The Awabakal people , are a group of Indigenous Australians and their descendants from eastern Australia who speak the Awabakal language. Their traditional territory consists of the coastal area of New South Wales located between what is now known as the Hunter River and the Gosford region. This includes the Watagan Mountains to the west, Newcastle and Lake Macquarie to the north, and the Wyong and Tuggerah areas to the south.
Name The term Awabakal was first coined by the ethnologist John Fraser in 1892, who assisted in the publication of a thorough study on the Awabakal language by Lancelot Threlkeld. In this language, awaba was the word for Lake Macquarie, meaning flat or plain surface. With the addition of the suffix -kal, a term was created which referred to the people native to that area.
It is not known exactly how the Awabakal people collectively called themselves, but from their word for man, kuri, the term Kuri-nggai (also written as Ku-ring-gai or Guringai), has often been used as a collective denominator of the Awabakal and several other linguistically related coastal tribes in this region. Although the anthropologist Norman Tindale has challenged the validity of this classification, he agrees that the Kuri-nggai was synonymous with Awabakal. However, the linguist, Arthur Capell, asserted with minimal evidence that Kuri-nggai was a language distinct from Awabakal, which was spoken by the Garigal clan from the Broken Bay region.
According to Lancelot Threlkeld, the Indigenous people who occupied the coastal region north from Port Jackson to the lower Hunter River "all speak the same dialect" (ie. Awabakal). He further asserted that language of the Aborigines of Sydney and Botany Bay (ie. Eora or coastal Dharug) varied from Awabakal in only a slight degree.
In the present day, it is generally accepted that the language known as Awabakal was spoken by the coastal Indigenous people inhabiting the region from the lower Hunter River, south to Broken Bay. The people around the southern limits of this area, ie. the Garigal clan, may have spoken a dialect referred to as Kuri-nggai. Occasionally, the overall term Katungal is used to describe all the related local coastal languages, including Awabakal.
Language
The Awabakal language was extensively studied and recorded in the 1830s by the missionary, Lancelot Threlkeld. He was able to do this mostly through his close association with a leading Awabakal man called Biraban. Threlkeld's work was published under the title An Australian language as spoken by the Awabakal, the people of Awaba or Lake Macquarie. This collection was one of the first comprehensive records of any Indigenous language in Australia.
From this study, Awabakal terms for well known local geographical locations can be derived:
Mulubinba (place of a type of fern called mulubin) – Newcastle Whibayganba – Nobbys Head Tahlbihn – Flagstaff Hill (Fort Scratchley) Burrabihngarn – Pirate Point (Stockton) Yohaaba – Port Hunter Coquun (from Koko-in meaning fresh water) – Hunter River Khanterin – Shepherds Hill (The Hill) Toohrnbing – Ironbark Creek Bo-un – Maitland Kotara (meaning club or waddy) – Kotara Tukkara (meaning cold or winter) – Tuggerah Lakes Puntei (meaning narrow peninsula) – Coal Point Burraghihnbihng – Hexham Swamp Warrawallug (meaning human head) - Mount Warrawolong Killibinbin (meaning bright, glorious) - Kilaben Bay Biddabah (meaning place of rest) – Warners Bay
The general term, Koori, used in modern times to describe Indigenous Australians from all of southeast Australia, comes from the Awabakal word, kuri, meaning man.
Country The Awabakal were bounded to the northwest by the Wonnarua, the Worimi to the northeast, the Darkinung peoples to the west, and the Dharug-Eora to the south. This region includes what is now Newcastle, Lake Macquarie, Wyong, Tuggerah and Gosford.
Tindale estimated Awabakal territory to cover some . More recent estimates are that Awabakal territory covers 2870 square kilometres.
Clans During the early stages of British colonisation, the Awabakal were categorised into several tribes and clans based upon location as follows:
Awabakal Tribe: Ash Island clan (located around what is now Kooragang Island) Pambalong clan (located around what is now Hexham Swamp) Five Islands/Mount Sugarloaf clan (located around the north of Lake Macquarie and Mount Sugarloaf) Bahtahbah clan (located around Newcastle and south along the eastern side of Lake Macquarie) Kurungbong clan (located around what is now the Cooranbong area) Bo-un or Wallis Plains clan (located around what is now Maitland)
Kuringgai Tribe: Tuggerah clan (located around the Tuggerah Lakes) Wyong clan (located around Wyong River) Narara clan (located around what is now Gosford) Erinan/Walkeloa clan (located around what is now Woy Woy and Erina) Terrigal clan (located around what is now Terrigal) Garigal clan (located around Broken Bay)
As noted previously, there is some speculation that the Kuringgai tribe was distinct, however most researchers regard this tribe as being linguistically and culturally contiguous with Awabakal.
Culture and traditions Beliefs The eaglehawk or wedge-tailed eagle has special significance for the Awabakal people. Ko-un, their "celestial entity" or creator figure, looks like an Aboriginal man, but in flight resembles an eagle-hawk.
Nobbys Head (Whibayganba) at the entrance of the Hunter River was traditionally believed to be the home of an immense subterranean kangaroo that occasionally shakes himself causing local earthquakes.
An important creation story is that of Belmont Lagoon being formed by the tears of the moon. The male moon spirit named Pontoebung became saddened by not being as radiant and appreciated as the female sun spirit named Punnal. He withdrew in loneliness for days and began to weep, his tears falling back down to earth forming Belmont Lagoon. Pontoebung eventually decided to return and as he got closer to earth, he heard the Awabakal people rejoicing. They were happy that a freshwater lagoon had been formed, which made him overjoyed. He could see his full reflection in the water and his happiness made his face beam. From then on, whenever the moon passed over Belmont Lagoon, Pontoebung would shine his brightest and the Awabakal clans would hold a large corroborree to honour his brightness.
A small lake now known as Freemans Waterhole, was called Wauwarun by the Awabakal and they believed it to be unfathomable while also containing a man-eating monster named wauwai. A similar monster lived in the depths around Pulbah Island in Lake Macquarie.
Food and land management
Like other First Nations Australian people, the Awabakal played a significant part in shaping the environment of their region. They practised fire-stick farming extensively, which helped them to hunt and to navigate through dense prickly scrub along the coast and riverways. One of Newcastle's main city thoroughfares, Watt Street, was built over an Awabakal path from the shore to the top of a hill.
The abundant possum (willai) was the main source of daily protein, and was hunted through trapping and by climbing trees with the assistance of a small stone axe (baibai) to cut footholds into the trunk. They also hunted kangaroo (moani) and emu (kogkorog) by using fire (koiyug) to flush the animals out into the open where they would be killed by boomerang (turruma), waddy (kotara) or spear (wairai).
Fishing, particularly for oysters (munbonkan), was a significant part of the Awabakal people's diet and culture pre-colonisation. The Awabakal also caught fish (makoro) using hook-and-line or a specialised fish spear called a motig or kullara. They also hunted waterfowl such as the black swan (kunbul) and ate turtle (yunug), eel (kaneen) and whale (toroggun) when the opportunity arose. Fishing from bark canoes (cooeyung) was often done at night (tokoi) with the assistance of a flame torch. The fish were cooked in the canoe on a small clay hearth.
Various root vegetables such as the waiyog and kokobai were harvested for carbohydrate, as was the honey (kirika) of the native bee (nukkung). The young flower stems and the roots of the gymea lily were also roasted and used as food.
The red-gum sap of various trees such as Corymbia gummifera was melted and applied as a medical ointment to skin conditions. Awabakal people generally went naked but wore cloaks of possum or kangaroo fur when cold.
Ceremonial rites
The Awabakal practised initiation rites on adolescent males whereby tooth avulsion was performed in a ceremonial area called a yulung. The removal of the tooth was done to condition the youths to pain and also protect them from the evil spirit named Puttikan.
In regards to death, the Awabakal performed both burial and cremation rites dependent upon the situation. If burial was performed, the corpse would be wrapped in sheets of paperbark and placed in a sandy grave lined with soft leaves. The mourners would decorate themselves with a white ochre called pitto.
Poetry and song As with many other First Nation Australian peoples, the Awabakal would transmit knowledge and entertainment through large singing and dancing ceremonies performed at night generally known as corroborees. An Awabakal man named Wullati was a respected composer of verse for these ceremonies and an extract of one of his poems was recorded:
Nung-ngnun nge a runba wonung bulkirra umbilinto bolwarra! Pital burra kultan wirripang buntoa.Nung-ngnun nge a runba turrama berrambo, burra kilkoa; kurri wi raratoa yella walliko, yule moani, woinyo, birung poro bulliko. (Here is a song of our home where the hills join on high! A joyful place where the eagle strikes.Here is a song of our home where the boomerang lies like a resting serpent, and the fluttering of the pigeon's wings sweeps the wallaby's footprint from the glistening grass.)
Conflict, justice and diplomacy The Awabakal, in pre-colonisation times, were noted as being strong and determined defenders of their territory. They had possession of the coastal territory for thousands of years, during which time they successfully repelled incursions by the neighbouring Gamilaraay people and established places of defence, "virtual armouries", high in the Watagan Mountains. The wommera spear-throwing tool is derived from the Awabakal word wommurur.
If a crime or transgression was deemed to have occurred, the culprit would be made to stand and face a pre-determined number of spears thrown in his direction with only a small wooden shield known as a koreil for protection.
Awabakal people were in regular contact with the Worimi to the north and the Eora and Dharug to the south, and travel to these areas was not uncommon. Awabakal messengers and ambassadors were readily identified by being painted with red ochre and having their long hair tied up in a conical form.
Population The overall population of the Awabakal at the onset of British invasion and colonisation is uncertain but has been estimated to have been around 1,500 people. This figure is likely to be an underestimate due to the British introduction of smallpox early on in the colonisation process in 1789. The release and spread of the disease from Port Jackson just to the south of traditional Awabakal lands has been estimated to have caused a mortality rate of around 50% of the Aboriginal people residing in an extensive area of southeastern Australia.
History since colonisation Early encounters with the British