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Essays

mubaya – speak an unknown language

yuridyuwa – sit near (to sit near anyone)

berewalgal – people from a distant place

Aboriginal people have always lived in Sydney. Following the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788, the British encountered Aboriginal people around the coves and bays of Port Jackson. The Aboriginal communities here were both generous and combative towards the colonisers. Many places around the harbour remained important hunting, fishing and camping grounds long after Europeans settlement, and continue to be culturally significant today.

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  • First Contact

    First Contact

    Author: Anita Heiss In 1770 Captain James Cook met few Aboriginal people on the Eastern Australian shoreline. Because they did not grow crops and because he assumed there were no…