
Early Contact

Local Aboriginal people in bark canoes on Sydney Harbour, depicted by the Port Jackoson painter c1790 (image courtesy Thomas Watling Collection, Natural History Museum, London - 012643)
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.
Barcom Glen
Elizabeth Town
Richard Hill’s House
The Rushcutters Bay settlement
St Mary’s Cathedral
Woolloomooloo Bay
Observatory Hill
Blackwattle Creek
Aboriginal sites on Goat Island
Moore Park Campsite
Tinker’s Well
Moores Wharf Midden
Moore Park Engraving
Yurong Cave and Yurong Midden
William Street
St Mary’s Cathedral Hatchet
The KENS Site
Junction Lane Campsite
Conservatorium of Music
Wynyard Walk campsite
Darling Walk Midden
Government Boatsheds
Significant Aboriginal people in Sydney
Aboriginal people and place
Ricketty Dick
Cora Gooseberry
Western science and Aboriginal people
First Contact
Dawes Point / Tar-Ra
Sydney Cove / Warrane
The Domain and Royal Botanic Gardens
The site of First Government House
Hyde Park South
Australian Museum
Prince Alfred Park (Cleveland Paddocks)
Lake Northam
Bennelong Point / Dubbagullee
Lilyvale Campsite
Sheas Creek (Alexandra Canal) Alexandria
Tank Stream Sydney