The Eora (sometimes spelt Iora or Iyora) people were the aboriginal occupants of the Sydney region in 1788 when the first European colonists arrived.
The Gadegal clan lived to the south and west of the Balmain peninsular, and the Wanegal to the north and west.
Some claim that Eora, sometimes spelt Iyora, means "from here", others that "yura", meaning "man", gave the word Iyura or Eora.
Some of the words of aboriginal provenance still in use today are from the Eora language: dingo, woomera, wallaby, wombat, waratah, boobook (owl), wallaroo.
The Eora lived largely from the produce of the sea, and were expert in close-to-shore navigation, fishing, cooking and eating in the bays and harbours in their bark canoes.
When the First Fleet of 1300 convicts, guards and administrators arrived in January 1788, the Eora numbered about 1500. A smallpox-like disease and other germs and viruses, along with the appropriation of the natural resources, saw the Eora practically die out during the nineteenth century.
The Eora language has been reconstructed from the many notes made of it by the original colonists, although there has possibly not been a continual oral tradition for over one hundred years.
References
- David Norton (gen. ed.)The Encyclopedia of Aboriginal Australia, article "Eora"
- N. Thieberger, W. McGregor (gen. eds.) Macquarie Aboriginal Words, section "Sydney language".
