Gadubanud

The Gadubanud (Katabanut) people occupied the rainforest plateau and rugged coastline of Cape Otway in Western Victoria covering the present towns of Lorne and Apollo Bay. The Gellibrand and Barwon Rivers are likely territorial borders with the Wada wurrung to the north east, Gulidjan to the north and Girai Wurrung to the west. Gadubanud means literally the King Parrot people. There has been no documented interaction with the Gadubanud since 1846,. although some may have found refuge at the Weslayan mission station at Birregurra and later the Framlingham mission station. Today the Gunditjmara people are the traditional custodians of Gadubanud lands, although there are Aboriginal people in the area today who trace their ancestry to the Gudabanud.

It is known that the Gadubanud people traded spear wood for Mount William green stone mined by the Wurundjeri when tribes from across Victoria met at traditional ceremonies at Mount Noorat, Mount Napier and Gariwerd. According to Clark "Ethnohistoric and linguistic information on the people of the Cape Otway Ranges is very thin."

Cape Otway has many middens which provide an indication of the varied diet of the Gadubanud. Fragments found in midderns include turban shells, abalone, periwinkle, elephant fish, chiton, beaked mussel and limpets. It is known that seals, cape barren geese, eels and ducks were also eaten, along with New Zealand spinach, tubers and berries. The Gadubanud made bark canoes for use in the rivers, lakes, estuaries and along the coast. Records from sailing ships reported Aboriginal people sailing close to shore in this region.

During the 1830s Gadubanud successfully avoided interactions with European settlers. Early squatters thought the Otways were uninhabited. At least five clans are recorded including Bangura gundidj, Guringid gundidj, Ngalla gundidj, Ngarowurd gundidj and Yan Yan Gurt clan. The Gadubanud were considered mainmait (wild) by neighbouring language groups the Wada Wurrung and Girai Wurring.

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