Did you know?
The area known as Campbelltown City is located on the custodial lands of the Dharawal people and there are many reminders of their traditional and ongoing connection to the land. Scattered throughout the area are many sites of cultural significance. One of these is what is known as a 'first contact' site – where local Dharawal people had drawn charcoal sketches of bulls that had escaped from Sydney Cove and made their way to what was known as "the Cowpastures" - an area near Campbelltown.
As colonists moved from Sydney Cove into this area interaction between the settlers and the Dharawal people was sometimes peaceful but not always. Resulting from disputes between settlers and Aboriginal people from another clan group an intervention from colonial military saw many of the local Dharawal people perish in what is known as the Appin Massacre.
Campbelltown City Council has produced a Campbelltown’s Aboriginal History Booklet(1MB, PDF) with a more detailed insight into the first peoples of the region.
Our Aboriginal Community
Did you know Campbelltown has one of the largest urban populations of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in New South Wales?
We have a vibrant and diverse Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community, with around 6,000 residents who identify as being Aboriginal and/ or Torres Strait Islander. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people usually identify by their family nation or nations of origin. In Campbelltown we have residents from the lands of the Wiradjuri, Gamileroi (Kamilaroi), Yorta Yorta, Gumbainggyr, Yuin, Ngunawal, Worimi and many other nations across Australia.
Have a look at the Aboriginal Australia map and see if you can find these places.
While the community is diverse, our local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people strongly share common values of respect, family and community, using these to work together in order to maintain culture and build on community strength.
Bull Cave
There are many areas and specific sites of cultural significance that have been left by the Dharawal people. One of the most significant of these is what is known as the Bull Cave.
The legend of the Cowpastures explains how early European settlers stumbled on the region’s fertile farming land. In July 1788, just six months after European arrival, the early settlers lost two bulls and four cows.
Almost two years later, the cattle were sighted in the Menangle area. Local Aboriginal people saw the strange animals and sketched them on the walls of sandstone shelters along the Georges River, including in a cave now known as ‘Bull Cave’.
In December 1820, Governor Lachlan Macquarie named Campbell-Town in honour of his wife, Elizabeth Campbell. The region has become known as Sydney’s ‘Living Heritage’ precinct, being home to an impressive portfolio of heritage listed buildings, sites and pioneer cemeteries.
There are Aboriginal heritage items, buildings dating back to the early 1800s and a fascinating war history.
Appin Massacre
The Appin massacre of 1816 is perhaps the most devastating and tragic event to occur to the Dharawal and other local clans, and was a low point in the relationship between Indigenous and European inhabitants.
Diseases brought by the Europeans also depleted the Dharawal population. In 1845, the number of Aborigines in the Campbelltown Police District had dropped in 10 years from 20 to none. Tribal life in the district continued in a limited way.
Corroborees were still held at Camden Park and Denham Court until at least the 1850s. During 1858, about 200 Aborigines attended the celebrations at Campbelltown marking the opening of the railway line.
Today, the Tharawal Aboriginal Corporation, Tharawal Local Aboriginal Land Council and the Aboriginal Advisory Committee of Campbelltown City Council, foster Indigenous culture in the Campbelltown area.
Non-Indigenous Australians are fortunate to have the opportunity to learn about local Indigenous culture and history through the work of these groups. A determined willingness to learn from our history will assist the process of reconciliation.