Aboriginal History
Aboriginal History
The NSW North Coast - SE Queensland region has been inhabited by Aboriginal people for at least 20,000 years.
As the ice caps melted at the end of the Pleistocene about 10,000 years ago, sea levels rose and covered an 8 km wide strip of land off Cape Byron, leaving high relief terrain exposed as a coastal promontory. Coastal campsites used before the sea stabilised around 6,000 years ago, lie beneath the sea. Most of the Aboriginal archaeological sites so far investigated on the North Coast have dated to more recent times.
At the time of the first European settlement, around twenty different dialects of the Bundjalung language were spoken in the NSW North Coast - SE Queensland region, with the Minjungbal dialect spoken in some of Byron Bay. In resource rich areas like Cape Byron, Aboriginal land-owning clan groups with at least 100 members subsisted within relatively small territories. The boundaries of these territories were generally known and were clearly established in local mythology.
In contrast with what is known of other parts of Australia, local Aboriginal groups enjoyed a comparatively settled lifestyle, building large comfortable huts of tea tree bark laid over a frame of bent saplings. The early European settlers reported finding groups of these huts at the mouths of larger rivers along the NSW North Coast and on the islands of Moreton Bay. During the course of everyday life Aboriginal clan groups remained within their own well-defined boundaries, moving short distances in response to the availability of individual resources. Long-ranging movement between territories was often undertaken for the purpose of attending social and ceremonial gatherings.
The Minjungbal name for Byron Bay was Cavvanba, “meeting place”.
The area further east within Cape Byron Headland Reserve (the Palm Valley/Wategos Beach locality) was called Currenba because of the water channels (curraby means gully), while the Cape itself was known as Walgun, “the shoulder”. Walgun was also a place for ceremony and spiritual inspiration and remains part of many Dreamtime stories. Cape Byron is a place of importance as it is connected by way of several myths with Julian Rocks. Apart from mythological status, the Cape was also used as a lookout point and as a ceremonial place. A “dancing circle” is believed to have once been located on the crest of the headland, which was levelled in 1899 to make way for the construction of the lighthouse.
There are many Aboriginal archaeological sites along the coastline to both the north and south of Cape Byron. Prior to the advent of sandmining, middens containing the remains of Aboriginal meals of shellfish, stone tools and human burials stretched for over 4 km north from the Cape. The sign-posted midden at The Pass, first used around 1,000 years ago represents one of the few remaining examples of these former campsites. Middens have also been found along the Tallow Beach dunes south from the Cape. In addition, Bora-ceremonial grounds, natural mythological sites and human burials have been recorded along this stretch of the coastline.
Test excavation of The Pass midden revealed a range of activities consistent with the archaeological expectations of a frequently used base camp.
The recovered materials show a heavy reliance on marine fish and shellfish, along with less intensive use of forest resources. Large chopping tools have also been found within Palm Valley and these are thought to have been left behind by individuals from the midden site who had been searching for food and other raw materials.
Of the major vegetation types now present across the Reserve, Palm Valley rainforest offers the widest range of both potential Aboriginal food plants and plant species known to have been used in the manufacture of material items. Although there is little direct evidence for the Aboriginal use of specific plant foods at Cape Byron, one early botanist reported that the Goatsfoot Convolvulus once covered large sections of the sand dune with its prostrate trailing stems and that its roots were regularly cooked and eaten by Aboriginal people.
A wide variety of material items were used by the local Aboriginal people, with most made from the wood or bark of various trees. They included shields, spears, boomerangs, clubs, digging sticks, containers and canoes, and these were cut and shaped using shell and stone tools. String was rolled from bark, dilly bags were woven from rushes and grasses and Bangalow Palm leaves were fashioned into water and honey containers. Land animals such as pademelons and other small wallabies were often captured in bark fibre nets. These hunting nets were constructed in long sections 1.2 m wide and 2.4 km in length. In the absence of the hook and line, fish were either speared in the shallow using straight wooden spears with fire-hardened tips or caught in finely meshed scoop nets known as “tow-rows”.
“King Bobby” was the king of the Bumberin Tribe when there was a large camp at Byron Bay near the crossroads of Lawson and Fletcher Streets, not far from the site of the old Council Chambers. There were 79 people of the Bumberin camped there in about 1896. “King Bobby” was then an old man and died two or three years later. He had one son, Harry, who succeeded to the kingship when he died. Harry Bray is frequently mentioned in local early historical sources. During the late 19th century Harry is said to have lived in a big Aboriginal camp at Tallow Creek, some 4 km south of Cape Byron. He was apparently not a permanent resident at this camp however, as he has also been reported as living further southwest at Midgen Flat during this time. Harry Bray passed away in 1922. Harry and Clara Bray are buried opposite Byron Bay Golf Club.
Arakwal Aboriginal people are the acknowledged custodians of the Byron Bay area and retain a strong role and interest in the maintenance, protection and management of Aboriginal cultural values. The historic 1997 agreement between the State Government and the custodians guaranteed them a role in the management of the Cape Byron Reserve, land for housing and land to construct a cultural centre (at Paterson Street).
In 2001 this agreement was extended. The present day Arakwal National Park is a Native Title agreement overseen by ILEA (Indigenous Land Use Agreement). The 183 ha park extends from Cosy Corner to just north of the Crosby Caravan Park and includes Cibum Margil swamp. It is managed jointly by Arakwal National Park Management Committee and the National Parks and Wildlife Service. Currently there are 2 rangers and 4 Arakwal trainee field officers working at the park. Because Native Title rights extend 3 km out to sea, Arakwal people are also involved in the proposed Marine Park.
