Aprox. 300,000 people lived in Australia at the arrival of the First Fleet, comprising 600 Tribes each having several groups and spoke 500 different languages.

The number and distribution of Aboriginal bands at contact will never be known exactly, but several early diarists described the culture and vocabulary of the Sydney Aborigines, and from their reports it is possible.

In the Sydney region 3 major Aboriginal languages were spoken. The south side of Botany Bay, extending down the coast as far as Nowra and Jervis Bay and west to George's River, was the province of the Dharawal language.

A second closely related language, Dharug, was spoken over a large area of the Cumberland Plain and from Appin to the Hawkesbury River and west into the Blue Mountains.

A dialect of Dharug was spoken on the coast between Botany Bay to Port Jackson and from Parramatta to the Lane Cove River on the north side of Port Jackson, across Broken Bay as far as Tuggerah Lake, the language was Kuring-gai.

These three language groups, Dharawal, Dharug and Kuring-gai were termed 'tribes' by the Europeans. Much of the vocabulary was common to all three languages, so all the Aborigines of the region could understand each other with little difficulty. As each linguistic group probably consisted of fewer than one thousand people, the total number of Aborigines around the Sydney area was between two and three thousand.

An estimate in 1788 of Aboriginal population in the Sydney region concluded about fifteen hundred people lived along the coast between Broken Bay and Botany Bay.

The Cadigal band of Aborigines who lived in the Sydney area was Aprox. 50 in 1788 but was reduced to 3 in 1790 due to illnesses brought by the Europeans e.g. Smallpox.

Manly was named by Captain Arthur Phillip because the Aborigines lining the shore seemed so dignified. He decided that they were good simple and blameless people and declared "It was my determination from my first landing that nothing less than the absolute necessity should ever make me fire upon them."

He also believed that if he could make contact with them he might spread the word that those who came across the sea were people of goodwill and honour.

NOTE: All the Sports Houses of Yagoona Public School are Aboriginal tribe or language names.

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Published August 1997 ©