Indigenous history

By the time the foundation stone for the city of Canberra was laid in 1913, the Indigenous people of the region, the Ngunnawal (north and west) and Ngarigo (south), were maintaining their connections to country through seasonal rural work and by travelling through the region.

Brumby running in the Brindabellas was an enduring form of livelihood, but many families had no alternative but to live on mission stations such as the ones near Yass and Tumut, or to move further afield.

Indigenous people have lived on the Limestone Plains for over 20,000 years. They managed a landscape of open grassland which supplied them with plentiful food while also providing British farmers with wonderful grazing lands.

The Murrumbidgee and Molonglo rivers were also rich food sources. Pialligo was one important fishing location and artefacts found before Lake Burley Griffin was filled show that there were Indigenous campsites all along the Molonglo. The site of the Power House and other early industries would have been no exception. Like others in the surrounding rural areas, local Indigenous people came to live in Canberra as work became available and the suburbs grew.