Patyegarang (c 1780s) was an Australian Aboriginal woman, thought to be from the
Cammeraygal
The Cammeraygal, variously spelled as Cam-mer-ray-gal, Gamaraigal, Kameraigal, Cameragal and several other variations, are one clan of the 29 Darug tribes who are united by a common language, strong ties of kinship and survived as skilled hunte ...
clan of the
Eora nation. Patyegarang (pronounced Pa-te-ga-rang) taught
William Dawes
William Dawes Jr. (April 6, 1745 – February 25, 1799) was one of several men who in April 1775 alerted colonial minutemen in Massachusetts of the approach of British army troops prior to the Battles of Lexington and Concord at the outset ...
the language of her people and is thought to be one of the first people to have taught an Aboriginal language to the early colonists in New South Wales.
Contact with the colonists
Patyegarang was aged around 15 when she became a guide and language teacher to William Dawes.
Dawes, an astronomer, mathematician and linguist, was a lieutenant in the Royal Marines on board , of the
First Fleet, to the
Colony of New South Wales
The Colony of New South Wales was a colony of the British Empire from 1788 to 1901, when it became a State of the Commonwealth of Australia. At its greatest extent, the colony of New South Wales included the present-day Australian states of New ...
. William Dawes met Patye (as he would call her) when he struck up friendships with the local Cadigal people.
Documenting language
William Dawes was the first person to write down an Australian language.
Patyegarang tutored Dawes in his understanding and assisted in the documentation of the
Dharug or Eora language spoken by the Cadigal people and other tribes, sometimes referred to as the Sydney language.
[ Patyegarang was one of the first people to have taught an Aboriginal language to a non-Aboriginal person.]Phyllis Mander-Jones
Phyllis Mander-Jones MBE (2 January 1896 – 19 February 1984) was an Australian born librarian and archivist who helped establish the archival profession in Australia.
Early life
Phyllis Mander-Jones was born in Homebush, Sydney, Austral ...
, an Australian librarian, while she was working at the University of London's School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS).[
The notebooks include specific terms for the sun, the moon and the clouds leading Indigenous Curator James Wilson Miller to note that Patyegarang had detailed knowledge of the land and sky.
]
Relationship with William Dawes
Patyegarang may have lived with William Dawes in his hut at Observatory Point.[ Australian writer ]Thomas Keneally
Thomas Michael Keneally, Officer of the Order of Australia, AO (born 7 October 1935) is an Australian novelist, playwright, essayist, and actor. He is best known for his non-fiction novel ''Schindler's Ark'', the story of Oskar Schindler's rescu ...
describes Patyegarang as the "chief language teacher, servant, and perhaps lover" of William Dawes.
Patyegarang learned to speak and read English from Dawes. It is not clear how long she was associated with him or what eventually happened to her.[
]
Proposal for statue of Patyegarang
In 2020 a motion was put to the Council of the City of Sydney
The City of Sydney is the local government area covering the Sydney central business district and surrounding inner city suburbs of the greater metropolitan area of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Established by Act of Parliament in 1842 ...
proposing that the council's CEO "work with local Aboriginal groups, including a representative from the Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council (MLALC), to identify potential options to commission a public artwork commemorating Patyegarang".
In popular culture
In 2014, the Bangarra Dance Theatre
Bangarra Dance Theatre is an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander dance company focused on contemporary dance. It was founded by African American dancer and choreographer Carole Y. Johnson, Gumbaynggirr man Rob Bryant, and South African-born C ...
created a work choreographed by Stephen Page
Stephen George Page (born 1965) is an Australian choreographer, film director and former dancer. He is the current artistic director of the Bangarra Dance Theatre, an Indigenous Australian dance company. Page is descended from the Nunukul peop ...
called ''Patyegarang'' depicting her life and relationship with Dawes.
Writer Kate Grenville
Catherine Elizabeth Grenville (born 1950) is an Australian author. She has published fifteen books, including fiction, non-fiction, biography, and books about the writing process. In 2001, she won the Orange Prize for ''The Idea of Perfection ...
based the characters in her novel ''The Lieutenant'' on the historical friendship of Patyegarang, the young Gadigal woman, and Lieutenant William Dawes.
See also
* William Dawes (British Marines officer)
* Dharug language
The Dharug language, also spelt Darug, Dharuk, and other variants, and also known as the Sydney language, Gadigal language ( Sydney city area), is an Australian Aboriginal language of the Yuin–Kuric group that was traditionally spoken in th ...
References
Further reading
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{{Authority control
Indigenous Australian people
History of Australia (1788–1850)