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In a letter
dated 1 September 1863, the Guardian of Aboriginals, William Thomas advised
the Central Aboriginals Board that only eleven of the Bunurong tribe of
natives remained. These were; Der-re-mut (Derrimut) (d 1864,
Melbourne General Cemetery), Mon-gar-ra (“Mr Man”), Kan-Kan (“Adam Clarke”),
Ta-ar-deet (“Peter”), Tal-ler-ul-gate Snr (“Tommy”), Tal-ler-ul-gate Jnr
(“George”), Bur-dull-gu-ram (“Billy”), Yam-mer-book (“Big Jimmy”) (d
1877, Melbourne General Cemetery), Too-lumm (“Eliza”) (d 1877, Old
Cheltenham Cemetery), Pin-der-brig (“Betsy”) and Fresh Lubra (“Nancy”). In
1840, the population of the Bunurong tribe was estimated at 43 males and 29
females only for “disputation [with the Wurundjeri tribe], interruption to
the birth cycle, dispersal, and probably death from disease introduced by
European settlement all combined to bring havoc upon the Aboriginal
population”. Known to Europeans as “George Watson”, Tal-ler-ul-gate Jnr’s
death was the subject of a coronial inquiry before Samuel Candler when he
was found dead near “Key’s Hotel” at Brighton on 27 August 1867; he was
buried the following day in the public burial ground with the Cemetery’s
Sexton, Levi Marsh acting as the official witness. The official coronial
finding was congestion of the lungs based on the post mortem examination
performed by the local doctor Edwyn Whittenbury who noted that “medical
treatment would not have been of the slightest avail”. Eliza said on oath
that:
“I was
the ‘lubra’ of George Watson. He had been ill a long time very bad in the
chest and side and belly. He was in the Melbourne Hospital in the winter.
He has been out about 7 or 8 weeks. He was lying in his miami for three
weeks. He had plenty food - eggs and meat and rice - people in Brighton
gave them to me. I did not see Mr Thomas the Protector. He did not know
George Watson was ill at Brighton. I had plenty of blankets got at
Mordialloc. I got some physic for George. I told the police long time ago
he was ill. The Police came and saw him then. I have not told the Police
since. He would not go back to Hospital”. |
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Source:
Joy, S., “The Death of Tal-ler-ul-gate Jnr.”
(2005).
Joy, S., “The Search for the Beaumaris
Cemetery, Victoria 1855 - 1865” (1995).
Cribbin, J., “Moorabbin. A Pictorial History”
(1995) (Tal-ler-ul-gate is recorded as “Tal-ber-ul-gate” but as Shirley Joy
noted, there are very few ‘b’ sounds in their language). |
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