Local Traditional Custodians have joined community members in voicing their concerns over Central Coast Council’s decision to include the words “Darkinjung country” in its Acknowledgement of Country.
They include GuriNgai woman Tracey Howie, direct descendant of Bungaree – a prominent First Nations man who circumnavigated Australia with Matthew Flinders.
“The Central Coast is home to the GuriNgai, Darkinoong and Awabakal nations; there is no Darkinjung Country,” Howie said.
“The name Darkinjung was created at the establishment of the Local Aboriginal Land Council.”
Lisa Bellamy, a local environmental activist and member of the Kariong Sacred Lands group, said the change was not inclusive.
“Including the name Darkinjung while excluding other nations is not in the spirit of inclusivity,” she said.
“It legitimises the authority of this land council/developer to destroy environmentally and culturally sensitive land, such as is proposed for Kariong and Norah Head.”
Despite vocal opposition from the gallery, Administrator Rik Hart adopted the recommendation from the Aboriginal Advisory Committee to change the wording of the Acknowledgement of Country, leading to a public outcry.
Some community members criticised a perceived lack of democracy in the decision-making process.
Concerns were also raised about the composition of the Aboriginal Advisory Committee.
Howie expressed shock at being excluded from the committee despite her role in advocating for its formation.
Another unnamed Traditional Custodian highlighted the committee’s lack of diverse representation.
This is not accurate nor a true representation of the thoughts and feelings of the Central Coast Aboriginal Community. The term guringai is a fabricated term by Warren Whitfield 20 odd years ago. It has no place in the Aboriginal community on the Central Coast. Shame on CCN for supporting propaganda from this cohort.
Thank you Chris for your perspective. CCN does not take sides, we report on the happenings in the community by local people. We leave it to the readers to make their own minds up.
Our editorial guidlines can by found on our website.
There has been a noticeable recent shift to using “Darkinjung Country”, but why? In 2019 our Council (using accepted scholars and research) clearly recognised the Guringai as the Traditional Custodians of the Coastal regions in their planning strategy (for example see CCC Gosford Heritage Interpretation Strategy 30 October 2019 p 13 currently available on the Council’s website). However more recent documents, including the Central Coast Regional Plan 2041 (published Oct 2022) do not include the Guringai (see page 4). In 2021 road signs popped up in strategic locations announcing “Darkinjung Country”. One can only come to the conclusion that it has much to do with current State and Local government planning strategy. History re-written in the blink of an eye. If our Local Land Council did not include the name Darkinjung, but instead was named after a place on the Central Coast as is the case with most land councils, would our local Traditional Custodians’ history have been altered?