Continuing connection
Wingecarribee Shire Council acknowledges Gundungurra and Dharawal people as Traditional Custodians of the land it calls Wingecarribee. Aboriginal connections to Country, community and culture continue today; a historical map or colonial account is only one perspective on this longer story.
Country and the river
The Council’s Bong Bong Common booklet describes the Wingecarribee River flats as important to Aboriginal people before European settlement and records movement through the area by different Nations, including Gundungurra and Dharawal people. Its published account is a starting point for learning about the place, not a substitute for the knowledge of local Aboriginal communities.
Pathways through Country
The rivers, gorges and ridges of the Highlands connect places and communities. A Society history of Bundanoon Gullies describes Aboriginal pathways linking coastal and inland areas through Kangaroo Valley and the Shoalhaven gorge. These routes belong to a history much older than the railway, roads and walking tracks that later brought visitors to the Gullies.
Read the Society’s Bundanoon Gullies history · Explore Bundanoon
Routes between the Highlands and the coast
In a Society newsletter, Philip Morton traces efforts to connect Bong Bong with the coast and describes Aboriginal guidance on the way to the Illawarra. His account follows routes through difficult escarpment country and the later use of Meryla Pass between the Highlands and Kangaroo Valley. It also shows how settlers adapted routes to move livestock and produce. The article draws on published histories, so its colonial perspective should be read alongside Aboriginal accounts of Country and connection.
Read the full article in newsletter 441
Knowledge behind the colonial record
Accounts of early colonial expeditions often focus on the men who wrote the journals. A Society article about the 1818 Meehan expedition also names the Aboriginal guides Bundle and Broughton and recognises the value of their knowledge to the party. Reading these accounts with care helps bring that contribution into view, while recognising that colonial records tell only part of a much longer Aboriginal history.
Read about the 1818 expedition · Explore the Society’s account of early routes
Colonisation and its effects
European occupation brought profound disruption. The Council’s Corbett Gardens conservation plan describes conflict, disease and starvation alongside the fragmentation of the historical record. Sources written by settlers or later institutions must be read critically and alongside Aboriginal voices.
Living heritage and responsibility
The Gundungurra Indigenous Land Use Agreement records an agreement involving Gundungurra organisations and the NSW Government. This site should grow through respectful collaboration with local Aboriginal people, with care for cultural authority, sensitive knowledge and permissions. Place boundaries and names can be complex; a colonial parish line is not a definitive map of Country.
Researching local stories
Narelle Bowern’s research into Aboriginal people in the Southern Highlands from 1820 to 1850 brings together newspaper reports, official records and early European accounts. In a Society newsletter, Ros Dale’s review describes the questions the book asks about local people, their relationships and the effects of colonial settlement. It offers a starting point for further research, to be read alongside Aboriginal knowledge and perspectives.
Read the Society’s review · Explore Society publications · Start family-history research
Culture continues
Country is living, with physical, cultural and spiritual meaning. Wingecarribee Council describes continuing connections to the Wingecarribee, Wollondilly and Nattai rivers and records community activities including a 2024 cultural-burning workshop with local Aboriginal participants. Its community page also provides details of local Aboriginal organisations and the Wingecarribee Aboriginal Community Cultural Centre in Mittagong.
Explore Council’s Aboriginal community information · AIATSIS family history guide
The sources below offer starting points for further reading and learning from local Aboriginal communities.