TVO NATIVE TRIBES SHARED

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6. Tribes Shared (this page)

'Two 'thumbnail' photographs of the homestead Kolor; top, viewed from Mt. Rouse, below with several aborigines in the foreground. Originals belong to Ellen & Foyster Farrell, "The Rouse" .We thank Betty Huf for the following information concerning an article in 'The Western Agriculturist', September 11, 1886, which was written by the Penshurst Correspondent. The text is as follows: I was on Saturday last shown two splendid views of the "Kolor" residence, taken by the Victorian Photographic Company. These afford still further proof of the excellence of the work performed by this company. The cabinet-sized cartes taken by Mr. Taylor are also of superior quality, and compare most favourably with those produced by the best known Melbourne establishments. I am informed that it is Mr. Taylor's intention to remove from Penshurst at the latter end of the week, therefore, those persons anxious to avail themselves of his services should lose no time in waiting upon him.

The following is an extract from a booklet published to commemorate the centenary in 1964 of the Shire of Mt. Rouse.

TWO NATIVE TRIBES SHARED

SHIRE AREA - PLUS !

Portions of the territories of two tribes covered the Shire of Mount Rouse area. The Kolor tribe and the Nareeb Nareeb tribe. The boundary between these tribes was a line from Mt. Sturgeon to Muston's Creek and then continued along the creek itself. (Kolor was the native name for Mt. Rouse, the tribe taking it's name from the mount.) From this line westward to approximately Mt. Napier and Hamilton the territory of the Kolor tribe, while that of the Nareeb Nareeb tribe extended westward to the shores of Loke Bolac. The country did not carry a large population and it is impossible to be accurate in assessing the numbers of any tribe. From an average of various estimates it would appear to be about one hundred and twenty persons of all ages.

They were hunters and lived mainly a nomadic life, although they built reasonably substantial dwellings in which they spent the winter months. During the warmer months of the year they roamed and camped out in the open near lakes and streams, returning to their more permanent encampments with the onset of rougher and colder weather. Two such dwellings were found by Major Mitchell near Mt. Napier and he had this to say of them: "Two very substantial huts showed that even the natives had been attracted by the beauty of the land, and as the day was showery, I wished to return if possible, to pass the night there, for I began to learn that such huts, with a good fire between them, made comfortable quarters in bad weather."

Mitchell also comments on the local inhabitants when he observed smoke from their fires, while he was making observations from the summit of Mount Napier: "Smoke arose from many parts of the lower country, and showed that the inhabitants were very generally scattered over its surface. We could now look on such fires with indifference, so harmless were these natives, compared with those of the Darling, and the smoke, now ascended in equal abundance from the furthest verge of the horizon."

Each tribe was ruled by a chief who often consulted with the elders of the tribe but his word was law. The triballaws were very strict and firmly adhered to. The marriage laws were very ingenious and were devised to prevent intermarriage of close relations. James Dawson, who took up "Cox's Heifer Station" near Hawkesdale in 1844 and named it "Kangatong," had this to say: "The aborigines are everywhere divided into classes, and everyone is considered to belong to his mother's class, and cannot marry into it in any tribe, as a11 of the same class are considered brothers and sisters." They had very few personal possessions, as they had to carry everything with them when travelling.

They were a superstitious race and had among them sorcerers and doctors whom they believed to possess supernatural powers. James Dawson writes of one in this way: "In the Kolor tribe there was a sorceress well known in the Western District under the name of `White Lady,' who was the widow of the chief, and whose supernatural influence was much dreaded by all. As an emblem of her power, she had a long staff resembling a vaulting pole, made of heavy wood and painted red. In order to support her pretensions to supernatural power, she would, on some moonlight night, leave the camp with an empty bag made of netted bark cord and return with it full of snakes. These she said were spirits. No one therefore dare go near them or look at them. She would empty the bag near the fire and make them crawl around it by pointing with a long stick and speaking to them."

"When the white men came to Victoria, there was one doctor of great celebrity in the Western District. Tunrap Warneen, chief of the Kolor tribe. So celebrated was he for his supernatural prowess, and for the cure of diseases, that people of various tribes came great distances to consult him. He could speak many dialects. At corroborees and great meetings he was distinguished from the common people by having his face painted red, with white streaks under the eyes, and his brow-band adorned with a quill feather of the turkey bustard, or with the crest of a white cockatoo. Tunrap Warneen was unfortunately shot by the manager of a station near Mount Kolor; and his death caused much grief to all the tribes near and far."

Great meetings were held periodically between the tribes, sometimes as many as twenty or more such tribes attending. Such meetings were for the purpose of trade by barter, hunting, feasting and amusements. According to James Dawson, some of "These great meetings were held at Minaewae, a large marsh celebrated for emus and other kinds of game, not many miles to the west of Caramut." This place was selected on account of its central position for the meetings of the attending tribes.

The coming 'of the white 'man was fatal to the aborigine. Being a stone age man, unable to adapt himself to the rapidly changing conditions, and break up of tribal life and the swift extinction of the local natives occurred within a single generation. Even as early as 1858, just eighteen years after the white man had settled in the area, their numbers were greatly reduced and tribal life obliterated. Acheson French recorded: "The number of aborigines must have very much diminished since my arrival eighteen years ago as I seldom see any now though I used to constantly employ them formerly." Henry Gottreaux of "The Gums" estimated in 1858 that there were from 150 to 200 in the County of Villiers, consisting of the remains of five or six tribes. The proportion of the sexes was about equal and most were aged from twenty to forty years. The numbers estimated by Gottreaux were large possibly because of the Mount Rouse Aboriginal Reserve.