Aboriginal History in Melbourne's North

Prior to British invasion the land now known as Melbourne’s northern suburbs was cared for by the Wurundjeri people. Wurrundjeri has been translated to mean the grubs (jeri) of the White Gum Tree (wurrun).

Today the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung Cultural Heritage Management Corporation is the appointed Registered Aboriginal Party (RAP) and advises the Victorian State Government on matters of Aboriginal cultural heritage, as well as providing education on their heritage to the wider Victorian public.

Traditional life for the Wurundjeri was that of hunter-foragers, centred around the creeks and rivers, and moving according to season. The Merri Creek (merri meaning ‘rocky’) and the Darebin Creek provided fresh water, fish and birdlife while the surrounding sandy grasslands were home to possums, emu and kangaroo for hunting. Hand-made goods included woven baskets, stone tools made from local quarries such as that now known as Mount Cooper, and wooden containers. Cultural systems of kinship governed marriage and family; laws were understood and enforced through traditional knowledge based on the land, sometimes known as the Dreaming.

Left: An early impression of the Merri Creek by Henry Gritten, 1866. Note the European depiction of cattle rather than native fauna.

When John Batman arrived from Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania) in 1835 to try to secure a sale of Aboriginal land, he negotiated with eight ngurungaeta (elders) including Billibellary, representing the Wurundjeri. Although this attempt to negotiate treaty was declared void by the British government – and most likely not fully comprehended by the ngurungaeta, given their lack of formal land ownership system – it remains the only recognition of Australian Aboriginal sovereignty by the European invaders. 

The imposition of British colonial rule in Melbourne resulted in the widespread destruction of Aboriginal customs and way of life, as the land was seized for grazing, diseases were introduced and British violence saw the retreat of the Wurundjeri-willam from their traditional lands.

Billibellary’s descendants continued to be recognized as Wurundjeri leaders until the start of the twentieth century. Other Victorian Aboriginal leaders included William Cooper, who advocated for Aboriginal representation in Parliament and after whom the current federal parliamentary seat of Cooper – covering the suburbs of Fairfield, Northcote, Westgarth, Preston, Thornbury, Coburg and Bundoora.

Right: William Barak, last recognised leader of the Wurnjderi, photographed in 1866 by Carl Walter. Source: State Library of Victoria.

Stolen Generations

 Victoria was the first Australian state to pass legislation empowering government officials to remove Aboriginal children from their families, community and land. The original 1869 legislation was supplemented by an Aborigines Protection Board in 1871; variations on this structure remained in place for over a century. The damage done to Victorian Aboriginal families and communities was profound and the Stolen Generations traumatised multiple generation. n 2022 the Victorian Government announced a reparations payment scheme to compensation Aboriginal people affected by the policies.

Native Title

In 1992, the Australian High Court made its landmark ruling in Mabo v Queensland No. 2, which overturned the concept of terra nullius and recognized native title over lands in Torres Strait. The first claim for native title recognition in Victoria were made in 1994 by the Yorta Yorta people, but this was unsuccessful. While some native title claims have been successful in Victoria, it has become more commonplace for the State government to negotiate ownership agreements with traditional owners through the Traditional Owner Settlement Act (Victoria) of 2010. However, no agreement has been finalized with the Wurundjeri people.

Treaty and First People’s Assembly

In 2016 the Victorian State Government committed to negotiating treaties with the state’s First Peoples. As part of the process a First People’s Assembly, comprising of 31 elected Aboriginal members from across Victoria, was established in 2019. In 2024 the members representing Wurundjeri interests are Uncle Shane Charles, Uncle Andrew Gardiner and Alister Thorpe.

Aboriginal archaeology

Much of the knowledge of Aboriginal heritage and customs has been destroyed by displacement and invasion of their lands. Archaeologists do work on significant Aboriginal sites in Victoria and attempt to understand how stone tools were made, what rock art may mean, and what food and clothing were prepared, among other things. Key sites include the UNESCO World Heritage listed Budj Bim; Will-im-mee Moor-ring; Kow (Ghow) Swamp; and the earth rings located around modern-day Sunbury.

Further reading

Ellender, Isabel, People of the Merri-Merri, Merri Creek Management Committee, 2001.

First Peoples-State Relations website https://www.firstpeoplesrelations.vic.gov.au

David Frankel, Between the Murray and the Sea: Aboriginal archaeology in southeastern Victoria, Sydney University Press, 2017.

Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, 1997, Bringing Them Home Report.