Gulidjan


The Gulidjan, also known as the Kolakngat, perhaps originally Kolidjon, or Colac tribe are an Aboriginal Australian tribe whose traditional lands cover the Lake Colac region 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.

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 and the suffix -gnat. The ethnonym was analysed by James Dawson, who transcribed it as Kolakgnat, to mean 'belonging to sand'.
Roughly 200 words and the translated text of the Lord's Prayer survive from the Gulidjan language.

Country

The Gulidjan resided throughout some near Lake Colac and Lake Corangamite, reaching down into harsh terrain towards Cape Otway. The inland boundary of their domain lay south of Cressy.

History

The Gulidjan, like other Victorian tribes, lived for tens of thousands of years carrying out a semi-nomadic subsistence lifestyle with a system of lore and spirituality interwoven with a sense of place and their role in the geographical landscape.
The Gulidjan people were hit hard by the European invasion and settlement of their land shortly after the Foundation of Melbourne. For 3 years the Gulidjan actively resisted settlement by driving off livestock and raiding stations. Such raids inevitably brought retribution by parties of settlers with violent clashes ensuing. According to Jan Critchett's study an estimated 300-350 aborigines had been murdered by whites in the 14 years from 1834 to 1848 during the colonial settlement of the Western District. The deaths of Joseph Gellibrand and George Hesse in 1837 - their fate remains a mystery to this day - were blamed on the Gulidjan with retribution delivered by a settler party accompanied by some Wathaurong people, and killed several Gulidjan people. Ian Clark reports on three documented attacks in 1839-1840 resulting in Aboriginal deaths. More often squatters destroyed campsites and took implements as revenge, and by 1839 the Gulidjan changed tactics and began to take jobs on European stations.
The Reverend Francis Tuckfield from the Weslayan Mission Society established a mission station at Birregurra called Buntingdale in Gulidjan territory in 1839. Housing was only provided if tribal families would renounce polygamy. Early conflicts between the Gulidjan and Wathaurong peoples at the mission persuaded the missionaries to concentrate on one language group - the Gulidjan - in 1842. 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. His efforts at converting the Gulidjan to Christian values and a sedentary lifestyle did not meet with much success, and the mission was closed in 1848. At this point, they took refuge at Alexander Dennis Tardwarncourt station.
Hugh Murray who first settled the area in September 1837 claimed in 1853 that the local Gulidjan tribe was small, numbering between 35 and 40. By 1850, 43 males and 35 females were counted to be alive. With the influx of people searching for gold in the Victorian gold rush during the early 1850s, by 1858 only 19 Gulidjan were left. Causes of this 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 tribal enmity.
In the 1860s a small reserve,Karngun, was established on the Barwon River at Winchelsea for the Gulidjan people. It 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. 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 these families continue to live in the local area.

Society

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 or grugidj.
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.

Clans

Before European settlement, 4 separate clans existed
NoClan NameApproximate Location
1Beeac ClanLake Beeac
2Birregurra ClanBirregurra
3Guraldjin balug'Ingleby' station, on the Barwon River
4Gulidjan BalugVicinity of Lake Colac

Alternative names