Week 2 OPOH Tutorial Sheet 2020 (2020 09 21 04 52 20 UTC) PDF

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11 Tutorial Sheet Billibellary’s Walk: Thinking about the connections between ‘Country’ and well-being in Indigenous communities Billibellary’s walk is a cultural interpretation of the Parkville campus landscape that provides an experience of connection to country which Wurundjeri people continue to have both physically and spiritually. The walk is designed to help participants hear the whispers and songs of the Wurundjeri people that lie within the University of Melbourne's built environment. The walk alerts us to signs and stories that may not be apparent to visitors, but which provide some insight into the experience of the people of the Woiwurrung language group who have walked the grounds upon which the University now stands for more than 40,000 years. It is intended to provide the impetus for further exploration of issues pertinent to the Aboriginal community. This tutorial invites you to consider the connections between the natural and built environment (place), culture, identity and well-being. We will undertake a modified version of the official Billibellary’s walk as led by Mr Josh Cubillo, Indigenous Program Manager at University of Melbourne. The following ‘stops’ reference the more extensive walk map and notes available at the Faculty website: https://murrupbarak.unimelb.edu.au/engage/billibellarys-walk

‘Billibellary’s Country’ Stop 1– Corner of Masson and Swanston Sts Imagine the time is 1830 and the place is Wurundjeri Country, Billibellary’s Country. Born in 1799, Billibellary is the Ngurungaeta, or clan head, of the Wurundjeri Willam (a distinct patrilineal group within the Wurundjeri), whose diplomacy, intellect, courtesy and skills in negotiation would, in time to come, be put to the test. When Europeans arrive on the banks of the Birrarung (the Yarra River) in 1835 Billibellary, along with other headmen, signed the ‘Batman Treaty’ allowing in good faith the new arrivals access to their land and its resources, and thereby employing a sophisticated method of conciliation to protect their people, their role as custodians of the land and their place, to no avail. In just 20 years the rapid development of what was to become Melbourne destroyed the ancient natural landscape and decimated the Aboriginal population through disease, massacre and an inability to gather traditional foods due to dispossession of land. As a source of survival, Billibellary’s people have an obvious attachment to the land. But the complexities of the relationship between the landscape and the people are what elevate mere space to place.

‘Tools of the Trade’ Stop 3 – River Red Gum trees on the north east boundary of the athletics track Predating the University and possibly Melbourne’s settlement, these four River Red Gum trees speak of the ancestors all around this land of Billibellary. The Wurundjeri people honour such trees as an essential source of shelter, bark for canoes, tools such as spears and shields, instruments such as music sticks and clapping boomerangs used in ceremony and sap used to shrink and seal burns. The wood for making such items was 1

harvested using axes, some of which were quarried from Mt William, Wil-im-ee Moor-ring, a greenstone quarry near Lancefield in central Victoria (approx. 70km from Parkville) that is now heritage listed and the land title of which will be divested to the Wurundjeri Council for the Wurundjeri people. As one of the last traditional custodians of the quarry, Billibellary played a central role in the management and maintenance of the quarry with many groups travelling great distances to meet with him and negotiate the exchange of items for greenstone. Mt William quarry and the greenstone axes sourced from it, however, are said to have had a far greater importance than just the economic benefits of trade. In distinct distribution patterns, Mt William greenstone axes have been found up to 1000km from the quarry and are thought to have been prized for their cosmological and ceremonial symbolism in Kulin mythology.

Question 1. Now think about the knowledge the Wurundjeri people were required to have to ensure their practices, beliefs and value systems remained alive. Think about how this knowledge may have been passed from generation to generation.

‘Aboriginal Knowledge’ Stop 4 – Baldwin Spencer Building Aboriginal knowledge, bestowed through an oral tradition, is ever evolving, enabling it to reflect its context. Sir Walter Baldwin Spencer, the University’s Foundation Professor of Biology in 1887, was highly esteemed for his anthropological and ethnographic work, in particular that which related to Aboriginal communities. Having documented Aboriginal knowledge through recordings, photographs and manuscripts Sir Walter lives on in the words and images of his work, whilst his informants, both individuals and communities, remain static without identity or acknowledgement. The Aboriginal community regards Sir Walter Baldwin Spencer’s work as a misappropriation of Aboriginal culture and knowledge. Today, Aboriginal communities demand control of and participation in research related to their communities and ownership of their knowledge. Furthermore, there must be reciprocal benefits resulting from research with due acknowledgement of and consultation with the relevant communities. The next stop further explores the colonial relationship and its impact upon the Wurundjeri people. As you are walking look at the contemporary landscape around you and consider its relationship with what the Wurundjeri people knew prior to colonisation.

‘Self Determination and Community control’ Stop 5 – Murrup Barak Melbourne Institute of Indigenous Development Murrup Barak, Melbourne Indigenous Development Institute represents the fight that Billibellary, the Wurundjeri people, and indeed the whole Kulin nation were to face. The institute’s name uses Woiwurung language to speak of the spirit of William Barak, Billibellary’s nephew and successor as Ngurungaeta to the Wurundjeri Willam. The institute was established in 2009 to initiate and promote Aboriginal programs across the University and to maximize their contribution to Aboriginal development. The institute also house an Aboriginal student centre which aims to support Aboriginal students currently enrolled at the University and achieve population parity in Aboriginal student numbers through recruitment and retention strategies.

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William Barak, traditionally known as Beruk, was taught the ways of traditional practice by his Uncle Billibellary and, a similar style to his Elder, provided leadership for his people with a foresight that challenged the colonial intentions. In 1863, when the Wurundjeri people had been dispossessed of their country and placed on government run missions, dying of starvation, introduced disease and massacres, William Barak and his cousin, Simon Wonga (Billibellary’s son), among others, recognised the inevitabilities that lay ahead. In response they initiated, through negotiation of the political arena, the establishment of Coranderrk, a self-sufficient Aboriginal reserve near Healesville that soon became a thriving community and a very successful enterprise selling wheat, hops and vegetables. Through his work to establish Coranderrk, and by challenging the authorities of the time for it to remain Aboriginal community controlled in 1881, William Barak demonstrated the self-determination and fighting spirit of a true visionary.

‘A Fight for Identity’ Stop 7 – Medical Building rear entrance Whilst the relationship between the Aboriginal community and the University of Melbourne is improving, its history has been problematic. With significant influence in politics, public opinion and public policy, the University has, at times, supported and contributed to the construction of prevailing attitudes towards Aboriginal people. Indigenous knowledges are yet to be fully acknowledged, legitimized and validated within the realm of academia and indeed the decolonisation of many curricula is yet to occur. The most notable interaction between the University and the Aboriginal community, although not, perhaps, the most significant, was the legal action taken against the University over collections of Aboriginal Ancestral remains, namely the Murray Black collection. This collection of Aboriginal skeletal remains, gained through University`commissioned’ and funded grave robbing between the 1940s and 1950s, were of more than 800 Aboriginal people of the northern side of the Murray River. The remains were collected solely for medical research, but in the 40 50 years that they were stored at the University, little to no scientific research resulted. Impounded by court order and resulting in a lengthy legal process the Murray Black collection was successfully repatriated during the mid 1980s and contributed to the legislated protection for Aboriginal remains in Australia and, eventually, the legal right for Aboriginal communities to rebury their Ancestors. What is most significant is the commitment the University formally made in 2012 with its Reconciliation Action Plan to improve its capacity to positively influence Aboriginal development, in partnership with the Aboriginal community, and address the inequalities and inequities facing the Aboriginal community today.

‘Belonging to Country’ Stop 8 – Manna Gum Trees along the eastern wall of the Vice Chancellor’s Residence The two tall trees you see here are wurun, Manna Gums, within which is found djeri , a grub. It is from these that the Wurundjeri people take their name, symbolising the close interrelationship with the cultural landscape that Billibellary’s people have. If it’s deep winter (June/July) as you stand here in 1830 the cold wind bites at you so you might pull your possum skin cloak around your shoulders. If you are unwell you could gather the . long thin leaves of the wurun and lay them over a fire, the smoke will ease your congestion and fever. Winter is not only the season of growth for many Indigenous plants but also when the Wurundjeri Willam move to higher ground, near the Dandenongs, for shelter. They will travel age old trade routes and pathways along river systems and valleys that were created by ancestral beings. Your cloak, and the designs on its skin, represent the 3

reciprocal relationship and engagement with Country and imbues the wearer with Wurundjeri identity, one that was severely shattered once Victoria was colonized. The Wurundjeri people were dispossessed from their Country, their place of belonging, and provided with meagre food rations on government `controlled’ missions, where possum skin cloaks were replaced by inadequate blankets that harboured disease. Language, the key to sustaining an oral culture, was also forbidden. Today, however, the practice of possum skin cloak `making’ is alive once again and language is also being resurrected, renewing culture and identity.

Question 2. Describe what you think the term ‘Country’ means here ?

Acknowledgements Billibellary's Walk was developed by a research team comprising of Onemda VicHealth Koori Health Unit and Murrup Barak with input from a reference group which included Ms Shawana Andrews, Ms Ngarra Murray, Mr Craig Torrens and more recently, Mr Warwick Padgham. The support of the following individuals and groups was critical: - Wurundjeri Tribe Land and Compensation Cultural Heritage Council Inc – staff and members - Aunty Margaret Gardiner – Wurundjeri Elder - Aunty Joy Murphy-Wandin – Wurundjeri Elder - Office of the Provost, The University of Melbourne – Learning and Teaching Initiative Grant

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