Pemulwuy (also rendered as Pimbloy, Pemulvoy, Pemulwoy, Pemulwy or Pemulwye, or sometimes by contemporary Europeans as Bimblewove, Bumbleway or Bembulwoyan) (c. 1750 – 2 June 1802) was a Bidjigal man of the

Eora The Eora (''Yura'') are an Aboriginal Australian people of New South Wales. Eora is the name given by the earliest European settlers to a group of Aboriginal people belonging to the clans along the coastal area of what is now known as the Sy ...

nation, born around 1750 in the area of

Botany Bay Botany Bay ( Dharawal: ''Kamay''), an open oceanic embayment, is located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, south of the Sydney central business district. Its source is the confluence of the Georges River at Taren Point and the Cook ...

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

. One of the most famous Aboriginal resistance fighters in the colonial era, he is noted for his resistance to European colonisation which began with the arrival of the

First Fleet The First Fleet was a fleet of 11 ships that brought the first European and African settlers to Australia. It was made up of two Royal Navy vessels, three store ships and six convict transports. On 13 May 1787 the fleet under the command o ...

in January 1788. Pemulwuy lived near

, which he would have known as Kamay in the Dharug language. Pemulwuy is considered to have been a carradhy (

cleverman A cleverman is a traditional healer and keeper of culture in many Aboriginal cultures of Australia. The roles, terms for, and abilities of a cleverman vary between different Aboriginal nations. Some clevermen heal bodily injuries and illnesse ...

), an Eora spiritual healer and culture keeper. Before his resistance effort, Pemulwuy would hunt meat and provide it to the food-challenged new colony in exchange for goods. In 1790 Pemulwuy began a twelve-year

guerrilla war Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare in which small groups of combatants, such as paramilitary personnel, armed civilians, or irregulars, use military tactics including ambushes, sabotage, raids, petty warfare, hit-and-run tactics ...

against the colonists, which continued until his assassination."Summer Series – Pemulwuy: A War of Two Laws Pt ", ''Message Stick'', Sunday 5 December 2010
accessed 3 March 2014 When Pemulwuy grew into manhood he became ''Bembul Wuyan'', which represents "the earth and the crow". According to Indigenous activist Richard Green, "he wasn't very impressed with the mix of cultures. He preferred that we stayed within our own peoples". Another name for him was ''Butu Wargun'', which means "

crow A crow is a bird of the genus '' Corvus'', or more broadly a synonym for all of ''Corvus''. Crows are generally black in colour. The word "crow" is used as part of the common name of many species. The related term "raven" is not pinned scientifica ...

Early life

Pemulwuy was born with a turned eyeball or other blemish in his left eye. According to historian

Eric Willmot Eric Paul Willmot , (31 January 1936 – 20 April 2019) was an Australian Aboriginal scholar, educator and engineer. Education Willmot was educated first at various Queensland schools and then obtained his BSc and DipED at the University of Ne ...

Normally, a child that showed an obvious deformity would've been, well, people would have expected that child to be sent back, to be reborn again. It was generally thought that humans, like everything, came from the land. And that a woman, the actual act of conception, was a woman being infected by a child's spirit from the land. And that child grows within her. And so he was different and he became more different. He became better than everybody else. Whatever anyone else could do, Pemulwuy did it better. He could run further, he was one of the best, he could use a spear like no-one else could. And so, around him, was created an aura of difference. So much so that he was said to be a clever man. In an Aboriginal society, clever man is often a man who deals with the spiritual nature of things and sorcery even.

His contemporary Colebe said that Pemulwuy's left foot was distinctive as it had been damaged by a club, perhaps to mark him as a carradhy (

or healer). The

Kurdaitcha A kurdaitcha, or kurdaitcha man, also spelt gadaidja, cadiche, kadaitcha, karadji, or kaditcha, is a type of shaman amongst the Arrernte people, an Aboriginal group in Central Australia. The name featherfoot is used to denote the same figure by ...

(ritual executioners and lawmen) of Central Australia similarly have a foot deliberately mutilated. His people, the Bidjigal are the original inhabitants of Toongabbie and

Parramatta Parramatta () is a suburb and major Central business district, commercial centre in Greater Western Sydney, located in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located approximately west of the Sydney central business district on the ban ...

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mounta ...

Conflict with settlers

Spearing of McIntyre

On 9 December 1790, a shooting party left for Botany Bay, including a sergeant of marines and three convicts, including Governor Phillip's gamekeeper John McIntyre. According to

Watkin Tench Lieutenant General Watkin Tench (6 October 1758 – 7 May 1833) was a British marine officer who is best known for publishing two books describing his experiences in the First Fleet, which established the first European settlement in Australia in ...

About one o’clock, the sergeant was awakened by a rustling noise in the bushes near him, and supposing it to proceed from a kangaroo, called to his comrades, who instantly jumped up. On looking about more narrowly, they saw two natives with spears in their hands, creeping towards them, and three others a little farther behind. As this naturally created alarm, McIntyre said, "don’t be afraid, I know them", and immediately laying down his gun, stepped forward, and spoke to them in their own language. The Indians, finding they were discovered, kept slowly retreating, and McIntyre accompanied them about a hundred yards, talking familiarly all the while. One of them now jumped on a fallen tree and, without giving the least warning of his intention, launched his spear at McIntyre and lodged it in his left side. The person who committed this wanton act was described as a young man with a speck or blemish on his left eye. That he had been lately among us was evident from his being newly shaved.Watkin Tench, ''The Settlement at Port Jackson'', Chapter Eight
accessed 3 March 2014

The group was pursued by the settlers with muskets, but they escaped. McIntyre was taken back to the settlement, gravely wounded. Tench suspected that McIntyre had previously killed Aboriginal people, and noted the fear and hatred that the Aboriginal people, including

Bennelong Woollarawarre Bennelong ( 1764 – 3 January 1813), also spelt Baneelon, was a senior man of the Eora, an Aboriginal Australian people of the Port Jackson area, at the time of the first British settlement in Australia in 1788. Bennelong ser ...

(an Aboriginal man whom Governor Phillip had captured, in the hope of interaction with the Aboriginal people) showed towards him.

Governor Phillip's military expeditions

An irate Governor Phillip ordered Lieutenant Tench to gather his company of marines and lead an expedition against the Bidjigal in retaliation for Pemulwuy's attack on McIntyre. He ordered that two Bidjigal were to be captured and ten killed; these ten were then to be beheaded and the heads returned to the settlement. Tench swiftly suggested an alternative and less bloodthirsty plan, that six Bidjigal be captured and brought to Sydney Cove but that none be killed out of hand.Moore 1987, pp. 117–118 Tench's proposal was accepted, and the expedition set out on 14 December in search of Pemulwuy and the Bidjigal tribe. The expedition was the largest military operation since the founding of the colony, comprising Tench, Lieutenants William Dawes and John Poulden, and 46 marines. However, despite three days of searching there was no sign of the Bidjigal. On 17 December, Tench ordered a return to Sydney Cove to gather supplies.

Resistance

Pemulwuy persuaded the

Dharug The Dharug or Darug people, formerly known as the Broken Bay tribe, are an Aboriginal Australian people, who share strong ties of kinship and, in pre-colonial times, lived as skilled hunters in family groups or clans, scattered throughout much ...

and

Tharawal people The Dharawal people, also spelt Tharawal and other variants, are an Aboriginal Australian people, identified by the Dharawal language. Traditionally, they lived as hunter–fisher–gatherers in family groups or clans with ties of kinship, ...

to join his campaign against the settlers. From 1792 Pemulwuy led raids on British colonists at

Georges River The Georges River, also known as Tucoerah River, is an intermediate tide-dominated drowned valley estuary, located to the south and west of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. The river travels for approximately in a north and then easterly ...

Prospect Prospect may refer to: General * Prospect (marketing), a marketing term describing a potential customer * Prospect (sports), any player whose rights are owned by a professional team, but who has yet to play a game for the team * Prospect (minin ...

, Toongabbie, Brickfield and Hawkesbury River. His most common tactic was to burn crops and kill livestock. In May 1795, Pemulwuy or one of his followers speared a convict near present-day Chippendale. In December 1795, Pemulwuy and his warriors attacked a work party at

which included " Black Caesar", one of the earliest settlers of African descent and a well-known

bushranger Bushrangers were originally escaped convicts in the early years of the British settlement of Australia who used the bush as a refuge to hide from the authorities. By the 1820s, the term had evolved to refer to those who took up " robbery unde ...

. Caesar managed to crack Pemulwuy's skull and many thought he had killed him, but he survived.

Escape

Despite still having buckshot in his head and body, and wearing a leg-iron, Pemulwuy escaped from the hospital. This added to the belief that he was a ''carradhy''. Pemulwuy resumed his fighting against the colonists by November 1797. However, his injuries had affected his ability as a fighter and his resistance was on a smaller and more sporadic scale for the rest of his life."Pemulwuy: A War of Two Laws Part 2", ''Message Stick'' Sunday 16 May 2010, 1:30pm ABC1
accessed 3 March 2014 Convicts William Knight and Thomas Thrush escaped and joined the Aboriginal resistance. According to Richard Green, "with simple spears, rocks,

boomerang A boomerang () is a thrown tool, typically constructed with aerofoil sections and designed to spin about an axis perpendicular to the direction of its flight. A returning boomerang is designed to return to the thrower, while a non-returning ...

s, stones, he emulwuydefeated the British army that they sent here. Every single soldier except for Watkin Tench, that they sent in pursuit of Pemulwuy either walked back into the community with their saddle over their shoulders or they didn't make it back".

Death

Governor

Philip Gidley King Captain Philip Gidley King (23 April 1758 – 3 September 1808) was a British politician who was the third Governor of New South Wales. When the First Fleet arrived in January 1788, King was detailed to colonise Norfolk Island for defence ...

issued an order on 22 November 1801 to bring Pemulwuy in dead or alive, with an associated reward. The order attributed the killing of two men, the dangerous wounding of several others, and a number of robberies, to Pemulwuy. On 2 June 1802, Pemulwuy was shot and killed by explorer and sailor

Henry Hacking Henry Hacking (1750 – 21 July 1831) was an Australian seaman and early explorer in New South Wales. He was responsible for shooting and killing the Aboriginal resistance fighter Pemulwuy in 1802. Biography Hacking was quartermaster of , t ...

, the first mate of the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against Fr ...

ship . "After being wounded, all the people believed that he was immune to British bullets," says Richard Green. "So he'd stand out in front and, you know, stand right out in front of them and take them on, you know? So after 12 years, his time ran out. He got his shot and he took it." Following the death of Pemulwuy, Governor King wrote to Lord Hobart that on the death of Pemulwuy he was given his head by the Aboriginal people as Pemulwuy "had been the cause of all that had happened". The Governor issued orders with immediate effect to not "molest or ill-treat any native", and to re-admit them to the areas of Parramatta and

from which they had been forcibly excluded. Pemulwuy's head was preserved in spirits. It was sent to

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

Sir Joseph Banks Sir Joseph Banks, 1st Baronet, (19 June 1820) was an English naturalist, botanist, and patron of the natural sciences. Banks made his name on the 1766 natural-history expedition to Newfoundland and Labrador. He took part in Captain James C ...

accompanied by a letter from Governor King, who wrote: "Although a terrible pest to the colony, he was a brave and independent character." Pemulwuy's son Tedbury continued fighting for a number of years before being killed in 1810. The circumstances relating to Pemulwuy's death and the fate of his remains was described by the ''

Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...

'' in 2003 as "Australia's oldest murder mystery".

Skull

Repatriation of the skull of Pemulwuy has been requested by Sydney Aboriginal people. In 2010, Prince William announced he would return Pemulwuy's skull to his Aboriginal relatives. One trail led to the

Natural History Museum A natural history museum or museum of natural history is a scientific institution with natural history collections that include current and historical records of animals, plants, fungi, ecosystems, geology, paleontology, climatology, and more. ...

in London, but the museum has no record of the skull, and it has not yet been able to be located among the estimated 3,000 other remains of Aboriginal people in the UK.

Legacy

The Sydney suburb of

Pemulwuy, New South Wales Pemulwuy is a suburb in Greater Western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Pemulwuy is located 30 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of the Cumberland Council. Pemulwuy is home ...

is named after him, as well as Pemulwuy Park in

Redfern, New South Wales Redfern is an inner-city suburb of Sydney located 3 kilometres south of the Sydney central business district and is part of the local government area of the City of Sydney. Strawberry Hills is a locality on the border with Surry Hills. The are ...

. In the 1980s the band Redgum composed a song about Pemulwuy entitled "Water and Stone". The first song on

James Asher James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguat ...

's 1996 new age album ''Feet in the Soil'' is entitled "Pemulwuy", and the last song is entitled "Pemulwuy Returns". Both feature

didgeridoo The didgeridoo (; also spelt didjeridu, among other variants) is a wind instrument, played with vibrating lips to produce a continuous Drone (music), drone while using a special breathing technique called circular breathing. The didgeridoo wa ...

s. Australian composer

Paul Jarman Paul Jarman is an Australian multi-instrumentalist, composer and choirmaster. He is known for his work with school children, assisting them to develop their compositions. Jarman works with other composers and choir leaders. and promotes the inclu ...

composed a choral work entitled ''Pemulwuy''. It has become an Australian choral standard, and was performed by the Biralee Blokes in their victory in the ABC Choir of the Year 2006. In 1987 Weldons published ''Pemulwuy: The Rainbow Warrior'' by

, a best-selling novel providing a fictionalised account using early colonial documents as source. Matilda Media re-released the book in 1994. The redevelopment of The Block in the Sydney suburb of Redfern by the Aboriginal Housing Company was named the Pemulwuy Project. In 2008,

Marlene Cummins Marlene Cummins is a jazz blues singer, saxophonist, songwriter, artist, Aboriginal Australian activist, broadcaster, dancer, and actor. Many activists consider her to be Australia's Angela Davis. Music Cummins is considered Australia's foremost ...

released an eponymous song about Pemulwuy. This was later presented to Prince William along with a petition to bring Pemulwuy's head back to his people. In 2009, a remote boxing game for the

Wii The Wii ( ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America and in December 2006 for most other regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major home game console, ...

console,

Pemulwuy Dream Team ''Pemulwuy Dream Team'' is a remote boxing game for the Wii console. It features Kooris, Naryma and Wasana, fighting against drugs in Tony Mundine's Redfern Gym in the underdeveloped, heavily indigenous Sydney, Australia, suburb of Redfern. ...

, was developed. In 2015, the

National Museum of Australia The National Museum of Australia, in the national capital Canberra, preserves and interprets Australia's social history, exploring the key issues, people and events that have shaped the nation. It was formally established by the ''National Muse ...

installed a plaque honouring his role in Australian history as part of the ''Defining Moments'' project. In 2017, a

Sydney Ferries Sydney Ferries is the public transport ferry network serving the city of Sydney, New South Wales. Services operate on Sydney Harbour and the connecting Parramatta River. The network is controlled by the New South Wales Government's transport a ...

Emerald-class ferry was named ''Pemulwuy''.Pemulwuy arrives in Sydney
Transport for New South Wales 30 August 2017

References

Sources

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