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Gulidjan
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The Gulidjan people (perhaps originally Kolidjon,[1][a]), also known as the Kolakngat, or Colac tribe, are an Aboriginal Australian tribe whose traditional lands cover the Lake Colac region of the state of Victoria, Australia. They occupied the grasslands, woodlands, volcanic plains and lakes region east of Lake Corangamite, west of the Barwon River and north of the Otway Ranges. Their territory bordered the Wathaurong to the north, Djargurd Wurrung to the west, Girai Wurrung to the south-west, and Gadubanud to the south-east.[2]
Language
[edit]The Gulidjan language was first identified in 1839, although much of the detail and vocabulary has been lost, there is sufficient to confirm that it constituted a separate language. About 100 words of the Gulidjan language have survived. Some analysis suggests it may be a mixed language or creole language having something in common with each of the neighboring languages. The word Colac/Kokak derives from the Gulidjan word kulak (sand)[3] and the suffix -gnat. The ethnonym was analysed by James Dawson, who transcribed it as Kolakgnat, to mean 'belonging to sand'.[4][5]
Roughly 200 words and the translated text of the Lord's Prayer survive from the Gulidjan language.[6]
Country
[edit]The Gulidjan resided throughout some 900 square miles (2,300 km2) near Lake Colac and Lake Corangamite, reaching down into harsh terrain towards Cape Otway.[6] The inland boundary of their domain lay south of Cressy.[1]
History
[edit]The Gulidjan people were hit hard by the European colonisation of their land shortly after the foundation of Melbourne. For three years, the Gulidjan actively resisted invasion by driving off livestock and raiding stations. Such raids brought retaliation by parties of colonisers with violent clashes ensuing. According to Jan Critchett's study, an estimated 300-350 Aboriginal people were murdered in the 14 years from 1834 to 1848, during the colonial invasion of the Western District.[7] The disappearance and presumed death deaths of Joseph Gellibrand and George Hesse in 1837, whose fate remains a mystery to this day, were blamed on the Gulidjan. Retribution was meted out by a colonising party accompanied, by some Wathaurong people, and several Gulidjan people were killed.[8] Historian Ian Clark reports on three documented attacks in 1839-1840 resulting in Aboriginal deaths.[b] More often, squatters destroyed campsites and took implements as revenge. By 1839, the Gulidjan were unable to live traditionally on their lands and began to take jobs on European stations.[8]
In 1839, the Reverend Francis Tuckfield, from the Wesleyan Mission Society, established a mission station, called Buntingdale, at Birregurra, in Gulidjan territory . Housing was only provided if tribal families renounced polygamy.[9] Early conflicts between the Gulidjan and Wathaurong peoples at the mission persuaded the missionaries to concentrate on one language group - the Gulidjan - in 1842. [10] Within three years the mission saw one tribe have its numbers halved, and the impact on the Colac tribe was said to be more drastic.[11] The Gulidjan successfully resisted his attempts at cultural genocide through the indoctrination of Christian values and a sedentary lifestyle, and the mission was closed in 1848.[12] At that point, they took refuge at Alexander Dennis's Tardwarncourt station.[13]
Coloniser Hugh Murray, who first claimed the area in September 1837, asserted in 1853 that the local Gulidjan tribe was small, numbering between 35 and 40.[c][14] By 1850, 43 males and 35 females were counted to be alive.[13] With the influx of people searching for gold during the 1850s Victorian gold rush, and the continuation of genocidal policies, only 19 Gulidjan were left by 1858.[15] Causes of the decline were identified in 1862 as starvation due to European occupation of the best-grassed areas of their lands, European diseases such as chicken pox, measles and influenza, association with convicts, and heightened tribal enmity.[citation needed] However, it is widely acknowledged that Australian historical accounts minimise the impact of genocidal practices on Aboriginal populations, and instead emphasise causes of population decline that have only indirect associations with the behaviour of colonisers, such as disease, or that blame Aboriginal communities for their own decline, such as due to violence.[citation needed]
In the 1860s, a small reserve, Karngun, was established for the Gulidjan people on the Barwon River at Winchelsea, and was maintained until 1875. A house was built for them on the present Colac hospital site, but they preferred living in their traditional mia-mias. In 1872, 16 hectares of land were reserved at Elliminyt, south of Colac, for the Gulidjan, with a brick house erected on the site, but the Gulidjan preferred to use the house as a windbreak. Richard Sharp and Jim Crow, both Gulidjan people, established working leases on the site, and their families continued to hold their respective lots until 1948, when the land was sold by the Victorian Lands Department. Descendants of those families continue to live in the local area.[16]
Society
[edit]The Gulidjan are a matrilineal society who intermarried with the Djab Wurrung, Djargurd Wurrung and Wada wurrung. Each person belonged to a moiety of gabadj (Black Cockatoo) or grugidj (White Cockatoo).[8]
At interregional corroborees, where upwards of 20 tribes each having its own language or dialect, would gather, Gulidjan was one of four languages spoken, the other three being Tjapwurrung, Kuurn Kopan Noot and Wiitya whuurong, a dialect of Wathawurrung.[5]
Clans
[edit]Before European settlement, 4 separate clans existed[15][13]
| No | Clan name | Approximate location |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Beeac Clan | Lake Beeac |
| 2 | Birregurra Clan | Birregurra |
| 3 | Guraldjin balug | 'Ingleby' station, on the Barwon River |
| 4 | Gulidjan Balug | Vicinity of Lake Colac |
Alternative names
[edit]Some words
[edit]- purterrong (child)
- tharrong (man)
- part-part (moon)
- birri (breast)
- mama (father)[17]
Notes
[edit]- ^ "There are also a number of spellings such as Colijon, Koligian, Colijan, Kolijin and Koladgin. These suggest a form Gulidjan (alternatively transcribed with an initial k and/or with o as the vowel of the first syllable). The vowel a tends to be pronounced as æ or ε following a palatal such as dj and this probably accounts for the spellings that suggest i in the final syllable." (Blake, Clark & Reid 2001, p. 155)
- ^ Arthur Lloyd and a certain Taylor shot a G man dead in 1839; William Roadknight shot another dead in July of that same year; whites killed another in 1840. (Clark 1995, pp. 138–139)
- ^ "The Colac tribe of natives was not numerous when we came here – men, women and children not numbering more than 35 or 40." (Murray 1898, p. 5)
References
[edit]- ^ a b c Tindale 1974, p. 205.
- ^ Clark (1995), pp. 135–139.
- ^ Clark 2014, p. 244.
- ^ Dawson 1881, p. lxxx.
- ^ a b Blake, Clark & Reid 2001, p. 155.
- ^ a b Dixon 2011, p. 260.
- ^ Critchett 1990, pp. 130–131.
- ^ a b c Clark (1995), p. 135.
- ^ Mitchell 2007, p. 229.
- ^ Clark (1995), pp. 135–136.
- ^ Hebb 1970, p. 209.
- ^ Clark 1995, p. 136.
- ^ a b c Blake, Clark & Reid 2001, p. 156.
- ^ Chapman 1966, p. 2.
- ^ a b Clark 1995, p. 137.
- ^ Clark (1995), pp. 137–138.
- ^ Blake, Clark & Reid 2001, p. 159.
Sources
[edit]- Blake, Barry; Clark, Ian D.; Reid, Julie (2001) [First published 1998]. "The Colac language". In Blake, Barry (ed.). Wathawurrung and the Colac Language of Southern Victoria (PDF). Vol. 147. Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies. pp. 155–177. ISBN 0-85883-498-7.
- Chapman, Nan (1966). Historic Homes of Western Victoria: Stories of Prominent Pioneering Families of Western Victoria and of their Stately and Gracious Homes, Today Irreplaceable Symbols of a Wilderness Tamed. Colac Herald.
- Clark, Ian D. (1995). Scars in the Landscape: a register of massacre sites in western Victoria, 1803–1859 (PDF). AIATSIS. pp. 135–139. ISBN 0-85575-281-5.
- Clark, Ian D. (2014). "Multiple Aboriginal placenames in western and central Victoria". In Clark, Ian D.; Hercus, Luise; Kostanski, Laura (eds.). Indigenous and Minority Placenames: Australian and International Perspectives. Australian National University Press. pp. 169–175. ISBN 978-0-85575-281-1. JSTOR j.ctt13www5z.16.
- Critchett, Jan (1990) [First published 1988]. A 'distant field of murder': Western District frontiers, 1834–1848. Melbourne University Press. ISBN 978-0-522-84389-7.
- Dawson, James (1881). Australian Aborigines: The Languages and Customs of Several Tribes of Aborigines in the Western District of Victoria, Australia (PDF). Melbourne: George Robertson.
- Dixon, Robert M. W. (2011). The Languages of Australia. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-1-108-01785-5.
- Hebb, Isaac (1970) [First published 1888]. History of Colac and District. Hawthorn Press.
- Le Griffon, Heather (2006). Campfires at the Cross: An Account of the Bunting Dale Aboriginal Mission 1839-1951 at Birregurra, Near Colac, Victoria: with a Biography of Francis Tuckfield. Australian Scholarly Publishing. ISBN 978-1-740-97112-6.
- Mitchell, Jessie (2007). "Corrupt desires and the wages of sin: indigenous people, missionaries and male sexuality, 1830–1850". In Macfarlane, Ingereth; Hannah, Mark (eds.). Transgressions: Critical Australian Indigenous Histories. Australian National University Press. pp. 229–249. ISBN 978-1-921-31343-1.
- Murray, Hugh (1898). "Letter No.2, 18 August 1853" (PDF). In Bride, Thomas Francis (ed.). Letters from Victorian Pioneers. Melbourne: Robert S Brain Government Printer. pp. 4–5.
- Tindale, Norman Barnett (1974). "Kolakngat (VIC)". Aboriginal Tribes of Australia: Their Terrain, Environmental Controls, Distribution, Limits, and Proper Names. Australian National University Press. ISBN 978-0-708-10741-6.
Gulidjan
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Territory and Environment
Geographical Boundaries
The traditional territory of the Gulidjan people was centered on Lake Colac in southwestern Victoria, Australia.[3] Their lands encompassed diverse landscapes including grasslands, woodlands, and volcanic plains adjacent to the lake.[3] The western boundary likely followed the eastern bank of the Wardy Yallock River near Cressy southward to Lake Corangamite, then proceeded along the eastern shore of Lake Corangamite before extending south to the Gellibrand River.[3] This delineation, drawn from historical ethnographic records, reflects probable pre-contact extents based on linguistic and cultural distributions documented in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.[3] To the east, the territory bordered lands west of the Barwon River, while northern extents adjoined Wadawurrung (Wathaurong) country, and southern regions approached Gadubanud territories near the Otway Ranges.[3] These boundaries were not rigidly fixed but defined by resource access, kinship ties, and interactions with neighboring groups such as the Djargurd Wurrung to the west and Girai Wurrung to the southwest.[3] Post-contact disruptions, including European settlement from the 1830s onward, significantly altered occupancy patterns within these areas.[6]Resource Utilization and Adaptation
The Gulidjan people constructed stone-based living spaces on their volcanic plains and lake-adjacent territories, leveraging local basalt and other stones to form windbreaks and semi-permanent shelters that integrated with natural landscape features such as dips, ridges, and lunettes for protection from wind and weather.[7] These adaptations emphasized strategic site selection near freshwater sources, essential for hydration and aquatic resource procurement, while maintaining proximity to game habitats in surrounding grasslands and woodlands to support hunting efficiency.[7] Archaeological evidence from Lake Colac lunette sites documents occupation extending back at least 7000 calibrated years before present, reflecting long-term adaptation to environmental shifts from wetter, more stable conditions to drier phases, with sustained use of saline lake margins for resource extraction amid volcanic terrain.[8] Colonial records, including those from George Augustus Robinson's journeys in the 1840s, corroborate observations of similar stone arrangements in Gulidjan Country, indicating practical utilization of abundant local stone for durable, low-effort housing that minimized timber dependency in open plains.[7] Resource strategies centered on the diverse ecology of Lake Colac's environs, where volcanic soils supported grassland fauna for hunting—such as kangaroos and smaller game—and lake systems provided fish and waterfowl, supplemented by gathered plants from woodland edges.[8] This hunter-gatherer economy adapted to seasonal variations, with stone tools fashioned from regional basalt enabling efficient processing of terrestrial and aquatic yields, as inferred from site assemblages showing continuity in material culture despite climatic variability.[7]Language
Classification and Features
Gulidjan, also documented as Colac or Kolakngat, belongs to the Kulinic subgroup of the Pama-Nyungan language family, the largest phylum of Australian Aboriginal languages, though its affiliation is considered marginal due to limited lexical and grammatical data suggesting possible admixture from neighboring tongues like Wathawurrung and the Warrnambool language.[9][4] Vocabulary cognacy rates range from 23% with Warrnambool dialects to 34% with Wathawurrung, supporting genetic ties within Kulinic but with evidence of borrowing or substrate influence that complicates precise subgrouping.[10] Some analyses propose it as a mixed language incorporating features from adjacent non-Kulinic varieties, though core pronominal and suffixal forms align with Pama-Nyungan norms.[9] Phonological reconstruction draws from sparse 19th-century records, indicating a typical Australian inventory with stops at labial, dental, alveolar, retroflex, palatal, and velar places of articulation (e.g., p, th, t, rt, y, k), alongside nasals, laterals, rhotics (rr, r), and glides; vowels likely form a three- or six-vowel system, with long vowels of uncertain phonemic status and no word-initial vowels permitted.[4] Final consonants such as p, t, and k occur, as in purterrong 'child'. Grammatical features include bound morphemes like the suffix -barra marking intransitive verbs (e.g., workim-barra-nuk 'to work') and -an denoting possession or quality (e.g., lelaban 'salt water').[10] The pronominal paradigm features first-person singular ngathuit 'I' and dual ngathula 'we two', with genitive forms in -angit or -ang, reflecting Kulinic patterns shared with languages like Bunganditj; third-person possessives employ -nyinuk (e.g., lirri nyinuk ma 'fingernail').[4] Syntax remains undescribed beyond fragmentary sentences, such as partial translations of the Lord's Prayer, underscoring the language's poor attestation from sources like missionary William Tuckfield (1844) and ethnographer George Augustus Robinson.[10] Overall, Gulidjan exemplifies the typological hallmarks of Pama-Nyungan languages, including agglutinative morphology and suffixing, but its features are inferred from under 200 attested items across historical glossaries.[4]Vocabulary and Documentation
The documentation of Gulidjan, also known as the Colac language, is sparse and derives primarily from 19th-century records collected by European missionaries, settlers, and officials in the Lake Colac region of southern Victoria. Key early sources include William Tuckfield's 1844 vocabulary of 19 words, supplemented by partial translations of the Lord's Prayer and Genesis, though the original manuscript was destroyed in a fire, with remnants preserved in later compilations such as Cary (1898), which expanded to about 100 words including a pronoun paradigm.[10] Additional contributions came from Eyre (1845), Smyth (1878), Dennis and Alexander (1878) with 48 words, and Lloyd (1862) with 70 words, the latter mixing elements of Gulidjan and the neighboring Wathawurrung language.[10] These fragmented records were synthesized and analyzed in Blake (1998), which identifies the Colac language with Gulidjan and compiles data from over a dozen historical sources, highlighting inconsistencies due to non-standardized orthographies and limited speaker access.[10] The recorded vocabulary totals approximately 237 unique words, covering basic domains such as body parts, numerals, natural phenomena, and kinship terms, but lacks comprehensive grammatical texts or extended narratives.[10] Many entries appear unique to Gulidjan, distinguishing it from adjacent languages, while others reflect borrowing or dialectal overlap, supporting analyses of it as a mixed language incorporating elements from Wathawurrung (34% lexical similarity), Warrnambool (23%), and Bunganditj.[10] [9] Examples include purterrong or puteRong for 'child', tharrong or tbaRong for 'man', part-part for 'moon', ngubiyt for 'water', puletha for 'two', and thit-thit for 'bird'.[10] Grammatical features evident in the lexicon include pronouns based on ngathu (e.g., ngathuit 'I', ngathula 'we two'), a third-person possessor suffix -nyinuk (e.g., lirri nyinuk ma 'his/her fingernail'), and verb endings like -nuk.[10] Phonological documentation is rudimentary, with variations in sources suggesting distinctions between dental and palatal stops (e.g., th vs. tj) and possible long vowels, but these are complicated by inconsistent 19th-century transcriptions.[10] Modern efforts, such as those referenced by AIATSIS, confirm the data's limitations and the language's extinct status, with no fluent speakers recorded after the mid-20th century and revival attempts hampered by the scant corpus.[9] Blake (1998) provides the most systematic English-Gulidjan glossary, emphasizing unique terms not attested in neighboring varieties, though source credibility varies due to collectors' limited linguistic training and potential biases in early colonial interactions.[10]Extinction and Revival Attempts
The Gulidjan language, also known as the Colac language, is classified as extinct, with no fluent speakers recorded in national Indigenous language surveys or censuses since at least the mid-20th century. Linguistic documentation relies primarily on 19th-century records and limited 20th-century elicitations, indicating that intergenerational transmission ceased amid broader demographic declines and cultural disruptions following European settlement. Analysis of available materials suggests the language incorporated elements from neighboring tongues, complicating reconstruction, but confirms its dormancy by the 1960s to 1970s for related Victorian dialects.[9][10] Revival efforts for Gulidjan have been negligible compared to more robustly documented Victorian languages, owing to sparse lexical and grammatical records—estimated at under 500 words and fragmented sentences from sources like James Dawson's 1881 vocabulary. Broader Victorian Aboriginal language reclamation programs, coordinated by bodies such as the Victorian Aboriginal Corporation for Languages (VACL), prioritize stronger candidates like Wathawurrung, but occasionally reference Gulidjan in educational contexts for the Lake Colac region. No community-led fluent revival programs exist, though isolated cultural integrations persist, such as the term ngarrwaa (meaning a place of deep conversation and balance) adopted by VACL's Ngarrwaa initiative for dialogue spaces.[4][11][12] These limited attempts highlight challenges in reviving "sleeping" languages like Gulidjan, where insufficient archival depth hinders full pedagogical recovery, unlike cases with audio recordings or living semi-speakers. Scholarly works emphasize documentary linguistics as a prerequisite, yet Gulidjan's mixed features and reliance on non-fluent informants underscore revival's low feasibility without new evidentiary breakthroughs.[13]Social Structure
Kinship Systems
The Gulidjan kinship system was matrilineal, with descent and inheritance traced through the maternal line, distinguishing it from the patrilineal systems of some neighboring groups such as the Wathawurrung.[4][10] Society was divided into two exogamous moieties—gabadj, associated with the black cockatoo, and grugidj (or guragidj), associated with the white cockatoo—each person inheriting their moiety affiliation from their mother.[4][14] These moieties regulated marriage alliances, requiring individuals to wed members of the opposite moiety to maintain social harmony and exogamy, a pattern consistent with broader southeastern Australian Aboriginal practices.[14] Intermarriage occurred frequently with adjacent matrilineal groups like the Djab Wurrung and Djargurd Wurrung, as well as select clans from patrilineal groups including the Wada Wurrung, facilitating alliances despite structural differences in descent rules.[4][10] Moiety membership also influenced ceremonial roles, resource sharing, and avoidance behaviors, embedding kinship in daily social organization around Lake Colac and surrounding territories.[14]Clans and Moieties
The Gulidjan people maintained a matrilineal social organization, with descent and inheritance traced through the female line.[4] Society was divided into two primary moieties, gabadj (black cockatoo) and grugidj (white cockatoo), which governed marriage rules, ceremonial roles, and social affiliations.[4] [15] Membership in a moiety was inherited matrilineally, and exogamous marriage between moieties was prescribed to maintain social balance and alliances.[4] These moieties paralleled those of neighboring groups such as the Djargurd Wurrung and Djab Wurrung, facilitating intermarriage and participation in regional corroborees involving up to 20 tribes.[4] In contrast, the adjacent Wada Wurrung employed patrilineal moieties, highlighting a regional variation in kinship systems around the Lake Colac area.[16] The Gulidjan were further subdivided into four clans, or family groups (balug), each tied to specific territories and resources: the Beeac Clan at Lake Beeac, the Birregurra Clan at Birregurra, the Garraldjan balug near Ingleby station on the Barwon River, and the Gulidjan balug centered on Lake Colac.[4] [5] Clan leaders, such as Co-coc-coine of the Gulidjan balug, held authority over local decision-making, including resource management and dispute resolution, while moieties provided the broader framework for intertribal relations.[4] These structures supported semi-nomadic mobility within clan estates, with moieties ensuring reciprocity in ceremonies and trade.[5]Pre-Contact Society and Culture
Daily Life and Economy
The Gulidjan people, known to early observers as the Colac tribe, maintained a subsistence economy centered on hunting, fishing, and gathering, with family-based land tenure and inheritance ensuring access to resources across their territories encompassing lakes, grasslands, woodlands, and volcanic plains. Food resources included kangaroo, emu (restricted to adult men and elderly women), eels, opossums, edible roots such as murnong (murrayang), grubs, and wattle gum, distributed according to communal rules that emphasized sharing to mitigate scarcity risks.[17] Limited trade occurred during seasonal gatherings, involving exchanges of greenstone, wattle gum, and animal skins, alongside gifting of specialized spears (bundit) to foster alliances.[17] Hunting techniques relied on spears (up to 7 feet long), boomerangs, stone axes, and domesticated dogs, often organized as cooperative drives (battues) to herd kangaroos and emus into encircled areas for spearing.[17] Fishing, particularly in lakes like those near Colac, employed woven baskets, nets, eel spears (tuulakneetch), and stone barriers to channel fish, with nighttime spearing using torches to illuminate targets.[17] Gathering focused on women collecting roots, grubs, and plants, supplemented by grinding stones and mortars for processing. Tools such as flint or shell knives, scrapers, and chisels supported these activities, with stone axes held communally under chiefly oversight.[17] Daily life followed gendered divisions, with men primarily hunting larger game and women responsible for gathering, food preparation, and erecting temporary shelters (wuurns) during seasonal movements. Permanent dome-shaped dwellings, constructed from tree limbs, bark, thatch, and earthen daubing on elevated dry sites near water sources, housed nuclear families and reflected adaptation to the region's wetlands and plains.[17] Hygiene practices involved using murnong-root poles for cleaning, while larger summer assemblies facilitated corroborees, dispute resolution via message sticks or signal fires, and resource exchanges, underscoring social integration with economic needs. Archaeological evidence of stone arrangements in Gulidjan country suggests structured living spaces that supported semi-permanent occupation and resource management.[7]Spiritual and Ceremonial Practices
The Gulidjan maintained a spiritual worldview centered on a profound connection to their country around Lake Colac and surrounding landscapes in south-western Victoria, where the land itself embodied ancestral beings, creation stories, and ongoing relational obligations.[18] This cosmology, shared among Victorian Aboriginal language groups including the Gulidjan, emphasized totems—personal, clan, or site-specific emblems derived from animals, plants, or natural features—that structured social identity, resource stewardship, and ritual duties.[18] Ceremonial practices encompassed initiation rites for adolescent males, involving seclusion, physical modifications such as scarification or tooth avulsion, and instruction in lore to confer adult status and spiritual responsibilities, as documented in ethnographic accounts of south-eastern Australian groups with analogous kinship and moiety systems.[19] Corroborees—communal gatherings featuring dances, songs, and body paint—served to recount Dreamtime narratives, reinforce alliances with neighboring peoples like the Wathaurong and Djargurd Wurrung, and invoke ancestral presences for hunting success or seasonal transitions.[18] Sacred sites, including stone arrangements and modified landscapes on Gulidjan country, likely functioned in these rituals as loci for ceremonies marking territorial boundaries, gender-specific knowledge transmission, or communion with spiritual entities, consistent with broader Aboriginal uses of such features for ceremonial and navigational purposes.[7][20] Funeral rituals involved communal mourning, temporary burial followed by exposure of remains, and ceremonies to guide the spirit's return to ancestral lands, preventing malevolent influences while honoring the deceased's totemic ties.[18] Detailed Gulidjan-specific accounts remain limited, as early colonial disruptions from the 1830s onward— including massacres, disease, and displacement—severely curtailed elder-led transmission of esoteric knowledge, with surviving records reliant on fragmentary settler observations and later archaeological correlations rather than direct indigenous testimony.[19]Historical Interactions
Early European Contact
European pastoralists began occupying Gulidjan territory around Lake Colac in the late 1830s, following the establishment of Port Phillip settlement in 1835, with sheep graziers from Van Diemen's Land (Tasmania) taking up initial holdings near the lake for its fertile grasslands.[21][2] Initial interactions were hostile, as evidenced by the 1837 disappearance and presumed murders of explorers Joseph T. Gellibrand and George Hesse, for which Gulidjan people were blamed by settlers, prompting retaliatory killings by Europeans and allied Wathawurrung groups in the Lake Colac vicinity.[4] Between 1837 and 1839, escalating conflicts arose over livestock depredations, with Gulidjan groups reportedly killing sheep, leading to the destruction of their huts by settlers and further violence that diminished their immediate resistance.[4] By 1840, however, relations shifted toward pragmatic accommodation, as Gulidjan individuals began working as laborers on European pastoral stations, reflecting adaptation to encroaching settlement amid ongoing territorial pressures.[4] In 1839, the Wesleyan Buntingdale Mission was founded at Birregurra, approximately 30 kilometers northeast of Lake Colac, aiming to provide Christian education and protection to Gulidjan and neighboring groups, though attendance remained low due to cultural resistance and proximity to settler lands.[4] The mission's establishment marked an institutional European effort to manage Indigenous contact, but it was abandoned in 1848 as pastoral expansion intensified and Gulidjan numbers declined from disease and displacement.[4] These early encounters set the pattern for rapid territorial loss, with Gulidjan population estimated at 78 individuals (43 males, 35 females) by 1850, a fraction of pre-contact numbers inferred from regional patterns.[4]Conflicts and Territorial Loss
Following the rapid expansion of European pastoral settlement into the Colac district after the founding of Melbourne in 1835, Gulidjan people mounted resistance against land encroachment by driving off livestock and conducting raids on newly established stations between approximately 1836 and 1839.[4] These actions aimed to disrupt settler activities and protect traditional territories centered around Lake Colac and surrounding wetlands, but they elicited violent reprisals from armed settler parties, resulting in the deaths of several Gulidjan individuals in dispersed skirmishes rather than consolidated massacres.[22] Assistant Aboriginal Protector Charles Sievwright, stationed in the Western District from 1839, documented ongoing frontier tensions in the area, attributing local Aboriginal depopulation partly to such retaliatory killings amid broader conflicts with squatters.[5] A notable flashpoint occurred in early 1837 with the disappearance of explorers Joseph T. Gellibrand and George B. Hesse near the upper Barwon River, an event attributed by contemporaries to Gulidjan actions, prompting punitive search expeditions that targeted camps near Lake Colac and contributed to further fatalities.[4] Reports of a specific massacre at Lake Colac in retaliation have circulated in settler accounts, but these remain unsubstantiated by direct evidence and were contested even in early colonial records.[23] Inter-clan dynamics exacerbated vulnerabilities, as disputes with neighboring Wathawurrung groups over resources and marriages diverted attention from unified resistance to Europeans, with George Augustus Robinson noting persistent Gulidjan-Wathawurrung hostilities in the late 1830s.[24] Territorial dispossession accelerated through the allocation of pastoral runs to squatters by the late 1830s, converting Gulidjan hunting grounds into sheep pastures that depleted native flora and fauna essential for sustenance, leading to widespread starvation alongside introduced diseases.[4] By the early 1840s, Sievwright estimated severe population declines in the Colac region due to this resource competition and violence, with traditional lands effectively alienated under Crown grants formalized in the 1840s and 1850s.[5] Small reserves, such as Karngun in the 1860s, offered limited recourse but represented only fractional restitution amid irreversible land loss to agriculture and settlement.[4]Demographic Collapse
The Gulidjan population experienced a precipitous decline following the initial European settlement at Lake Colac in 1837, when grazier Hugh Murray established the district's first permanent pastoral run with over 2,000 sheep. Pre-contact population estimates for the group, based on analyses of clan territories and resource capacities in western Victoria, place their numbers at approximately 200-300 individuals across an estate supporting semi-nomadic foraging economies reliant on lake resources, kangaroos, and eels. By 1853, Murray reported the local Colac (Gulidjan) tribe had dwindled to around 35-40 survivors, attributing the reduction to intertribal conflicts, introduced diseases, and the exclusion from traditional hunting grounds by fenced pastoral lands that depleted native game through overgrazing by livestock.[25][26] Key drivers of this collapse included epidemics of European diseases, notably a measles outbreak in 1840 that ravaged Aboriginal communities across Victoria's western districts, exploiting immunological naivety and high transmission in dense contact zones near settlements. Land dispossession exacerbated starvation, as settlers occupied prime grassy plains essential for attracting kangaroos and emus, forcing reliance on diminished or unfamiliar foods; historical settler correspondence from 1862 explicitly linked the decline to such resource competition. Frontier violence contributed, with documented skirmishes and reprisal killings in the Colac area, including unverified reports of massacres at Lake Colac in the 1840s amid tensions over stock spearing and territorial intrusion. Sexual exploitation and social disruption further eroded reproduction rates, as noted in missionary records from the period.[27] By the 1860s, the Gulidjan were deemed functionally extinct as a cohesive group, with remnants numbering fewer than 20 and scattered to missions like the Lake Condah protectorate or absorbed into neighboring Wadawurrung clans; a small reserve at Karngum (near Colac) accommodated survivors but failed to reverse the trend due to ongoing morbidity from tuberculosis and influenza. Practices such as infanticide, intensified by famine and cultural responses to unviable child-rearing amid scarcity, were reported in late-19th-century settler histories as compounding mortality. This collapse mirrored broader patterns in Victoria, where Aboriginal numbers fell by 80-90% within decades of contact, driven by these interlocking causal factors rather than inherent cultural deficiencies.[25][28]Legacy and Contemporary Status
Descendant Communities
Descendants of the Gulidjan people reside primarily in the Colac region of Victoria, maintaining connections to their traditional lands around Lake Colac despite the historical decimation of their population in the 19th century.[2][29] These descendants are collectively represented by the Eastern Maar Aboriginal Corporation (EMAC), which encompasses Gulidjan as one of five major Maar/Mara language groups, alongside Gadubanud, Keerray Woorroong, Djargurd Wurrung, and Dauwurd Wurrung.[30][31] EMAC functions as the Registered Aboriginal Party for portions of Gulidjan territory, managing cultural heritage and advocating for native title rights; in March 2023, the Federal Court granted non-exclusive native title over approximately 3,755 square kilometers of land and waters, including areas historically associated with Gulidjan and Gadubanud peoples.[32][33] Notable individuals include Australian cricketer Scott Boland, who in 2017 traced his maternal lineage to the Gulidjan through his adopted grandfather's origins, and local advocate Ebony Hickey, who identifies her maternal family ties to Gulidjan country.[34][35] Cultural continuity persists through EMAC-led initiatives, such as the 2024 repatriation of ancestral remains to a Gulidjan memorial site at Barongarook Creek, emphasizing ongoing custodial responsibilities.[36] Local government bodies, including Colac Otway Shire, formally acknowledge Gulidjan as traditional custodians alongside neighboring groups.[1] With the Gulidjan language extinct since 1975, descendants integrate traditional practices within broader Eastern Maar frameworks while residing in regional communities.[2]Archaeological and Cultural Sites
The Barongarook Creek site in Colac, Victoria, serves as a documented Gulidjan burial place, where human remains were uncovered during infrastructure construction, prompting a repatriation and memorial project in collaboration with Eastern Maar Aboriginal Corporation.[37] This site, located at Colac's eastern gateway along Barongarook Creek, features restored landscape elements including a bridge, paths, and park amenities designed to minimize ecological impact while facilitating cultural access and recognition of Traditional Owners' connection to Country.[37] Historical records indicate multiple ancestral remains have been identified in the Colac area over the past two decades, affirming the site's pre-contact significance for Gulidjan interment practices.[38] Archaeological investigations in Gulidjan territory, encompassing grasslands, woodlands, volcanic plains, and lakes east of Lake Corangamite and west of the Barwon River, reveal stone arrangements and associated living spaces indicative of semi-permanent occupation.[7] These sites, often positioned near waterways for access to freshwater, game, aquatic resources, and protective landforms, incorporate natural and manipulated features such as scarred trees and housing in sheltered ridges, linking to Gulidjan creation narratives and sustenance strategies.[7] Research under cultural heritage permits highlights their vulnerability to urban expansion, underscoring evidence of complex settlement patterns in the Lake Colac region.[7] Additional cultural commemorations, such as ancestral reburials at memorial sites within Gulidjan Meerreng (Country), reflect ongoing efforts to reconnect descendants with these locations, as seen in private ceremonies repatriating remains to Colac-area sites.[36] Post-contact sites, including mia-mias documented near Colac in the 1860s, further attest to persistent Gulidjan presence amid territorial pressures.[4]Land Rights and Recognition
The Gulidjan people's traditional lands, encompassing the Lake Colac region and surrounding areas in southwest Victoria, have been subject to formal recognition primarily through incorporation into the broader Eastern Maar native title framework. The Eastern Maar Aboriginal Corporation (EMAC), established in 2011 to represent descendants including those identifying as Gulidjan and Gadubanud, secured a positive native title consent determination that year, affirming non-exclusive rights to access, use, and manage country for cultural purposes under the Native Title Act 1993 (Cth).[33] This determination covered portions of the Victorian south-west, reflecting historical connections despite colonial dispossession that fragmented distinct Gulidjan clan structures. In March 2023, the Federal Court issued a landmark native title determination for the Eastern Maar peoples, granting rights over approximately 140,000 hectares of land and waters, including key sites along the Great Ocean Road and inland areas overlapping with Gulidjan territories such as Colac and the Otways.[32] This included exclusive possession over certain unallocated Crown land and non-exclusive rights to hunt, fish, gather, and conduct ceremonies on public lands, marking one of Victoria's largest such recognitions.[32] The ruling explicitly encompassed individuals identifying as Gulidjan or Gadubanud within the eastern domain of Eastern Maar country, enabling ongoing cultural practices amid ongoing development pressures.[39] EMAC also functions as the Registered Aboriginal Party (RAP) under Victoria's Aboriginal Heritage Act 2006 for areas including Colac and parts of the Otways, providing statutory authority to assess and consent to activities impacting cultural heritage on non-freehold land.[40] Local authorities, such as Colac Otway Shire Council, formally acknowledge Gulidjan custodianship, supporting co-management initiatives like repatriation projects and environmental stewardship, though formal land transfers remain limited compared to inalienable freehold title elsewhere in Australia.[1] These recognitions stem from evidentiary requirements under native title law, prioritizing continuous connection despite demographic collapses post-contact, but exclude alienated lands like pastoral leases without compensation agreements.[41]Alternative Names and Identifications
The Gulidjan people of the Lake Colac region in Victoria, Australia, have been documented under variant spellings reflecting phonetic interpretations by early European recorders, including Kolakngat (also Kolacgnat) and Kolitjon.[9] Their language shares these designations, with Kolakngat specifically denoting the dialect or speech variety associated with Colac-area groups.[9][42] Additional identifications include Guliagngad, used interchangeably for the nation centered on Colac, Birregurra, Beeac, and Cressy.[43] Linguists such as Barry Blake have classified the Gulidjan speech as the Colac language, distinguishing it from neighboring Wathawurrung while noting lexical and structural overlaps.[4][10]- Kolakngat: Primary synonym for both people and language, linked to Colac territory.[9]
- Colac-conedeet: Horde-specific name within Gulidjan boundaries.
- Guliagngad: Regional variant emphasizing traditional lands around Lake Colac.[43]