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For thousands of years clans of the Taungurung people have inhabited the valleys and ranges of this area. Habitation was guided by a rich spirituality.
Bunjil The great sprit eagle created the natural features of the land, the animals, the plants, and the people. During the creation or Dreamtime, Bunjil lived first on earth and later ascended to the sky. Bunjil’s spirit home. From there he looks down and sees all that happens.
Bunjil showed people how to care for the land, and this is reflected in many traditional ceremonies and rituals.
The Taungurung Lived harmoniously according to the natural cycle of the land and its rhythms. Movements through their territory were based on an intimate knowledge of the local environment, food sources, race and kinship obligations, and were guided by seasonal infl uences. With the advent of the first winter rains, the people would gather together and travel down to the warmer climates around Seymour.
Food was plentiful around the river systems with emus, kangaroos, possums, wombats , freshwater fish, and abundant plant foods.
During winter and spring tribes would camp along the tributaries of the Goulburn, returning upstream again in summer and autumn to the cooler more mountainous areas.
Prior to colonisation this area formed part of major trade routes, Which the Taungurung people hunted, gathered and travelled according to seasonal change.
Following colonisation, Taungurung people suffered because of introduction of diseases, massacres and the dispossession and relocation to government run reserves.
Taungurung people today are very active in the protection & preservation of their culture and land.
And actively reviving their language through their cultural heritage of songs, dances and dreamtime stories.
We invite you to share and enjoy this place and to absorb and respect the cultural values of the landscape and all that exists within it. |
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