By Morgan Hanley
First Nations people utilised farming techniques like aquaculture as well as agriculture to source food and medicine, in addition to hunting and gathering, before Australia was colonised.
Cultural awareness consultant and proud Yuin man Harry Whitting said that First Nations Australians were not specifically “hunters and gatherers” but had other means of sourcing food.
“There was a lot of farming systems for trees, plants, medicinal plants and meat,” Whitting said.
The Ultimo-Pyrmont peninsula pre-colonisation was used by the Gadigal people as a source of food, medicines and an abundant healthy lifestyle.
The peninsula is surrounded by salt water, which means an abundance of fresh fish, and the women would lay traps on the banks. They would also sit in canoes that had small fires on them to cook the fish as soon as it was caught.
“In Gadigal country the women were always known as strong fisherwomen,” Whitting said.
The area was also used to source medicines, as the people of the time knew of where certain medicines will grow in abundance for certain ailments. Different plants for different reasons whether it be wounds, sickness of the stomach and headaches.
The area in which the Ultimo TAFE campus resides was historically significant to the Gadigal people, the land was used to feed the surrounding communities as well as grow medicinal plants to heal those who were injured and sick.
“The land was seen as the hospital and nature was the doctors that healed the Aboriginal people who were living in the area,” said Whitting.
The area was also used as a place of gathering and ceremony for traditional rites and rituals that the First Nations people would conduct.
Leading up to the British settlement of Sydney the use of the peninsula was fundamental to survival for both the culture and the Gadigal people that resided in the area.
Featured image: Strong Aboriginal fisherwoman fishing with a small fire within the canoe (Nawi), c1805. Photo: Mitchell Library/CC/State Library of NSW
