Turrbal people in Ashgrove area

We started our first public workshop for children in the Ashgrove Library, with a talk by Uncle Nurdon Serico about Turrbal people in the Ashgrove area.

He passed on a lot of information about aboriginal pathways, Waterworks Road was built on one, the Turrbal name for Ashgrove (Killindarbin), local camping grounds, fishing spots, food. He also told us stories about what Ashgrove was like when he was growing up and how deep the swimming holes were.

Turrbal people at Enoggera Camp
pose for the white photographer James Trackson (standing 3rd from left)
in a simulated fight - 1893
Photo from John Oxley Indigenous collection.
Used with permission. Faces pixellated in respect for past Elders.

One of the children asked why the waterholes weren't still deep. So we acted out the filling up of the waterholes with rolling rock and sand and gravel.

YEAH participant, Harry, showing Uncle Nurdon the drawing he did of hunting by a local creek.

Excerpt from Tom Petries Reminiscences about the Turrbal people was reprinted in The Queenslander -

Article identifier

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article21810706

Page identifier

http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-page2521702

APA citation

SKETCHED. (1903, March 21). The Queenslander (Brisbane, Qld. : 1866 - 1939), p. 672 Supplement: Unknown. Retrieved October 22, 2012, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article21810706

Excerpt from Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashgrove,_Queensland
Ashgrove's native name is 'Kallindarbin'^[3] and was originally inhabited by the indigenous 'Turrbal' or 'Duke of York clan'.^[4] The main thoroughfare, Waterworks Road, was built on a Turrbal pathway that led to Mount Coot-tha, a place of the 'Honey-Bee Dreaming' and to the Enoggera Reservoir. The first sales of freehold land commenced in 1856, and ceased in 1875 when all available land was sold. Soon after sale of land stopped, the first school (the Ashgrove State School) and post office was established.

1. ^ Tom Petrie's Reminiscences of Early Queensland. St Lucia, Queensland: University of Queensland Press. 1992. p. 318. ISBN 0702223832.
2. ^ [1] 'Brisbane's indigenous history', accessed 13 December 2009
3. 
   

Successful launch of project & QR adventure

We had a good launch of the Creating Young Local Historians project on Saturday at Ashgrove Library.

Uncle Nurdon Serico gave us a great welcome to Turrbal country and invited us to include Indigenous knowledge in our workshops.

Councillor Geraldine Knapp formally launched the project for us and told us some really interesting stories about her family's experience of Ashgrove and the Ashgrove that she has become such an important part of.  The project is only possible with the help of a Community History Grant from the Brisbane City Council. Thank you Geraldine.

 We had fun working out why Miss Pat Fahey was a special guest and a living Ashgrove treasure. (If you don't know you'll have to come along to a workshop to find out. We'll be doing an audio podcast about her adventurous childhood using GarageBand. )

We had an adventure or two with a QR code and my iPad.

One of the satisfying  results of our QR code adventure was that it worked really quickly. We gave out small cards with a QR code printed on it to attendees of the Launch.  One of the attendees, Liam, and his dad must have followed the map that it led to that very afternoon because he's already sent us a photo of him at the Ashgrove 150 History Trail.

 

Here's Liam at the start of the trail. I think he's going to know the answer to what the first plaque says.

 

and here he is at the end of the trail at the plaque that commemorates the first land sales around Ashgrove.

I wonder where there is a  memorial to the Turrbal people?

Now if you would like to have an explore around our first Family History Exploration trail, here's the QR code for you to scan with your smart phone or iPad (you might have to download a QR scanner app if you haven't already).

And of course we would love to see primary age children at our public workshop at the Library on Saturday 10th November, 2012 at 2:00 pm.

Here's a link to the registration form or you can fill it in at the Ashgrove Library.

Any suggestions or feedback welcome via the comments below.

Daryll