Colonial Ancestors - Road Trip Stage 2 - A day in Cobar

Day two took us to Cobar. The Cobar Museum holds several objects donated from Booroomugga including a buggy and a food storage house which is the base of a large tree. It is presented as the mystery of the museum, one that people are invited to guess what it was used for.  Also many things that I inherently recognised as wares from the 'olden days' including a saddle bag which was similar to one that Meg Kelly had given me on my previous trip to Booroomugga.

The best material in the museum for me was the section about the Wangaaypuwan (Wongaibon) people who were the Aboriginal people in the Cobar region. Their language is Ngiyambaa which broadly translates a 'language in general', universal language' or 'worldspeak'
The Wangaaypuwan people were the largest group of Ngiyambaa speakers, deriving this name from their word for 'no', 'wangaay'. There were three subgroups that derived their names from the surrounding landscapes. One of these groups is the Pilaarrkiyalu (belah tree) people and their decendants, who lived in the Keewong - Cowra tank area.

Belah Trees

A deeply moving dedication in the museum said it all.
'For the people who said:
"Ngiyanuna paluhaarra wangaay mayi wiiyakal Ngiyambaa ngiyarapa"
"When we die, there will be nobody left who can speak Ngiyampaa"

The people with ties to the Cobar area now live in widely scattered areas in NSW from Bourke to Brewarrina to Wilcannia and Broken Hill, down to Menindee, Albury, Ivanhoe, Condoblin, Griffith and over to Dubbo. The 'Dispersal Policy' (which I am now researching) resulted in Wangaaypuwan people being resettled to other areas.
* this material is directly quoted from the museum display

The Dispersal Policy

The Cowra Tank was the last major settlement of Wongaibon people on their traditional lands prior to their dispersal to Menindee in 1933

Cowra Tank

Cowra Tank Mission School