Their huts are of the roughest kind, rarely more than windbreaks or shelters. First a frame of sticks was put up, to which twigs, reeds or grass were fixed angularly. During wet weather this rough building was covered with bark, if it could be easily obtained from trees at the respective place. Bark can of course only be stripped during the season when the saps are in circulation. A part of one side, or a whole side of the roof, was left free as an entrance, which was always situated on the opposite side from where the wind came. In front of the entrance a fire was kept.
Their dwellings were rarely lived in for more than a few days, as the stay depended on the fecundity of the location. When camping at a river or lagoon, or at an estuary where fish were plentifully available, or during a season when affluence of vegetable food abounded, they stayed longer than when sustenance was sparse.
Along the Hawkesbury, Shoalhaven and some other big rivers, the shores of which consisted of Hawkesbury sandstone, the natives often dwelt in caves or under rock eaves, where they found easy and comfortable accommodation.
As soon as that offered by nature as food was depleted, they were forced to move to a new camping place. Or when a death occurred in one part of the camp everybody had to leave and hurry to another location. During these travels from camp to camp the men usually take a detour or an irregular course, travelling in individual sections,[17] to reach the envisaged camping place by different routes. It would not be advantageous for hunting game or finding any other food if they all travelled together. The women were led in as direct a march as possible, as they were burdened with the children and the luggage.
The location of the huts or roofs in the camp is regulated by certain laws. When a camp is chosen at the shores of a waterhole or river, the older people begin taking up land for their dwellings at the water, while the others put up camp a bit further back. The entrances to the dwellings are situated to the north or northeast, so as to admit the rays of the morning sun, unless the wind comes from that direction. If there is a meeting of the community for a corroboree, or for an initiation ceremony, the local people set up camp first, and the visiting tribes take that side of the general camp for themselves which lies in the direction in which their home is situated. As far as the condition of the ground allows, they take exactly the same position to each other as in their own land, in a kind of miniature depiction of the home camps.
When the men are not searching for meat, which naturally occupies the greater part of their time and thoughts, their main occupation is the production of weapons and utensils or the preparation of skins for sheltering against the weather. The women have the task of searching for plant food, collecting wood for the fire, and creating nets, bags and the like.
Boomerangs, clubs, containers, bags, and so on, are left somewhere on the ground around the dwellings of the owner, but spears are either leaned against a nearby tree or stuck vertically into the soft ground to avoid the danger of injury to the shaft or spearhead.
Stretching or bending of wood is often necessary for the making of weapons or utensils. Green wood is put into hot ash to make it bendable. Rubbing with fat or exposure to fire has the same effect on dry wood. Softening in water is also used to bend wooden things into shape.