William Barak was a respected Wurundjeri leader and the last chief of the Wurundjeri tribe. “When the wattles bloom, this is when I will leave this land” (Barak, 1903).
John Green was a Scottish Presbyterian preacher who commenced work as a ‘bush missionary’ to Europeans in the goldfields. He preached at Allwood and other stations during the early 1860s gold rush era. In 1862, he helped Simon Wonga and William Barak set up a reserve mission at Coranderkk near Healesville. This was the first of 6 similar reserve missions set up in Victoria. The 300 Aboriginal people that gained refuge in these missions are the direct forbears of some 30,000 Victorian Aboriginal peoples today.
Rev. John Green and his wife Mary are remembered as loyal friends of the nation.
“We want a man whom God chose to lay the foundations of Coranderkk station, and that’s Mr Green. For if it were not for him, we all dead, and that’s all we require just now, and may the Lord bless you sir and give you good knowledge. I remain your kind friend, William Barak”.
(Words taken from a petition to have Rev Green reinstated to management of Coranderkk, 1875. His Petition was unsuccessful.)
William Barak is buried at Coranderrk mission and his headstone can be visited at Barak Lane, Coranderrk Cemetery, in Healesville.
