The Kulin Nation & The Wurundjeri People
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The following was directly transcribed from a series of interviews with Wurundjeri Elder, Ian Hunter, recorded in 2004-5.
Prior to European settlement there was no Wurundjeri-willam, no such thing. Prior to that the people who I'm descended from were part of the great nation, which became known as the Kulin Nation by anthropologists.
The Kulin [Nation] encompassed about two hundred kilometers of where Melbourne exists today. And they were bound together by a language and, I suppose in European terms, the religious belief of a god and traditions. I suppose any nation is bound together by those things. So we were part of a greater nation, the Wurundjeri-willam that exists today.
But prior to European settlement [of] that great nation there were around five different tribal areas. And I put it that a tribe being, say, a state of a nation. [The following five groups are often referred to as the five language groups of The Kulin Nation.]
To the Western Port Bay area were the Boonerwrung People, to where we exist today. The northern, the eastern and a bit of the western suburbs of Melbourne was the Woiwurrung.
Up into the mountain country, around about where Eildon Weir is today were the Taungerong People. And out in the western plains country, out towards Bacchus Marsh and going out toward that wedge out there were the Kurrung People . And of course where Geelong exists today were the Wathaurong People.
The five distinct groups made up the federation of the Kulin Nation. They gave us that name Kulin because the word kulin in our language meant people or man.
Then within our tribal boundary, or state of the Woiwurrung, [...] from the watershed of the Yarra, I look to Mt Baw Baw, along the Great Divide to where the Maribyrnong River starts up in the mountain country, up near Kyneton and so forth. And in that wedge into the city of where exists Melbourne now was our [the Wurundjeri] territory.
But precedence over the region around Mt Macedon, on both the southern and northern falls of Mt Macedon and tending to venture down to where we are today [Coburg North] was [that of] an old fella by the name of Ningullabal.
That was all of Ningullabul's country. And Ningullabul was become known by the other people of the Woiwurrung as the leader, or Ngurungaeta of the Gunnung-willam-balluk. Gunnung-willam-balluk - in our language [Woiwurrung] means the freshwater people.
Ningullabul, whose main area, where he lived was Mt William. That was the greenstone quarry between what would exist today as Lancefield and Kilmore. His grandsons were Billibellary, Borrunupton and Bebejan - Bebejan being my great-great-great grandfather.
So he distributed portions of the Gunnung-willam-balluk country, meaning the freshwater country, to his grandsons - and one of his grandsons being Bebejan.
The area that he gave Bebejan to look after and to live with his family is where the northern suburbs are today. And the northern suburbs area was an area well known for great river gums and the big grubs that lived in the river gums.
So Bebejan went to live in the river gum country where the grubs existed. Translated into Woiwurrung it came out as Wurun-djeri. And willam meaning living.
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© Aliey Ball (freshwater.net.au) 2006
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