Ngunnawal & Gundungurra Country

We are proud of all we have done with this land since we moved here, 28 years ago, but its history goes a lot further back than that. Tickalara is located half way between Collector and Gunning, set in beautiful country that was traditionally called home by the Ngunnawal people or the area, and also visited by the Gundungurra people from the north. In the area around us, there have been stone tools and artefacts dating back over 20,000 years. While these tools are the earliest findings, local history likely goes back significantly earlier. People of these tribes migrates through the area in line with the migration of the Bogong moth, which is a highly nutritious food source. Today, we still see the moth’s frequently from MONTH to MONTH - the relevant aboriginal season.

In the early 1800s, European settlement into the region saw displacement, forced removal and other significant impacts that reduced the size of Indigenous communities, practices that unfortunately continued well into the 1900s. A local survey of the Collector area saw the Ngunnawal population decrease from over 500 to just 70 individuals by 1856. These practices have had lasting impacts on local tribes and people and their connection to the land, culture and area.

As the creeks and waterways that we have on Tickalara are not permanent, it is unlikely that much of the farm was along traditional trade and travel routes. We have also not found any stone tools, scar trees, or other indications of indigenous use, but we are trying to connect with local First Nation’s Groups to confirm and to see how this area could fit into the local indigenous history. Irrespective of what we find on Tickalara specifically, we recognise the timeless cultural, spiritual and historic connection between Australia’s First Nation’s Peoples and this Land.