Let’s travel back in time.

The Holocene epoch began roughly 12,000 years ago, bringing changes to the Earth’s landscape. For people, these transformations were not just natural phenomena – as, over the next few thousand years, melting ice from the frozen northern hemisphere caused the ocean levels to rise - they were Eora stories of creation and resilience.

In the displays on the eastern side of the Warrane exhibition, opposite the Nowey window you will see a screen showing the gradual water levels rise for the past 12,000 years. With stories passed down over the millennia of how the harbour was formed from a river where the spirit Boora Birra dwelled.

Imagine standing on the high ground where The Rocks now sits, but instead of buildings, you see a wooded valley stretching far towards the horizon. This was the harbour before the seas rose. In this valley flowed a river, teeming with fish and surrounded by bushland. The Eora people thrived here, adapting to the abundance of the land.

As the sea began to creep inward. The rising waters engulfed the river valley slowly, Elders described it as the great flood, a time when the spirits transformed the world to teach balance and humility.

One such story is about Biamie, the sky spirit or Father Sky, who watched as people become careless with the land’s gifts. In response, Biamie sent rains that caused the waters to rise.

The valleys flooded, creating the harbours and inlets we see today. Those who respected the land were spared, while others were swept away, their spirits becoming part of the waves and winds.

The Gadigal people adapted to this new world. They learned to navigate the waterways, using canoes like the Nowey to fish and trade. Shell middens—ancient heaps of discarded shells— tell us about their diet and how they adapted to the changing environment.