Darug people | |
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aka: Dharuk, Dharug, Daruk (Tindale) Dharug, Dharruk, Dharrook, Darrook, Dharung, Broken Bay tribe (AIATSIS), nd (SIL) |
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Sydney Basin bioregion
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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°ECoordinates: 33°35′S 150°35′E / 33.583°S 150.583°E |
Mountains: | Blue Mountains |
Rivers: | Cooks, Georges, Hawkesbury, Lane Cove, Nepean, Parramatta |
Notable individuals | |
Anthony Fernando |
The Darug people are a group of Aboriginal Australians that share a common language and strong ties of kinship and in pre-colonial times, survived as skilled hunters 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 are different views 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.
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 decided to cease recognising the Darug tribe as the traditional 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 calling for the 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".