The Lake Mac Heritage Series was placed to pay homage to the people, places and events that contributed to building and pioneering the Lake Macquarie region. The pick and shovel were chosen in this geoart series to symbolise the hard work the people of Lake Macquarie put forth into the region.

The Awabakal People

All of LMCC is understood to be part of the traditional country of the Awabakal people. The traditional boundaries of the Awabakal tribe were wider than the current LGA boundary or the boundary of the Awabakal LALC. Whilst Lake Macquarie was clearly central to Awabakal people (as was the Hunter River estuary), there are several different versions of the detailed boundaries of the country of the Awabakal . The Awabakal appear to have been people of the coast, estuaries, lakes and wetlands, but also with attachment to the rugged sandstone country through the Sugarloaf and Watagan Ranges. The traditional country of the Awabakal people was bounded to the north by the Worimi, to the west by the Wonnarua, to the south west by the Darkinjung and to the south along the coast by the Kuring-gai people. Threlkeld (1828) described the boundaries of Awabakal (people of the plain (Lake) surface) country as: 'The land bounded by south Reids Mistake, the entrance to Lake Macquarie and north by Newcastle and Hunters River, West by Five Islands at the head of Lake Macquarie.' Threlkeld (1825) also stated that: 'the natives here (i.e. the people around Lake Macquarie, where his mission was located) are connected in a kind of circle extending to the Hawkesbury.' This would extend the boundary of Awabakal activity and interactions north and south well beyond Lake Macquarie and the Hunter River, although this does not necessarily imply that traditional Awabakal tribal country extended to these areas. The exact western extent of Awabakal country is also difficult to define. Some early ethnographic reports suggest that the Awabakal people may have been the largest clan of several groups in the coastal part of the lower Hunter region. Related clans were the Pambalong, Ash Island and Cooranbong groups. Awabakal was the largest group

The puzzle

All historical and heritage information courtesy of Lake Mac Libraries

Any questions regarding this puzzle cache or the LMHS geoart series will be answered by clicking HERE

*** The LMHS geoart was planned in conjunction with the OzGeoMuster 2018 mega event. The OzGeoMuster 2018 committee would like to thank the following people for their contribution to this series. ahomburg, day1976, sedgwickDave, The Morris, bobbiesgirl, and the_garbageman.***

Enjoy!

Marcus Vitruvius