Cadigal facts for kids

The Cadigal (also spelled Gadigal or Caddiegal) are a group of Indigenous people from Australia. Their traditional lands are called Gadi, which is part of the larger Eora country. This area is where the city of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, is located today.

The Gadigal people originally lived in the area they called "Gadi." This land is south of Port Jackson, covering what is now the Sydney central business district. It stretches from South Head to Marrickville/Petersham. Part of their southern border was the Cooks River. Sydney Cove, where the first British flag was raised, is also in Gadi. This event marked the start of colonisation in the area. Sadly, since colonisation began, many Gadigal people have been moved away from their traditional lands.

Early European explorers described the Gadigal territory. Philip Gidley King said Long Cove was the western edge. Lieutenant Governor David Collins later identified this as today's Darling Harbour. In 1790, Arthur Phillip wrote that the area from the harbour entrance along the south shore to the settlement was called Cadi, and the people were the Cadigal.

The Gadigal are coastal people. They relied on the harbour for most of their food when they lived on their traditional lands. They are one of seven clans from coastal Sydney who speak a similar language. These groups are known as the Eora people. The word "Eora" means "people" or "of this place" in the Dharug language.

Gadigal History and European Arrival

When Governor Arthur Phillip first arrived at Port Jackson, he thought there were about 1,500 Indigenous people in the area. Other guesses for the population ranged from 200 to 4,000. The Cadigal clan itself was thought to have between 50 and 80 people.

The arrival of British settlers brought new diseases, like smallpox. A very serious smallpox outbreak in 1789 greatly reduced the number of local Dharug people. It's believed that this illness killed about 53% of them. Some reports from 1791 claimed only three Cadigal people were left. However, some evidence suggests that some Cadigal people might have moved to the Concord area and settled there.

The former Marrickville Council area, which is now part of the Inner West Council, is located within Gadigal country. It also borders Wangal country. In 1994, a group called the Marrickville Aboriginal Consultative Committee was formed. This committee helped create a website for the Cadigal/Wangal peoples.

Today, Gadigal Elder Allen Madden believes that several hundred Dharug people, including at least a hundred Gadigal people from his own family, live in Sydney.

Gadigal Culture in Modern Times

The Australian band Midnight Oil released a song called "Gadigal Land" as part of their The Makarrata Project mini-album. The song includes words written and spoken by Gadigal poet Joel Davison. A statement from Sony Music Australia said the song is "a powerful story of what happened in this place, and elsewhere in Australia, since 1788."

On December 5, 2020, something special happened at a rugby union match in Sydney. Before the game between Australia and Argentina, a version of the Australian national anthem was sung. First, it was sung in the Dharug language by Wiradjuri woman Olivia Fox and the Australian Wallabies. Then, the English version followed. This was the first time the anthem had been sung in an Indigenous language at a Wallabies match. However, some Dharug Elders and the Community were not asked for permission or consulted about sharing their language with a non-Dharug singer.

See also

• Aboriginal Australians