Bidjigal


The Bidjigal people are an Aboriginal Australian people whose traditional lands are modern-day western, north-western, south-eastern, and southern Sydney, in New South Wales, Australia.

Identity

The Bidjigal are sometimes said to be a clan of the Dharug people, and sometimes a clan of the Eora people. Kohen has suggested that there may have been some confusion between two distinct groups: the Bidjigal and the Bediagal at Botany Bay in the Salt Pan Creek area.
Attenbrow discusses their possible origin and location, and concludes that the question is "somewhat vexed". Norman Tindale, referring on the earliest historical sources, regarded them as a horde occupying the area just north of Castle Hill, Their geographical location is confusing, as they seem to have been based in southern Sydney, in the region between the Cooks River, Wolli Creek and the Georges River to Salt Pan Creek, and yet also seem to have inhabited land in the Hills District of Sydney, in what is now. Others state that the Bidjigal people span from,

Language group

If they were a subgroup/clan of either the Dharug or Eora people, the Bidjigal would have spoken a variety of Dharug, one of the Yora languages.
The name Bidjigal means plains-dweller in the Dharug language.

Modern place name

The name of the Bidjigal is today remembered by the name of the Bidjigal Reserve, in Baulkham Hills, Castle Hill, Carlingford, North Rocks and Northmead to the north-west of Sydney. The Bidjigal Reserve was known as Excelsior Park until 2004.

Notable individuals

Perhaps the most famous Bidjigal person was Pemulwuy, who successfully led Aboriginal resistance forces against the British Colonial forces, before finally being captured and killed and eventually beheaded in 1802.

Citations