Gandangara

The Gundangara (also spelt Gundungara and Gundungurra) are a clan of Indigenous Australians in south-eastern New South Wales, Australia. Their traditional lands include present day Goulburn and the Southern Highlands.

Location

The Gandangara lived in the south-east region of New South Wales from the Nepean River to about Lake George, neighbours of the Dharug, Tharawal, Yuin, Ngunawal and Wiradjuri peoples.

Norman Tindale recorded the location of the Gundangara as:

History

In 1802, the explorer Francis Barrallier met the Gundungara people as his party moved through "The Cowpastures" southwest of Sydney, through the Nattai to the Wollondilly River and up to the heights above where Yerranderie now stands. Barrallier noted in his journal that the Gundungara "themselves build huts for the strangers they wish to receive as friends."

In 1816, fourteen people were killed near Appin by troops sent by Governor Macquarie during punitive expeditions to capture and kill the Aborigines who had been involved in response to some attacks by Aborigines between 1814 and 1816. The Gundungara killed had probably not been involved in the earlier attacks.