Portrait (signed "W.W.") thought to depict Bennelong.

Bennelong (c. 1764 - 3 January 1813) was a senior man of the Eora, an Aboriginal (Koori) people of the Port Jackson area, at the time of the first British settlement in Australia, in 1788. He subsequently served as an interlocutor between the two cultures, both in Sydney and in the United Kingdom. Later, he was marginalised and died in obscurity. Bennelong may refer to: Bennelong, a senior Eora Aboriginal man in the Sydney area, at the time of British settlement of Australia in 1788. ... Image File history File links An undated portrait thought to depict Bennelong, signed W.W. now in the Dixson Galleries of the State Library of New South Wales. ... Image File history File links An undated portrait thought to depict Bennelong, signed W.W. now in the Dixson Galleries of the State Library of New South Wales. ... 1764 was a leap year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... is the 3rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1813 (MDCCCXIII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Wednesday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... Portrait of Bennelong, senior man of the Eora / Dharawal tribe The traditional owners of the inner Sydney City region of Australia are the Cadigal people. ... Languages Several hundred Indigenous Australian languages (many extinct or nearly so), Australian English, Australian Aboriginal English, Torres Strait Creole, Kriol Religions Primarily Christian, with minorities of other religions including various forms of Traditional belief systems based around the Dreamtime Related ethnic groups see List of Indigenous Australian group names Indigenous... Koori (also spelled Koorie) is a word which some Indigenous Australians in New South Wales and Victoria use to identify themselves, and has become a well established term to mean Indigenous Australians from south eastern Australia. Many Indigenous Australians dislike the terms Aborigine and Aboriginal because these terms have been... “Sydney Harbour” redirects here. ... 1788 was a leap year starting on Tuesday (see link for calendar). ... An interlocutor (pronounced in-ter-lock-you-ter) describes someone who informally explains the views of a government and also can relay messages back to a government. ... This article is about the metropolitan area in Australia. ...

Bennelong (married at the time to Barangaroo) was captured with Colbee (married to Daringa) in November 1789 as part of Governor of New South Wales Arthur Phillip's plan to learn the language and customs of the local people. Like another captive, Arabanoo, Bennelong soon adopted European dress and ways, learning to speak English. Bennelong is also known to have taught George Bass the language of the Sydney Aborigines, and, in a gesture of kinship, gave Phillip the Aboriginal name Wolawaree. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... the flag of the Governor of New South Wales The Governor of New South Wales is the representative in the Australian state of New South Wales of Australias head of state, Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia. ... Admiral Arthur Phillip RN (11 October 1738 – 31 August 1814) was a British naval officer and colonial administrator. ... The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... George Bass George Bass, British naval surgeon and explorer of Australia (1771 – unknown, post 1803), was born at Aswarby, a hamlet near Sleaford Lincolnshire and was educated at Boston Grammar School. ... Australian Aboriginal kinship is the system of law governing social interaction, particularly marriage, in traditional Aboriginal culture. ...

Although a captive, Bennelong served the British colonisers well in an (ultimately vain) attempt to aid relations between the two groups. In 1790, Bennelong asked the Governor to build him a hut on what became known as Bennelong Point, now the site of the Sydney Opera House. This site is still named for him, as is the seat of Bennelong in the Federal parliament. Bennelong was the first Australian indigenous person to be honoured in the name of an electoral division. The Sydney Opera House on Bennelong Point. ... The Sydney Opera House is located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. ... The Division of Bennelong is an Australian Electoral Division in New South Wales. ... Type Bicameral Houses House of Representatives Senate Speaker of the House of Representatives David Hawker, Liberal Party since 16 November 2004 President of the Senate Alan Ferguson, Liberal Party since 14 August 2007 Members 226 (150 Representatives, 76 Senators) Political groups Liberal Party ALP National Party Country Liberal Party Greens...

Although Bennelong appears to have had an ambivalent relationship with both the settlement and Governor Phillip, Bennelong and another Aborigine named Yemmerrawanie (or Imeerawanyee) travelled with Phillip to England in 1792, and were presented to King George III on 24 May 1793. Yemmerrawanie died while in Britain, and Bennelong's health deteriorated. He returned to Sydney in February 1795 on the same ship that took surgeon George Bass to the colony for the first time. He taught Bass some of his language on the voyage.^[1] Increasingly overwhelmed by European culture, Bennelong quickly became alienated from his own people after this return. For other uses, see England (disambiguation). ... 1792 was a leap year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... “George III” redirects here. ... Year 1793 (MDCCXCIII) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Saturday of the 11-day slower Julian calendar). ... 1795 was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... George Bass George Bass, British naval surgeon and explorer of Australia (1771 – unknown, post 1803), was born at Aswarby, a hamlet near Sleaford Lincolnshire and was educated at Boston Grammar School. ...

Bennelong was long troubled by the consumption of alcohol. He frequented Sydney less often and eventually died at Kissing Point (now known as Ryde, in Sydney’s North West) on 3 January 1813. He was buried on the estate of James Squire. His obituary in the Sydney Gazette^[2] was unflattering, referring to him as a thorough savage unable to be warped from that form, which presumably reflected where he had sunk to in the esteem of white society in his last years. This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Kissing Point is an area located in the Sydney Lower North Shore locality of South Ryde, or what is far more commonly known as Putney. ... Ryde Bridge Ryde is a suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. ... is the 3rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1813 (MDCCCXIII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Wednesday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar). ... The Rev. ... The Sydney Gazette was the first published newspaper in Australia. ...

References

1. ^ Miriam Estensen, The Life of George Bass, Allen and Unwin, 2005, ISBN 1-74114-130-3.
2. ^ Sydney Gazette, 9 January 1813, quoted in More Pig Bites Baby! Stories from Australia's First Newspaper, volume 2, ed. Micahel Connor, Duffy and Snellgrove, 2004, ISBN 1-876631-91-0