Gweagal

The Gweagal (also spelt Gwiyagal) are a clan of the Tharawal (or Dharawal) tribe of Indigenous Australians, who are traditional custodians of the southern geographic areas of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.

The Gweagal lived on the southern shores of Botany Bay (Kurnell Peninsula). The tribe territory, although not clearly defined, spanned the areas between the Cooks and Georges River, south to the Port Hacking estuary and westwards towards Liverpool. They were the northernmost tribe of the Dharawal nation.

Culture

Each Gweagal tribe consisted of approximately 20 to 50 people who lived in their own territory amongst social and economic units having strong ties to land and sacred sites. They had no written language and each tribe had its own dialect, they also knew how to light fires long before the arrival of Europeans. They were often seen by early settlers to be naked but with minimal clothing that consisted of a woven hair sash in which they used to carry tools and weapons and sometimes the optional possum-skin coat for the winter season. They wore resin in their hair that gave it a mop-like appearance and used native animal hide to make fur coats and ceremonial attire. Tool makers chose to grind axes close to pools or streams, as the water was used as a lubricant for grinding and sharpening. The stone that was used was mainly igneous or metamorphic rock, and only one of the ends was ground to a blade. Axe grinding grooves used in for this purpose can be found near a stream between River Road and Salt Pan Creek at Revesby Heights. In 1961 a notice was erected describing the site.