BACKGROUND

Yarra Bend Park has a rich Aboriginal past, and once included the Yarra Aboriginal Protectorate Station and the Merri Creek Aboriginal School. The Wurundjeri Tribe Land Compensation and Cultural Heritage Council Inc., Aboriginal Affairs Victoria and Parks Victoria have installed signs marking the location of important Aboriginal places in the Park.

 

HISTORY

The confluence of Merri Creek and the Yarra River had been important to Aboriginal people both before and after European settlement in Victoria. The traditional landowners were the Wurundjeri balluk, who were part of the Woiwurrung language group.

 

This location served as an important camping ground, and large ceremonies and gatherings were held there.

 

The Koori Garden, created by local Aboriginal people in 1990, commemorates this former gathering place.

 

Today the Wurundjeri Tribe Land Compensation and Cultural Heritage Council Inc. are the Aboriginal custodians of the area.

 

THE YARRA ABORIGINAL PROTECTORATE STATION

 

1835

Europeans settled at the site of Melbourne, then known as Port Phillip.  By the 1840’s they had occupied most of the country belonging to the Wurundjeri. 

 

1840

The Port Phillip Aboriginal Protectorate was established to ‘protect’ Aboriginal people from frontier violence by encouraging them to move to government stations.

 

1843 to 1847

The headquarters for the Melbourne or Western Port  district of the Protectorate was a small hut located on a bluff overlooking the Yarra River (in the vicinity of W.J. Cox Oval). At this location Assistant Protector William Thomas distributed rations, and conducted school classes and religious services for Aboriginal people. The Native Police Corps were also stationed at this locality between 1843 and 1844. The Corps consisted of Aboriginal men under the leadership of Captain Dana and were involved in dealing with disputes between Aboriginal and European people across Victoria.

 

They were also the first police on the goldfields and acted as guards at Pentridge Prison in Coburg.

 

THE MERRI CREEK ABORIGINAL SCHOOL

 

1846

The school was established and located beside the Merri Creek, close to what is now the Eastern Freeway, by the Collins Street Baptist Church. While the School received some government support, its early success relied on Billibellary, an important Wurundjeri ngurungaeta, or spokesperson. He sent his children to the school and urged other parents to do the same.

 

The School began in a house consisting of five rooms. Boys were taught spelling, grammar, arithmetic, and carpentry, while irls were instructed in needlework, cooking and other domestic activities. After their classes and on weekends, the pupils tended crops and grew vegetables.

 

Billibellary passed away, and many Aboriginal people left the area and numbers at the school dwindled.

 

1849

Boys at the school constructed a bridge over the Merri Creek on which they collected a toll from people crossing. However, a flood in 1850 destroyed the bridge, and washed away the vegetable and flower gardens around the school.

 

1851

The Wurundjeri people’s resistance to the separation of children from their culture led to the closure of the school.