Stories of Dyarubbin

 

Listen to the latest at  https://youtu.be/J5HNx8y__pM

 

Listen to stories of Dyarubbin / The Hawkesbury River and original music and song they have inspired as you walk along the river at Governor Phillip Park, Balga Ngurrang / Windsor…or from the comfort of wherever you are. 

Dharug educator Erin Wilkins is our guide as we hear about the enduring relationship of Dharug people to the river and Wianamatta / South Creek, and why this part of Dyarubbin was likely a women’s area. We hear of the Ancestral Creator Beings Baime, Dharamulan and Gurangady; the rivers that carved their way through the mountains to form Dyarubbin and the ancient river that would have flowed several kilometres above us. 

This park is near where Governor Phillip met Dharug leaders Gomberee and Yarramundi in 1791 and where James Ruse and the first 22 ex-convict colonisers made their riverside farms in 1794. We hear of the relationships between those settlers, the frontier violence and war that followed their arrival, and it’s impact on Dyarubbin’s Aboriginal people including Nurragingy, the leader of the South Creek Tribe. 

We learn of the trading of land grants, the devastating effects of repeated flooding on farming, riverbank erosion and homes; and of boating and water-skiing which has been a big part of river life from Windsor downstream since the 1950s. We listen in as students from Western Sydney University conduct water testing and talk of the effects of runoff and wastewater on Dyarubbin’s water quality, and look over the turf farms to the observatory of John Tebbutt and the old South Creek tannery.