As told by the Bunurong People

For tens of thousands of years, the Werribee River has been a significant meeting place for Aboriginal people to build community, exchange resources, and share responsibility for its lands. The River forms the natural boundary between the lands of the Woiwurrung, Wathaurong and Bunurong peoples. Some of the names the Werribee River has had include: ‘Arndell’, ‘Peel’ and the ‘Ex’. Explorer’s Hume and Hovell named it Arndell in 1824 after Hovell’s father-in-law. John Helder Wedge returned to the River in 1835, called it Peel and then Ex. A local Wautharong man informed Wedge that the name of the stream was ‘Weariby Yallock, the Aboriginal words meaning spine (Weariby) and stream (Yallock).

The basalt plains around the Werribee River have been home to Aboriginal people, families and communities for countless generations. Their range of knowledge and complex skills, shared through generations of storytelling, are evident in the grasslands, trees, stones and waterways. Although limited in view, written records by the Europeans who came later acknowledge the presence of distinct Aboriginal societies that managed the land sustainably. The Kulin Nation exercised local lore and formed regional alliances to build healthy and robust economies around the Werribee River as the “backbone”2 of life. They describe two main Ancestral Beings that influence relationships and responsibilities: Bunjil the creator, the Wedge-tailed Eagle; and Waa the protector, the Crow* Education through cultural practices such as art, storytelling and dance continue to strengthen local First Nations communities and maintain their connections to the land today.

* For more information from Aboriginal Victorian perspectives, see Bunjilaka Aboriginal Cultural Centre, Museums Victoria website.