Woureddy

1835 painting of Woureddy by Thomas Bock

Woureddy (c.1790 – 7 July 1842), also known as Wurati, Woorady and Mutteelee, was a leading warrior and cleverman from the Nuenonne clan of Aboriginal Tasmanians in Australia.

He acted as a guide for George Augustus Robinson in his expeditions to round up the remaining Indigenous people of Tasmania during the early 1830s.

Woureddy was a highly significant figure in communicating Indigenous culture to Robinson and his disclosures remain a prime source of information about pre-colonial Aboriginal Tasmanian customs. He was also the husband of Truganini for period of around ten years.[1]

His image, and the busts of him and Truganini have over time been utilised and incorporated in conversations about the past in Tasmania.[2][3][4][5] The image by Thomas Bock is utilised in Cassandra Pybus's biography of Truganini.[6]

  1. ^ Plomley, NJB; Robinson, George Augustus (2008). Friendly Mission, the Tasmanian journals and papers of George Augustus Robinson. Hobart: Quintus. ISBN 9780977557226.
  2. ^ Duterrau, Benjamin (1835), Woureddy, retrieved 4 August 2024, see also for background about Duterrau's painting from newspaper report at the time: - "Van Diemen's Land". The Sydney Herald. Vol. VII, no. 584. New South Wales, Australia. 1 June 1837. p. 2. Retrieved 4 August 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  3. ^ Hansen, David (2010), Seeing Truganini, retrieved 4 August 2024
  4. ^ "Memories of the Past". Tasmanian News. No. 7918. Tasmania, Australia. 8 October 1906. p. 4 (Fourth Edition). Retrieved 4 August 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  5. ^ "Art and a cuppa brighten dull day". The Canberra Times. Australian Capital Territory, Australia. 20 June 1994. p. 23. Retrieved 4 August 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  6. ^ Illustrations between page 76 and 77, biography of Woureddy is on pages 283-285, the book has neither index or footnotes, see also - Lehman, Greg (21 October 2022), Interest and truth in history: A review of Truganini: Journey through the Apocalypse by Cassandra Pybus, ANU Press, retrieved 6 August 2024, Lee, Emma (2020), The long journey home (Book review), Inside Story Publishing Pty Ltd, retrieved 6 August 2024