The Story Of Richmond Hill

By Chris Tobin

Richmond Hill

On the slopes of a hill overlooking the river lands at the entrance to the Bulgamatta [Gross Valley], a simple ceremony takes place. Stones are laid in memory of Aboriginal ancestors who died defending their homelands against the invasion just over 200 years ago.
We remember in particular the Aboriginal families who gathered here on top of the hill in 1795 to challenge the British claim for the food that was being grown on their ancestral lands down on the newly constructed farms at Richmond.
The corn that was then ripening soon became a source of conflict between the two cultures. The settlers refused to share the food with the Aboriginal people which greatly disturbed the Darug people, as food sharing was a central feature of the Aboriginal way of life. It also contributed greatly to the woes of these people as food became scarce with the relatively recent and massive influx of people into the area—all of whom seemed intent on tearing up the country.
The hill had been a favourite camping place for local clans since ancient times.
Archaeological dating of a nearby campsite at Yarramundi has recorded evidence of continued Aboriginal use for around 15,000 years, while a rock shelter in the Blue Mountains dates back over 22,000 years of occupation.
Aboriginal stories speak of people as having been here since the “Creation Time”.
The impressive length of occupation owes much to the traditional lifestyle of Aboriginal Australia. The country has been able to sustain countless generations of people over the years because the traditional way of living did not greatly interfere with the natural order of things. People gathered food from where it grew naturally and allowed the animals to live as they were intended to.
It was believed that the land was created by Great Spirit figures of old and that their traditional way of life was taught to them by the Great Creator himself when he walked the Earth in the form of a man back in the Creation Time. This way of life required little modification of the natural world as the land provided each clan with all that they needed. The waterways were kept healthy and clean and were abundant in wildlife. Campsites were common along the creek beds then as families moved seasonally around their tribal areas harvesting and hunting the great variety of bush food on offer. The clan was regulated by the senior members of the families under the strict dictates of tribal lore. People shared what foods they caught and were often found travelling to places in and out of the country to conduct particular business or ceremonies with the neighbouring tribes.
Nearby Redbank Creek have two identified campsites along its banks as well as important ceremonial areas which are cared for by Darug people responsible for that section of country.
The creek meets the river along a fertile stretch of country that experienced periodic floods. The river and her attendant creeks were home to a great variety of food and resources. Here ancient Yam beds were cultivated by the woman here for many hundreds of years. These yams were one of the staple foods of the Boorooberongal.
Eels, fish and possums were also favourites and were once quite plentiful in and around the area. Other foods include duck, emu, kangaroo, yabbies, goanna, platypus and an even greater variety of plant foods and medicines. The trees and rock shelters provided people with both tools and shelter. Life was good and people were known for their care free attitude, friendliness and good sense of humour. This was testified to by the first encounters between the English and the Darug in 1789. The initial meeting with Arthur Phillip was amicable and friendly. Gamoberree and his son Yarramundi of the Boorooberongal sought out the 20 odd strangers travelling through and presented the Governor with a hatchet and two spears. The hatchet was a significant tool for Aboriginal men and the Governor responded with a similar gift of a steel hatchet and a loaf of bread. After being shown the way through and sharing camp with these people, Phillip makes his way up to the top of the hill which he named Richmond Hill and planted some seeds.
Another visit further upstream finds Captain Tenchs’ party meeting with other Darug men of the Boorooberongal and again the event is a happy one. The men assist Captain Tenchs’ group across the river and they too ascend the hill where a hatchet is given in friendship to the Aboriginal man Deerordora.
The arrival of the British in the latter half of the eighteen century however would mean the end of a way of life observed in this country for over 20,000 years. Aboriginal sacred law was ignored and large trees began to be cut down to make way for farms and roads and buildings. The bush was dug in and the homes of many native animals were abruptly destroyed. The land had never known such devastation, as 400 newly arrived settlers began setting up farms along the river. Along with the bush went the traditional foods and Aboriginal people soon looked to the corn growing where the yams once grew. To take it meant risking being shot by the settlers who had been known to cut the heads off Aboriginal people they caught taking corn. The people gathered anyway with nets and blankets, some 300 strong it was reported; men, woman and children all resolved to harvest the corn from the farms. When refused the Burruberogal would resort to force to take what they needed.
News of the gathering quickly reached Parramatta and acting Governor Patterson of the NSW Corp. Sent out seventy redcoats against those people to drive them away from the crops. Gibbets were erected along the Richmond Road to hang any who resisted and to terrorize the local population into submission. The soldiers attacked at night and surprising a camp of men, cut down several in the first volley. The bush was scoured the following day. A woman and her baby were shot and taken prisoner with five others marched off to Parramatta.
A military detachment was then posted out at the Hawkesbury to protect the settlers from reprisals from the Aboriginal clans. Regular sweeps of the area were carried out by the military to keep the area free of from any natives. Killings resumed shortly after as the settlement made its presence felt over more and more of the country. Aboriginal raids would increase when the corn was ripening and the settlers responded generally with punitive expeditions sometimes sanctioned or even carried out by government forces. Governor Macquarie’s punitive expeditions in 1861 resulted in the hanging of Aboriginal bodies on trees to terrorize the rest of the population. This and his proclamation prohibiting the carrying of weapons or the gathering together of more than six within one mile of the ever growing settlement spelt the end of traditional life for the Darug people. Richmond Hill was sold in successive years with some of the Aboriginal people who survived the Hawkesbury wars ending up working on the property to procure food and such for the families. Many Aboriginal families lived together in shacks and lean-tos on the creek beds on the properties of early friendly settlers until the creation of the Reserves at the beginning of the twentieth century. Aboriginal people were then directed to live on these. The main local reserves at this time were Sackville, Blacktown and Katoomba settlements. Conditions at each of these settlements were better than most throughout NSW. The people there enjoyed an autonomy which did not interfere as drastically as other such places around the state where Aboriginal people had to ask permission each time they wished to leave or receive visitors or even marry. However, the restrictive interference that was felt by all Aboriginal people at that time saw many leave the reserves when they could. Others, like the Aboriginal community in Katoomba were doing reasonably well and happy t “stay put” but they were bulldozed out from their homes to make way for a racetrack.
This last act of dispossession was carried out by the area’s first elected Local Council only fifty years ago! The traditional Aboriginal people of Sydney have been without land ever since. Richmond Hill has become now for all of us a place of healing. The little pile of stones laid to honour and acknowledges those early defenders of country carry with them seeds of a kind that will fruit in the hearts of a wounded people.
We are the people of a bloodied land. We are the heirs to its legacy and the custodians of its future. We gather here together to remember the bravery and the courage of our ancestors and perhaps too, to make silent promises to ourselves.....to continue in the struggle for justice and for peace.