Bennelong

In 2013, to mark the 200th anniversary of the death of Bennelong, the City of Ryde, in conjunction with Keith Vincent Smith, developed a website which explores the life and legacy of Woollarawarre Bennelong. 

https://www.ryde.nsw.gov.au/Finding-Bennelong 

The Finding Bennelong website poses questions such as:

• Was he a victim of circumstance who was randomly captured, interrogated and used by the English for their own purposes?
• Was he a canny political strategist?
• Can little favourable be said about Bennelong as the Sydney press wrote at the time of his death, or was he well-respected by his own people as a leader, elder and brother 

Finding Bennelong is a resource which explores the historical evidence and different perspectives about the life of Bennelong. The resource provides an overview of Bennelong's life through video narrative.

At this website you can explore the aspects of his life under the following themes:

Bennelong the Wangal: Woollarawarre Bennelong was born around 1764 in Wangal country on the southern side of the Parramatta River

Strangers: Governor Arthur Phillip attempted to establish open communications with the Eora people, but the wary Eora avoided the settlement

Abduction: Governor Phillip sent Lieutenant William Bradley with a party of marines to Manly Cove where they succeeded in the traumatic abduction of two men: Colebee, a Cadigal and Bennelong

Settlement: Bennelong re-opened friendly dialogue with the British, but this time it was on his own terms

Travellers: In December 1792 Governor Arthur Phillip returned to England accompanied by Bennelong and Yemmerawanne

Tour: Whilst in London, the Wangal clansmen toured impressive monuments including St Paul's Cathedral and the Tower of London

Tragedy: The stay in England was not a happy one for Bennelong and Yemmerawanne, with both men being afflicted with bouts of illness

Return: Bennelong had been abroad almost three years and learnt much about the alien country and culture of the English

Feud: Upon his return, Bennelong found that much has changed in the world of the Eora

Return to Country: Bennelong's influence amongst the British gradually waned and he withdrew from the settlement to lead the Kissing Point tribe

Obituary: A single damning obituary by the unsympathetic Sydney Gazette

Battle: What was not reported in the local press was the large-scale ritual revenge combat staged in Sydney not longer after Bennelong's death

Tribe: The death of Bennelong did not signal the demise of the Kissing Point tribe

Perspectives on Bennelong: Now, two centuries after his death and burial in 1813, we ask, who really was Woollarawarre Bennelong?

Discovery: the identification of Bennelong's likely grave site in Putney in 2010 sparked media interest across Australia and the world