Burigon (died 1820), also called Burragong or Jack, was an

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 t ...

man and "Chief of the Newcastle Tribe". Alongside his tribe, Burigon entertained

Governor Macquarie Major-general (United Kingdom), Major General Lachlan Macquarie, Companion of the Order of the Bath, CB (; gd, Lachann MacGuaire; 31 January 1762 – 1 July 1824) was a British Army officer and colonial administrator from Scotland. Macquarie se ...

with a

corroboree A corroboree is a generic word for a meeting of Australian Aboriginal peoples. It may be a sacred ceremony, a festive celebration, or of a warlike character. A word coined by the first British settlers in the Sydney area from a word in the ...

at the site of the Newcastle Government House. Under the patronage of Commandant James Wallis, who was in charge of the British colonial post of Newcastle from 1816 to 1818, the convict artist

Joseph Lycett Joseph Lycett (c.1774 – 1828) was a portrait and miniature painter, active in Australia. Transported to Australia for forging banknotes, Lycett found work in the colony as a painter specialised in topographical views of the major towns ...

painted at least 14 scenes of traditional practices of the Awabakal peopl

Burigon and James Wallis hunted together and Wallis was to later write that he had "kinder feelings" for Burigon than for many of his own heritage. This close relationship of Burigon and Wallis was instrumental in gaining access for the artist Joseph Lycett to visually document the life of the Awabakal people. Burigon died October 27, 1820; he was fatally wounded at Newcastle when attempting to apprehend an escaped convict named John Kirby. Kirby was later arrested, convicted of wilful murder and executed in December 1820. Burigon's murder is the first legal case which resulted in the execution of a Caucasian man for the killing of an

Aboriginal Australian Aboriginal Australians are the various Indigenous peoples of the Mainland Australia, Australian mainland and many of its islands, such as Tasmania, Fraser Island, Hinchinbrook Island, the Tiwi Islands, and Groote Eylandt, but excluding the T ...

References

{{reflist Indigenous Australian people Year of birth missing 1820 deaths