Wann-gal People

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Sydney Olympic Park is situated on the traditional lands of the Wann clan, known as the Wann-gal. The lands of the Wann-gal stretched along the southern shore of the Parramatta River between Cockle Bay (Cadi-gal land) and Rose Hill (Burramatta-gal land).

The water ecosystems in the area provided the Aboriginal communities with food, clothing and other resources necessary to their life as well as a means of travelling throughout the area by water.

Physical evidence of the use of the Homebush Bay area by Aboriginal people has been found in the form of stone artefacts located nearby. Aboriginal shell middens (campsites where shellfish and other foods were eaten) were known to have been along the Homebush Bay and the Parramatta River. These have now been destroyed.

In the early twentieth century, many Aboriginal people migrated into Sydney from elsewhere in New South Wales looking for work, or to join family already here. Some of these people settled close to Homebush Bay and worked in the local industries.