Native Animals History and Science
Hawks of Victoria: Ancient Hunters, Cultural Beings, and Colonial Impacts
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 Aboriginal communities, hawks were not simply birds: they were messengers, hunters, and law-keepers, woven into stories of creation, vigilance, and responsibility (Clark 1990; Flood 1983).
Globally, hawks are associated with vision, power, and guidance — from Egyptian sky gods to Native American messengers — but colonisation disrupted these relationships in Australia, recasting hawks as vermin hunted for preying on poultry and small livestock (Rolls 1969).
Hawks Before Colonisation
Ecological Role in Victoria
Before colonisation, hawks maintained balance within ecosystems:
Predators of rodents, small birds, and reptiles, they prevented overpopulation and sustained ecological health (Olsen 1995).
Indicators of Country health, their abundance reflected intact forests and grasslands.
Co-inhabitants of diverse habitats — from coastal dunes to mountain forests — hawks adapted to every environment across Victoria.
Cultural Role in Victorian Indigenous Communities
For the Wadawurrung, Wurundjeri, and other Kulin Nations, hawks were respected as swift, disciplined hunters — symbols of clarity, justice, and communication (Clark 1990).
Their flight patterns, calls, and timing often carried meaning: a cry overhead during ceremony might be interpreted as a message or a call for order.
In some clans, hawks were totemic beings, connecting families to responsibilities of care, observation, and law.
Origins and Deep Time: Evolution and Endurance of the Hawk Lineage
The ancestry of hawks stretches deep into geological time. The Accipitridae family — hawks, eagles, and kites — first arose during the Eocene Epoch (≈56–34 million years ago), when early raptors began adapting to aerial hunting (Mayr 2009). By the Miocene (≈23–5 million years ago), open grasslands had spread worldwide, and hawks diversified into powerful, fast-flying predators built for speed and precision (Olsen 1995; Mayr 2009).
Fossils of early Accipiter-like birds from the Northern Hemisphere show these ancestors were already adept at woodland pursuit hunting. In Australia, the lineage likely arrived during the late Miocene or Pliocene, spreading from Asia. Sub-fossil remains from the Pleistocene (≤2.5 million years ago) confirm that hawks similar to modern goshawks and sparrowhawks were present (Boles 2006).
Through ice-age climate cycles of the Quaternary, hawks endured volcanic upheavals, sea-level fluctuations, and the arrival of humans more than 60,000 years ago. Their adaptability to forest, grassland, and coastal ecosystems ensured survival through both natural and human-driven change (Kershaw et al. 2003).
Today’s hawks circling the basalt plains of Wadawurrung Country are living descendants of ancient hunters that once shared the sky with megafauna — a lineage spanning tens of millions of years and countless cultural generations.
Dreaming Stories and Cultural Meanings in Victoria
Wadawurrung
Among the Wadawurrung, hawks were known as messenger birds.
Their piercing calls during ceremony were understood as reminders of vigilance and social responsibility. Stories describe hawks circling over gatherings as signs to restore harmony and law within community and Country (Clark 1990).
Wurundjeri (Woiwurrung)
In Wurundjeri stories, hawks acted as intermediaries between Bunjil the Eagle and Waa the Crow.
While Bunjil represented creation and Waa balance and transformation, the hawk symbolised the swift justice of the sky, acting decisively but with fairness (Flood 1983).
Gunaikurnai (East Gippsland)
A Gunaikurnai story tells of a hawk teaching the people to hunt quail — circling silently before striking at the right moment.
This became a moral lesson in patience, discipline, and living within the natural law of Country (Howitt 1904; Flood 1983).
Western District and Volcanic Plains (Kulin Nations)
In the volcanic plains, hawks were seen as balancers of the moieties—bridging the space between creation (Bunjil) and transformation (Waa).
Their alertness and speed reminded communities of the need for vigilance and responsibility in daily life.
Language and the Names of Hawks in Victorian Indigenous Communities
Across Victoria’s many Aboriginal languages, words for hawk reflect keen observation and spiritual meaning.
In Woiwurrung and Wadawurrung, hawk names often describe their call, cry, or hunting behaviour. Though variations occur, the underlying meaning connects hawks with watchfulness and precision (Clark 1990; Blake 1991).
Among Gunaikurnai speakers, words for hawk evoke “the sharp one” or “the watcher,” reflecting their spiritual role as observers and messengers between worlds (Howitt 1904).
Language revival projects led by the Victorian Aboriginal Corporation for Languages (VACL) are reawakening these ancestral words, ensuring the cultural knowledge of hawks — as teachers, hunters, and guides — continues to be shared in classrooms and community learning (VACL 2022).
Hawks in Global Stories and Symbolism
Across world cultures, hawks hold symbolic and spiritual importance parallel to their Aboriginal meanings.
Ancient Egypt: The hawk-headed god Horus represented kingship, vision, and protection — the all-seeing eye of the heavens.
Greece and Rome: Hawks were sacred to Apollo, god of sunlight and clarity.
Native American Nations: Hawks were messengers of foresight and truth, linked to warrior spirit and divine communication.
Celtic traditions: Hawks guided souls through transitions of death and rebirth.
This universality highlights how hawks embody the values of vigilance, transformation, and guardianship across both local and global cultural frameworks (Flood 1983).
Hawks on Wadawurrung Country
On Wadawurrung Country, spanning Geelong, Ballarat, and the volcanic plains, hawks remain key symbols in both ecology and culture.
Hunters of the grasslands: They patrol basalt plains for quail, lizards, and mice — representing order over chaos (Olsen 1995).
Messengers of law: Sudden hawk calls during ceremony or travel were seen as spiritual reminders of duty to kin and Country (Clark 1990).
Intermediaries: Between Bunjil and Waa, hawks represented agility, discernment, and balance — a model for human behaviour.
These meanings persist today through oral histories, educational programs, and Wadawurrung-led cultural interpretation along the Surf Coast and Moorabool regions.
Impacts of Colonisation
Ecological Impacts
Persecution: From the 1830s onwards, settlers regarded hawks as poultry thieves. Bounties were paid for their destruction alongside eagles (Rolls 1969; The Argus 1850s).
Loss of prey: Widespread land clearing and mammal decline reduced food sources.
Poisoning: Hawks died from eating poisoned rabbits or carcasses intended for foxes and dingoes (Olsen 1995).
Cultural Impacts
Suppression of ceremonies: The decline of Aboriginal ceremonial life disrupted hawks’ symbolic role as spiritual messengers.
Erasure and replacement: European settlers recast hawks as pests, eroding Indigenous understanding of them as beings of law and balance (Broome 2005).
This shift from reverence to persecution mirrored broader colonial attitudes toward both wildlife and Aboriginal spirituality.
The Science of Hawks
Modern ornithology reinforces many insights known through Traditional Knowledge:
Vision: Hawks have eyesight up to eight times sharper than humans, enabling them to detect prey from hundreds of metres away (Olsen 1995).
Speed and agility: Brown Goshawks can reach speeds of 70 km/h, using bursts of power and stealth to capture prey mid-flight.
Ecological function: As mid-level predators, they stabilise food chains by controlling rodent and small bird populations, supporting biodiversity (Olsen 1995).
Science and Indigenous lore converge in viewing hawks as symbols of discipline, perception, and ecological balance.
Key Hawk and Cultural Sites in Victoria
You Yangs and Brisbane Ranges: High cliffs and thermals provide hunting and nesting grounds for Brown and Collared Sparrowhawks.
Wadawurrung Country (Moorabool, Ballarat, Geelong): Cultural areas where hawk stories and ceremonies connect people to law and Country (Clark 1990).
Gunaikurnai Country (Gippsland): Forest regions where hawk Dreamings teach patience and discipline.
Western Volcanic Plains: Known for frequent hawk sightings—symbolising vigilance and continuity across open landscapes.
These places remain living classrooms where both cultural teachings and conservation coexist.
Conservation and Cultural Renewal
Today, hawks are protected under the Wildlife Act 1975 (Vic), and populations remain stable across most of Victoria.
However, threats persist from habitat loss, secondary poisoning, and collisions with infrastructure.
Traditional Owner groups, local Landcare networks, and the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEECA) collaborate to restore habitats and include Indigenous knowledge in species management (DEECA 2021).
Cultural educators continue to teach hawk stories in schools, connecting science with the law of Country.
Symbolism and Modern Identity
Hawks endure as emblems of vision and resilience.
For Aboriginal communities, their cry remains a spiritual signal of vigilance and justice.
In art, education, and conservation, hawks symbolise the ongoing connection between law, ecology, and renewal.
Their survival reflects both environmental and cultural endurance—a living example of balance regained between people and Country.
Conclusion
The history of hawks in Victoria is one of resilience and transformation.
For Indigenous peoples, hawks were never mere birds of prey—they were messengers, teachers, and enforcers of natural law.
Dreaming stories from the Wadawurrung, Wurundjeri, and Gunaikurnai nations reveal hawks as models of vigilance, patience, and justice.
Though colonisation disrupted these roles, hawks persist as ecological regulators and spiritual symbols.
Their circling flight over the plains of Victoria continues to remind us of ancient law, balance, and respect for Country.
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.
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.
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
Magic Lands Alliance
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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.