Author: Dr Sue Rosen

Client: Cultural Heritage Connections

This history of the  Cammeraygal people was commissioned to serve as a background and context for archaeological investigations in the area. 

Radiometric dating of a site in Cammeray, has placed Aboriginal people living in the Neutral Bay area from at least 5,800 BP.  This was the country of the Cammeraygal, who were still in occupancy in 1788 when British colonization was initiated. Neutral Bay Public School is located in the country of the Cammeraygal people whose land extended to the east along the north shore of Port Jackson, while to the west was the country of the Wallumedigal, which extended as far as Ryde.  The boundaries overlapped to some extent and the people interacted and intermarried, with the women moving to the country of their husband, while maintaining ties with the country of their birth.