Barangaroo

This article is about the person. For the locality in New South Wales, see Barangaroo, New South Wales.

Barangaroo
Bornc.1750
Died1791
Known forProminent Eora woman during the early stages of the British colonisation of Australia.
SpouseBennelong

Barangaroo (c. 1750 – c. 1791) was a Aboriginal Australian woman best known for her interactions with the British colony of New South Wales during the first years of the European colonisation of Australia. A member of the Cammeraygal clan, she was the wife of Bennelong, who served as a prominent interlocutor between local Aboriginal people and the colonists.[1]

Barangaroo was married to another man, and had two children with him prior to marrying Bennelong. Her first husband and two children all died before the second marriage, with the husband allegedly dying of smallpox. Barangaroo had a daughter named Dilboong with Bennelong, before dying shortly after in 1791; Dilboong only lived for a few months before dying.[2] Barangaroo had a traditional cremation ceremony with her fishing gear, and her ashes were scattered by Bennelong around Governor Arthur Phillip's garden, located in the modern-day Circular Quay.[2][3]

Like Bennelong, Barangaroo had a considerable influence on settler-Aboriginal relations during the first years of the British colonisation of New South Wales. When she first met the colonists in 1790, Barangaroo was described as being in her early 40's and was noted for her refusal to interact with the settlers in any significant way. Initially refusing to visit the colonists at Sydney Cove, she eventually went to meet Philip in 1791. Historians have argued that Barangaroo served as a matriarch of the Cammeraygal via her role as a fisherwoman.[4][5][3]

  1. ^ Collins, David. "Appendix". An account of the English Colony in New South Wales (PDF). Vol. 1. sub. V. ISBN 0-589-07168-8.
  2. ^ a b Smith, Keith (2009). "Bennelong among his people" (PDF). Aboriginal History. 33: 16–17. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 August 2011. Retrieved 2 November 2010.
  3. ^ a b Ridgeway, Aden. "Barangaroo the woman". barangaroo.com. NSW Government. Retrieved 6 January 2024.
  4. ^ "Barangaroo, a Cameragal woman of courage" (PDF). Annual Report. Sydney: Barangaroo Delivery Authority. 2011. p. 7. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 March 2012. Retrieved 23 January 2012.
  5. ^ Karskens, Grace (6 March 2010). "Barangaroo, a woman worth remembering". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 14 September 2015.