An Aboriginal person’s connection to Country has great significance. Aboriginal people see Country encompassing land, waterways and skyways. It is fundamental to their identity and shapes their way of life. It is a reciprocal relationship where Country provides for the people and the people care for Country and all living things within it.

Country relates to all aspects of existence – cultural and spiritual connection, language, resources and lifestyle, and family and identity. ‘Bondi Charley’ was one of the Aboriginal men who remained within his Country many decades after settlers arrived and dispossessed so many Coastal Sydney Aboriginal people with long-standing connections to the area. At this time, much of the eastern suburbs were part of large estates, but the ocean beaches and harbour bays were largely unaltered – full of woodlands and with access to beaches and creeks. A number of Aboriginal people were living rough around these estates, but they were left to remain and accepted as a reality of life there.

Bondi Charley’s name suggests his link to the Bondi area but little is known about him other than he was living at Double Bay in the 1860s where he and others gave boomerang throwing demonstrations for money. Historical records talk of several ‘Charleys’ living in the eastern suburbs between the 1840s and 1870s. Some or all of them could be Bondi Charley. For example, there was a Charlie who received payments from the Wentworth family at Vaucluse House in the 1840s for goods or food he provided. And a brass ‘king plate’, often given to people Europeans thought of as ‘leaders’, is inscribed ‘King Charley of Coogee’.

Whether all of these people were Bondi Charley or not, the records show that Aboriginal people maintained connections to places like Bondi and surrounding suburbs, and that these connections were recognised by Europeans also.

Courtesy the Gujaga Foundation and the National Gallery of Victoria.