Native Animals History and Science
Introduction
Hawks — agile raptors belonging to the family Accipitridae — have long been recognised across the world for their sharp eyesight, speed, and hunting skill. In Victoria, several hawk species occur, including the Brown Goshawk (Accipiter fasciatus), Collared Sparrowhawk (Accipiter cirrocephalus), and Grey Goshawk (Accipiter novaehollandiae). These birds played vital ecological roles as mid-sized predators and carried deep cultural meaning for Indigenous peoples long before colonisation. For Indigenous communities, hawks were not simply birds: they were messengers, hunters, and keepers of cultural lore, woven into stories of creation, vigilance, and responsibility (Clark 1990; Flood 1983). Globally, hawks are associated with vision, power, and guidance — from Egyptian sky deities to Native American messenger traditions — yet colonisation in Australia disrupted many of these ecological and cultural relationships, recasting hawks as vermin hunted for preying on poultry and livestock (Rolls 1969).
Hawks Before Colonisation
Ecological Role in Victoria
Before colonisation, hawks helped maintain ecological balance across Victoria:
Predators of rodents, reptiles, and smaller birds, preventing overpopulation and supporting ecosystem stability (Olsen 1995).
Indicators of healthy Country, with their abundance reflecting intact forests, woodlands, and grasslands.
Adaptable hunters inhabiting coastal dunes, volcanic plains, forests, and river valleys.
Cultural Role in Indigenous Communities
For Wadawurrung, Wurundjeri, and other Kulin Nations, hawks were respected as disciplined and highly observant hunters — symbols of clarity, justice, vigilance, and communication (Clark 1990).
Their flight patterns, calls, and sudden appearances often carried spiritual or ceremonial meaning. A hawk circling overhead during gatherings or ceremony might be interpreted as a reminder to restore balance, awareness, or social responsibility within community and Country.
In some communities, hawks served as totemic beings connecting families to obligations of care, discipline, and environmental responsibility.
Origins and Deep Time: Evolution and Endurance of Hawks
The ancestry of hawks stretches deep into geological time. The Accipitridae family — hawks, eagles, kites, and related raptors — first emerged during the Eocene Epoch approximately 56–34 million years ago, when early birds of prey adapted to aerial hunting (Mayr 2009).
By the Miocene Epoch approximately 23–5 million years ago, expanding grasslands across the globe allowed hawks to diversify into highly specialised aerial predators adapted for speed, agility, and woodland pursuit hunting (Olsen 1995; Mayr 2009).
Fossil evidence suggests hawk ancestors were already established in Australia by the late Miocene or Pliocene, with sub-fossil remains confirming the presence of goshawk-like species during the Pleistocene (Boles 2006).
Through volcanic activity, ice-age climate shifts, and sea-level fluctuations, hawks endured dramatic environmental change while maintaining their role within forest, grassland, and coastal ecosystems (Kershaw et al. 2003).
Today, hawks soaring above Wadawurrung Country remain descendants of ancient raptor lineages stretching back millions of years.
Dreaming Stories and Cultural Meanings in Victoria
Wadawurrung
Among Wadawurrung communities, hawks were often regarded as messenger birds whose piercing calls reminded people of vigilance, discipline, and social responsibility. Stories describe hawks circling above gatherings as signs to restore harmony and cultural lore within community and Country (Clark 1990).
Wurundjeri (Woiwurrung)
Within Wurundjeri traditions, hawks acted as intermediaries between Bunjil the Eagle and Waa the Crow. While Bunjil represented creation and Waa represented transformation and balance, the hawk symbolised swift justice, clarity, and decisive action (Flood 1983).
Gunaikurnai
Gunaikurnai stories describe hawks teaching patience and hunting skill by circling silently before striking prey at the correct moment. These stories became lessons in restraint, timing, and living within the ecological balance of Country (Howitt 1904; Flood 1983).
Western District and Volcanic Plains
Across the volcanic plains, hawks were viewed as balancing beings linking creation, transformation, sky, and land. Their alertness and speed reinforced teachings concerning awareness, discipline, and personal responsibility.
Indigenous Names and Language of Hawks
Hawks appear throughout the languages and oral traditions of many Indigenous communities across Victoria and Australia. Their speed, sharp eyesight, circling flight, and hunting precision meant that hawk-related language was often associated with vigilance, justice, spiritual communication, and environmental awareness rather than only physical description (Clark 1990; Blake 1991).
Wadawurrung and Kulin Nation Perspectives
Within Wadawurrung and broader Kulin Nation traditions, surviving hawk-specific words vary across dialects and language revival work due to the impacts of colonisation, mission systems, and language suppression throughout the nineteenth century. However, oral histories and reconstructed language traditions continue to recognise hawks as spiritually important messenger beings associated with observation, discipline, and balance within Country.
Across Wadawurrung, Wurundjeri, Bunurong, and neighbouring Kulin communities, hawks were often associated with:
watchfulness and sharp vision,
spiritual messages carried through the sky,
protection of ceremony and community,
and the responsibility to act with fairness and precision.
Rather than functioning solely through fixed Western naming systems, many Indigenous languages described hawks through their movement, calls, behaviour, and ecological role within Country.
Victorian Indigenous Communities
Across Victorian Indigenous communities, hawks were respected as intelligent hunters and spiritual intermediaries between people, sky, and ancestral forces. Their circling behaviour, sudden appearance, and sharp cries were often interpreted as signs connected to ceremony, warning, or shifts within the environment (Howitt 1904).
Among Gunaikurnai, Dja Dja Wurrung, Gunditjmara, and Yorta Yorta communities, hawks became associated with:
patience and discipline,
observation before action,
balance between strength and restraint,
and communication between worlds.
Because hawks occupy high positions within the sky and landscape, they often symbolised perspective, leadership, and awareness.
Indigenous Hawk Names Across Australia
Many Indigenous Australian languages contain distinct names and classifications for hawks, goshawks, kites, and other raptors:
Noongar communities (south-west Western Australia): hawks are associated with woodland observation, hunting skill, and spiritual awareness.
Yolngu communities (Arnhem Land): birds of prey appear within songlines connected to kinship, sky systems, and ecological balance.
Arrernte communities (Central Australia): hawks are associated with desert hunting stories, ancestral travel, and survival knowledge.
Palawa communities (Tasmania): raptors were connected to weather systems, spiritual warning, and environmental observation.
Because Indigenous Australia contains more than 250 distinct language groups, there is no single Indigenous word for hawk. Each Nation developed its own naming systems and meanings according to local ecology, spirituality, and cultural traditions.
Hawks, Sky Lore, and Environmental Knowledge
Hawks were important indicators within Indigenous environmental knowledge systems. Communities observed hawk movement, flight height, nesting behaviour, and hunting patterns to understand:
weather and wind shifts,
prey movement,
seasonal change,
and the health of grasslands and forests.
For Wadawurrung communities, hawks circling above volcanic plains, river valleys, and grasslands became part of the broader sky lore of Country. Their presence reflected ecological balance and the relationship between land, sky, animals, and spirit.
Language Revival and Cultural Renewal
The decline of many hawk-related language terms across Victoria reflects the wider impacts of colonisation, displacement from Country, bans on speaking language, and disruption of intergenerational cultural transmission.
Today, Traditional Owner groups and language revival organisations — including Wadawurrung, Wurundjeri, Bunurong, and the Victorian Aboriginal Corporation for Languages (VACL) — continue rebuilding animal vocabulary, oral history, and cultural knowledge through archival research, community education, and language renewal programs (VACL 2022).
This cultural renewal reconnects language with sky systems, ecology, and Country — ensuring hawks continue to symbolise vigilance, justice, perception, and the enduring relationship between people and the natural world.
Hawks in Global Stories and Symbolism
Across many world cultures, hawks hold symbolic roles similar to those found within Indigenous Australian traditions.
Ancient Egypt: the hawk-headed Horus represented kingship, vision, and celestial protection.
Greece and Rome: hawks were associated with Apollo and divine clarity.
Native American traditions: hawks acted as messengers connected to foresight, truth, and warrior spirit.
Celtic traditions: hawks guided souls through transition and transformation.
These parallels highlight the widespread human association between hawks, vision, vigilance, and spiritual awareness (Flood 1983).
Hawks on Wadawurrung Country
Across Wadawurrung Country — including Geelong, Ballarat, the volcanic plains, and Moorabool regions — hawks remain important ecological and cultural beings.
Hunters of the Plains
Hawks patrol grasslands and volcanic plains hunting quail, reptiles, rodents, and smaller birds, helping maintain ecological balance (Olsen 1995).
Messengers of Lore
Sudden hawk calls or circling flight during travel or ceremony were sometimes interpreted as spiritual reminders concerning responsibility to kin, Country, and community (Clark 1990).
Intermediaries Between Sky Beings
Positioned symbolically between Bunjil and Waa, hawks represented agility, discernment, awareness, and balance.
These meanings continue today through oral history, education, conservation, and cultural interpretation programs.
Impacts of Colonisation
Ecological Impacts
From the 1830s onward, settlers frequently viewed hawks as threats to poultry and farming operations. Bounties encouraged widespread killing of hawks and other birds of prey (Rolls 1969; The Argus 1850s).
Other impacts included:
habitat destruction,
reduction of prey species,
poisoning from pest-control practices,
and fragmentation of woodland systems.
Cultural Impacts
Colonisation disrupted ceremonial life, environmental knowledge systems, and the cultural role of hawks as spiritual messengers and keepers of lore.
European interpretations reframed hawks as pests rather than ecologically and spiritually important beings (Broome 2005).
The Science of Hawks
Modern ornithology confirms many ecological understandings long recognised through Indigenous knowledge systems.
Hawks possess eyesight several times sharper than humans (Olsen 1995).
Brown Goshawks can exceed speeds of 70 kilometres per hour during pursuit hunting.
As mid-level predators, hawks stabilise ecosystems by regulating rodent and bird populations.
Science and Indigenous ecological lore converge in recognising hawks as symbols of precision, balance, and environmental awareness.
Key Hawk and Cultural Sites in Victoria
You Yangs and Brisbane Ranges: important hunting and nesting habitats.
Wadawurrung Country: regions where hawk stories and sky lore remain culturally significant.
Gunaikurnai Country: forests connected to hawk teaching stories.
Western Volcanic Plains: landscapes associated with vigilance, open sky, and continuity.
These places continue functioning as ecological and cultural learning environments.
Conservation and Cultural Renewal
Today, hawks are protected under the Wildlife Act 1975 (Vic), although threats from habitat loss, poisoning, infrastructure collision, and land clearing continue.
Traditional Owner groups, Landcare organisations, and government agencies increasingly collaborate to restore habitat and integrate Indigenous ecological knowledge into conservation programs (DEECA 2021).
Educational and cultural programs also continue sharing hawk stories, language, and environmental teachings with younger generations.
Symbolism and Modern Identity
Hawks remain enduring symbols of vision, resilience, vigilance, and awareness. For Indigenous communities, hawks continue to represent spiritual responsibility, ecological balance, and sky lore. Within conservation and education, they symbolise the restoration of balance between people, Country, and biodiversity. Their continued survival reflects both ecological endurance and cultural continuity.
Conclusion
The history of hawks in Victoria is a story of endurance, adaptation, and continuing cultural significance. For Indigenous communities, hawks were never merely birds of prey — they were messengers, teachers, hunters, and guardians of cultural lore. Stories from Wadawurrung, Wurundjeri, and Gunaikurnai traditions continue to present hawks as models of vigilance, patience, discipline, and justice. Although colonisation disrupted many ecological and cultural relationships, hawks remain powerful symbols of balance between sky, land, spirit, and Country. Their circling flight above Victoria’s plains and forests continues to remind people of ancient knowledge, environmental responsibility, and the enduring connection between humans and the natural world.
References
Blake, BJ 1991, Woiwurrung: The Melbourne Language of the Kulin Nation, Pacific Linguistics, Canberra.
Boles, WE 2006, ‘Fossil birds of Australia’, in Evolution and Biogeography of Australasian Vertebrates, eds Merrick et al., Auscipub, Sydney, pp. 387–429.
Broome, R 2005, Aboriginal Victorians: A History Since 1800, Allen & Unwin, Sydney.
Clark, ID 1990, Aboriginal Languages and Clans: An Historical Atlas of Western and Central Victoria, 1800–1900, Monash Publications in Geography, Melbourne.
DEECA 2021, Victorian Biodiversity Atlas and Wildlife Conservation Strategy, Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action, Melbourne.
Flood, J 1983, Archaeology of the Dreamtime, Collins, Sydney.
Green, N 1984, Broken Spears: Aboriginals and Europeans in the Southwest of Australia, Focus Education Services, Perth.
Howitt, AW 1904, The Native Tribes of South-East Australia, Macmillan, London.
Kershaw, AP, van der Kaars, S & Flenley, J 2003, ‘The Quaternary history of the Australian vegetation’, in A History of the Australian Vegetation: Cretaceous to Recent, ed RH Groves, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 236–306.
Mayr, G 2009, Paleogene Fossil Birds, Springer, Berlin.
Morphy, H 1991, Ancestral Connections: Art and an Aboriginal System of Knowledge, University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
Olsen, P 1995, Australian Birds of Prey: The Biology and Ecology of Raptors, UNSW Press, Sydney.
Rolls, EC 1969, They All Ran Wild: The Animals and Plants that Plague Australia, Angus & Robertson, Sydney.
The Argus (Melbourne) 1850s–1890s, colonial reports on hawk hunting and poultry predation.
Victorian Aboriginal Corporation for Languages (VACL) 2022, Language Revival and Naming Project Reports, Melbourne.
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.