Before European colonisation, the Bundjalung nation encompassed some of the richest hunting and fishing grounds anywhere on the Australian continent. According to the oral traditions of the Bundjalung People, the area was first settled by the Three Brothers and their descendants. The Bundjalung people inhabit the far-north coast of New South Wales and south-east Queensland. Some
Dreamtime stories describe their ancestors arriving in Australia from other lands following a significant environmental event. Additionally, some Indigenous groups in the Perth region hold spiritual beliefs regarding their origins being linked to the stars and the
Solar System. People of the Bundjalung nation have lived on and visited Goanna Headland for at least 12,000 years. The Aboriginal tribes were not united before the 18th century, and comprised more than 20 main groups, known collectively as the "Bundjalung nation". Certain deities and religious practices were specific to certain localities. Goanna Headland is also significant as the site where the ancestors of the Bundjalung people arrived by sea and populated the surrounding country. This event is related through the legend of "The Three Brothers (Bundjalung nation)".
European arrival On 15 May 1770, the coast in the vicinity of
Evans Head was first mapped and described by Lieutenant
James Cook on the Royal Navy
barque , during the
first voyage of James Cook to what became known as
New Zealand and Australia. Cook did not land but, the next day, he saw and named
Cape Byron and
Mount Warning, known to the Bundjalung people as Wollumbin. He named Mount Warning as a result of encountering nearby offshore reefs. Cook did not see the entrance to the
Richmond River, but noted the presence of about 20 Bundjalung people on what is now
Seven Mile Beach, just to the south of Broken Head. Sir
Joseph Banks also noted the people and remarked that they completely ignored the presence of HMS
Endeavour. That might indicate that
Endeavour was not the first ship that they had seen (Richmond River Historical Society {RRHS}, 1997). On 20 August 1828, Captain
Henry John Rous, on the
frigate HMS Rainbow, dropped anchor at Byron Bay. His mission was to discover a navigable river and safe anchorage site. On 26 August 1828, Rous discovered the entrance to the
Richmond River (the longest navigable river on the coast of New South Wales) and explored upstream, as far as
Tuckean Swamp, with two lieutenants in a
pinnace. Rous subsequently named the river Richmond after his brother's best friend,
Charles Gordon-Lennox, 5th Duke of Richmond.
European settlement dated 29 December 1851, held in the
Mitchell Library,
SLNSW The beginning of European settlement into the Richmond River area was the result of early explorations of the region by
red cedar cutters and farmers, who arrived around 1842, after hearing stories from "stray natives" of the great wudgie-wudgie (red cedar) in the Richmond river area to the north of the Clarence river. Red cedar getters, as obsessed by 'red gold' as those who later suffered 'gold fever', brooked no interference in their quest for the magnificent old trees. To legally cut red cedar, loggers were required to obtain a cedar cutter's license from
Grafton (and later
Casino), issued by Commissioner
Oliver Fry for the North Creek and Emigrant Creek scrubs in 1851, and costing £6. The license did not provide ownership to land, but did allow the cedar-getter to build a hut and cut cedar on unsettled land. Word rapidly spread about the wonderful red cedar timber which made small fortunes for the men of the Richmond River.
Timeline ==Language==