Amazing that our wattles really are blooming again, when on this day, 15th August 1903, the last Ngurungaeta (leader) of the Wurundjeri people, William Barak, died and was buried in the small cemetery at Coranderrk. Today let’s remember William Barak and the voice he wanted for his people, not a voice of dissent, but one of harmony with the new Australians, one of mutual understanding and respect.
***
As a young boy of eleven, Barak was present along with his father Bebejan, when John Batman signed a treaty with leaders of the Kulin in June 1835 on the land which would become present day Melbourne.
Barak knew and spoke with Buckley, the escaped convict, who had live for 32 years with the Wathaurong people on the Bellarine peninsula.
Barak witnessed the removal of the Wurundjeri from the emerging Melbourne city on the orders of the superintendent of the Port Phillip District, Charles La Trobe in the early 1840’s.
Barak watched as his uncle Billibellary, the Ngurungaeta at the time, attempted but failed to reach a compromise with the new settlers and their laws, to grant a parcel of land for the exclusive use of the Wurundjeri.
Barak, with his cousin Wonga, finally managed to establish an Aboriginal reserve at Coranderrk in 1863 though the numbers of his people had been drastically reduced by this time. He continued to negotiate with parliamentarians and people of influence to secure a permanent hold on the small piece of land set aside for his people, all the while walking with one foot in each world, the ancient and the new.
Broken hearted, Barak watched as the number of his people fell further including the death of his only son, David. Coranderrk was constantly under threat and Barak turned to painting and art to portray the disappearing sacred traditions and culture of his people prior to the arrival of the Europeans.
Barak foretold his death to friends in early 1903 by saying “when the wattles bloom again I will leave you.”
___
Reference: First People by Gary Presland 2017 edition.
