Location Wahluu/Mount Panorama, Bathurst
Country: Wiradjyuri (Wiradjuri)
LGA: Bathurst Regional Council
Region: Central Tablelands of NSW
Website: https://wahluuwiradyuri.com.au/
Map below
On 14 August 1824, then-governor of the Colony of New South Wales, Sir Thomas Brisbane, a British astronomer and military veteran, proclaimed Martial Law west of the Blue Mountains. For Wiradyuri people, the resulting conflict resulted in death, dispossession, impoverishment and the loss of thousands of years of knowledge.
In 2024, Wiradyuri people, including descendants of the men and women who defended their Country during the British invasion, commemorated Brisbane’s Declaration with an gudyiwagagirri (corroboree) on Wahluu, their sacred mountain overlooking the IAT city of Bathurst.
Martial law was the beginning of the almost complete annihilation of Wiradyuri in this region and this story was almost forgotten …
Bathurst Wiradyuri leader Yanhadarambal (Jade Flynn), ‘We survived’: Wiradyrui mark 200 years since martial law, Western Advocate, Friday, August 16, 2024, pp. 1-2).
The 2024 gudyiwagagirri was the first occasion in more than 200 years that Wiradyuri people were able to openly dance, camp and speak their language on Wahluu-Mount Panorama. For them the experience was deeply meaningful, emotional and very cathartic. For many of we non-indigenous people, it was also deeply meaningful and cathartic, and in unexpected ways.
Photo Credits: Wiradjuri dancers perform at the Gudyiwagagirri: Dhuluny Corroboree on Wahluu Mount Panorama, Bathurst, to commemorate the bicentennary of 1824 Declaration of Martial Law west of the Blue Mountains by astronomer and then-Governor, Sir Thomas Brisbane, 14 August 2024. All photos by Merrill Findlay.
Stephen Gapps, Gudyarra: The First Wiradyuri War of Resistance — the Bathurst War, 1822-1824, New South Publishing, Sydney, 2021.
Unfortunately, we couldn’t see the stars from the mountain that night because of cloud cover and the glare of lights. During the two-day conference at Charles Sturt University the following week, however, Wiradyuri-Gamilaroi astronomer Karlie Alinta Noon described what Wiradyuri Skycountry would have looked like when local people were fighting for their Country and their future two hundred years ago. She also described some of the celestial bodies visible beyond the light pollution on the the night of the commemorative gudyiwagagirri. More >>
NITV: 200 years ago war was declared on Wiradjuri. Today they are calling for truth-telling
Dhuluny Conference, Charles Sturt University, Bathurst, 15-16 August 20214: Program and abstracts (pdf)
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Post published 2 September 2024. Last updated 10 April 2025.
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