Indigenous Knowledge, Stories, and Culture
Clothing of the First Peoples of Victoria
For the First Peoples of Victoria, clothing and adornment were inseparable from Country, season, identity, and law. Garments protected the body, signalled kinship, and carried story. Colonisation disrupted materials, ceremony, and teaching, yet many practices endure and are being actively revived (Clark 1998; Cooper & Morphy 2007; AIATSIS 2000).
Seasonal adaptation
In warm seasons, people often wore little clothing and instead used ochre, clay, and charcoal as protective and symbolic body finishes. In cooler months—especially across southern and highland areas—people donned cloaks, wraps, and fibre pieces designed for mobility, hunting, travel, and ceremony (Isaacs 1987; Robinson, journal entries in Clark 1998).
Possum-skin cloaks (function, meaning, materials science)
Making. Pelts were scraped and cured, then sewn with kangaroo sinew or plant fibre into panels. Inner surfaces were engraved or burnt with coals to inscribe Country, kin, and life history (Cooper & Morphy 2007; Clark 1998).
Why they are so warm.
The fur-napped inner face traps still air, creating a high-loft layer that slows convective heat loss (a basic textile-physics mechanism).
Oily fibres and tight grain help shed rain; when turned fur-side out in wet weather, water beads and runs off more readily than on woven plant fibres.
Layered construction (multiple pelts) increases thermal resistance, while the cloak’s drape reduces drafts at neck/shoulders—important for sleeping use (Cooper & Morphy 2007).
Roles.
Multi-use: bedding, baby carriers, rain protection, and day wear.
Identity and law: designs mapped rivers, clan totems, tracks; cloaks could accompany a person in funerary wrapping, embedding kin and Country in the final rite (Cooper & Morphy 2007; Clark 1998).
Fibre and grass garments
Women and children in some regions wore grass skirts or woven coverings from rushes and reeds; belts held tools and ornaments. Plant-fibre pieces served ceremony, modesty, and weather protection, complementing cloak use (Jones 1992; McCarthy 1967).
Body painting and ornamentation
Ochre patterns—lines, chevrons, dots—communicated role and relationship; feathers, shells, teeth, and bone were strung into necklaces, headbands, and belts. These ensembles were integral to dance, initiation, diplomacy, and mourning (McCarthy 1967; Barwick 2000).
Wadawurrung examples (Bellarine, Geelong, Werribee Plains, You Yangs)
Cloaks carried local motifs—estuaries, granite tors, and totems (e.g., wedge-tailed eagle, eel).
Estuary and coastal gatherings combined cloak use with fibre belts and shell adornment for corroborees and tanderrum ceremonies.
Trade and kin links tied Wadawurrung to Mount William (greenstone axes) and Budj Bim eel country, where garments, ochre, and ornaments moved through exchange networks (Clark 1990; Clarke 2009; Gammage 2011).
Trade and exchange across Victoria
Clothing materials circulated widely via songlines and trade meets: possum pelts, kangaroo sinew, ochres (Gippsland, Western District), shell and fibre items moved between Kulin nations and neighbours, linking economy with diplomacy and ceremony (Clark 1990; Howitt 1904; Gammage 2011).
Impact of colonisation
Material disruption: clearing, hunting pressure, and fur markets reduced access to possums and kangaroos.
Mission regimentation: communities were compelled into European clothing unsuited to cultural use and climate (AIATSIS 2000).
Suppression of ceremony: restrictions on gatherings and language severed the transmission of cloak-making and plant-fibre skills (Clark 1998; Howitt 1904).
By the late 19th century, cloaks were rarely seen outside of ceremony or burial, displaced by blankets and issued garments (Clark 1998).
Revitalisation and continuity
From the late 20th century, Elders and artists led a cloak revival—teaching skin preparation, sewing, and engraving; making community and family cloaks; and wearing them in major public ceremonies (e.g., Sydney 2000 Opening Ceremony) and life events such as welcomes, graduations, and funerals (Cooper & Morphy 2007). Museums and schools now partner with communities to deliver Elder-led programs that restore technique and meaning.
Conclusion
Victorian Indigenous clothing integrated technology, ecology, and law. Possum-skin cloaks and fibre garments were engineered for the climate, encoded Country and kin, and performed identity in ceremony. Colonisation disrupted production and protocol, but the revival of cloak-making and adornment underscores the resilience of cultural knowledge and its ongoing place in community life.
References
AIATSIS (2000) Settlement: A history of Australian Indigenous housing and culture. Canberra: AIATSIS.
Barwick, L. (2000) ‘Song, Chants and Aboriginal Musical Heritage in Victoria,’ Aboriginal History, 24(1), 173–194.
Clark, I.D. (1990) Aboriginal Languages and Clans: An Historical Atlas of Western and Central Victoria, 1800–1900. Melbourne: Monash.
Clark, I.D. (1998) Journal of George Augustus Robinson, Chief Protector, Port Phillip Aboriginal Protectorate, 1839–1852. Melbourne: Heritage Matters.
Clarke, P.A. (2009) Australian Aboriginal Ethnobotany: An Overview. Melbourne: CSIRO Publishing.
Cooper, C. & Morphy, H. (2007) Possum-Skin Cloaks: Tradition, Revival, New Stories. Canberra: National Museum of Australia.
Gammage, B. (2011) The Biggest Estate on Earth: How Aborigines Made Australia. Sydney: Allen & Unwin.
Isaacs, J. (1987) Australian Dreaming: 40,000 Years of Aboriginal History. Sydney: Lansdowne Press.
Jones, P. (1992) Australia’s First Peoples. Sydney: HarperCollins.
McCarthy, F.D. (1967) Australian Aboriginal Material Culture. Sydney: Australian Museum.
Written, Researched and Directed by James Vegter 16/09/2025
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Magic Lands Alliance acknowledge the Traditional Owners, Custodians, and First Nations communities across Australia and internationally. We honour their enduring connection to the sky, land, waters, language, and culture. We pay our respects to Elders past, present, and emerging, and to all First Peoples communities and language groups. This article draws only on publicly available information; many cultural practices remain the intellectual property of communities.