Kulin

This article is about an Australian Aboriginal nation. For other uses, see Kulin (disambiguation).

A basic map of the five Kulin alliance nations

The Kulin nation, was an alliance of five Indigenous Australian nations in Central Victoria, Australia, prior to European settlement. Their collective territory extended to around Port Phillip and Western Port, up into the Great Dividing Range and the Loddon and Goulburn River valleys. To their east lived the Gunai/Kurnai people of Gippsland. Five distinct languages were spoken in two groups. The Eastern Kulin group includes Woiwurrung, Bunurong, Taungurong, Ngurai-illam-wurrung. The western language group included just Wathaurung.

Nations

• Woiwurrung (Woy-wur-rung) – The Wurundjeri People
• Boonerwrung (Bun-er-rong) – The Bunurong or Boonerwrung People
• Wathaurong (Wath-er-rong) – The Wathaurong People
• Daungwurrung (Tung-ger-rong) – The Taungurong People
• Dja Dja Wrung (Jar-Jar wrung) – The Dja Dja Wurrung or Jaara People

Diplomacy

Main article: Tanderrum

When foreign people passed through or were invited onto tribal lands, the ceremony of Tanderrum – freedom of the bush – would be performed. This allowed safe passage and temporary access and use of land and resources by foreign people. It was a diplomatic rite involving the landholder's hospitality and a ritual exchange of gifts.

Languages

Kulin
Geographic distribution:	Victoria
Linguistic classification:	Pama–Nyungan? Kulinic? Kulin
Subdivisions:	—

• Woiwurrung: spoken from Mount Baw Baw in the east to Mount Macedon, Sunbury and Gisborne in the west. The Wurrundjeri-willam were a clan who occupied the Yarra River and its tributaries. Referred to initially by Europeans as the Yarra Yarra tribe. Other Woiwurrung clans include the Marin-Bulluk, Kurung-Jang-Bulluk, Wurundjeri-Balluk, Balluk-willam. Wurundjeri is now the common term for descendants of all the Woiwurrung clans.

• Bunurong: spoken by six clans along the coast from the Werribee River, across the Mornington Peninsula, Western Port Bay to Wilsons Promontory. Referred to by Europeans as the Western Port or Port Philip tribe. The Yalukit-willam clan occupied the thin coastal strip from Werribee, to Williamstown. Bunurong is now the common term used to describe all the people of this language group.

• Daungwurrung language dgw: spoken north of the Great Dividing Range in the Goulburn River Valley around Mansfield, Benalla and Heathcote. Referred to by Europeans as the Goulburn River tribe. Taungurong is now the common term used to describe all the people of this language group.^[1]

• Ngurai-illam-wurrung dja: spoken by the 16 clans of the Jaara or Dja Dja Wurrung people around Murchison, the central highlands region, east to Kyneton, west to the Pyrenees, north to Boort and south to the Great Dividing Range. Referred to by Europeans as the Broken River tribe or Loddon Aborigines.

• Wautharong: spoken by 15 clans south of the Werribee River and the Bellarine Peninsula to Streatham. Referred to by Europeans as the Barrabool people. The escaped convict, William Buckley lived with this community for 32 years, between 1803 and 1835, before being found by John Batman on 6 July 1835.

Kulin, or perhaps Kulinic:

• Madhi-Madhi (Muthimuthi), Ledji-Ledji llj, and Wadi-Wadi dmd share 80% of vocabulary, suggesting they might have formed a group.
• Nari-Nari rnr
• Wemba-Wemba and Baraba-Baraba rbp

References

• People of the Merri Merri. The Wurundjeri in Colonial Days. By Isabel Ellender and Peter Christiansen ISBN 0-9577728-0-7
• The First Residents of Melbourne's Western Region. By Gary Presland ISBN 0-646-33150-7
• Wauthaurong Too Bloody Strong: Stories and life journeys of people from Wauthaurong, By Bruce Pascoe (ed.), Pascoe Publishing Pty Ltd, Apollo Bay, Victoria, Australia.

Notes

1. ^ Richard Broome, pp123-125, Aboriginal Victorians: A History Since 1800, Allen & Unwin, 2005, ISBN 1741145694, ISBN 9781741145694

External links

• Kulin nation
• The Loddon Aboriginals