Traditional Owners of Latrobe City

from Lyons Practice Studio - CITY CHANGE - by Joel Polychronopoulos

UNDERSTANDING SITE THE

The Gunaikurnai nation are the Traditional Owners of Latrobe City. Today there are approximately 3000 Gunaikurnai people across the region, and their traditional lands cover the coastal and inland areas of Gippsland to the southern slopes of the Victorian Alps.

The Gunaikurnai nation is made up of five major clans. These are the Brabralung Clan in Central Gippsland, Brataulung Clan in South Gippsland, Krauatungalung Clan near the Snowy River, Tatungalung Clan near Lakes Entrance and the Brayakaulung (Braiakaulung) Clan whose traditional territory covers the Latrobe City municipality.

Latrobe City Council acknowledges and respects the special contributions made to our community by our Traditional Owners.

Gunaikurnai Creation Story

Latrobe City Council appreciates Traditional Owner representation on Council’s committees and groups.

Latrobe City Council respects the role of the Traditional Owners and its’ corporation in matters related to country, culture and Native Title.

Latrobe City Council understands the history of dispossession and movement of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples across Gippsland and the impact this has had to the cultural lores of the Traditional Owners.

Phillip Pepper explained that his grandmother’s people, who were based near the coast at Seaspray, had a wide territory that extended west into the Latrobe Valley20

Other ancestral stories also refer to the inundation of the land in ages past. Howitt retold the Gunaikurnai account of the supernatural figure of Mungan, who responded to the bad behaviour of humans by punitive actions, including sending a vast fire that ‘filled the whole space between the earth and the sky’ so that ‘men went mad with fear’. After this ‘the sea rushed over the land and nearly all mankind was drowned’ and those who survived became the ancestors of the Kurnai 21

Two of the Gunaikurnai clans, the Brayakaulung and Brataualung, identified with the Latrobe Valley — the Brayaks on the north of the river and the Bratau on the south side 22 . However, these clans were most likely not constrained by definitive boundaries and there was some movement of these clans into neighbouring territories as well as the periodic incursion of neighbouring clans into the Latrobe Valley.

The first Gunaikurnai came down from the mountains in Victoria’s north-west carrying his canoe on his head. He was Borun, the pelican. He crossed over a deep river at what is now known as Sale, and walked on alone to Tarra Warackel (Port Albert) in the west. As he walked, he heard a constant tapping sound, but could not identify it. When he reached the deep water of the inlets, Borun put down his canoe and much to his surprise, there was a woman in it. She was Tuk, the musk duck. He was happy to see her and she became his wife and the mother of the Gunaikurnai people. They are the parents of the five Gunaikurnai clans.

The Gunaikurnai clans moved regularly through their country according to the seasons, living lightly on the land and returning periodically to familiar camping places. Their movements relied on the availability of different foods and resources, and the need to fulfil their cultural obligations. They constructed shelters using sheets of bark, boughs and stringybark rope. They established camps along the rivers and swamps where food and water were plentiful. Some of the Gunaikurnai were fearful of the alpine region to the north and avoided this area. However, others trekked annually to the mountains during high summer to feast on the Bogong Moth ( Agrotis infusa), which were nutritious, with a high fat content, and easy to catch 23 . Howitt noted that a large area of land lying between the Latrobe and the Yarra rivers, and extending from the sources of the rivers to the coast — and part of the territory of the Brayataulung — was known by the Kurnai as Wea-wuk or the ‘Bad Country’, but Howitt gives no reason why this was so-named 24

The Latrobe River and other waterways were critical to the Gunaikurnai. They provided a wide range of reliable food sources through most of the year, and also enabled trade and transport opportunities. The rivers, creeks, lagoons and swamp areas, such as Sheepwash Creek and its tributaries, supported various types of fish, eels, freshwater mussels and other shellfish, frogs, tortoises, waterbirds, and lizards, while various birds as well as kangaroos, wallabies, wombats, possums and emus inhabited the plains and woodland. The rivers and creeks supported water rushes and marsh vegetation as well as a number of plant foods that were important to Aboriginal people. Swamps and wetlands also attracted a range of waterfowl, including ducks and black swans, which provided meat and eggs.