Dharawal

 ( Official ) 

Dharawal is a term referring to the groups of Aboriginal Australian people who shared the Dharawal language. Traditionally, they lived in defined hunter–fisher–gatherer family groups or with ties of kinship, along the coastal area through what is now the Campbelltown, Wollongong, Port Kembla, Sutherland Shire and Nowra regions of New South Wales.

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Etymology and alternative names Dharawal means cabbage palm. Alternative spelling and pronunciation of this term include: Tharawal, Darawad, Thurawal, Turrubul, Turuwal and Turuwul.

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Country According to ethnologist Norman Tindale, traditional Dharawal lands encompass some from the southern shore of Botany Bay, along the Georges River to Campbelltown and then south through Port Hacking, Wollongong to the Shoalhaven River and the Beecroft Peninsula.

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Clans The Gweagal clan of the area now referred to as the Sutherland Shire were also known as the "Fire Clan". They are said to be the first people to make contact with Captain Cook. The artist Sydney Parkinson, one of the Endeavour's crew members, wrote in his journal that the indigenous people threatened them shouting words he transcribed as warra warra wai, which he glossed to signify 'Go away'. According to spokesmen for the contemporary Dharawal community, the meaning was rather 'You are all dead', since warra is a root in the Dharawal language meaning 'wither', 'white' or 'dead'. As Cook's ship hove to near the foreshore, it appeared to the Dharwal to be a white low-lying cloud, and its crew 'dead' people whom they warned off from returning to the country.

The Cubbitch Barta or Cobbitty Barta (meaning place of white pipe clay) clan were located in the Narellan and Campbelltown region of what is now the outer south-western suburbs of Sydney. They were also known by the early British colonists as the "Cowpastures tribe" as this was the area where the lost cattle from the First Fleet were rediscovered. A registered Indigenous land use agreement was made by modern representatives of the clan for Helensburgh in 2011.

The country of the Wodiwodi clan (also known to the colonists as the "Five Islands tribe" referring to the Five Islands just off the coast of Port Kembla) includes the Illawarra, Wollongong and Port Kembla areas. The Dharawal name for the Five Islands is Woolyungah, which is now incorporated into the name of the adjacent city of Wollongong.

Around the Shoalhaven River region and northern part of Jervis Bay, the various clans such as the Numbaa, Meroo, Jerringong and Worrigee were known to the colonists collectively as the "Shoalhaven tribe". The descendants of these people are now referred to as the Jerrinja.

There is some debate as to the southern extent of the Dharawal speaking people and where those who spoke the Dhurga language (which is quite similar to Dharawal) began. At the time of British colonisation this was a border region between the two groups and it is possible Dharawal was spoken as far south as Ulladulla.

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Lifestyle The Dharawal people lived mainly off the produce of local plants, fruits and vegetables, as well as by hunting marsupials such as kangaroo and possum, and also by fishing and gathering shellfish products. The women collected vegetable foods and were well known for their fishing and canoeing prowess. There are a large number of still visible in Dharawal country and a glimpse of the Dharawal lifestyle can be drawn from the analysis of the midden sites. Their main source of carbohydrate came from collecting and treating the seeds and roots of the Macrozamia plant, and then grinding and cooking the resultant flour into flat bread-like cakes.

The Dharawal had various totems but sea mammals such as dolphins, porpoises and whales had special status amongst these people. The historical artwork () of the Dharawal people is visible on the sandstone surfaces throughout their language area and charcoal and ochre paintings, drawings and hand stencils can be found on rock surfaces and in and overhangs.

(2025). 9781742231167, UNSW Press. ISBN 9781742231167

For example, there is a public viewing site of one group of engravings at Jibbon Point, showing a whale and a wallaby. According to an early Dharawal informant, Biddy Giles, these images commemorated notable events, a successful hunt and the stranding of a whale.

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See also

• Eora
• Gweagal

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Notes

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Citations

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Sources

• (2025). 9781921410741, University of New South Wales Press. . ISBN 9781921410741
• Norman Barnett Tindale (1974). 9780708107416, ANU Press. ISBN 9780708107416
• Bruce Watt (2025). 9780646920191, Bruce Watt. ISBN 9780646920191
• Bruce Watt (2025). 9780646996837, Bruce Watt. ISBN 9780646996837

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Further reading

• ( Trove and Worldcat entries)

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External links

• Local Aboriginal Land Council on Facebook

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