City of Darebin Heritage Study Volume 1 Draft Thematic

VOLUME 2: THEMATIC ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY2 PEOPLING DAREBINIntroductionDarebin is the traditional country of the Wurundjeri willam, who were quickly displaced afterBatman negotiated his ‘treaty’ with them. They did, however, maintain contact with the areafor some time after their dispossession and until the present.The first European settlers to arrive in the area were mainly English and Irish Protestants, whoestablished small communities of farmers. There was a sprinkling of Germans and Chinesemarket gardeners in the early years. Also a significant Aboriginal population established itself inNorthcote from the 1920s. The great wave of post-war immigration brought large numbers ofItalians, Greeks, and Macedonians. These immigrants settled, mainly in the northern part ofthe study area. They were followed by people from the Middle East and Asia, to make Darebinone of Melbourne’s most culturally diverse suburbs.A key theme in the peopling of Darebin is land speculation, as many speculators bought landcheaply in the hope making large profits. Although some did profit, most of Darebin was tooremote from Melbourne to attract much settlement in the nineteenth century. Many urbansubdivisions were made, though much of the land remained rural, some even into the middleof the twentieth century.Some government schemes such as Closer Settlement were attempted, with limited success.More successful was the Housing Commission of Victoria, which developed some of its earliestestates in Darebin.This chapter incorporates the following themes:HistoryAAV 12 Attachment to places known to precede contact; 1 Associations with pastoralists; 2Associations with settlements and towns; places related to self-determinationAHT 2.1 Living as Australia’s earliest inhabitants; 2.4 Migrating; 2.5 Promoting settlement; 2.6Fighting for land; 5 Working2.1 Living as Australia’s earliest inhabitantsThe Woi wurrung, who occupied the area extending from the Werribee River east to Mt BawBaw and along the Yarra and Maribyrnong Rivers from Port Phillip to the Dividing Range,were in turn divided into a number land owning groups, or clans. The clan that occupied theDarebin area at the time of European settlement was the Wurundjeri willam (literally ‘whitegum tree dwellers’), one of the patrilines of the Wurundjeri balug clan that occupied the YarraRiver catchment area (Clark, 1990:385). The Wurundjeri willam occupied the areaimmediately along the Yarra River. The Woi wurrung creation stories are told in Chapter 1.Like other Kulin clans, the Wurundjeri willam were organized into moieties belonging toeither Waa (crow) or Bunjil (eaglehawk), and used a marriage system which requiredindividuals to marry outside the moiety. The Wurundjeri willam belonged to the Waa moiety(Clark, 1990:385). This marriage system promoted alliance with neighbouring clans, which inturn facilitated access to the resources of adjoining lands. As a result inter-clan gatheringswould occur to facilitate marriages. The Wurundjeri willam frequently married people fromthe Goulburn River region (Ellender & Christiansen, 2001:36).For the Wurundjeri willam, seasonal movements traditionally involved spending summermonths on the banks of the Yarra and its tributaries, such as the Merri and Darebin Creeks, inopen locations along the river valleys (Presland, 1994:73). These valleys were also importanttransport routes/pathways from the Yarra to the uplands and inlands. Confluences of rivers also17