Barangaroo was the second wife of

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 ...

, who was interlocutor between the Aboriginal people and the early British colonists in

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 ...

. Barangaroo was a member of 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. While Bennelong spent considerable time in the British settlement in Sydney, Barangaroo maintained her way of life with her people. She had two children prior to being Bennelong's wife, both of whom died. She had a baby girl, Dilboong, while she was Bennelong's wife. The baby only survived for a few months. Barangaroo died in 1791 and was buried in Governor Phillip's garden, in the area of the present day

Circular Quay Circular Quay is a harbour, former working port and now international passenger shipping port, public piazza and tourism precinct, heritage area, and transport node located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia on the northern edge of the ...

The accounts of Watkin Tench

First Fleet marine

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 his first-hand account called ''A Complete Account of the Settlement at Port Jackson'', describes several encounters with Barangaroo. At the first meeting between the colonists and Barangaroo in October 1790 he describes how Bennelong presents her wearing a

petticoat A petticoat or underskirt is an article of clothing, a type of undergarment worn under a skirt or a dress. Its precise meaning varies over centuries and between countries. According to the ''Oxford English Dictionary'', in current British E ...

. "But this was the prudery of the wilderness, which her husband (Bennelong) joined us to ridicule, and we soon laughed her out of it. The petticoat was dropped with hesitation, and Barangaroo stood 'armed cap-a-pee in nakedness'." Tench said at the request of Bennelong "we combed and cut her hair, and she seemed pleased with the operation". She would not taste any of the wine that she was offered, even though she was invited to do so by Bennelong. He also describes an occasion where a convict was flogged in front of an audience of Aboriginal people, for stealing from them. Barangaroo was angry, and menaced the man performing the flogging with a stick. His final mention of Barangaroo in the text is to describe how the Aboriginal women were treated with what he described as "savage barbarity", and that Bennelong would strike Barangaroo with blows and kicks and "every other mark of brutality". He also says that Barangaroo was not pitied as a result of this, as she was "a scold and a vixen".

Legacy

suburban area A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area, which may include commercial and mixed-use, that is primarily a residential area. A suburb can exist either as part of a larger city/urban area or as a separa ...

at Sydney's

east East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fa ...

Darling Harbour Darling Harbour is a harbour adjacent to the city centre of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia that is made up of a large recreational and pedestrian precinct that is situated on western outskirts of the Sydney central business district. Orig ...

, not located in her traditional lands, was officially named in her honour in October 2006. The site was formerly a dockland precinct used for shipping, and has since been redeveloped into commercial office spaces, residences, a casino, hotel, and parklands. In 2008, part of the precinct, called The Hungry Mile, was the site of the Opening Mass and several other large gatherings for World Youth Day 2008. The SS ''Barangaroo'' was a ferry operating across Sydney Harbour prior to the opening of the

Sydney Harbour Bridge The Sydney Harbour Bridge is a steel through arch bridge in Sydney, spanning Sydney Harbour from the central business district (CBD) to the North Shore. The view of the bridge, the harbour, and the nearby Sydney Opera House is widely regarded ...

. Barangaroo Street in the Canberra suburb of Chisholm is named in her honour.

References

External links

* {{cite web , url = http://dictionaryofsydney.org/person/barangaroo , title = Barangaroo and the Eora Fisherwomen , accessdate = 9 October 2015 , author = Grace Karskens , date = 2014 , work = Dictionary of Sydney , publisher = Dictionary of Sydney Trust CC-By-SA">Creative_Commons_license.html" ;"title="/nowiki>Creative Commons license">CC-By-SA/nowiki> Indigenous Australian people 1791 deaths Year of birth unknown