SPRINGVALE BOTANICAL CEMETERY

Introduction
This factsheet provides visitors to Springvale Botanical Cemetery with background information relating to the period prior to European settlement. This area was reserved as a cemetery in 1887 and the first burials took place in 1904. For thousands of years before Europeans settled in the Port Phillip region, however, the area of Springvale Botanical Cemetery was Aboriginal land, and served altogether different purposes. The natural vegetation of the area was also almost completely different to that we see today. 

By way of introduction, it will be useful to make some general statements here, regarding Aboriginal society and culture in the Melbourne area generally, as well as about natural history. With regard to the first, what can be said in broad terms about the Aboriginal people whose estate included the area that is now the Springvale Botanical Cemetery, is also applicable to all other groups within the Port Phillip region. This is so because, in the first place, all the Aboriginal people in this region were part of the same cultural bloc. Secondly, although each Aboriginal clan identified with a particular tract of land, all groups within the region made their living in the same way, by means of hunting and collecting. This way of life lead to regular movement across the region, so that use of any specific area, such as that of the Springvale Botanical Cemetery, was not constant, but related to seasonal factors. What we can be specific about in regard to people in this area is the name of the local clan and its relationships with other clans in the region.

On the matter of natural history, it is worth pointing out that the most visible feature of any given area, its natural vegetation, is a result of a range of factors, acting in combination. In any locality these factors include geology, soils, topography, and precipitation.

The information provided on this factsheet is based on evidence derived from a range of previous studies. A brief list of references is included at the end, for the benefit of readers who may wish to carry out further research.

Geology and topography
The entire area of the Cemetery lies on sediments of Tertiary age, generally dated to between about five and eight million years ago. These sediments were deposited in three separate phases during the Miocene period and comprise marine and non-marine sands, clays, ferruginous (iron-bearing) sandstones, and gravels. The topography of the area (ie. the shape of the landscape) is that of an undulating to flat plain. There is former creek-line that runs along the western boundary of the Cemetery area, which was possibly an ephemeral tributary of nearby Mile Creek.

Pre-European vegetation
Annual rainfall in this area is about 800 mm, leading to the area being covered with grassy woodland. In such a structure there were no more than perhaps 10 trees per hectare. The dominant tree comprising the overstorey was Allocasaurina species, generally Black Sheoak and Drooping Sheoak. Where eucalypts occurred they were Narrow-leafed Peppermint and Coast Manna Gum.  The shrub layer consisted of plants such as Prickly Tea-tree, Cherry Ballart and Black wattle.  One of the defining features of this vegetation community was its diverse ground cover of grasses. In sites such as now occupied by the Cemetery, it was common to find Weeping Grass, Kangaroo Grass, various Tussock Grass species, as well as Wallaby Grass and Spear Grass. As well as these gramminoids, there was a wide range of wildflowers growing seasonally in the grassy woodlands, including lilies, milkmaids, and daisies.   

Aboriginal occupation
At the time of European settlement, the area of the Springvale Botanical Cemetery was within the estate of the Ngaruk-willam clan of the Boon wurrung language group. This estate stretched from the edge of the Bay between the area of Brighton and Mordialloc to the east, to take in Clayton and Springvale.  Like all Aboriginal clans in the Melbourne area, through similar languages, kinship connections and shared religious beliefs, the Ngaruk-willam clan were part of the Kulin nation. Although members of the Ngaruk-willam identified with the tract of land described here, the connections they had with distant Kulin clans allowed individuals access to a large area, extending to the Bellarine Peninsula. In each of the Kulin clans there was an individual (sometimes two), with the title ‘Headman’ who was held in authority and who regularly acted as spokesman for the clan. At the time of European contact, the Headmen (called Arweet in the Boon wurrung language) of the Ngaruk-willam clan was a man named Tooglooim.

It is likely that Aboriginal people frequented the area of the Springvale Botanical Cemetery in the latter part of autumn. At this time Boon wurrung clans were making their way from their summer camps along Port Phillip Bay into higher country, in the Dandenong Ranges, where they would spend the colder months. In progressing through the area, small groups camped locally and exploited the natural resources, such as the wide range of plant food that grew in the grassy woodlands. Many of the wildflowers that grew in these areas had tuberous roots that provided a plentiful food supply that was collected by the women. The grassy woodlands were also the habitat of a range of animals including Brush-tailed possums, Eastern Grey Kangaroo, and Southern Bettong. These animals were generally hunted by the men of the resident group.
 

References
Barwick, D.E. (1984) 'Mapping the past: an atlas of Victorian clans 1835-1904.' Aboriginal History, vol. 8, part 2, pp. 100-130.
Chambers, D. (2001) City of the dead: a history of the Necropolis, Springvale (Flemington: Hyland House)
Oates, A. and Taranto, M. (2001) Vegetation mapping of the Port Phillip & Westernport region. Melbourne: Dept of Natural Resources and Environment
Presland, G. (2001) Aboriginal Melbourne: the lost land of the Kulin people (Forest Hill: Harriland Press)
Presland, G. (2008) The place for a village: how nature has shaped the city of Melbourne (Melbourne: Museum Victoria)
Thomas, D.E. (1967) (ed.) Bulletin No. 59 Geology of the Melbourne district, Victoria. (Melbourne: Geological Survey of Victoria)