The Aboriginal people of Erambie: descendants of the Wiradjuri

This thesis is a study of the culture of a small community of Aboriginal people at Erambie, near Cowra, N.S.W. These people are consciously and deliberately recreating, renewing their culture. They are the descendants of the Wiradjuri of the Lachlan Valley and are now looking to their past to understand their present and create their future. This work examines why this is necessary for them. In order to do this, it, like them, looks to the culture of their ancestors and traces the forces that have acted upon them and their descendants through their effects today. It thus demonstrates the continuum from the culture of their forebears to the culture of the Aboriginal people of Erambie today. Part of this continuum is the importance of land then and now. The significance of land now is a vital element necessary for the preservation of their culture. All of the foregoing provides documentation of grounds for a land claim made by them and attached to this work. The claim was put together by me, according to their instructions.