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There is, unfortunately, very little information on Aboriginal attitudes to European people at the time of settlement. Amongst the people of the Kulin nation, the Europeans were generally known as Ngamajet. Historian Gary Presland explains that ‘The word also means the bright red colours at sunset; the place where the sun sets is Ngamat and the coloured sky is the place where the departed spirits go. Because the strangers’ skin was white, they were initially thought to be returned spirits.'[i] A story is told that Batman resembled a Wurundjeri man who had died, and consequently the man’s younger brother had a great deal of affection for him, believing Batman BUILDING MORELAND’S INDUSTRIES AND WORkFORCE to be the spirit of his brother.[ii] That said, the Europeans who arrived around the time of W u r u n d j e r i g r o u p n e a r Ya r r a r i v e r, 1 8 5 8 ‘Group of Aborigines, sitting and standing, whole-length, full face, wearing animal Batman (1835) were curiosities, but not unheard of. The Wurundjeri and other Aboriginal skins, some holding weapons’ Richard Daintree and Antoine Fauchery, circa 1858, people in the area had been exposed to whalers and sealers living on the southern coastline for State Library of Victoria, Accession no H84.167/48 many years. There had also been previous attempts at settlement by Europeans in the area as well as European explorers travelling through the land. As historian James Boyce has stated, ‘Misunderstanding and conflict might have been rife, but the 1835 encounter would not be a “dancing with strangers”, as at Port Jackson fifty years before.’ [iii] This refers to a corroboree in 1791 in what was to become Sydney, when English gentlemen and convicts danced with the local Aboriginal people. European settlers who arrived in the Port Phillip area from Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania) and other parts of Australia often had highly prejudiced views of Aboriginal people. Van Diemen’s Land had been the site of extended guerrilla warfare, culminating in the ‘black line’, a colony wide search where all Aboriginal people were killed or captured and removed from the colony. This manifested itself both as a fear or expectation of violence from the Aboriginal people of Port Phillip, and a negative view of the Aboriginal population generally, and also increased the influence of the idea of “civilizing” the Aboriginal population, in order to avoid such violence occurring again.[iv] At an official level, an important influence on policy makers and political leaders was Enlightenment thought and what was known as the ‘Exeter Hall movement’ in Britain.[v] This humanitarian influence, well-intentioned but imperialistic, is evident in such things as the establishment of the Aboriginal protectorate. Figure 70 between AJohn l f rGlew’s e d clayCpitonear r nHodgson w e l Street, l ’s Brunswick, c l a y which p i operated ts, B r u n1849 s wandi 1857. c k Undated. 1 8 8Source: 8 Moreland City Libraries. At the onset of the gold rushes in 1851, thousands of immigrants poured into Victoria. For the next few years, [i] Presland, First People, 83 development was rapid and frenetic, and until the late 1850s building materials were scarce and couldn’t keep up with market demand. Fortunes could be made not just [ii] Finn, The Chronicles of Early Melbourne, 9-10 from gold but also from supplying goods and services. Some enterprising colonists made money from importing [iii] Boyce, 1835, 15 prefabricated buildings, while in Brunswick several hardworking men sought their fortune in brickyards. John Glew had opened a yard in Phillipstown’s Hodgson [iv] Edmonds, Urbanizing Frontiers, 85 Street in June 1849, and intensively worked the clay pit until it was exhausted in 1857.305 He moved to another site in Barkly Street east and erected a row of imported [v] Boyce, 1835, 37-38 prefabricated iron houses in Brunswick Road for his employees (see citation sheet for 181–189 Brunswick Road, Brunswick). Glew produced bricks and tiles, including his trademark cream bricks, which he branded Figure 71 John Glew’s house Harrowgate in Barkly Street in 1866. The THIS ‘JG’.SHARE He retired in 1884 and his business continued in image shows his adjoining pottery yard and items being stacked into the Weston Street until 1907 as the ‘New John Glew Pottery kiln. Source: Pictures Collection, State Library of Victoria. Works’.
305 Barnes, It happened in Brunswick, 1837-1987, p.10.
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Tr i n i t y M a r o n i t e C a t h o l i c C o l l e g e 1 9 9 6
Figure 11 Map showing the Parish of Jika Jika which includes Brunswick and Coburg. The map also shows the first landowners of Brunswick and Coburg (c1902). The bold number in each allotment is the Crown Portion number. The numbers behind the names indicate the size in acres. One acre equals 0.41 hectares. Source: Coburg Historical Society.
Pentridge, the Jika Jika Parish Village The parish of Jika Jika Village was formally named Pentridge in August 1840. By then, the surrounding area had been carved up into farms. The Port Phillip Gazette observed with some enthusiasm that
‘Group of Aborigines, sitting and standing, wholelength, full face, wearing animal skins, some holding weapons’ Richard Daintree and Antoine Fauchery, circa 1858, State Library of Victoria, Accession no H84.167/48
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Blak Dot Gallery
in the immediate neighbourhood we reckoned as many as twenty-one farms all in the occupation of gentlemen, who are busily engaged in the erection of dwelling houses and other buildings requisite for carrying on agricultural operations upon an extensive scale. There are also six families of the labouring class.55
According to historian Richard Broome, it was almost certainly the local surveyor, Henry Foot who gave the name Pentridge to the village.56 It refers to the village of 55 Port Phillip Gazette, 8 August 1840, cited in Broome, p. 37. 56 Broome, p. 40.
Pentridge in Dorset, England, the birthplace of Henry’s wife, Lettice Spear. At the time, the Foot family were living by the Merri Creek and Henry was engaged in contract survey work. It was another eight years before the Pentridge reserve was surveyed, and until then the village did not materialise. The first sign of its development as a community hub was in 1848, when the Wesleyan Church was allocated a land grant for religious purposes. The prime position covering 8 roods (2 acres or 1 hectare) on the corner of Bell Street and Sydney Road was previously the site of a government pound,57 and the small sandstone and bluestone chapel they erected in 1849 still stands there today (see citation for 562 Sydney Road, Coburg). Surveyor Lindsay Clarke formally laid out the village in 1849 in the precinct bounded by what are now Bell Street, Drummond Street, Lyon Street and Sydney Road, and intersected by Crow Street 57 Broome, p. 67.
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Wurundjeri land, Alfred C o r n w e l l ’s e s t a t e , a n d a Catholic school.
Figure 11 Map showing the Parish of Jika Jika which includes Brunswick and Coburg. The map also shows the fi Coburg (c1902). The bold numberAin allotment Portion T h enumber. y h a v e The a l l numbers o c c u p i ebehind d t h e the name l f reach ed Co r n w e l l ’s is p othe t t e Crown ry site and to this day continue equals 0.41 hectares. Source: Coburg Historical Society. to exist at the site through built form, presence and exerting i n f l u e n c ein . Dorset, Pentridge
Pentridge, the Jika Jika Parish Village The parish of Jika Jika Village was formally named Pentridge in August 1840. By then, the surrounding area had been carved up into farms. The Port Phillip Gazette observed with some enthusiasm that
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Englan wife, Lettice Spear. At the t by the Merri Creek and Hen survey work.
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WURUNDJERI HISTORY OF YARRA
Group of Aborigines
6. ATTITUDES AND PERCEPTIONS BETWEEN THE WURUNDJERI & THE BRITISH
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ABORIGINAL COMMUNITY VIDEOS
in the immediate neighbourhood we reckoned as many as twenty-one farms all in the occupation of gentlemen, who are busily engaged in the erection of dwelling houses and other buildings requisite for carrying on agricultural operations upon an extensive scale. There are also six families of the Antoine College labouring class.55
According to historian Richard Broome, it was almost certainly the local surveyor, Henry Foot who gave the name Pentridge to the village.56 It refers to the village of
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It was another eight years b was surveyed, and until the The first sign of its develop in 1848, when the Wesleya ite grant for religious purposes Saxon St, Brunswick 8 roods (2 acres or 1 hecta and Sydney Road was prev pound,57 and the small san they erected in 1849 still st for 562 Sydney Road, Cob formally laid out the village by what are now Bell Stree