Anaiwan - contact with Sue Hudson

Sue Hudson, an indigenous archaeologist with a particular interest in the Anaiwan, contacted me. I have put up a full post on on my personal blog, so will not repeat the material here.

Anaiwan - AIATSIS collection

An AIATIS search lists 44 items dealing in some way with the Anaiwan. In searching, I was pleased to discover that AIATSIS still holds one copy of my original honours thesis!

I was also pleased to note that Harry Creamer had done a number of interviews, adding to oral history resources, so Harry is another possible lead.

Tindale on the Anaiwan

The following material is drawn from the South Australian Museum's material on N B Tindale's Catalogue of Australian Tribes.

"The information on this page is reproduced from N. B. Tindale's Aboriginal Tribes of Australia (1974). Please be aware that much of the data relating to Aboriginal language groups distribution and definition has undergone revision since 1974. Please note also that this catalogue represents Tnidale's attempt to depict Aboriginal tribal distribution at the time of European contact.

Location: New England tableland from Guyra and Ben Lomond south to Uralla and Moombie Range; north to Tingha; at Bendemeer and Armidale.

Area: 3,200 sq miles (8,300 sq. km).

References: Wyndham, 1889; Mathews 1896 (Gr. 6425), 1897 (Gr. 6431, 6567), 1898 (Gr. 6468), 1901 (Gr. 6502), 1903 (Gr. 6490); Buchanan, 1901; MacPherson, 1902, 1904; Radcliffe-Brown, 1930; Capell, 1956; Walker, 1964 MS; Court in Wurm, 1966.

Alernative Names: Anaywan, Anewan, Nowan, Enni-won, Yenniwon, Ee-na-won, En-nee-win, Eneewin, Inuwan, Inuwon, Nee-inuwon, Enuin."

The material includes links to maps not available on line.

Bellbrook's Aborigines - a working note

Classified by the national trust as a heritage village, Bellbrook is located 474 km from Sydney via the Pacific Highway and lies 46 km north-west of Kempsey in the Upper Macleay on the main road between Kempsey and Armidale.

The following material on Bellbrook is taken from Kempsey Shire Heritage.

"Bellbrook was settled by timber cutters and graziers in the mid 1830s and for most of that century there was very active antagonism between the local Aborigines (Thunghutti) and the settlers. Consequently the settlement was slow to develop and small scale.

Robert McKenzie, a sheep grazier, is recorded in 1837 as being the first squatter. By 1865 25 squatting licences had been issued covering 170,000 hectares of Thunghutti land.

The name Bellbrook was adopted as the official title for the first Post Office in 1882 at the suggestion of James Chapman Toose who established the office at the junction of Nulla Nulla Creek and the Macleay River. Prior to that the office was a Telegraph Station.

It is believed that Caroline McMaugh, wife of an early settler John McMaugh, named the village. At the time numbers of Bellbirds inhabited the dense scrub along Nulla Nulla Creek.

In 1885 the Aborigines were placed on 36.4 hectares of Aboriginal Protection Land near Bellbrook. In 1892 the village was laid out and gazetted as Bellbrook. This village is classified by the National Trust as a heritage village."

Changed Layout

I have finally bitten the bullet and changed the layout on this blog. I liked the old minimalist lay-out, but it had become just too restrictive especially where photos were concerned.

This layout with its wider columns also makes posts easier to read.

Anaiwan - University of New England welcome to country

Note to readers: This is one of a series of post simply recording other web entries on the Anaiwan people. This particular post is the 'Welcome to Country' given by Steve Widders, a descendant of the Anaiwan, at the NAIDOC Aboriginal Flag Raising Ceremony at Booloominbah, University of New England, 9 July 2007

Yugga danya Ngawanya -I am a Man of the Anaiwan people.

Roonyahra tanya tampida Ngawanya - This is the ancestral land of the Ngawanya.

Ootila tanya yoonyarah -I welcome you to this land.

The traditional custodians

At the University of New England graduation ceremonies, the Vice-Chancellor acknowledges firstly the Anaiwan then the names of neighbouring tribes; the Dhunghutti to the south-east, the Gumbaingerri to the north-east, and the Kamilaroi to the west.

Many local Aboriginal residents have claim to at least one but as many as all these groups. There is much evidence and research that documents the Anaiwan as the original inhabitants and acknowledges the other groups as being associated with and having extensive interaction with the land on which Armidale was settled.

Tribal boundaries change with the physical landscape, hence Anaiwan is on the Tablelands, and Dhunghutti is on the eastern side of the Pt Lookout escarpment down to the coast at Kempsey north of the Macleay River. Gumbaingerri is a coastal tribe whose lands come inland south of Grafton and east around Guyra and Ebor. The Kamilaroi are a plains group west of the Gwydir River and the Great Divide.

Tamworth is in Kamilaroi country which ends at the top of the Moonbis, and where Anaiwan begins. Uralla, Bundarra and places such as Hillgrove, Wollomombi, Rockvale, Tilbuster, Black Mountain, Dumaresq, Tingha, Inverell and all places within that boundary are Anaiwan country.

Aboriginal people looked after the land and did not claim exclusive ownership by building fences or other barriers. They were custodians. Their responsibility and boundaries changed with the physical landscape. As well as the land, the custodians were responsible for such things as the animals, waterways, flora, ceremonial grounds, food supplies, plants and vegetation which contained medicinal qualities.

Anaiwan or Nganyaywana entry page

This page has been established to provide an entry point to posts about the Anaiwan or Nganyaywana Aboriginal peoples who occupied the southern and central areas of the New England Tablelands.

An initial list of posts follows:

• 21 January 2008. Armidale's Aborigines - a note provides two references relevant to Armidale's Aborigines.
• 7 February 2008. Anaiwan - University of New England welcome to country contains Anaiwan phrases as well as some material on the group.
• 18 February 2008. Tindale on the Anaiwan provides information on N B Tindale's perceptions of Anaiwan territory.
• 21 February 2008. Anaiwan - AIATIS collection links to references about the Anaiwan.
• 28 February 2008. Contact with Sue Hudson welcomes my contact with indigenous archaeologist Sue Hudson and sets out some ideas on the approach that might be adopted to the writing of indigenous history using the Anaiwan as an example.
• 2 March 2008. Aboriginal midwife - the mystery of May Yarrowyck calls for information about May. I am not sure whether May was Anaiwan or Kamilaroi, but I want to know about a women who trained as a nurse in the 1890s.

University of New England Entry Page

I have begun to put up an entry page for a consolidated list of all my posts linked in some way to the University of New England. You will find it here.

So far I have 27 posts up, with perhaps the same number to go.

I am quite pleased with it. Obviously it is personal and biased. But it will, I think, provide a unique picture of one institution and the life that surrounded it.