Braidwood is a town in the Southern Tablelands of New South Wales, Australia, in Queanbeyan–Palerang Regional Council. It is located on the Kings Highway linking Canberra with Batemans Bay. It is approximately 200 kilometres south west of Sydney, 60 kilometres inland from the coast, and 55 kilometres east of Canberra. Braidwood is a service town for the surrounding district which is based on sheep and cattle grazing, and forestry operations. Indigenous History Braidwood is located within the Yuin Nation, on Walbanga Country. The Walbanga People speak dialects of the Thurga (Durga/Dhurga) language. The Walbanga Peoples relied on the plentiful supply of vegetables available in the tablelands, such as the tubers of the yam daisy, wattle-seeds, and orchid tubers. In September to May, fish and crayfish were eaten, while possums and larger grazing animals were hunted year round. The Walbanga People and neighbouring groups made annual trips in December and January from to the Bogong Mountains and Snowy Mountains to roast and eat bogong moths (Agrotis infusa). The lives of the Walbanga People were forever changed by the arrival and early settlement of Europeans in the 1820s. There were reports of the loss of water, fish and native animals essential to the First Nations's diet after the arrival of the settlers. The settlers also brought exotic diseases, particularly smallpox, the influenza epidemic in 1846-7 and syphilis, which devastated the First Nation's people in the region, likely including the Walbanga People. The Walbanga and surrounding populations culture and traditional life was considered to have been destroyed by 1850. Bogong moth ceremonies, intertribal meetings and corroborees also ceased in the region. In 1872, First Nation's Peoples from the south coast and the highlands areas met in a large ceremonial gathering on the Braidwood goldfields, where they also held discussions about strategies to gain back access to their land. After the gathering, the local police officer, Martin Brennan, was approached by 62 members of the gathering, led by 'Jack Bawn and Alick' who asked for his assistance, and Brennan recorded the following: "I asked Jack what they wanted. He replied, 'We have come to you to intercede for us in getting the Government to do something for us... I have assisted the police for many years, and we want to get some land which we can call our own in reality, where we can settle down, and which the old people can call their