The People of the Eels

The first peoples of the Parramatta district, from whom the name was derived, were the Burramattagal. 

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In Dharug, the native language of the Aboriginal clans of the Sydney basin, burra means 'place', matta means  'eels' and gal means ‘people’, so the Indigenous caretakers of the region were effectively known as the people  of the eels.  

Eels are the totem animal of the clans that historically inhabited the estuary, swamps and foreshores of the  upper Parramatta River – and have subsequently been embraced by the Parramatta Eels rugby league team  as their official sporting symbol.  

Indigenous Australians often didn’t eat their totem – be it plant, bird, marine creature or land animal. However,  for important occasions, such as seasonal migrations of prey when neighbouring clans socialised to hunt, share resources and host ceremonies, feasting on a totem species was permitted. 

Totems played a vital role in Aboriginal societies, linking them to their ancestral lands and identifying them  when it came to kinship and marriage.  

Eels – despite their long snake-like appearance – are elongated fish, and there are around 900 species  worldwide, although Sydney’s waters host four: Conger, Freshwater (short and long-finned), Moray, and the  rare Giant Snake or Worm eels. 

As ambush predators that prefer nocturnal hunting, eels hide between rocks or in holes in coral reefs, and  burrow into mud and sand. They often prefer murky waters in which to catch their meal – from small fish to  crustaceans, shrimp, crabs and sea urchins – like the mangroves and swamps of the upper Parramatta River. 

Eels begin life as flat, transparent larvae, that drift on ocean currents feeding on scraps of organic matter. As  they mature into elvers, they make their way into tidal estuaries, and as adults they inhabit brackish areas  close to the shore. As mature adults they eventually return to the ocean to breed and die. 

Aboriginals of the Sydney region used a variety of methods of catching eels and other marines creatures,  including: hooks made of shells or animal bones and baited with chewed shellfish; barbed spears; herding  them into shallow channels as the tide receded; and catching them in funnel-shaped nets made from woven  grasses set in weirs that were dug for the purpose. 

After catching them, Indigenous Australians typically rolled the eel in pieces of bark, then smoked them on the  coals of a fire, the bark preventing the flesh from burning.  

Bark was also utilised for making canoes, shelters, shields and containers. 

The Burramattagal fished the waters of the upper Parramatta River from these shallow canoes (which featured  clay tablets in the centre on which small fires were lit to cook fish as soon as they were caught), gathered  shellfish along the foreshores, and hunted larger animals like kangaroos and possums, often utilising fire-stick  farming. The latter involved both flushing larger prey out of the bush by setting fires, or burning sections of  undergrowth to encourage the growth of new seedlings, which attracted other birds and animals. 

Large shell middens (refuse piles) consisting of the shells of mussels, oysters, yabbies and other shellfish, are  still prevalent in many coastal zones of Australia on beaches and amidst mangroves, where, for generations,  Aboriginal clans gathered to feast. 

In January 1788, with the arrival of the First Fleet of British colonisers to Botany Bay, and their subsequent  relocation to Sydney Cove for a more trustworthy supply of fresh water, life was irreversibly changed for all the  Aboriginal clans of the greater Sydney region. 

The Smallpox Epidemic of April 1789, 15 months after the arrival of the First Fleet, had devastating effects on  the Burramattagal and neighbouring clans. From its suspicious origins in Balmoral, with anecdotal evidence it  was deliberately introduced to the Indigenous population via infected blankets gifted by Royal Marines, the  contagionrapidly spread. 

Up to 80 per cent of the Indigenous clans around the new British penal colony perished, having little immuno resistance to the disease. After headaches, backaches and a severe skin rash, victims usually perished within  48 hours. 

Unfortunately, the Burramattagal were already being forcibly displaced from their ancestral lands. After  determining the Sydney Cove soils were too poor in nutrients to sustain the European agriculture required to  feed the new penal colony, British Governor Arthur Philip searched for appropriate farming lands. In November 1988 he identified Rose Hill on the southern shore of the upper Parramatta River as an ideal  location to establish a farm and military outpost. British settlers soon followed. 

Burramattagal elder Maugoran formally complained about the hostile Britons displacing the Indigenous  inhabitants, to which Governor Philip replied, “..wherever our colonists fix themselves, the natives are obliged  to leave that part of the country." 

Suspecting Aboriginal resistance, Philip reinforced the military troops stationed at Rose Hill. Maugoran, his  family and clan members, were forced to migrate east to what is now the Ryde region, and take refuge with  the neighbouring Wallemettagal, who were, in turn, also forcibly evicted. 

From 1790, Aboriginal warrior Pemulwuy led a fierce rebellion utilising guerilla tactics to try and drive the  British colonisers from the Sydney basin – with limited success. Primarily burning crops and killing livestock,  several of their most notable uprisings occurred around Parramatta. 

At the Battle of Parramatta on 21-22 March 1797, an estimated 100 warriors of the Bidjigal clan (from the  district around present-day Carlingford) attacked British soldiers with spears, sustaining over 30 casualties but  killing 13 members of the NSW Corps. 

Pemulwuy was shot seven times and taken into custody – but he later escaped and returned to leading the  Indigenous resistance, inspiring legends he was immune to British bullets. 

By Alec Smart