Aboriginal Heritage

STONE AGE TECHNOLOGY AND MODERN SCIENCE

Through our name the past and present of Aboriginal and European continue to live together.

For centuries, the Albury Wodonga area was known as Bungambrawatha, or homeland, by the Wiradjuri people who first settled here. It wasn’t until 1838, when the Assistant Surveyor General decided that Albury sounded more familiar to the settlers’ ears, that the name changed hands. While Wodonga, meaning bulrushes, still retains its indigenous name.

As a massive water system in a huge dry land, the Murray was and remains a powerful source of life. Which is why the Wiradjuri were frequently joined by many other hunting groups, from the surrounding mountains and flatlands, who would travel hundreds of kilometres to gather here, establishing an important place for meetings, a tradition that continues to this day.

Speaking many different languages and dialects, they would perform corroboree, initiation and marriage ceremonies, share stories, exchange knowledge and skills, hunt and eat along the banks and around the billabongs of the Murray.

The river and surrounding hills and valleys have preserved the sites and artefacts of this rich ancient life in a living museum. The rock carvings of Yeddonba, just outside of Chiltern, the Duduroa people’s rock painting of the Tasmanian Tiger at Mt Pilot, and Table Top massive, a place believed to be of great spiritual meaning, are just some of the many wonderful experiences to be found.

Ngan Girra Festival

The Wiradjuri people remain strongly linked with Albury Wodonga through the Ngan Girra ( Bogong Moth ) Festival, which celebrates indigenous cultures and commemorates the gathering of their ancestors. Its name and symbol are taken from the ritual of tribes who would, after their meetings and ceremonies, go up into the high country in search of the migrating Bogong Moth. 

Burraja. The Journey

The Indigenous Cultural and Environmental Discovery Centre, at the Gateway Village on the banks of the Murray, provides a unique blend of indigenous cultural and environmental experiences that is involving for both adults and children.

Led by professional Aboriginal experts and archaeologists, you are introduced to the cultural inheritance of indigenous peoples of the Upper Murray Valley. Their lifestyle, stone tool technology, bush tucker, archaeology, arts and crafts are all brought together to create a three-dimensional view of how these ancient people lived.

See your land through Aboriginal eyes

Unlike the scars of canoes cut from the bark of gums, which still line the river banks, much of the fascinating evidence of Aboriginal life is not easily seen by untrained eyes. With the help of a Parklands Aboriginal guide and archaeologists you can learn how to look at the land through Aboriginal eyes. They will train you to read the landscape, to see the movement of Aboriginal people through the countryside, hunting and camping sites, and literally follow in the footsteps of this land’s ancestors.

The buried rainforest beneath your feet.

Before the European farmers came and began to control the flow of the Murray, the river ran a much broader, meandering course across the countryside. During heavy rainfalls it flooded vast areas with water and sand. Over time, it even managed to bury an entire forest of Australian cedar under 15 metres of Murray sand. The rare wood no longer exists above ground, but many examples of this well preserved, 40,000-year-old timber can be found beneath your feet.

Maps & Guides

General Information