Why we identify as Guringay
Our identification as Guringay is grounded in our Aboriginal ancestors, our family histories, our connection to Country, our community relationships, our language and the historical record of the Gloucester–Barrington district.
Our families have maintained connections across Gloucester, Barrington, Bowman, Cobark, Copeland, Rawdon Vale, Barrington Tops, Monkerai and the surrounding districts. These are places where our ancestors lived, worked, raised their families, maintained relationships and continued their connection to Country.
Barrington River Crossing
NSW State Archives (AI colourised)
Our Families
The Guringay families of the Gloucester–Barrington district have grown into an extensive network of descendants throughout the Mid North Coast and beyond. The descendants of Jacky Springheel and Biddy Springheel include members of the Kelly families, with later family connections extending to Kempsey. The descendants of Jack Cook and Jessie Brummy include branches of the Cook, Martin, Aspinall, Langford and Syron families, with wider family connections extending to Karuah, Bulahdelah and other communities.
The descendants of Susan Russell (née Cook) and George Russell form another important branch of this history. Among their descendants was the late Aunty Ella Simon, whose book Through My Eyes preserved invaluable family and community memories. This extended family also connects with the Ritchie and Sands families of the Taree and Kempsey districts.
Across these interconnected families there are now many hundreds of descendants carrying forward family memories, photographs, records, oral histories and stories passed from one generation to the next.
Our family history is therefore not simply a collection of names found in old records. It is a living and continuing family history.
Guringay in the Historical Record
Historical sources recorded the name Guringay in a number of different forms, including:
Guringay • Guringai • Gringai • Gooreenggai • Goreenggai • Goringai
These variations reflect, in part, the different ways non-Aboriginal writers attempted to record Aboriginal words and names they heard.
Historical spelling was not standardised, and differences in spelling have occured. As a family we prefer the spelling choice of Guringay as recognised in the Gathang Dictionary by Dr Amanda Lissarrague.
In 1897, anthropologist R. H. Mathews recorded the Goreenggai among Aboriginal peoples associated with the counties of Gloucester, by Durham who participated in the Keeparra form of initiation. In 1898, Mathews also referred to Gooreenggai people associated with the Paterson River. Later researchers, including W. J. Enright, documented relationships between Aboriginal people of Gloucester, Dungog, Paterson and Port Stephens and the language historically recorded as Kattang or Kutthung, now generally written as Gathang.
These historical records are important, but they are only one part of the evidence. Colonial observers recorded Aboriginal societies through their own understanding and terminology, and their writings need to be considered alongside Aboriginal family knowledge, oral history, language and continuing connection to Country.
Our Continuing Guringay Identity
We acknowledge that Aboriginal identity, language, Country and traditional boundaries are complex.
Colonial writers did not always understand the Aboriginal societies they attempted to describe, and historical records sometimes conflict with one another. These sources must therefore be examined carefully and alongside the knowledge carried within Aboriginal families.
We also acknowledge and respect our relationships with Birrbay and Warrimay peoples and the wider Gathang-speaking community.
Identifying as Guringay does not deny those relationships.
It recognises the particular ancestors, families, communities and Country from which our Gloucester–Barrington families descend.
We identify as Guringay because this identity is carried through our family history, the lives of our ancestors, our continuing relationship with Country and the collective memory of our families.
It is our family history, our cultural inheritance and our responsibility to carry it forward with care.
Respecting Guringay Country
We respectfully ask people, organisations and communities living, working or conducting activities within the Gloucester district to recognise the continuing connection of Guringay families to this Country.
We particularly encourage respectful acknowledgement of Country when organisations discuss Aboriginal heritage, cultural history or activities occurring on Country.
We also recognise that Aboriginal people from many different Nations now live and work throughout the Gloucester district. Acknowledging the Country on which a person lives or works does not diminish their own identity, Country or connection to their mob.
Rather, it is an expression of respect between Aboriginal peoples and communities.
We seek the same respect for the Guringay ancestors and families of Gloucester–Barrington whose history, cultural inheritance and connection to Country we work to preserve.
References & Further Reading
AIATSIS
Springheel, Jacky. AIATSIS Collection record. Includes the alternative name “Goorack – Turtle.”
AIATSIS collection record
Enright, W. J. (1932)
“The Kattang (Kutthung) or Worimi: An Aboriginal Tribe.” Mankind, 1(4), 75–77.
View the historical record through Trove
Lissarrague, Amanda (2010)
A Grammar and Dictionary of Gathang: The Language of the Birrbay, Guringay and Warrimay. Muurrbay Aboriginal Language and Culture Co-operative.
Muurrbay — Gathang language resources
Lissarrague, Amanda & Robert Syron (2024)
Guringaygupa djuyal, barray: Language and Country of the Guringay People.
National Library of Australia record
Mathews, R. H. (1897)
“The Keeparra Ceremony of Initiation.” Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, 26, 320–340.
National Library of Australia catalogue record
Mathews, R. H. (1898)
“Bullroarers Used by the Australian Aborigines.” Journal of the Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland, 27, 52–60.
“Aboriginal Legend of the Barrington Towers” (1940)
The Gloucester Advocate, 26 April 1940, p. 1.
Read the article on Trove
Syron, Robert (2018; subsequently updated)
“Guringai Kabook and Watoo People of the Guringai Barrington River Gloucester, NSW.” Hunter Living Histories.
Hunter Living Histories article