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THE BINDJAREB NYUNGARS
At the time of settlement, the Bilyidar ('river') Bindjareb Nyungars were made up of three family groups with main camps in what are now the Mandurah, Pinjarra and North Dandalup areas. They were part of a broader network of Nyungar people who had lived across the Southwest corner of Western Australia from at least 40,000BC, connected to one another by ceremony, trade and social relationships.
The Bindjareb Nyungars, like their neighbours, were responsible for ritually significant places, rights of access, knowledge and ceremonial duties within their country. They also had sophisticated land management practices such as fire-stick farming methods which, together with other hunting and food gathering techniques, enabled them to maximise their access to a vast range of material resources while ensuring their sustainability. Visitors to Bindjareb Nyungar boodjar (land) were required to announce their arrival, bring enough daadja (meat), mereny (food) and goods for exchange for their travels, and to observe local obligations and regulations such as being introduced to country by their hosts.
With the river at the heart of their country, the Bindjareb Nyungars were accomplished fishing peoples, using gidgees, nets and mungahs (traps made of stone and wicker), to secure their catches. They hosted an annual gathering of hundreds of people from surrounding areas, centred around the Barragup fish mungah. Ceremony and rituals performed in the lead up to each harvest would ensure a plentiful catch. Other ceremonies also occurred during these gatherings, including the exchange of karla (fire), ‘marriage’ preparation and betrothal observance, initiation ceremonies, education exchange, recreational activities and other public demonstrations of etiquette which cemented social bonds and conferred status and responsibility. The Bindjareb Nyungars would also trade hunting and ceremonial items such as the strong and straight throwing gidgee-borryl (quartz edged spear).
Due to the abundance of fish and the prolonged periods of social interaction, sites in Bindjareb Nyungar country were important centres of communication. Message sticks would invariably travel though Bindjareb Nyungar boodjar on their way to other parts of Nyungar country. |
