Tanderrum
Encyclopedia
A tanderrum is a ceremony enacted by the nations of the Kulin
people and other Victorian aboriginal nations
allowing safe passage and temporary access and use of land and resources by foreign people. It was a diplomatic rite involving the landholder's hospitality and a ritual exchange of gifts, sometimes referred to as Freedom of the Bush.
Visiting people were presented to elders by an interim group known to all parties. Eucalypt leaves were used in the ceremony to indicate visitors were free to partake of the resources. Water was shared from a tarnuk, sipped through a reed straw, with the hosts partaking first to reassure the visitors that the water was not poisoned.
The signing of Batman's Treaty
in 1835 was likely to have been interpreted as a tanderrum ceremony by the Wurundjeri
and Boon wurrung
peoples, according to some historians. Certainly the Wurundjeri and Boon wurrung people continued to act with hospitality to the settlers in the first years of the Foundation of Melbourne
while other aboriginal nations engaged in resistance over dispossession of their lands.
William Thomas
, the Assistant Protector of Aborigines for the Port Philip region, described a tanderrum ceremony enacted by the Wurundjeri
in 1845.
Tanderrum ceremonies are still performed today by Wurundjeri elders sometimes as part of a welcome to country protocol.
Indigenous artist Ellen Jose
has a sculpture called Tanderrum (1997) on Herring Island Environmental Sculpture Park
, done in conjunction with Wurundjeri elder Joy Murphy
. National Parks describe the sculpture:
Kulin
The Kulin nation, was an alliance of five Indigenous Australian nations in Central Victoria, Australia, prior to European settlement. Their collective territory extended to around Port Phillip and Western Port, up into the Great Dividing Range and the Loddon and Goulburn River valleys. To their...
people and other Victorian aboriginal nations
Victorian Aborigines
The Indigenous Australians of Victoria, Australia occupied the land for tens of thousands of years prior to European settlement. According to Gary Presland Aborigines have lived in Victoria for about 40,000 years living a semi-nomadic existence of fishing, hunting and gathering, and farming...
allowing safe passage and temporary access and use of land and resources by foreign people. It was a diplomatic rite involving the landholder's hospitality and a ritual exchange of gifts, sometimes referred to as Freedom of the Bush.
Visiting people were presented to elders by an interim group known to all parties. Eucalypt leaves were used in the ceremony to indicate visitors were free to partake of the resources. Water was shared from a tarnuk, sipped through a reed straw, with the hosts partaking first to reassure the visitors that the water was not poisoned.
The signing of Batman's Treaty
Batman's Treaty
Batman's Treaty was a document signed on 6 June 1835 by John Batman, an Australian grazier, businessman and explorer, and a group of Wurundjeri elders, for the purchase of land around Port Phillip, near the present site of the city of Melbourne...
in 1835 was likely to have been interpreted as a tanderrum ceremony by the Wurundjeri
Wurundjeri
The Wurundjeri are a people of the Indigenous Australian nation of the Woiwurrung language group, in the Kulin alliance, who occupy the Birrarung Valley, its tributaries and the present location of Melbourne, Australia...
and Boon wurrung
Bunurong
The Bunurong are Indigenous Australians of the Kulin nation, who occupy South-Central Victoria, Australia. Prior to European settlement, they lived as all people of the Kulin nation lived, sustainably on the land, predominantly as hunters and gatherers, for tens of thousands of years...
peoples, according to some historians. Certainly the Wurundjeri and Boon wurrung people continued to act with hospitality to the settlers in the first years of the Foundation of Melbourne
Foundation of Melbourne
The city of Melbourne was founded in 1835. The exact circumstances of the foundation of Melbourne, and the question of who should take credit, have long been matters of dispute.-Exploration:...
while other aboriginal nations engaged in resistance over dispossession of their lands.
William Thomas
William Thomas (Australian settler)
William Thomas represented Aboriginal people in various roles in the Port Phillip district during his lifetime.-Various official roles:...
, the Assistant Protector of Aborigines for the Port Philip region, described a tanderrum ceremony enacted by the Wurundjeri
Wurundjeri
The Wurundjeri are a people of the Indigenous Australian nation of the Woiwurrung language group, in the Kulin alliance, who occupy the Birrarung Valley, its tributaries and the present location of Melbourne, Australia...
in 1845.
Tanderrum ceremonies are still performed today by Wurundjeri elders sometimes as part of a welcome to country protocol.
Indigenous artist Ellen Jose
Ellen Jose
Ellen Jose, born in 1951 in Cairns, is a Torres Strait Islander descendant from Murray, Darnley and Horn Islands. She is an indigenous artist and photographer who lives in Melbourne with husband Joseph Toscano.-Education and career:...
has a sculpture called Tanderrum (1997) on Herring Island Environmental Sculpture Park
Herring Island (Victoria)
Herring Island is a small island located in Melbourne's Yarra River at South Yarra, approximately 3 km from the city. Originally a quarry, it was leased by the scouts in the 1950s and 1960s and is currently managed by Parks Victoria and used as a sculpture park...
, done in conjunction with Wurundjeri elder Joy Murphy
Joy Murphy Wandin
Joy Murphy Wandin is an Indigenous Australian, Senior Wurundjeri elder of the Kulin alliance in Victoria, Australia. She has given the traditional welcome to country greeting at many Melbourne events and to many distinguished visitors where she says in the Woiwurrung language "Wominjeka Wurundjeri...
. National Parks describe the sculpture:
- Tanderrum (coming together) brings together concepts of pride, culture and spirit and the work symbolises the coming together of the Kulin nation as one people. It links the symbols and Legends of the Dreaming with ancestral bird spirits and totems of the five clan groups.