Try it: we live on Darug Country
- Your home is on Darug Country. The Darug people are the First people of this place.
- Say it out loud together: "We live on Darug Country."
- Ask your grown-up to play you "hello" in a First language from near your home.
- Next time you hear an Acknowledgement of Country, listen for the name.
And outside
Find the oldest thing you can see: a big tree, a rock, a creek. How long do you think it has been there?
Grown-ups: where to look is in the notes. You need nothing else.
Listen to a story today
Choose one of the books by First Nations authors in the grown-up notes. Read it together and notice who is telling the story. Talk about something you would like to learn more about. Families and cultures continue today; this is not only a story about long ago.
Grown-up notes
Each line is marked Fact well established,
Model a deliberate simplification, or
Unsure not settled.
You live on Darug Country. The local council names the Darug people as the Traditional Custodians of the land, water and skies of your area.
You will also see the name spelled Dharug, Darag, Daruk and Dharuk.
Some older council documents also name the Bidjigal, Gweagal and Eora peoples for nearby places, and boundaries are not sharp lines.
If you hear a different name at school or at a local event, go with what the local people say. The
AIATSIS map of Indigenous Australia shows the wider picture.
Play another way
Pick one invitation, then let your child lead. Watching, pointing or changing her mind all count; there is no answer to pass.
- Begin at the oldest part of the long view. Notice that people are already here before any ship appears.
- Find 1788 in the close view, then return to the long view. The event has not moved in time; the ruler changed.
- Finish at today. Ask what she would like to learn from First Nations people living and creating now.
Another connection: How long ago is long ago?
The idea
- FactAboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are the First peoples of Australia. They have lived here for an immense time, and they live here now.
- UnsureHow long is argued over. Archaeology shows at least 50,000 years. One site in the north has been dated to about 65,000 years, and some researchers think that is too old.
- FactThey are many peoples, not one. More than 250 languages, with hundreds of dialects, were spoken across the continent. Each people has its own Country.
- Fact"Country" means more than land. It is the land, waters, sky and living things that a people belongs to and looks after.
- FactTorres Strait Islander peoples are distinct from Aboriginal peoples. Their islands lie between the tip of Queensland and New Guinea.
- Fact1788 was not the first meeting with outsiders. A Dutch ship landed on Cape York in 1606, the first European landing on record. From at least 1700 until 1907, fishing boats sailed each year from Makassar, in what is now Indonesia, to the north coast, to gather sea cucumber and to trade.
- FactIn 1788 British ships arrived at what is now Sydney, and these newcomers stayed. That was the start of colonisation.
The fuller history
The guide gives the hard part in one calm sentence. This is what lies behind it, for you.
- FactBritain claimed the land without any agreement from the people who lived there, and treated it as belonging to no one.
- FactOver the following century and a half, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples were forced off their Countries. Many were killed in fighting and massacres, and many died of diseases the newcomers brought.
- FactFor much of the twentieth century, governments took many children away from their families. They are known as the Stolen Generations. In many places people were stopped from speaking their languages.
- FactIn 1992 Australia's High Court, in the Mabo case, found that the land had not been empty and that its First peoples' rights to it could still exist. Since then some land has been returned or recognised.
- FactThe Bureau of Statistics estimated about 984,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people lived in Australia in 2021. That is a dated population estimate, not a count for today.
- FactA national survey in 2018–19 found about 140 of the languages still in use, only 12 of them strong enough to be learned by children as a matter of course. Many communities are bringing their languages back.
What the pictures simplify
- ModelThe patchwork. The coloured tiles stand for many Countries. They are regular and made up. They are not real boundaries; the AIATSIS map above is the place to see those.
- ModelThe paling colours. After 1788 the tiles fade as colonisation reaches them. That one picture stands for land taken and for great harm, which differed from place to place. The colour never goes completely, because the people never went.
- ModelColour coming back. The colour returning to some tiles near today stands for land returned and for cultures being renewed. Which tiles is made up.
- ModelEven spread. Colonisation is drawn spreading in even rings from seven towns. In reality it followed rivers, grass and gold, and reached some places far later than others.
- ModelTwo visitors. Only the 1606 Dutch ship and the Makassan boats are shown before 1788. Other ships called too, including James Cook's in 1770.
- ModelThe long strip starts at 65,000 years, the older of the estimates.
- ModelThe low sea. About 20,000 years ago the sea was roughly 120 metres lower and Australia was joined to Tasmania and New Guinea. The map's dry land for that time is a rough sketch.
- UnsureWhen the islands were cut off. Sources give different dates, mostly between 8,000 and 10,000 years ago.
- ModelThe footprints. The beach is a picture of an idea. Real footprints about 20,000 years old survive at the Willandra Lakes in New South Wales. They were set in clay and uncovered by wind, not by waves.
Left out on purpose
- No Dreaming stories are retold, and no artwork imitates Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander styles. Those belong to the peoples themselves. The books below are by First Nations authors and artists.
- No words from First languages are printed here, because the guide could not check them with speakers. The 50 Words Project lets you hear them from speakers instead.
Questions she may ask
- Why did they take the land? FactThe newcomers wanted land for farms and towns, and they acted as if nobody owned it. In 1992 Australia's highest court said that was not true.
- Are Aboriginal people still here? FactYes. Nearly a million people, in every city and town as well as in the bush and on the islands.
- Did people fight? FactYes. People defended their homes, and many were killed.
- Is it my fault? No. It began long before you were born. What we can do is know the true story.
- What is an Acknowledgement of Country? FactIt is a way anyone can show respect, by saying whose Country they are on. A Welcome to Country is different: it is given by the people whose Country it is.
Words this guide teaches
First peoples: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, who were here first and are here now.
Country: the place a people belongs to and looks after.
Go further
Welcome to Country by Aunty Joy Murphy, a Wurundjeri Elder, illustrated by Lisa Kennedy.
Somebody's Land by Adam Goodes and Ellie Laing, illustrated by David Hardy. Written for ages up to about six.
The 50 Words Project has recordings of everyday words, including "hello", spoken in about a hundred First languages.
Sources
Checked November 2026. The account of colonisation, the Stolen Generations and the Mabo decision is standard Australian history, not taken from a linked page.
The AIATSIS map was read during the lesson review: its boundaries are general, not exact, and it is not a guide to land ownership.