Not Terra Nullius 11 (2024)
Not Terra Nullius 11: Trafalgar Street, Annandale.
Not Terra Nullius 11: 4th Wall Gallery, Stanmore
This artwork reimagines an early land grant map of the Parish of Petersham; it illustrates the names given to these lands by the indigenous people who occupied them prior to the arrival of Captain Cook.
Colonist settlers used western cartography to claim Australia and impose their system of land tenure. They drew maps and named places in the landscape. They then divided up the land into parcels and granted them to their fellow countrymen. But the land was not empty. It was inhabited by the Gadigal and Wangal clans of the Eora Nation, together with other visiting First Nation clans who traded and moved through, traversing the land and waters of, and around, Sydney Harbour.
This land grant map dating from 1830, records only Petersham Parish. By reworking it, removing the names of grant recipients and most of the English place names; and reinstating the indigenous names of place, the work respectfully acknowledges and honours the original custodians. It aims to make a seemingly intangible pre-colonial cultural landscape more tangible to Sydney people in 2024.
The indigenous words on this reworked map were recorded by early colonists like Lt Dawes, after conversations with local First Nations people living on the harbour, including Patyegarang, a young Cammeraygal woman who spoke what is now known as the Sydney Language’.
Dali Waran – to Sydney Cove Yerroul-Bine – Balls Head Mookaboola – Woolwich
Yurulbin – Long Nose Point, Balmain Me-Mil, Goat Island
Tjerruing – Blackwattle Bay, Glebe
Tarra – Slaughter House Point, Glebe (where abattoir used to be) War-rea-mah – Cockatoo Island
Gong-ul – Spectacle Island
Ar-ra-re-agogn – Snapper Island
Burramatta Yari – Parramatta River
Colomatta – Stanmore
Gwea – Botany
Cum-an-nan – A cove between Botany Bay and the Cooks River Dali Burramatta – to Parramatta
Booralee – Botany Bay
Goolay Yari – Cooks River
Goonoomarra – From Kurnell to Cronulla
Thank you to Professor Jakelin Troy who consulted on the use of indigenous language in an artwork and whose book The Sydney Language was invaluable; also, to Dr Val Attenbrow. These two authors were the main contemporary sources for the indigenous place names. The artist also researched at the State Library which holds several original colonial documents and diaries recording Sydney Language.
Colonist settlers used western cartography to claim Australia and impose their system of land tenure. They drew maps and named places in the landscape. They then divided up the land into parcels and granted them to their fellow countrymen. But the land was not empty. It was inhabited by the Gadigal and Wangal clans of the Eora Nation, together with other visiting First Nation clans who traded and moved through, traversing the land and waters of, and around, Sydney Harbour.
This land grant map dating from 1830, records only Petersham Parish. By reworking it, removing the names of grant recipients and most of the English place names; and reinstating the indigenous names of place, the work respectfully acknowledges and honours the original custodians. It aims to make a seemingly intangible pre-colonial cultural landscape more tangible to Sydney people in 2024.
The indigenous words on this reworked map were recorded by early colonists like Lt Dawes, after conversations with local First Nations people living on the harbour, including Patyegarang, a young Cammeraygal woman who spoke what is now known as the Sydney Language’.
Dali Waran – to Sydney Cove Yerroul-Bine – Balls Head Mookaboola – Woolwich
Yurulbin – Long Nose Point, Balmain Me-Mil, Goat Island
Tjerruing – Blackwattle Bay, Glebe
Tarra – Slaughter House Point, Glebe (where abattoir used to be) War-rea-mah – Cockatoo Island
Gong-ul – Spectacle Island
Ar-ra-re-agogn – Snapper Island
Burramatta Yari – Parramatta River
Colomatta – Stanmore
Gwea – Botany
Cum-an-nan – A cove between Botany Bay and the Cooks River Dali Burramatta – to Parramatta
Booralee – Botany Bay
Goolay Yari – Cooks River
Goonoomarra – From Kurnell to Cronulla
Thank you to Professor Jakelin Troy who consulted on the use of indigenous language in an artwork and whose book The Sydney Language was invaluable; also, to Dr Val Attenbrow. These two authors were the main contemporary sources for the indigenous place names. The artist also researched at the State Library which holds several original colonial documents and diaries recording Sydney Language.