Cultural Heritage
Resort Management partners with Taungurung Clans traditional owners to actively manage the natural and cultural values of the Mt Buller and Mt Stirling Alpine Resorts.
Taungurung Clans - First people of the rivers and mountains
Resource rich
The highlands region is generally considered a harsh environment with extremely cold winters and mild summers. Despite this climate, the region would have provided an abundance of resources for the Aboriginal people to exploit. This included stone sources for the manufacture of tools, and conditions which provided an abundance of animal and plant life for food and materials.
Aboriginal Enthnohistory
The Resorts lie in the traditional territory of the Daung wurrung (also spelt Taungarung) language group, which spread across much of the central region of Victoria. Ethnographic sources suggest that this group was composed of nine clans, occupying the Broken, Delatite, Goulburn, Coliban and Campaspe watersheds. The lands around Mount Buller and Mount Stirling appear to have been occupied by the Yowung-illam balug clan of the Daung wurrung.
This clan was known to have occupied land near the Howqua River quarry (Youang-illum stone quarry), Mount Battery, Alexandra, the Upper Goulburn River at Mansfield, sources of the Goulburn River and Hunter and Watson’s ‘Wappan’ Run. The clan estates, including historical and archaeological sites, of the Resorts are currently the responsibility of the Camp Jungai Aboriginal Co-operative Limited. However, there are also a number of people who claim to be traditional descendants of the Daung wurrung.
Find out more
To find out more about the Cultural Heritage of the region you can visit the Taungurung Clans website.
The following documents provide interesting information on the life of Aboriginal people in the High Country.
