The Gulidjan people (perhaps originally Kolidjon,[1][a]), also known as the Kolakngat, or Colac tribe, are an Aboriginal Australian tribe whose traditional lands cover the Lake Colac region of the state of Victoria, Australia. They occupied the grasslands, woodlands, volcanic plains and lakes region east of Lake Corangamite, west of the Barwon River and north of the Otway Ranges. Their territory bordered the Wathaurong to the north, Djargurd Wurrung to the west, Girai Wurrung to the south-west, and Gadubanud to the south-east.[2]
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Main article: Gulidjan language |
The Gulidjan language was first identified in 1839, although much of the detail and vocabulary has been lost, there is sufficient to confirm that it constituted a separate language. About 100 words of the Gulidjan language have survived. Some analysis suggests it may be a mixed language or creole language having something in common with each of the neighboring languages. The word Colac/Kokak derives from the Gulidjan word kulak (sand)[3] and the suffix -gnat. The ethnonym was analysed by James Dawson, who transcribed it as Kolakgnat, to mean 'belonging to sand'.[4][5]
Roughly 200 words and the translated text of the Lord's Prayer survive from the Gulidjan language.[6]
The Gulidjan resided throughout some 900 square miles (2,300 km2) near Lake Colac and Lake Corangamite, reaching down into harsh terrain towards Cape Otway.[6] The inland boundary of their domain lay south of Cressy.[1]
The Gulidjan people were hit hard by the European colonisation of their land shortly after the foundation of Melbourne. For three years, the Gulidjan actively resisted invasion by driving off livestock and raiding stations. Such raids brought retaliation by parties of colonisers with violent clashes ensuing. According to Jan Critchett's study, an estimated 300-350 Aboriginal people were murdered in the 14 years from 1834 to 1848, during the colonial invasion of the Western District.[7] The disappearance and presumed death deaths of Joseph Gellibrand and George Hesse in 1837, whose fate remains a mystery to this day, were blamed on the Gulidjan. Retribution was meted out by a colonising party accompanied, by some Wathaurong people, and several Gulidjan people were killed.[8] Historian Ian Clark reports on three documented attacks in 1839-1840 resulting in Aboriginal deaths.[b] More often, squatters destroyed campsites and took implements as revenge. By 1839, the Gulidjan were unable to live traditionally on their lands and began to take jobs on European stations.[8]
In 1839, the Reverend Francis Tuckfield, from the Wesleyan Mission Society, established a mission station, called Buntingdale, at Birregurra, in Gulidjan territory . Housing was only provided if tribal families renounced polygamy.[9] Early conflicts between the Gulidjan and Wathaurong peoples at the mission persuaded the missionaries to concentrate on one language group - the Gulidjan - in 1842. [10] Within three years the mission saw one tribe have its numbers halved, and the impact on the Colac tribe was said to be more drastic.[11] The Gulidjan successfully resisted his attempts at cultural genocide through the indoctrination of Christian values and a sedentary lifestyle, and the mission was closed in 1848.[12] At that point, they took refuge at Alexander Dennis's Tardwarncourt station.[13]
Coloniser Hugh Murray, who first claimed the area in September 1837, asserted in 1853 that the local Gulidjan tribe was small, numbering between 35 and 40.[c][14] By 1850, 43 males and 35 females were counted to be alive.[13] With the influx of people searching for gold during the 1850s Victorian gold rush, and the continuation of genocidal policies, only 19 Gulidjan were left by 1858.[15] Causes of the decline were identified in 1862 as starvation due to European occupation of the best-grassed areas of their lands, European diseases such as chicken pox, measles and influenza, association with convicts, and heightened tribal enmity.[citation needed] However, it is widely acknowledged that Australian historical accounts minimise the impact of genocidal practices on Aboriginal populations, and instead emphasise causes of population decline that have only indirect associations with the behaviour of colonisers, such as disease, or that blame Aboriginal communities for their own decline, such as due to violence.[citation needed]
In the 1860s, a small reserve, Karngun, was established for the Gulidjan people on the Barwon River at Winchelsea, and was maintained until 1875. A house was built for them on the present Colac hospital site, but they preferred living in their traditional mia-mias. In 1872, 16 hectares of land were reserved at Elliminyt, south of Colac, for the Gulidjan, with a brick house erected on the site, but the Gulidjan preferred to use the house as a windbreak. Richard Sharp and Jim Crow, both Gulidjan people, established working leases on the site, and their families continued to hold their respective lots until 1948, when the land was sold by the Victorian Lands Department. Descendants of those families continue to live in the local area.[16]
The Gulidjan are a matrilineal society who intermarried with the Djab Wurrung, Djargurd Wurrung and Wada wurrung. Each person belonged to a moiety of gabadj (Black Cockatoo) or grugidj (White Cockatoo).[8]
At interregional corroborees, where upwards of 20 tribes each having its own language or dialect, would gather, Gulidjan was one of four languages spoken, the other three being Tjapwurrung, Kuurn Kopan Noot and Wiitya whuurong, a dialect of Wathawurrung.[5]
Before European settlement, 4 separate clans existed[15][13]
| No | Clan name | Approximate location |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Beeac Clan | Lake Beeac |
| 2 | Birregurra Clan | Birregurra |
| 3 | Guraldjin balug | 'Ingleby' station, on the Barwon River |
| 4 | Gulidjan Balug | Vicinity of Lake Colac |