Editing Sydney (section)

===First inhabitants of the region===
[[File:AboriginalSite0008.jpg|thumb|[[Charcoal (art)|Charcoal drawing]] of kangaroos in [[Heathcote National Park]]]]The first people to inhabit the area now known as Sydney were [[Aboriginal Australians]] who had migrated from southeast Asia via northern Australia.<ref>Attenbrow (2010). p. 152</ref> Flaked pebbles found in Western Sydney's gravel sediments might indicate human occupation from 45,000 to 50,000 years ago,<ref name="Attenbrow-2010c">{{Cite book |last1=Attenbrow |first1=Val |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TDxldj_SLcYC&q=inauthor%3A%22Val%20Attenbrow%22&pg=PA152 |title=Sydney's Aboriginal Past: Investigating the Archaeological and Historical Records |publisher=UNSW Press |year=2010 |isbn=978-1-74223-116-7 |location=Sydney |pages=152–153 |access-date=11 November 2013 |archive-date=23 September 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230923094622/https://books.google.com/books?id=TDxldj_SLcYC&q=inauthor%3A%22Val%20Attenbrow%22&pg=PA152 |url-status=live }}</ref> while [[radiocarbon dating]] has shown evidence of human activity in the region from around 30,000 years ago.<ref name="Settlers' history rewritten2">{{cite news |last=Macey |first=Richard |date=2007 |title=Settlers' history rewritten: go back 30,000 years |work=The Sydney Morning Herald |url=http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/settlers-history-rewritten/2007/09/14/1189276983698.html |access-date=5 July 2014 |archive-date=2 July 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180702180036/https://www.smh.com.au/news/national/settlers-history-rewritten/2007/09/14/1189276983698.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Prior to the arrival of the British, there were 4,000 to 8,000 Aboriginal people in the greater Sydney region.<ref>Attenbrow (2010). p.17</ref><ref name="Aboriginal people and place23"/>

The inhabitants subsisted on fishing, hunting, and gathering plants and shellfish. The diet of the coastal clans was more reliant on seafood whereas hinterland clans ate more forest animals and plants. The clans had distinctive equipment and weapons mostly made of stone, wood, plant materials, bone and shell. They also differed in their body decorations, hairstyles, songs and dances. Aboriginal clans had a rich ceremonial life, part of a belief system centring on ancestral, totemic and supernatural beings. People from different clans and language groups came together to participate in initiation and other ceremonies. These occasions fostered trade, marriages and clan alliances.<ref name="Attenbrow-2010a">Attenbrow (2010). pp. 28, 158</ref>

The earliest British settlers recorded the word '[[Eora]]' as an Aboriginal term meaning either 'people' or 'from this place'.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Smith |first=Keith Vincent |title=Eora People |url=https://www.eorapeople.com.au/uncategorized/eora-people/ |access-date=13 July 2022 |website=Eora People |date=June 2020 |archive-date=28 March 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230328102026/https://www.eorapeople.com.au/uncategorized/eora-people/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Aboriginal people and place23"/> The clans of the Sydney area occupied land with traditional boundaries. There is debate, however, about which group or nation these clans belonged to, and the extent of differences in language and rites. The major groups were the coastal Eora people, the Dharug (Darug) occupying the inland area from [[Parramatta]] to the Blue Mountains, and the Dharawal people south of Botany Bay.<ref name="Aboriginal people and place23"/> Darginung and Gundungurra languages were spoken on the fringes of the Sydney area.<ref name="Attenbrow-2010b">Attenbrow (2010). pp. 22–29</ref>
{| class="wikitable mw-collapsible mw-collapsed"
|+ class="nowrap" |Aboriginal clans of Sydney area, as recorded by early British settlers
!Clan
!Territory name
!Location
|-
|Bediagal
|Not recorded
|Probably north-west of [[Parramatta]]
|-
|Birrabirragal
|Birrabirra
|Lower Sydney Harbour around Sow and Pigs reef
|-
|Boolbainora
|Boolbainmatta
|Parramatta area
|-
|Borogegal
|Booragy
|Probably [[Bradleys Head]] and surrounding area
|-
|Boromedegal
|Not recorded
|Parramatta
|-
|Buruberongal
|Not recorded
|North-west of Parramatta
|-
|Darramurragal
|Not recorded
|[[Turramurra|Turramarra]] area
|-
|Gadigal
|Cadi (Gadi)
|South side of Port Jackson, from [[Sydney Heads|South Head]] to [[Darling Harbour]]
|-
|Gahbrogal
|Not recorded
|[[Liverpool, New South Wales|Liverpool]] and [[Cabramatta, New South Wales|Cabramatta]] area
|-
|Gamaragal
|Cammeray
|North shore of Port Jackson
|-
|Gameygal
|Kamay
|[[Botany Bay]]
|-
|Gannemegal
|Warmul
|Parramatta area
|-
|Garigal
|Not recorded
|[[Broken Bay]] area
|-
|Gayamaygal
|Kayeemy
|[[Manly, New South Wales|Manly]] Cove
|-
|Gweagal
|Gwea
|Southern shore of Botany Bay
|-
|Wallumedegal
|Wallumede
|North shore of Port Jackson, opposite Sydney Cove
|-
|Wangal
|Wann
|South side of Port Jackson, from Darling Harbour to Rose Hill
|-
| colspan="3" |Clans of the Sydney region whose territory wasn't reliably recorded are: the Domaragal, Doogagal, Gannalgal, {{Break}}Gomerigal, Gooneeowlgal, Goorunggurregal, Gorualgal, Murrooredial, Noronggerragal, Oryangsoora and Wandeandegal.
|-
| colspan="3" |<small>Note:</small> <small>The names and territory boundaries do not always correspond with those used</small> <small>by contemporary Aboriginal groups of the greater Sydney area.<ref name="Attenbrow-2010b" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Troy |first=Jakelin |title=The Sydney Language |publisher=Aboriginal Studies Press |year=2019 |isbn=9781925302868 |edition=2nd |location=Canberra |pages=19–25}}</ref>{{Refn|British settlers each used different spellings for Indigenous words. The clan names in this list use Troy's (2019) orthography.}}</small>
|}

The first meeting between Aboriginals and British explorers occurred on 29 April 1770 when Lieutenant James Cook landed at [[Botany Bay]] (Kamay<ref>Attenbrow (2010). p. 13</ref>) and encountered the [[Gweagal]] clan.<ref>{{cite news |date=2002 |title=Once were warriors |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |url=http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/11/10/1036308574533.html |access-date=5 July 2014 |archive-date=22 August 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110822083939/http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/11/10/1036308574533.html |url-status=live }}</ref> Two Gweagal men opposed the landing party and one was shot and wounded.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Blainey |first=Geoffrey |title=Captain Cook's epic voyage |publisher=Viking |year=2020 |isbn=9781760895099 |location=Australia |pages=141–43}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=22 April 2020 |title=Eight days in Kamay |url=https://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/stories/eight-days-in-kamay |access-date=29 May 2022 |website=[[State Library of New South Wales]] |archive-date=3 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230603002706/https://www.sl.nsw.gov.au/stories/eight-days-in-kamay/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Cook and his crew stayed at Botany Bay for a week, collecting water, timber, fodder and botanical specimens and exploring the surrounding area. Cook sought to establish relations with the Aboriginal population without success.<ref>Blainey (2020). pp. 146–57</ref>