The Ngurai-Illum Wurrung People are the Traditional Owners of the middle Goulburn River region of north-central Victoria whose traditional country extends across the river plains, wetlands, creeks and travelling routes surrounding places including Murchison, Nagambie, Tabilk, Wahring, Reedy Lake and adjoining Goulburn River country.

The Ngurai-Illum Wurrung People maintained longstanding relationships with neighbouring Traditional Owner groups throughout north-eastern Victoria and adjoining regions through alliances, kinship networks, ceremony, trade, marriage relationships and shared cultural interaction. Historical and anthropological materials demonstrate that Aboriginal societies throughout the region were interconnected through complex regional relationships extending across north-central and north-eastern Victoria.

At the same time, those regional relationships did not erase the existence of distinct territorial groups with their own countries, identities, kinship systems and traditional laws and customs. The historical, linguistic and anthropological materials support the proposition that the Ngurai-Illum Wurrung People maintained their own distinct territorial identity and socio-political organisation associated with the middle Goulburn region.

The name “Ngurai-Illum Wurrung” itself reflects this distinct identity. The term “wurrung” is commonly associated with language or speech within the Kulin cultural world, and many neighbouring groups similarly identified themselves through language-associated territorial identities. Historical and anthropological records identify Ngurai-Illum Wurrung as a distinct language-speaking people associated with the middle Goulburn region and its surrounding country.

Importantly, the work of Marie Hansen Fels identifies “Ngurai-Illum-Wurrung” as a distinct language- speaking and culturally distinct group associated with its own country. Feels emphasised the significance of language-associated territorial identity within Aboriginal Victoria and recognised the importance Aboriginal peoples placed upon respecting the country of other language-speaking groups. Her work supports the proposition that the Ngurai-Illum Wurrung People maintained their own cultural and territorial identity within the broader network of neighbouring societies across central and north-eastern Victoria.

The country of the Ngurai-Illum Wurrung People is a place of rivers, floodplains, wetlands and rich food resources. The Goulburn River and its associated waterways formed important travelling routes and places of gathering, fishing, ceremony and social interaction. The country includes important cultural landscapes connected to camps, ceremonial grounds, waterways, scarred trees, fishing places and traditional movement throughout the region.

Like many Traditional Owner societies throughout Victoria, the Ngurai-Illum Wurrung People maintained a normative system grounded in kinship, descent, family relationships, territorial responsibility and recognition by community members. Rights and responsibilities in relation to country were traditionally connected to family association, ancestry, locality, cultural knowledge and participation within the social and cultural life of the group.

Historical records identify important Ngurai-Illum Wurrung ancestors including King Charles Tattambo, Tooterie and Tro-bullock Terrick. These ancestors remain central figures within the memory, oral history and identity of many present-day descendants.

King Charles Tattambo is one of the best historically documented Aboriginal leaders associated with the middle Goulburn region. Historical sources describe him as a recognised Aboriginal leader connected to the Murchison and Nagambie districts and record continuing ceremonial and social activity amongst his people during the nineteenth century.

Tooterie is remembered as a Ngurai-Illum Wurrung woman connected to the Murchison area and the mother of the respected Aboriginal leader William Barak. Historical records identify her as “Nourailum”, directly linking her to the Ngurai-Illum Wurrung people and their country.

Tro-bullock Terrick is remembered through family history, genealogical records and historical materials connecting his descendants to the middle Goulburn region and its enduring kinship networks.

Anthropologists including Dr John Morton and Anthony Jefferies have recognised that Traditional Owner societies throughout central Victoria were not isolated groups, but formed part of interconnected regional networks involving alliances, kinship relationships and shared cultural interaction. Importantly, however, those relationships did not erase the existence of differentiated territorial identities and local social organisation. The historical and anthropological materials support the proposition that the Ngurai-Illum Wurrung People maintained their own distinct middle Goulburn territorial and socio-political identity within this broader regional world.

The history of the Ngurai-Illum Wurrung People is also a history of survival and resilience. Like many Traditional Owner groups across Victoria, the Ngurai-Illum Wurrung People experienced the devastating impacts of colonisation, including violence, disease, displacement from country and the disruption of traditional life. Families were forced onto reserves and missions, and many people were separated from their country and communities.

Despite this, Ngurai-Illum Wurrung families maintained continuity through kinship, oral history, shared identity, cultural memory and ongoing connection to country. Stories, family relationships, knowledge of places and continuing recognition between descendants ensured that Ngurai-Illum Wurrung identity endured across generations.

Today, descendants of the Ngurai-Illum Wurrung People continue to honour the memory of their ancestors and maintain connection to their country, history and cultural identity. The present native title application represents part of that continuing journey — recognising the enduring relationship between the Ngurai-ilam Wurrung People and their traditional country of the middle Goulburn region.