Governor Phillip Park Audio Walk

11 STORIES

Governor Phillip Park Audio Walk

Listen to stories of Dyarubbin / Hawkesbury River at Balga-Ngurrang / Windsor, and to the original music they have inspired, as you walk along the river at Governor Phillip Park.

Our guide for this audio walk is Dharug educator, Erin Wilkins. We hear of the Dharug people’s enduring relationship with Dyarubbin and Wianamatta / South Creek; why this part of the river was likely a women’s place; and learn about the Ancestral Creator Beings Baime, Dhararmulan and Gurangady. We’re told how rivers carved their way through the mountains to form Dyarubbin and learn that, long ago, the river flowed several kilometres above us.

Near this park is where Governor Phillip met Dharug leaders Gomberee and Yarramundi in 1791, and the first 22 ex-convict colonisers made their riverside farms in 1794. We hear of the relationships between these settlers, the frontier violence that followed their arrival, and its impact on Dyarubbin’s Aboriginal peoples.

We learn of the trading of land grants; the devastating effects of repeated flooding; and of boating and water-skiing, a major part of river life. Finally, we listen in as Western Sydney University students conduct water testing and discuss water quality, and we look out over turf farms to John Tebbutt’s Observatory and the old South Creek tannery.

To listen now, play the video at the bottom of the page.

riverbank Photo by Oonagh Sherrard
Sign Photo by Oonagh Sherrard
Water birds Photo by Oonagh Sherrard
Schoolkids Photo by Roz Chia

Directions

Walk location: Governor Phillip Park, George St, Windsor NSW

  1. Starting at the big Governor Phillip Park sign near the park’s entrance, take the walking path towards the river. Pause to look over the mountains.
  2. Walk downstream, east-northeast, following the pathway to the Power Boat Club House. Continue around this to the rock and brass monument, approximately 20m beyond the building.
  3. Continue along the river, until you reach the mouth of South Creek.
  4. Walk back along Dyarubbin, then across the boat ramp and down to the South Creek wharf beside it.
  5. Walk up to the fence line that runs beside the turf farms, and return along the fence line to the starting point.

Distance: approximately 1.3 kilometres return. Duration: 60 minutes.

Click on the map to enlarge it, or download a printable version here.

image

Credits

Narrated by:

  • Erin Wilkins, Dharug educator

Stories told (in order of appearance) by:

  • Tom Hubble, Associate Professor of Geology, University of Sydney
  • Jasmine Seymour, Dharug artist, writer and educator
  • Michael Pattison, Land Management Officer, Hawkesbury City Council
  • Steve Austin, water-skier and Hawkesbury local
  • Frank Laughton, Harold Hall, Chester Smith and Athol Kemp, Hawkesbury riverside farmers (from archival interviews recorded in 1992 by Sue Rosen, historian and author of 'Losing Ground: An environmental history of the Hawkesbury-Nepean catchment')
  • Richie Benson, Senior Field Officer, National Parks and Wildlife Service and Jan Barkley-Jack, historian and author of 'Hawkesbury Settlement Revealed'
  • Grace Karskens, Emeritus Professor of History , UNSW and author of 'People of the River'
  • Dr Ian Wright, Senior Lecturer in Water Science, Western Sydney University with Water Management Students, Western Sydney University, 2019
  • Scott Will, Hawkesbury local and owner of the South Creek Tannery Site
  • Lisa Sullivan, Hawkesbury local and owner of flood-impacted heritage house in the Windsor area

Readings by Ian Moxon, from:

Music:

  • Composed by Oonagh Sherrard, with Dharug songs by Jasmine Seymour and Stacy Jane Etal
  • Musicians: Dimitri Vouros, clarinet; Gary Daley, piano accordion; Jess Ciampa, percussion; Jasmine Seymour and Stacy Jane Etal, vocal; Oonagh Sherrard, guitar, cello, piano, programming

Page ID: 241786

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