Wodiwodi
Australian Aboriginal group from Lake Illawarra area of New South Wales
The Wodiwodi or Wodi Wodi, also pronounced Whardi Whardi, are a sub-group of the Dharawal people, an Indigenous Australian people of the east coast of the continent.
Language
The Wodiwodi language, considered to be a dialect of Dharawal, was partially described by William Ridley in 1875, who obtained his information from John Malone who had obtained information from his wife, Lizzie Malone, whose mother was a Shoalhaven Indigenous person.
Country
The Wodiwodi are estimated, by Norman Tindale, to have lived over some 2600 square kilometres (1000 square miles) of country of the Illawarra north of the Shoalhaven River including Lake Illawarra, Berkeley and Hooka Creek. The area underwent significant change with sea level rise 18,000 to 7,500 years ago which completely displaced inhabitants of previous coastal areas and resulted in dramatic changes in distributions of peoples. The Wodiwodi descendants are considered one of the custodians of the land in this area. The Wodi Wodi track at Stanwell Park, New South Wales, now a walking track, was used by the Wodiwodi people before becoming an early cart track through the Illawarra Escarpment into the Illawarra.
The public source identifies “Wodiwodi” as australian Aboriginal group from Lake Illawarra area of New South Wales. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Wodiwodi, Australian and Aboriginal.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Wodiwodi”, the useful work is to connect “australian Aboriginal group from Lake Illawarra area of New South Wales” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
Maps, plans, fabric surveys and administrative records can establish how the site’s name, extent and function changed over time. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 10, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q29325204. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1875 and 1000.
Modern boundaries and familiar names can conceal earlier jurisdictions or structures that do not align with the present site. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Wodiwodi”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Wodiwodi primary sources, Wodiwodi archive and Wodiwodi research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Wodiwodi”?
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- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Wodiwodi” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.