Abstract dark blue pattern with curved and geometric lines and shapes, resembling stylised waves or leaves, on a matching dark blue background.

Barani sites

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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Archaeology, Essays, People, Places, War
  • Lake Northam

    Lake Northam

    Blackwattle Creek was once a tidal watercourse that extended from its marshy headwaters at Glebe towards the suburbs of Redfern and Waterloo to the south. Lake Northam within Victoria Park…

  • Bennelong Point / Dubbagullee

    Bennelong Point / Dubbagullee

    Bennelong Point / Dubbagullee, the peninsula on the eastern side of Sydney Cove, was the site of a brick hut built for Bennelong by Governor Arthur Phillip in 1790. Within…

  • Lilyvale Campsite

    Lilyvale Campsite

    Author: Paul Irish and Tamika Goward The Rocks area is mainly known as a place of early European history, but it was also used by Aboriginal people for many years…

  • Sheas Creek (Alexandra Canal) Alexandria

    Sheas Creek (Alexandra Canal) Alexandria

    Author: Paul Irish and Tamika Goward At Beaconsfield in the 1890s, workers on the Alexandra Canal began cutting through the sediments of Shea’s Creek and made some remarkable discoveries. The…

  • Tank Stream Sydney

    Tank Stream Sydney

    Author: Paul Irish and Tamika Goward Central Sydney is built in the Tank Stream valley. The Tank Stream now runs underneath the city, but its fresh water was one of…