of Aboriginal cultural heritage.
4. The site contained a significant number of artefacts, including ancient Aboriginal stone tools with unique stonework and campsite remains, which are over 6,000 years old, evidence of some of the earliest human settlement in the Newcastle area.
5. The site also included a large array of colonial-era artefacts.
6. Under the previous government Aboriginal Heritage Impact Permits, effectively permits to destroy Aboriginal heritage sites, were given at the rate of approximately 5 per week.
7. Members of the local Awabakal people have stated that the final excavation report “highlighted the lack of rigour in the state government’s assessment of Aboriginal heritage”.
8. No acceptable plan has been made for the retention and display of these unique artefacts in the local region.

That this House:

1. Recognises the irreplaceable nature of this state’s Aboriginal heritage and the value of Aboriginal artefacts, and acknowledges the tragic loss of Aboriginal heritage that this development has created.
2. Calls on the government to review the failings in the current Aboriginal heritage protection regime and consider measures to ensure that a similar tragedy does not occur in the future.

 

ORDER FOR PAPERS PASSED UNANIMOUSLY IN NSW UPPER HOUSE

ORDER FOR PAPERS

That, under standing order 52, there be laid upon the table of the House within 14 days of the date of passing of this resolution all documents in the possession, custody or control of the Minister for Heritage and the Minister for the Environment, or the Department of Premier and Cabinet, relating to the development of the KFC restaurant at 227-231 Hunter Street, Newcastle, including the former Palais site, and any document which records or refers to the production of documents as a result of this order of the House.

 

For more information: http://davidshoebridge.org.au/2011/06/23/nsw-upper-house-takes-action-on-aboriginal-heritage/

Two additions to the Virtual Sourcebook for Aboriginal Studies

Broughton, W.G. and Threlkeld, L.E. A Selection of Prayers for the Morning and Evening From The Service of the Church of England Intended for the introduction of publick worship Amongst The Aborigines of Australia, 1834. The Venerable W.G. Broughton M.A. Arch Deacon of New South Wales and its Dependencies. Translated Into the Northumberland Dialect by L.E. Threlkeld, 1834. [3.75MB PDF] Courtesy of the Mitchell Library. Thank you to Dr Jim Wafer for alerting us to its existence. We also sincerely thank Mrs Marjorie Raven, great grand daughter of the late Reverend Threlkeld for her permission to publish this manuscript online.

Bramble, Christine W. Relations between Aborigines and White Settlers in Newcastle and the Hunter District 1804-1841 with special reference to the influence of the penal establishment. Dissertation submitted as part of the requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Letters in History at the University of New England. January 1981. [4.24MB PDF] Made available for download with the kind permission of the Author.

Two Surveying Reports Released

We have today posted two surveying reports by the University’s Emeritus Professor John Fryer on our Coal River Working Party and Aboriginal Sourcebook sites. Both reports pinpoint important locations in the region’s history including the site of Threlkeld’s mission house at Belmont and the location of Barrallier’s camp site during the early survey mission in 1801.

Fryer, Emeritus Professor John. Where Did Ensign Barrallier camp in 1801? A Report for the Coal River Working Party. [28 February 2008]

Fryer, Emeritus Professor John. Where was Reverend Threlkeld’s First Mission House at Belmont? A Report prepared for Mr Doug Lithgow, A Freeman of the City of Newcastle. (764 KB PDF) [28 February 2008]

We thank Emeritus Professor Fryer for his work.