protectors, while women are storytellers and nurturers. The men are taught to respect and care for the women. Men and women would contribute to fishing, the main source of food for the Bidjigal people. Men would use spears to hunt the fish while the women would use hooks and lines, and both would do so on canoes made from local wood. The women would also gather shellfish. Shellwork The women and girls have historically made decorative and functional ‘shellwork’ from seashells. Shellwork is common amongst coastal Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, although the connections and practices remain under-researched. La Perouse remains a major site of production. The shellwork was popular amongst tourists, particularly amongst white women. The shellwork still blurs the line between art and artefact, and is now often part of museum exhibitions. In 2015 Bidjigal elder, artist and shellworker Esme Timbery collaborated with Wiradjuri/Kamilaroi artist Jonathan Jones on the seven-story shell art installation ‘Shell Wall 2015’ in Barangaroo. The public artwork remains on the southern side of the Alexander residential building. Koojay Corroboree A Corroboree broadly refers to a meeting of Aboriginal Australians, sometimes of different clans. The Randwick City Council, in conjunction with the La Perouse Local Aboriginal Land Council, have hosted an annual Koojay Corroboree since 2015, although not running in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Koojay Corroboree is held on Coogee Beach, with the name referring to the traditional Darug name for the beach, Koojay. The Koojay Corroboree is held during National Reconciliation Week (NRW) and commemorates the Bidjigal and Gadigal people, who both inhabited the land. The festival involves cultural activities, such as fire ceremonies, song and dance. Language group They were a subgroup/clan of either the Dharug or Eora people, the Bidjigal would have spoken a variety of Dharug, one of the Yora languages. The name Bidjigal means plains-dweller in the Dharug language. History The Bidjigal population was an estimated 500 people at the time of the British arrival, making them one of the most densely populated areas prior to colonisation. The Bidjigal clan, like many of the Darug people, utilised their access to water for fishing, with fish being their main source of food. This includes Georges rivers, Cooks River, Salt Pan Creek, Wolli Creek and parts of the Hawkesbury River. This has resulted in different sea animals, including the whales and eels, being totemic, or culturally significant. The