Yarramundi Boorooberongal (abt. 1760 - aft. 1818)

Born about 1760 in Richmond, New South Wales, Australia

Descendants

Died after 1818 after about age 58 in Richmond, New South Wales, Australia

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Yarramundi Boorooberongal was an Indigenous Australian. Join: Indigenous Australians Project Discuss: INDIGENOUS_AUSTRALIANS

Biography

Yarramundi Boorooberongal is Notable.

Descendant of Gombeeree, who is an Aboriginal Australian.

Yarramundi is estimated to have been born circa 1760 ^[1]. He was a Boorooberongal man of the Dharug Nation and his father was Gomberee. No information is available about his mother. Boorooberongal people had a close relationship with Deerubbin and were associated with the present-day site of the Richmond Lowlands. As a result, they were often described by colonists as the 'Richmond Tribe' (sic).

Yarramundi and his father Gomberee are likely to be the two men recorded in an exchange with Governor Phillip as early as June 1789, on a colonial mission to observe the 'Hawkesbury' River ^[2] where a recently shot wild duck and a hatchet were exchanged for a small coil of line made from animal hair and a spear. Captain John Hunter described how the manner of the exchange suggested this may not have been the first time this pair had met an exploring party and that they may have met previously at Broken Bay. ^[3]

Work in progress

He was a garadyi or "doctor", a healer. ^[4]

Yarramundi and his father Gombeeree met Governor Arthur Phillip on 14 April 1791, and this meeting is described by Watkin Tench ^[4] (who spells his name Yellomundee) in his A Complete Account of the Settlement at Port Jackson, published in 1793. ^[5] Trench wrote: "Colbee himself, seemed nevertheless firmly persuaded that he had received relief. and assured us that Yellomundee was a Cár-ad-yee, or Doctor of renown. And Boladeree added, that not only he, but all the rest of his tribe were Cár-ad-yee of especial note and skill."

Yarramundi's daughter, Maria (born 1805) was the first Aboriginal child to be placed in the Native Institute at Parramatta, where she won the Yearly state Examinations ahead of 100 white children. ^[4]

On 26 January 1824, she married convict, Robert Lock. It was the first legal marriage between an Aboriginal and a non-Aboriginal person in Australia. Yarramundi's son, Colbee, was the first Aboriginal person to receive a land grant. Following Colbee's death, Maria was granted his land at Blacktown and lived there until her death in 1878. She was buried in Prospect Cemetery. At the time of her death, she held 60 acres of land at Blacktown and 40 acres at Liverpool (NSW). Liverpool council chamber is built on part of this grant. ^[4]

Yarramundi's descendants still live in the area. Notably, Bundeluk was an educator, actor, artist, public speaker and indigenous adviser/tour guide in the Blue Mountains of Australia who died suddenly on 8 June 2014 aged 53 and had been living at Bullaburra. ^[4]

Kinship and Naming

Suggested use of naming fields (please click on hyperlinks for definitions):

• Proper first name: Yarramundi - This is the most widely acknowledged spelling of his name
• Preferred name: Yarramundi - the same as for the proper first name field
• Other Nicknames: Yellowmundi - this is a variation of the name Yarramundi, which has been historically recorded.
• Skin name: unknown - this name is not public knowledge and may or may not be known, thus it cannot be used in a public profile.
• Clan/family group: Boorooberongal - in light of Yarramundi's skin name not being publicly available, Boorooberongal is considered to be the most appropriate name to to be used in the Last Name at Birth (LNAB) field, representing his family group.

Research Notes

• Wikipedia can often inaccurate. It is often preferable to cite the reference list in the Wikipedia article as an alternative.

Sources

1. ↑ Green, Richard. 'Blackstown and Windsor' in Dharug and Dharawal Resources, accessed 28 May 2019.
2. ↑ Corr, Barry (n.d.) Pondering the Abyss: Part 03 1788 to 1793 - The early exploration of the Hawkesbury Self-published: Nangarra
3. ↑ Captain John Hunter (1793) An Historical Journal of the Transactions at Port Jackson and Norfolk Island; London: John Stockdale
4. ↑ ^{4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4} Yarramundi. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
5. ↑ Watkin Tench, entry dated Thursday, April 14th, 1791, A Complete Account of the Settlement at Port Jackson in New South Wales (Including An Accurate Description of the Situation of the Colony; of the Natives; and Of Its Natural Productions), London, G. Nicol and J. Sewell 1793, transcript by University of Sydney Library 1998.

• Ford, Geoff (2010) Darkiñung Recognition An Analysis of the Historiography for the Aborigines from the Hawkesbury-Hunter Ranges to the Northwest of Sydney: {commonly written with English characters as 'Darkinung', Darkinyung or Darkinjung} Masters Thesis, University of Sydney
• Low, Jim (2020, Sep 4) Two Hawkesbury memorials to first contact at Windsor and Pitt Town Simply Australia, accessed 2 Jan 2021.
• Yarramundi and Boorooberongal welcome Phillip and Tench, A History of Aboriginal Sydney, University of Sydney https://www.historyofaboriginalsydney.edu.au/west/yarramundi-and-boorooberongal-welcome-phillip-and-tench
• The site of the governors' feasts, Parramatta: Richard Green, A History of Aboriginal Sydney, University of Sydney https://www.historyofaboriginalsydney.edu.au/west/site-governors-feasts-parramatta-richard-green
• "Yarramundi" in Never Pure and Rarely Simple (blog) https://neverpureandrarelysimple.wordpress.com/2017/12/10/yarramun