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The Dictionary of Sydney
Vincent Smith, Keith

Vincent Smith, Keith

Author

Collection

Keith Vincent Smith is a historian and curator and the author of MARI NAWI: Aboriginal Odysseys (Rosenberg, 2010)

Aboriginal life around Port Jackson after 1822 as Author

Arabanoo as Author

Boatswain Maroot as Author

Bungaree as Author

Bungaree, John as Author

Carangarang as Author

Caruey as Author

Colebee as Author

Corrangie / Harry as Author

Daringa as Author

Gnung-a Gnung-a Murremurgan as Author

Maroot the elder as Author

Nanbarry as Author

Pemulwuy as Author

Sally Bundil as Author

Willemering as Author

Woollarawarre Bennelong as Author

Yemmerrawanne as Author

Movat 1820 [Boatswain Maroot] as Collection

Yemmerrawanne's gravestone in the churchyard of St John the Baptist church, Eltham, London, UK May 2012 as Collection

Yemmurrvonyea Kebbarah, a Native of New South Wales, died May 18th 1794. supposed to be aged 19 Years, at the house of Mr. Edward Kent, Eltham Parish Register as Collection

Gumbery Jah (Harry’s Song) and Cooee (Guwi), sung by Matthew Doyle and Clarence Slockee, recorded by Kevin Hunt at the Conservatorium of Music, Sydney 2010 as Collection

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Keith Vincent Smith: Eora People Smith Keith Vincent

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Aboriginal life around Port Jackson after 1822

Aboriginal people continued to live around Sydney's harbour for more than a century after Europeans arrived, adapting their traditional life to their new conditions of dispossession and displacement, and maintaining, in scattered campsites, some of their skills and culture.

Arabanoo

One of the first Aboriginal people to meet the Europeans at close quarters, Arabanoo taught them much about the customs and manners of his country, but died in the smallpox epidemic of 1789 which was so deadly to Sydney's first people.

Boatswain Maroot

Boatswain Maroot was born about 1793 at the Cooks River (Gumannan) near Botany, the son of Maroot the elder (c1773-1817) of the Gameygal people that occupied the north shore of Kamay (Botany Bay), and Grang Grang. The son would lead a very different life to that of his parents. He gained the nickname ‘Boatswain’ or ‘Bosun’ as a young man, sailing on English ships in sealing and whaling voyages to Macquarie Island in the sub-Antarctic and the New Zealand ‘whale fisheries’, before returning to live at Botany Bay on land leased to him by the colonial government.

Bungaree

Adopting the role of mediator between the Aboriginal people and the English colonists, Bungaree became one of the best known elders in Sydney town, after circumnavigating the continent with Matthew Flinders.

Bungaree, John

A prizewinning student at Sydney's Normal Institution, where he was educated 'like a white man', John Bungaree's later career, as an agricultural labourer and native policeman, showed the difficulties of living between the European and Aboriginal cultures of early New South Wales.

Carangarang

Carangarang, of the Wangal clan of the southern shore of the Parramatta River, was the wife of Corrangie and the best known of Bennelong's siblings. She was a presence in Sydney and Kissing Point until the late 1830s.

Caruey

One of only three Cadigal to survive the smallpox epidemic of 1789, Caruey was well known to the settlers for his fighting spirit and his bushcraft.

Colebee

A Cadigal man who became one of the first to interact with the Europeans, Colebee was a leading Aboriginal figure in Sydney Town in the early years of the colony. He was associated with the white-bellied sea eagle.

Corrangie / Harry

Corrangie, called ‘Harry’ by the English settlers, was the husband of Bennelong’s sister Carangarang and known, after Bennelong’s death, as the ‘chief’ of the Burramattagal or Parramatta clan.

Daringa

Daringa lived through the arrival of the Europeans, and with her husband Colebee, got to know some of the officials and settlers. Her gentle demeanour was noted by a number of colonists who took an interest in her life and family.

Gnung-a Gnung-a Murremurgan

Gnung-a Gnung-a Murremurgan sailed from Sydney to North America in 1793. Highly regarded by all he met, he played a significant role in Australia's early maritime history.

Maroot the elder

Maroot the Elder, a leader of the Kameygal, is little known but he was recorded in the journals and observations of a number of European and American visitors to Sydney in the period 1798 to 1817.

Nanbarry

A survivor of the smallpox of 1789, Nanbarry became an interpreter and intermediary between his people and the new arrivals, and later went to sea.

Pemulwuy

Pemulwuy was a powerful Aboriginal resistance leader against the British settlers who occupied his land. Through the final decade of the eighteenth century, Pemulwuy led guerrilla attacks against settlers' farms, burning their huts, maize crops and livestock, and plundering their possessions.

Sally Bundil

Sally is probably the subject of the pencil portrait ‘Sally Bundil a native of Kissing Point’ that was once in the possession of Lachlan Macquarie, Governor of New South Wales from 1810-1821, and is now held in the Mitchell Library.[

Willemering

Willemering, a clever man or karadji from the Caragal of Broken Bay, was the man who speared Governor Phillip at Manly Cove.

Woollarawarre Bennelong

Thrust into history by his abduction, Bennelong led a tumultuous life, becoming the best known Aboriginal figure in the first decades of European settlement. His story, plagued by myths, connects twenty-first century Australia with the social and spiritual Aboriginal world that existed before the English colony of New South Wales.

Yemmerrawanne

Yemmerrawanne was one of the first Eora men to meet the British, and was a regular visitor to the home of Captain Arthur Phillip, Governor of New South Wales. When Phillip returned to London in December 1792 Yemmerrawanne, and his kinsman Bennelong, travelled with him. Although a young man, Yemmerrawanne died in London. A headstone marks his passing, but the location of his remains is unknown.

Movat 1820 [Boatswain Maroot]

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By

Pavel Mikhailov

Contributed By

Keith Vincent Smith

(Pencil and sanguine on brown paper R29209/207, Russian State Museum, St Petersburg, Image courtesy of Longueville Publications)

Yemmerrawanne's gravestone in the churchyard of St John the Baptist church, Eltham, London, UK May 2012

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By

Contributed By

Keith Vincent Smith

Yemmurrvonyea Kebbarah, a Native of New South Wales, died May 18th 1794. supposed to be aged 19 Years, at the house of Mr. Edward ...

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By

Contributed By

Keith Vincent Smith

(Handwriting of Reverend JK Shaw-Brooke)

Gumbery Jah (Harry’s Song) and Cooee (Guwi), sung by Matthew Doyle and Clarence Slockee, recorded by Kevin Hunt at the Conservatorium ...

full record »

Contributed By

Keith Vincent Smith

(as transcribed by Barron Field and published in 'Journal of an Excursion across the Blue Mountains of New South Wales', The London Magazine, November 1823 (Vol 8), p465 )