1894
Jandamurra’s boomerang
If we fall, others are rising
The boomerang is a curved piece of wood generally used for hunting or warfare. There are many different types of boomerangs – the oldest in Australia dating back 10 000 years. Some of them are designed to return, others not. They are used in communities all over Australia. The boomerang came to symbolise Aboriginal culture but it was also a powerful weapon in the Aboriginal resistance to European settlement.
The European settlement of Australia gave rise to some impressive Indigenous resistance leaders. One of the first was Pemulwuy. He was born into the Bidjigal people around Castle Hill, north-west of Sydney Town. The Bidjigal were part of the Eora nation, who occupied the land from the Hawkesbury in the north to Botany Bay in the south.
Pemulwuy’s first act of resistance was to kill Governor Arthur Phillip’s gamekeeper. The governor ordered a posse to bring back six Bidjigal hostages or their heads. The party, under the command of Watkin Tench, failed to find any Bidjigal at all – they had vanished into the bush.
Pemulwuy continued his guerilla campaign, harassing farms in Parramatta and Toongabbie. He raised a force of 100 men and attacked the town of Toongabbie in 1797, during which he was shot. He survived his wounds and his resilience became legendary. One settler wrote, ‘He has now lodged in him about eight or ten ounces [230–280 g] of lead and he is supposed to have killed over 30 of our people.’
Many believed that he was impervious to guns; he was not. Pemulwuy was finally killed in 1802. He was decapitated and his head was sent for study in London. His son, Tedbury, carried on the campaign.
Windradyne (know to the squatters as ‘Saturday’) was a Wiradjuri man who lived in the Bathurst area. He built up a band of warriors who attacked the settler stations and sometimes killed stockmen. When he took over the Brucedale property of Henry Sutton, however, he spared the family because they had a history of treating Aboriginal people with respect.
By 1824, tension between the Aboriginal people and squatters had become so great that Governor Thomas Brisbane declared martial law in the district and increased the troops significantly. The Battle of Bathurst occurred on 10 September 1824 at a station on the Cudgegong River, and 19 lives were lost. On 18 September more troops arrived; they systematically slaughtered as many as 1000 Aboriginal people in 10 days.
Windradyne surrendered at Parramatta but was pardoned by Brisbane and returned to Bathurst, where he was eventually killed in a tribal fight.
Jandamurra was a Bunuba man who grew up around Windjana Gorge in the Kimberley region of Western Australia. As a young man he worked with the white settlers at Lennard River Station. He was regarded as an adept stockman and was given the nickname ‘Pigeon’ because he was small, fast and cheeky. Later he was picked up by police for sheep stealing and taken to Derby, where he started working with the police, taking care of their horses.
After returning to his traditional land he went to live at Lillimooloora Station, where he befriended the stockman Bill Richardson, who later joined the police force. Lillimooloora Station became home to Jandamurra, Richardson and Captain, another local Aboriginal man. They were a tight bunch and Jandamurra saved Richardson’s life when a Bunuba warrior attacked him.
On one of their police actions, the trio captured a group of 16 Bunuba people, including Jandamurra’s uncle Ellemarra and some of his blood relations. The captured band taunted Jandamurra about his betrayal of his people. He saw the logic of their arguments and shot his friend Richardson in the head. The prisoners and trackers then captured a wagonload of guns and ammunition and began a ten-year guerilla war against the white settlers.
Jandamurra’s ability to disappear into the harsh Kimberley landscape made him an almost mythical figure. He struck fear into the hearts of the white settlers and was an inspiration to the Bunuba people.
At the battle of Windjana Gorge on 16 November 1894, 50 warriors painted with traditional ochre made a stand against 30 troops and settlers. Ellemarra was killed and Jandamurra was wounded. He and his followers retreated but continued their guerilla campaign for another three years, raiding stations and killing livestock. His last assault was at Oscar Range Homestead in March 1897. Most of the 20 warriors were killed but again Jandamurra escaped. Aboriginal trooper Minko Mick finally shot him dead at Tunnel Creek on 1 April 1897.
The Aboriginal resistance has continued until the present day. Its means may be different but one of its primary aims – the return of land to Aboriginal people – remains unchanged. One of the best-known modern warriors is Vincent Lingiari. Born shortly after the death of Jandamurra, Lingiari was a Gurindji man who, with many of his people, worked at Wave Hill Station, an agribusiness owned by Lord Vestey.
Fed up with substandard wages and conditions, in 1966 Lingiari led a strike that demanded that the land at Wave Hill be returned to its traditional owners. His petition to the governor-general said, ‘We want them Vestey mob – all go away from here. Wave Hill Aboriginal people bin called Gurindji. We bin here long time before them Vestey mob. This is our country, all this bin Gurindji country. Wave Hill bin our country. We want this land; we strike for that.’
The Gurindji set up camp at Wattie Creek and waited. They had some friends in the towns, including author Frank Hardy, politician Bill Wentworth and, in 1972, Prime Minister Gough Whitlam. The Whitlam government set up the Woodward Royal Commission to assess how best to deal with Aboriginal land-rights claims. Meanwhile, Vestey caved in and handed back 777 000 square kilometres of the property.
In 1975, Whitlam flew to Wave Hill with the deeds of the Gurindji land. In a gesture that referred back to John Batman’s ‘purchase’ of Melbourne, Whitlam ran a handful of sand through Lingiari’s hands. It was another step in the battle that had begun with Pemulwuy.