Dharug

Darug people
aka: Dharuk, Dharug, Daruk (Tindale) Dharug, Dharruk, Dharrook, Darrook, Dharung, Broken Bay tribe (AIATSIS), nd (SIL)
Sydney Basin bioregion
Hierarchy
Language family:	Pama–Nyungan
Language branch:	Yuin–Kuric
Language group:	Dharug
Group dialects:	Dharuk, Gamaraygal, Iora
Area (approx. 6,000 sq. km)
Bioregion:	Cumberland Plain, Sydney basin
Location:	Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Coordinates:	33°35′S 150°35′E / 33.583°S 150.583°E / -33.583; 150.583Coordinates: 33°35′S 150°35′E / 33.583°S 150.583°E / -33.583; 150.583
Mountains:	Blue Mountains
Rivers:	Cooks, Georges, Hawkesbury, Lane Cove, Nepean, Parramatta
Notable individuals
Anthony Fernando

The Darug people are a group of indigenous people of Aboriginal Australians that were united by a common language, strong ties of kinship and survived as skilled hunter–fisher–gatherers in family groups or clans scattered throughout much of what is modern-day Sydney.

The Darug were bounded by the Kuringgai to the northeast around Broken Bay, the Darkinjung to the north, the Wiradjuri to the west on the western fringe of the Blue Mountains, the Gandangara to the southwest in the Southern Highlands and the Tharawal to the southeast in the Illawarra area.

Other versions of the name include Daruk, Dharruk, Dharrook, Darrook, Dharug, Broken Bay tribe, and Dharung.

There is some dispute about the extent of the Darug nation. While some historians believe the coastal Eora people were a separate group to the Darug people; others believe the two groups were part of the same grouping. Taking the first perspective, the Darug were situated North-West of the Eora; convesely, the Eora were located South-East of the Darug.

The territory that was indisputably Darug Boorooberongal-Warmuli (Darug Lore) was the Cumberland Plain in western Sydney, that stretches from Wisemans Ferry in the north down to around Camden in the south. Some think the Darug people extended into the foothills of the Blue Mountains, others consider that they did not extend west of the Nepean River. They likely extended into the Hills District to the east.

A strong centre of cultural attachment for the Darug people has been the "Blacks Town" (at the modern suburb of Colebee) in the Blacktown local government area (formerly Blacktown Shire). However, in September 2012 the Blacktown City Council de-recognised the Darug tribe, which it had previously recognised as the former owners of the area. The Council also passed a motion, opposed by some Councillors, to begin a process to consider changing the name "Blacktown". An online petition was launched which called for the official re-recognition of the Darug. According to one of the Liberal Councillors, Cr Jess Diaz, "a consensus must be reached once and for all on who composed the traditional owners apart from the Darug people".