What do we know of First Nations Leaders and the Founding of Melbourne?
At the time of European contact, Billibellary was a ngurungaeta (leader) for one of the three groups that formed the Wurundjeri-willam patriline of the Wurundjeri-balluk clan.
Europeans were not unknow to the Aboriginal people of Nairm at this time as they would have encountered sealers and whalers along the southern coast from as early as 1800. After all, the English convict, William Buckley, had escaped at Sorrento in 1803 after living with another Kulin clan on the Bellarine Peninsula for over thirty years.
Perhaps Billibellary thought the arrival of Batman and co. was just a temporary visit, much like the sealers and whalers, so the hospitality shown to these newcomers was no more than the regular free passage and limited access to resources that one Aboriginal clan offered to another such clan. The tools that Batman handed out to the natives were already known and much prized, perhaps these newcomers could be a welcome source of trade.
The Kulin nations saw other Aboriginal nations as hostile and often engaged in violent episodes so perhaps Billibellary saw the newcomers as allies or a buffer to these other threatening tribes.
Billibellary could never have foreseen that in a mere five years, the local Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung and Bunurong clans would be barred from entering this new village of Melbourne by the new appointed Superintendent of the port Phillip District, Charle La Trobe.
Billibelllary worked tirelessly with the new administration to find a reserve where his people could live in harmony with nature as they had for millennia. But his death in 1843 preceded the establishment of a reserve in Coranderrk some twenty years later.
Billibellary was a vital statesman during a time of great adversity for the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung and other Kulin people. He thrived under the old ways and then became a key witness to the drastic changes that unfolded on his Country when Europeans established a place that they would come to call Melbourne.
He approached such encroachments with grace and conciliation, always working for the rights and welfare of his people, even though his standing in a new society diminished significantly. Ultimately, Billibellary remained resilient and did not sway from his convictions. His perseverance and diplomacy ensure his name and fundamental contribution to our shared history will never be forgotten.
________________________________________________________________
References: https://www.firstpeoplesrelations.vic.gov.au/
Image: Billibellary, portrait by William Thomas (Protectorate), picture collection, State Library of Victoria ID mu000371
