Talk:Dharug

Relationship with Eora
So what was their relationship with the Eora? Both geographically, and socially. If the Darug were NW of the Eora (from the Eora article), then the Eora must have been SE of the Darug. —DIV (137.111.13.4 (talk) 06:45, 17 March 2015 (UTC))

. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Eawstgyh (talk • contribs) 06:24, 11 April 2018 (UTC)

Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council(MLALC) provides the following as a resource an outline of MLALC’s position as the Aboriginal representative authority in the best interests of all Aboriginal people it represents within our prescribed boundaries and without prejudice to any individual and or group on its MLALC Cultural protocols;

Under NSW Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1983, Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council (MLALC), formerly Redfern Local Aboriginal Land Council established voluntarily in the mid-1970s, is the Aboriginal authority for the area where the upcoming Healing Our Spirit Worldwide conference is to be taking place, the representative body for all Aboriginal people and body responsible the protection, preservation and protection of all Aboriginal Culture & Heritage within our boundaries, affirm, advises and provides the following response. 1. MLALC provides FYI & REFERENCE to assist, the following; • MLALC has been a representative body for all Aboriginal people & a body responsible for the protection, preservation and protection of all Aboriginal Culture & Heritage within its prescribed boundaries for over 40years. • MLALC has no accepted and or registered Traditional Owners through either Native Tile and or NSW Aboriginal Land Rights within its prescribed boundaries and or area of operation. • MLALC Cultural Protocols acknowledge Eora and respective clans as the traditional owners of MLALC prescribed area. • MLALC recommends as resources 1. MLALC Cultural Protocols, 2. NSW Sate Library Eora Mapping & 3. Aboriginal Heritage Offices paper “Filling a Void a review of the historical context for the use of the word Guringai” to addresses the genisis of Dharug also known as & or previously referred to as Dharruk and or Darug created by Mr R H Mathews and championed & or supported by Mr James Kohen. 2. MLALC notes & understands; 2.1 Dharug also known as & or previously referred to as Dharruk and or Darug is a creation of a non-Aboriginal person Mr R.H. Mathews, Surveyor (1841-1918) and promoted by Mr James Kohen Macquarie University academic and advisor to Dharug “People and claimants for Native Title”. 2.2 Dharug “People and claimants for Native Title have to date been unsuccessful twice in proving their claim to Native title to prove their connections, dependencies. Below are summaries of both Mr R.H. Mathews and Mr James Kohen. 2.3 MLALC as the Aboriginal Authority recognises Dharug was created and established by Mr R.H. Mathews, Surveyor (1841-1918). Dharug aka Dharruk is a creation of a non-Aboriginal person Mr R.H. Mathews, Surveyor (1841-1918) and promoted by James Kohen Macquarie University academic and advisor 2.4 Mr RH Mathews it appears simply coined the term Dharug aka Dharruk as his preference rather than have it informed to him by a First Nations person or based it upon any prior historical research. Therefore why MLALC acknowledges Dharug as an academic created identity. 2.5 Eora was & is the only recorded word at contact with the British penal colony used to describe “the collective” and or commonality with the groups and or clans of 1st Nations people who occupied Sydney in January 1788. 2.6 There are a number of individuals and or groups who claim to be Dharug also known as & or previously referred to as Dharruk and or Darug and or Traditional owners of the Sydney area or parts of MLALC boundaries but non have endorsement and or support of MLALC nor Native Title rights and or registered as Traditional Owners that MLALC seeks to engage and ask that they either join and or work in solidarity with MLALC as the representative authority for all Aboriginal people and Aboriginal (Eora) Culture & Heritage within its prescribed boundaries.

Mr R.H. Mathews, Surveyor (1841-1918) Australian born Robert Hamilton Mathews (1841-1918) was a surveyor whose early interaction with Aboriginal people led in middle age to a fascination with their culture. Mathews was a prolific author in the latter part of his life publishing over 150 works, some in international journals. Mathews, however, had no university education and was considered an outsider and disregarded by ‘professional’ anthropologists like A.W. Howitt and Baldwin Spencer.

Mathews, in the same manner as Fraser, created terms for Aboriginal tribes or languages where there were no existing terms. For example, the word Darrook now more commonly spelled as Darug/Daruk or Dharug/Dharuk, was mentioned as a dialect in Mathews (1897) and the area where it was spoken described as:

The Dhar’-rook dialect, very closely resembling the Gundungurra, was spoken at Campbelltown, Liverpool, Camden, Penrith, and possibly as far east as Sydney, where it merged into the Thurrawal. (Mathews and Everitt 1900, p. 265)

Mathews does not provide a definition of the name and Troy (1993) asserts that no provenance or meaning was ever given nor evidence provided that the name was used by the language speakers 16 Aboriginal Language Group and Clan Names – themselves. Powell and Heslin suggest the word might be derived from the markings associated with initiation ceremonies (Powell and Helsine 2010, p. 13).

Mathews (1897) refers to ‘Kooringal’ defining it as “men who take part in the secret ceremonies” rather than the ceremony itself as Howitt (1904) describes it.

Source: Aboriginal Heritage Office

Mr James Kohen Macquarie University

Mr James Kohen works in the Indigenous Bioresources Research Group at Macquarie University. He did a PhD on prehistoric settlement in the Cumberland Plain and has worked for many years on the environmental impact of Aboriginal people. He undertook research in the primary documents of the First Fleet and settlers to identify the language and customs of the Dharug people particularly.

In the Sydney region, three major Aboriginal languages were spoken. The south side of Botany Bay, extending down the coast as far as Nowra and Jervis Bay and west to George’s River, was the province of the Dharawal language. A second closely related language, Dharug, was spoken over a large area of the Cumberland Plain from Appin to the Hawkesbury River and west into the Blue Mountains. A dialect of Dharug was spoken on the coast between Botany Bay and Port Jackson and from Parramatta to the Lane Cove River on the north side of Port Jackson. Between the Lane Cove River and the coast, from the north shore of Port Jackson across Broken Bay as far as Tuggerah Lake, the language was Kuring-Gai. These three language groups, Dharawal, Dharug and Kuring-Gai, were termed ‘tribes’ by Europeans. Much of the vocabulary was common to all three languages, so all the Aborigines of the region could understand each other with little difficulty. (Kohen and Lampert 1987, p. 345)

This description is very similar to that of Capell (1970) and the map in Kohen (1993) shows a similar language distribution but with less definition of the boundaries between the groups. In this later book Kohen expands on this description to include dialects:

There were several dialects of each language spoken. The two dialects of the Darug language were the Eora dialect along the coast and the inland dialect, which was spoken by the Woods tribes, the bediagal-tugugal-tugara. A distinct dialect of Dharawal was spoken by the Gweagal clan on the south side of Botany Bay near Kurnell, while the Wodi Wodi dialect was spoken further south near Wollongong.

The Kuringgai language probably consisted of several dialects, one of which was spoken at Broken Bay. This was recorded as Kari (the language of the Carigal clan). (Kohen 1993, p. 22)

This description of the Kuringgai accords closely with Capell’s interpretation and again there is a strong language boundary between the Darug (Eora) and Kuringgai along the axis of Port Jackson (see Map 7). Yet the First Fleet records do not reveal such a distinction between the people on either side of Port Jackson and it seems unlikely given the amount of movement back and forth that there would be a language barrier here. Source Aboriginal Heritage Office.

Please note MLALC and La Perouse LALC’s have founding members & members today who identify as Eora people collectively but belong to the Bidgeegal and Gadigal family groups & or clans, and have always identified the collective word the 29 family groups & or clans of the greater Sydney area as Eora and never Dharug or Darug.

MLALC perceives the actions of HR Mathews in 1905 in coining a term without source and or reference to any information and or research is unacceptable in terms of evidence required for acceptable academic history and or anthropological standards and or cultural authority to become the term to name and or appropriate on people and or persons when the word Eora has and did already exist in literature and or research of the British penal colony for nearly over 100 years prior.

MLALC trust and hope that this response and information provided assists to clarify and address MLALC Cultural Protocols as the Aboriginal Authority responsible for the protection, preservation and promotion of Aboriginal Culture & Heritage and representative body for all Aboriginal people within its prescribed boundaries. For further information please refer to the MLALC website www.metrolalc.org.au

Extinct or not?
The tone of the Darug article suggests that these people are extinct.

Is it possible to include information about the extent of any decendents living today? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 110.174.61.205 (talk) 17:11, 25 August 2016 (UTC)

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