Wurundjeri

The Wurundjeri people are an Australian Aboriginal people of the Woiwurrung language group, in the Kulin nation. They are the traditional owners of the Yarra River Valley, covering much of the present location of Melbourne. They continue to live in this area and throughout Australia. They were called the Yarra tribe by early European colonists. The Wurundjeri Tribe Land and Compensation Cultural Heritage Council was established in 1985 by Wurundjeri people. According to the early Australian ethnographer Alfred William Howitt, the name Wurundjeri, in his transcription Urunjeri, refers to a species of eucalypt, Eucalyptus viminalis, otherwise known as the manna or white gum, which is common along the Yarra River. Some modern reports of Wurundjeri traditional lore state that their ethnonym combines a word, wurun, meaning Manna gum and djeri, a species of grub found in the tree, and take the word therefore to mean "Witchetty Grub People". Woiwurrung language Wurundjeri people speak Woiwurrung, a dialect of Kulin. Kulin is spoken by the five groups in the Kulin nation. There are several distinct clans of Wurundjeri people with different territories: Wurundjeri balluk: Their territory covers the area from Mount Baw Baw to Healesville and the northern tributaries of the Yarra River, to the eastern side of the Maribyrnong River and up to Gisborne. Wurundjeri Willum: Their territory includes the site of Melbourne, up to the east side of the Maribyrnong River and its western branch and along to Mount Macedon. It also includes the western half of country from the Plenty River to the Maribrynong River. Their name comes from wilam meaning 'camp/shelter'. Marin balluk: From the western side of the Maribyrnong River, centred around Sunbury and the watersheds of Mount Macedon. Their name means "Maribrynong River". Gunung Willum balluk: from the adjoining Wurundjeri country on the west side of Mount Macedon through to Bullengarook and Daylesford. Their name means "river shelter swamp". Balluk Willum: from the Cranbourne area.