How did Biddabah Public School get its name?

This part of Awabakal country was known to them as Biddabah (meaning a quiet resting place) and it overlooks Awaba or Lake Macquarie. Its name is reflected in the name of Biddabah, chosen for the primary school down the road at Speers Point East.

Near here was a summer camping place called Booragul and to the south, past Kooraarrah or Bolton Point was Pondee, which we call Toronto.

Across Awaba, opposite to Booragul, was the quiet and peaceful place called Eleebana and further south was a hill overlooking Awaba called Buttaba or Belmont. Down south, past Buttaba was Galgabba, the far off place which we call Swansea.

Aboriginal people knew this part of the world as a real paradise, both in terms of its visual appearance and its abundance of food and they took their name from the big, flat surface they called Awaba.

The Awabakal territory covered Newcastle and Stockton up to Fern Bay, all around Lake Macquarie and south along the Central Coast to near Norah Head, the Coalfields and the Watagan Mountains up to Wollombi – they were the eagle-hawk or Biraban clan with a rich history and deep spirituality and the stories of their sacred sites and the natural features of their country told of the essence of Aboriginal life and the reasons for their existence.

Story contributed by Deb Bell from Biddabah Public School. Published in 2016.