Geawegal

Geawegal is a recorded name for Aboriginal people of the Hunter Valley, inland from the coast of New South Wales; it seems to mean “no-sayers”, after the word for “no” in their speech. Norman Tindale placed their country along the northern Hunter tributaries, including Muswellbrook, Aberdeen, Scone and the Mount Royal Range, while Rusden described them as living for twenty-five to thirty miles along the valley on each side of Glendon.

They married with the people of Maitland and, to some extent, those of the Paterson River. They greatly feared the Gamilaraay, who were said to push down from the upper Hunter and raid their country as far as Jerrys Plains. They used heralds to carry messages to other, sometimes distant, peoples, and these messengers were allowed free passage even among hostile groups. In 1831 Thomas Mitchell sketched Cambo, recorded as a Geawegal man.