Pittwater Life June 2018 Issue

Times Past
Tracing the riddle of
the Avalon tribesman
This engraving
made from
a sketch by
Captain John Hunter
in 1791 was titled
‘Aboriginal Woman
and Child at Broken
Bay’.
According to
Hunter’s diary: “They
arrived at Pitt Water
that afternoon… one
of the boat crews
discovered a naked
young Aboriginal
woman hiding in the
grass not far from
their tents. She was
very much frightened
but unable to flee
from them because
she was weak and
lame after an attack
of the smallpox.”
Sadly, with the Europeans
came a series of epidemics,
especially smallpox to which
local Aborigines (like this
lady) had no immunity.
Losses were astronomical
– with about half the population
of Aborigines between
Broken Bay and Botany Bay
dying from the diseases.
Lieutenant David Collins
wrote of the horrific sight of
the putrid bodies lining the
path from Manly north “not a
vestige on the sand was to be
found of human foot”.
In the late 1950s and early
1960s, a sand supply company
was given permission to
‘mine’ sand from the North
Avalon dune system. A story
in the Sun Herald newspaper
on 27 September 1959 was
titled ‘The Riddle of the
Avalon Tribesman – Skeleton
in the Sacred Sands’.
During excavations a
skeleton was revealed and
upon examination at the City
Morgue, it was determined to
be that of an Aboriginal male.
Apparently two of the upper
teeth were missing and that
was significant enough for the
claim to Aboriginal heritage.
The initiation ceremony
for the young Aboriginal
male was known as ‘Yoo-long
Erah-ba-diang’ (that’s what it
sounded like to the Europeans
anyway). Most records
and diaries mention the
knocking out of one canine
tooth only.
Detective Murdoch of
the Collaroy Police Station
said that many Aboriginal
skeletons had been found as
the result of sand movement
by wave action, especially
around Long Reef. He also
mentioned that the skeleton
found at Avalon Beach
was the farthest one
north, at that stage.
(It’s possible that the
individual may have
also succumbed to the
smallpox, as did the
lady in the lithograph.)
Another revelation
of a skeleton occurred
in 2005 at Narrabeen
when construction
workers were digging
to lay a pipeline. Unlike
the skeleton at Avalon
Beach, which was
estimated to be around
100 years old, this one
was dated at 4,000 years.
An interesting thing
was that archaeologists
determined that the
man was most likely
murdered, probably
speared for a transgression.
There were several entry
points for spears into the
body and a huge slice into the
cranium from an axe which
brought about that conclusion.
TIMES PAST is supplied
by local historian
and President of the
Avalon Beach Historical
Society GEOFF SEARL.
Visit the Society’s
showroom in Bowling
Green Lane, Avalon
Beach.
Times Past
The Local Voice Since 1991
JUNE 2018 71