4. Place,Culture,Imperialism:Findoutsomethingaboutthetraditionalownersofthelandyou currently live on. What do you think it means to be a ‘traditional owner’ in 2012?

The Darug people are the traditional custodians of the area of modern Sydney. They spread from the foot hills of the blue to the coast and from Wisemans ferry in the north to Camden in the south. There was a large cultural difference between the coastal and inland people. The coastal sea people built canoes and ate fish and shellfish where as the inland, or tomahawk people ate kangaroo and emus that they caught. There is a dispute that the Darug people didn’t extend right to the sea and that the coastal Eora were their own tribe. However, many believe that they were part of the Darug clan.

While the Darug people might be the traditional owners of the land, there is a different meaning and much debate as to what this phrase actually means in today’s world. Does this mean that you were the first own of the house you live in? Have you and your family always lived in the same suburb? Were you related to the first convicts of did your family come over to Australia after that time? Were you born here? After how many generations does it take for you to be classed as a ‘traditional owner’? All these questions are constantly being debated and therefore there is no definitive answer as to what defines a traditional owner now.