Bob Barrett or Monunggal ( – 15 October 1833) was a notable

Awabakal The Awabakal people , are those Aboriginal Australians who identify with or are descended from the Awabakal tribe and its clans, Indigenous to the coastal area of what is now known as the Hunter Region of New South Wales. Their traditional te ...

Indigenous Australian Indigenous Australians are people with familial heritage from, or recognised membership of, the various ethnic groups living within the territory of contemporary Australia prior to History of Australia (1788–1850), British colonisation. The ...

from the area around

Lake Macquarie The City of Lake Macquarie is a local government area (LGA) in the Hunter Region in New South Wales, Australia. It was proclaimed a city on 7 September 1984. It is adjacent to the city of Newcastle and is part of the Greater Newcastle area. The ...

and

Newcastle, New South Wales Newcastle, also commonly referred to as Greater Newcastle ( ; ), is a large Metropolitan area, metropolitan area and the second-most-populous such area of New South Wales, Australia. It includes the cities of City of Newcastle, Newcastle and Ci ...

. He was a trusted part of the British military establishment at the Newcastle and

Port Macquarie Port Macquarie, sometimes shortened to Port Mac and commonly locally nicknamed Port, is a coastal city on the Mid North Coast of New South Wales, Australia, north of Sydney, and south of Brisbane, on the Tasman Sea coast at the mouth of the ...

convict settlements, where he was employed in the tracking and capture of escaped convicts. He was also involved in a famous court case which set a precedent for

legal pluralism Legal pluralism is the existence of multiple legal systems within one society and/or geographical area. History Church and State The notion of "parallel sovereignty" between premodern States and the Catholic Church was an accepted situation ...

in Australia, and was later given a

non-commissioned officer A non-commissioned officer (NCO) is an enlisted rank, enlisted leader, petty officer, or in some cases warrant officer, who does not hold a Commission (document), commission. Non-commissioned officers usually earn their position of authority b ...

rank in an abortive Aboriginal paramilitary unit designed to engage with

Aboriginal Tasmanians The Aboriginal Tasmanians (palawa kani: ''Palawa'' or ''Pakana'') are the Aboriginal people of the Australian island of Tasmania, located south of the mainland. At the time of European contact, Aboriginal Tasmanians were divided into a numb ...

resisting British colonisation.

Early life

Not much is known about Barrett's early life, apart from that he was born in the Newcastle or Lake Macquarie region of

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

around the year 1795 and is regarded as being part of the

group of Indigenous Australians. His traditional name is mentioned as being Monunggal. As a young man he was regarded as powerful and intelligent by members of the British military establishment at the Newcastle penal colony and was utilised in tracking down and capturing escaped convicts around the period of 1817 to 1821. He was also trained in the use of firearms and became a very good marksman.

Port Macquarie

In 1821, Barrett together with two other well-known Awabakal men in

Biraban Biraban ( – 14 April 1846) was a leader of the Awabakal people, an Aboriginal Australian people who lived in the area around what is today Lake Macquarie. His native name prior to Awabakal initiation was We-pohng; his naming as Biraban is ref ...

and Jemmy Jackass (aka Werakata), were assigned to be taken to

to assist in the establishment of a new convict settlement there. Captain Francis Allman, the first Commandant of the Port Macquarie penal colony, utilised Barrett, Biraban and Jemmy to help establish communication with the local Birpai people and, similar to Newcastle, used to track down and capture escaped convicts. They were given firearms and the informal rank of 'bush constables'. Barrett, or Monunggal as he was sometimes known, became especially well-regarded by Allman, and was given the title of 'Chief of the Port Macquarie Blacks' even though he was not from the region. By 1823, Barrett had been involved in a number of escaped convict captures, including one where he shot a convict dead. His name was subsequently feared by the prisoners.

Bushrangers Bushrangers were armed robbers and outlaws who resided in the Australian bush between the 1780s and the early 20th century. The original use of the term dates back to the early years of the British colonisation of Australia, and applied to ...

had also started to raid the region by 1825, and Barrett was again prominent in the military expeditions to capture or kill them.

''R v Ballard (Barrett)'' murder trial

In February 1829, Barrett and several other Awabakal men were staying in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

and engaging in a

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around The Rocks and

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. They encountered a drunk Aboriginal man of the

Eora The Eora (; also ''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 ...

clan named Borondire (aka 'Dirty Dick'), whom they dragged to the shore near

Bennelong Point Bennelong Point, a former island in Sydney Harbour, is a headland that, since the 1970s, is the location of the Sydney Opera House in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. History Bennelong Point is known to the local Gadigal people of the Eora ...

and beat to death with waddies. Barrett, who was conspicuous in his signature outfit of an old soldier's jacket, and two of his associates were soon apprehended and found guilty of murder by a hastily convened coroner's court. Barrett was placed in custody, but by June the

Chief Justice of New South Wales The Chief Justice of New South Wales is the senior judge of the Supreme Court of New South Wales and the highest-ranking judicial officer in the Australian state of New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States a ...

Francis Forbes Sir Francis William Forbes (1784 – 8 November 1841) was a Chief Justice of Newfoundland, and the first Chief Justice of New South Wales. Early life Forbes was born and educated in Bermuda, the son of Dr. Francis Forbes M.D. and his wife Mar ...

, brought his case to the

Supreme Court In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

in order to discharge Barrett. Forbes' reason for this was to absolve the courts of any responsibility over "the quarrels between the aboriginal natives". Forbes further stated that:

to interfere with the savage tribes, whose countries we have taken possession of, in occupying a foreign country, the laws that are imported have reference only to the subjects of the parent state; I am not aware that those laws were ever applied to transactions taking place between the original natives themselves. This is founded on a wise principle. The savage and the social state are widely different. In the social state every individual sustaining an injury has the benefit of the collected wisdom of society to take his complaint into consideration. But it is not so among savages; in such a state, the passions become the ministers of justice. Amongst themselves the greatest injustice would arise, if that brute force to which they have recourse were to be restrained by the laws by which civilized society is bound. Besides, if we interfere in cases of acts of oppression on the persons of the aboriginal natives, committed amongst themselves, we must also interfere in questions of property, which very often give rise to those disputes, and thus have to administer justice in all their matters. For these reason, I do not think it just to apply our laws in cases arising solely between the natives themselves, and am of opinion that this man should be discharged from custody.

Barrett was subsequently released and was soon returned to Port Macquarie. This case, often mistakenly known as ''R v Ballard'' when its correct title is ''R v Barrett'', revealed the unwillingness of the British to protect Aboriginal Australians under their legal system, or even to recognise them as more than 'savages', let alone as British subjects. The case also set an important precedent of

in Australia, which, although somewhat overturned by a subsequent similar case called ''R v Murrell'' in 1836, remains relevant in modern Australian legal cases involving traditional Aboriginal practices of ''

inter se ''Inter se'' (also styled as ''inter sese'') is a Legal Latin phrase that means " ong or between themselves"., ''Inter se'' 819 (6th Ed.). The phrase is "used to distinguish rights or duties between two or more parties from their rights or duty ...

'' retribution. In 1841, the findings of the similar legal proceeding of ''

R v Bonjon ''R v Bonjon'' was a criminal court case, decided in the Supreme Court of New South Wales for the District of Port Phillip on 16 September 1841, in which Bonjon, an Aboriginal Australians, Aboriginal man, had been charged with murder for killing ...

'' seemed to confirm the outcome of the Barrett case over that of Murrell.

Later life

By 1830, Barrett had returned to Port Macquarie, where he was once more employed at the penal colony, capturing escaped convicts and otherwise assisting the military personnel there. He was involved in a sea rescue, where he and several other Aboriginal men, swam out and saved seven convicts and soldier whose boat had overturned in the harbour. In the same year, Barrett was given the title of 'captain' and placed in a non-commissioned officer role over a detachment of eleven other armed Aboriginal men. This force was to proceed to

Van Diemen's Land Van Diemen's Land was the colonial name of the island of Tasmania during the European exploration of Australia, European exploration and colonisation of Australia in the 19th century. The Aboriginal Tasmanians, Aboriginal-inhabited island wa ...

under the leadership George James MacDonald to fight against the

in the

Black War The Black War was a period of violent conflict between British colonists and Aboriginal Tasmanians in Tasmania from the mid-1820s to 1832 that precipitated the near-extermination of the indigenous population. The conflict was fought largely as ...

. However, this unit was disbanded before it was deployed.

Death

Barrett died at Port Stephens in 1833 from

smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by Variola virus (often called Smallpox virus), which belongs to the genus '' Orthopoxvirus''. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (W ...

References