Welcome to a walk with the Wallumedegal.
For thousands of years Aboriginal people lived around Sydney Harbour, fishing its waters, collecting shellfish from the shallows, gathering berries, roots and other plant food from the slopes, hunting birds and animals. It became a particularly good place to live around 5,000 years ago when sea level finished rising and flooding the valley of the Parramatta River and its tributaries. The rising sea created a magnificent harbour and brought marine food resources into these valleys.
When Europeans arrived in 1788 the Wallumedegal occupied this area, from Lane Cove River through Ryde to near Parramatta. They were a clan, or sub-group, of the Dharug people of what is now western Sydney.
Glades Bay is rich in Wallumedegal history with many traces of their life and occupation still visible. There are middens (heaps) of shell and bones from hundreds of meals, artworks associated with their spiritual and cultural life, campsites, and signs of other important activities such as toolmaking. The Wallumedegal may have been here often to get fresh water from the creek, as they moved around in search of changing seasonal foods.
However, the traditional Wallumedegal lifestyle changed dramatically in 1789 when they were struck by a major disease epidemic which killed many, many Sydney Aborigines.
All Aboriginal sites are significant to Aboriginal people today because they are the only evidence of thousands of years of their history and they are a vital link to ancestors. Places like Glades Bay, full of evidence of this history, are particularly important, because they provide a much more complete picture of the past life of the people who lived here for so long. We must all take great care of these places.
Take a walk along the Waluba Track, enjoy this small corner of bushland and explore the past of the Wallumedegal. Imagine the environment as they saw it and the life of people who lived totally from the resources of land and sea for thousands of years before their lives were changed forever by the arrival of Europeans.
Did you know that NSW has a geocaching association? Geocaching NSW aims to enhance and improve the activity of geocaching and holds regular events where geocachers meet to enjoy their common interests. Visit the association website here.