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Barangaroo

Barangaroo (c.1750 – 1791) was a member of the Cammeraygal clan of Aboriginal Australians during the early period of the British colonisation of Australia. She is most well known as being the second wife of Bennelong, who was a pioneering interlocutor between the Aboriginal people and the early British military establishment in New South Wales.^[1]

While Bennelong spent considerable time in the British settlement in Sydney, Barangaroo maintained her way of life with her people. She was a skilled angler, providing fish for her clan caught in and around the harbour, using a canoe known as a nawi. Barangaroo would only ever catch enough for her people's needs, so when she witnessed the British trawl thousands of fish, she was outraged.^[2][3][4]

She had two children and a husband prior to being Bennelong's wife, all of whom died. Her first husband is said to have died of smallpox, which was brought by the British. While with Bennelong, she had a baby girl named Dilboong. Barangaroo died in 1791 not long after giving birth and the baby also only survived for a few months.^[5] Barangaroo had a traditional cremation ceremony with her fishing gear, and her ashes were scattered by Bennelong around Governor Phillip's garden, in the area of the present day Circular Quay.^[5][4]

First Fleet marine Watkin Tench, in his first-hand account called A Complete Account of the Settlement at Port Jackson, describes several encounters with Barangaroo.^[6]

At the first meeting between the colonists and Barangaroo in October 1790 he describes how Bennelong presents her wearing a petticoat. "But this was the prudery of the wilderness, which her husband (Bennelong) joined us to ridicule, and we soon laughed her out of it. The petticoat was dropped with hesitation, and Barangaroo stood 'armed cap-a-pee in nakedness'." Tench said at the request of Bennelong "we combed and cut her hair, and she seemed pleased with the operation". She would not taste any of the wine that she was offered, even though she was invited to do so by Bennelong.^[2][6]

He also describes an occasion where a convict was flogged in front of an audience of Aboriginal people, for stealing from them. Barangaroo was angry, and menaced the man performing the flogging with a stick.^[3][6] His final mention of Barangaroo in the text is to describe how Bennelong would strike Barangaroo with blows and kicks and "every other mark of brutality".^[2][3][6]

A 22-hectare (54-acre) suburban areaatSydney's east Darling Harbour, not located in her traditional lands, was officially named in her honour in October 2006.^{[7][8][9][10][11]} The site was formerly a dockland precinct, once known as The Hungry Mile, used for shipping, and has since been redeveloped into commercial office spaces, residences, a casino, hotel, and parklands.

SSBarangaroo was a ferry operating across Sydney Harbour prior to the opening of the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Barangaroo Street in the Canberra suburb of Chisholm is named in her honour.^[12]

• List of Indigenous Australian historical figures

^ "Barangaroo". Geographical Names Register (GNR) of NSW. Geographical Names Board of New South Wales. Retrieved 23 January 2012.

• Grace Karskens (2014). "Barangaroo and the Eora Fisherwomen". Dictionary of Sydney. Dictionary of Sydney Trust. Retrieved 9 October 2015. [CC-By-SA]