Windradyne
Encyclopedia
Windradyne was an Aboriginal
warrior
and resistance
leader of the Wiradjuri
nation, in what is now central-western New South Wales
, Australia
; he was also known to the British settlers as Saturday. Windradyne led his people in the Bathurst Wars, a resistance movement by the Indigenous Australians against the invasion of their lands by the British
settlers.
Windradyne's date of birth is unknown, but on his death in 1829 his obituary
in the The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser
—thought to be by his settler friend George Suttor
from 'Brucedale Station' north of Bathurst
—stated "His age did not, I think, exceed 30 years", thus putting his year of birth at approximately 1800.
Coe's biography of Windradyne from 1989 states that he was handsome and well built, with broad shoulders and muscular limbs. He had dark brown skin, thick black curly hair, and a long beard. He typically wore a headband
, and had his beard plaited
into three sections. It should be noted, however, that Coe's description does not fully correlate with a drawing of a Wiradjuri warrior that is thought to depict Windradyne.
When Windradyne visited Parramatta
to meet with Governor Thomas Brisbane
in December 1824, the Sydney Gazette (using the British appellation for him of Saturday) wrote that:
At the same event, another observer wrote that he was "a very fine figure, very muscular ... a good model for the figure of Apollo
".
Writing in his obituary, George Suttor described Windrodyne's appearance and character as:
arrived in January 1788, with casualties on both sides occurring as early as May 1788. While the early confrontations generally involved few combatants and were relatively rare, as the British population increased and spread further out from Sydney
, they came into contact with increasingly large numbers of Aborigines of different tribes and nations, and the frequency and intensity of the conflicts increased. These conflicts would come to be known as the Australian frontier wars
.
For the first twenty-five years of British settlement, the Wiradjuri's land in the central part of New South Wales remained isolated from the settlers due to the intervening barrier of the Blue Mountains. In May 1813 the exploration party of Blaxland
, Lawson, and Wentworth
found a route across the mountains, essentially by following existing Aboriginal trails. From a peak later named Mount Blaxland, the explorers claimed to have seen "enough grass to support the stock of the colony for thirty years" on the other side of the mountains—the Wiradjuri country.
Later that year Governor Lachlan Macquarie
sent his surveyor George Evans
to confirm the findings of the explorers, and in 1814 commissioned a road to be built across the Blue Mountains, which was completed in early 1815. Macquarie himself travelled the new road shortly thereafter, and on 7 May 1815 selected the site for the town of Bathurst
, thereby opening the region for British settlement.
Macquarie himself met with some members of the Wiradjuri camped at what would become Bathurst on his trip in 1815, making a positive report about their skills and nature, concluding with "They appear to be very inoffensive and cleanly in their persons", a quite positive assessment for the time. Macquarie's aide, Major Antill, also remarked positively of the Wiradjuri, writing in his journal "They appear to be a harmless and inoffensive race, with nothing forbidding or ferocious in their countenance ... They were perfectly mild and cheerful, and laugh at everything they see and repeat everything they hear".
Macquarie then spent a week touring the surrounding area, meeting with a number of the other indigenous inhabitants. On 10 May he wrote:
At this stage, based on his assumed year of birth of 1800, Windradyne would only have been a teenager
. Whilst there is no solid evidence that Windradyne was amongst the people that met Evans or Macquarie's party, it is quite possible as they were travelling through his clan's country; indeed there are theories that Windradyne may have been the impressive fellow who exchanged his mantle with Macquarie. Regardless, the process of British settlement of the area would be slow at first, with tensions between the Wiradjuri and the settlers intensifying to their peak some years later as the Wiradjuri lost access to their traditional campsites, hunting grounds, water sources, and sacred sites.
at the end of 1821. Brisbane favoured a faster pace of settlement, and a flood of settlers were granted land in the region; their influx quickly strained the available resources, as well as relationships with the Wiradjuri. Despite being just a young man in his early to mid-twenties, Windradyne arose as the key figure on the Aboriginal side resisting this change, in what would come to be known as the Bathurst Wars.
, when some stockmen were attacked and livestock
were released or killed. A number of other attacks on settlers—and in particular their convict
workers often working as stockmen or shepherds in isolated areas—as well as their stock were reported. While not directly naming Windradyne as an aggressor, these tactics of the Wiradjuri had some initial success, with workers becoming fearful, and some stations even reportedly being deserted.
In December 1823 'Saturday' was implicated as the instigator of hostilities that led to the death of two convict stockmen at Kings Plain; outraged settlers appealed for military
assistance, and soldiers were dispatched to arrest him. Windradyne went out to confront the soldiers, and it was reported that it ultimately took six soldiers and a beating with a musket
to restrain him. Taken back to Bathurst, Windradyne was sentenced to prison for one month. The Sydney Gazette wrote on 8 January 1824:
Following Windradyne's release hostilities continued to escalate, and some particularly violent incidents are reported from May 1824. The murder of Wiradjuri people by settlers, including women and children, is recorded from this time, with some sources stating this included close members of Windradyne's family. There are also reports of settlers leaving out poisoned food, in particular arsenic
-laced damper
, for the Aborigines. Another story states that a settler at Kelso
offered a group of Wiradjuri, apparently including Windradyne, some potatoes one day, which they accepted. The following morning the Aborigines (unfamiliar with British concepts of land or property ownership) returned to help themselves to more potatoes, on what was ultimately their land anyway. The settler, enraged with this 'theft', rounded up a group of vigilante
s and pursued the Aborigines, shooting and killing an unknown number of this family group. The Wiradjuri regrouped, and Windradyne told the elders that, in line with Wiradjuri custom, he would lead the revenge against the whites.
The Wiradjuri warriors dressed for battle and set out at night to seek retribution, with the first place they called being the Suttor's Brucedale Station. While George was not home, his eighteen year old son, William
was, and he met Windradyne at the door, assuring him that they had had no part in the murders and expressing his disgust at the actions. William's son would later recount the story:
The revenge attack on the settler, Samuel Terry, occurred on 24 May at Millah Murrah in the Wyagdon Ranges north of Bathurst, where he and six other stockmen were killed, with his hut burnt down, and his sheep and cattle slaughtered. Reportedly this homestead had been built upon a bora ground, an important initiation
place for the Wiradjuri. Attacks on other properties soon followed, with the press including reports of men being speared, buildings destroyed, stock being killed, and weapons being stolen. The attacks in the north-east were led by Windradyne, with other groups attacking settlers in the south.
The settlers soon sought their own revenge, with armed parties forming to attack the Wiradjuri. One group was reported to have caught and shot an Aboriginal women with two young girls, but they had little success against the warriors. Despite their inferior weaponry, the Wiradjuri's superior bushcraft
allowed them to attack unexpectedly, and disappear back into the bush
before the whites could respond. By August 1824 the Sydney Gazette was reporting genuine concerns about the ability of the colony to withstand the force of the Wiradjuri.
Due to the ongoing hostilities Governor Brisbane declared martial law
on 14 August 1824. The Commandant
at Bathurst, Major Morisset, was given greater powers to deal with the Aborigines, troop numbers at Bathurst were increased to seventy-five, and magistrate
s were empowered to administer summary justice
. With the armed settlers now backed by the military the violence quickly escalated, and the Wiradjuri were terrorised and killed in increasing numbers. While there were reports of massacre
s of warriors as they attempted to bury their dead, the main victims appear to have been the Wiradjuri women and children, shot, poisoned, and driven into gorges
. Recent estimates suggest that between a quarter and a third of the Wiradjuri in the Bathurst region were killed during these hostilities.
At the onset of martial law a special reward
of 500 acres (202.3 ha) of land was offered for Windradyne being taken alive, an offer that was extended to the Aborigines if they would turn in their leader. A week after the commencement of martial law the word "alive" was dropped from the reward notices, however he was neither captured nor betrayed. The high casualty rate of the Wiradjuri however took its toll, with many surrendering to the government, leading to the crisis subsiding. Despite Windradyne remaining at large, Brisbane repeal
ed martial law on 11 December 1824.
, Windradyne gathered the Wiradjuri again and determined to meet with the Governor to seek a formal end to hostilities. It was customary at the time for the Governor to hold an annual feast or conference for the Aboriginal people in late December in the marketplace
at Parramatta
. The Wiradjuri decided that would be an ideal and safe venue for the proposed meeting, with a large number of Aborigines from throughout the colony present, and the Governor on the spot, therefore making any reprisals against Windradyne unlikely.
The Wiradjuri, led by Windradyne, travelled nearly 200 kilometres (124 mi) across the mountains to attend the feast on Tuesday 28 December 1824, with Windradyne becoming the focus of attention and receiving a formal pardon
from Brisbane. The Sydney Gazette reported:
A number of factors indicate a British influence on Windradyne here, possibly that of the Suttors—the straw hat with the word peace in English, the olive branch, even the knowledge that he would be relatively safe at the feast. Brisbane reported the meeting to Earl Bathurst
, Secretary of State for War and the Colonies
, and Brisbane's superior:
Windradyne reportedly stayed at Parramatta for some time after the conference, before returning to Bathurst, and did not attend the feast the following year. Reports from later years occasionally implicated him in raids on crops and altercations with settlers around Lake George
. With little substantial evidence, however, these may have simply been vexatious claims against the 'notorious Saturday', or attempts by individuals to glorify themselves by association with him.
. Early reports then suggest that he died in the hospital soon after, talking to his people until the end, and was then wrapped in his mantle
and buried nearby with his weapons.
An anonymous author writing from "B-------e" on 24 March 1829—thought to be George Suttor
from 'Brucedale Station
'—sent a biography of "Saturday" to The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser that was published on 21 April of that year. Of his death it says:
It concluded with a Latin quotation from Terence
, Homo sum, humani nihil a me alicuum puto, meaning "I am a man, I consider nothing human as alien to me". An editorial comment added: "This quotation from the Roman dramatist contains a fine sentiment for those persons who think no more of man in a state of nature than they do of a wild animal".
George's son, William Henry Suttor
(the boy who had faced Windradyne and the Wiradjuri on the night they were seeking retribution in 1824), also paid tribute to Windradyne in the Sydney press during April 1829.
Later reports passed down within the Suttor family and recounted some years later elaborated on the above details. They claimed that Windradyne removed his bandages and discharged himself from the hospital, returning to his homeland and his people, who were camped on the Suttor's Brucedale Station about 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) north of Bathurst. There he died of gangrene
from his injuries, and was given a Wiradjuri burial at sunrise, sitting up facing the rising sun, (and as reported above) wrapped in his cloak and with his weapons. It is likely that the second account is the more accurate, as the grave site recognised as Windradyne's is indeed on Brucedale; the original account may have given only limited details to minimise the risk of some white settlers looking to seek a posthumous
measure of revenge on either the Suttor's, or Windradyne's grave.
[sic] ". In May 2000 the site was placed under a voluntary conservation order, and in the same year the National Parks and Wildlife Service
placed a boundary fence around the graves. The grave site was subsequently gazetted on 10 March 2006 under the Heritage Act as being a site of state significance.
The Wiradjuri people still revere Windradyne today as a great warrior, and his grave site is recognised and respected as an important site. While traditionally carved trees that are recorded to have marked the site from the time of his burial are no longer present, in more recent times Wiradjuri people have planted a group of trees around the grave site in a traditional diamond shaped pattern.
A suburb of Bathurst
is named after Windradyne, as is one of the student residence
buildings at Charles Sturt University
, Wagga Wagga.
In 2004 Windradyne was one of two Indigenous Australians commemorated as part of an installation in the New South Wales Parliament Buildings in Sydney
. The other man commemorated was Pemulwuy
who fought against European settlement in the Sydney district. Two cloaks representing each of the fighters were on display. The inscription for the cloak representing Windradyne read:
In 2008 Windradyne's story was featured in the first episode of the award-winning seven-part SBS
documentary series First Australians
.
Indigenous Australians
Indigenous Australians are the original inhabitants of the Australian continent and nearby islands. The Aboriginal Indigenous Australians migrated from the Indian continent around 75,000 to 100,000 years ago....
warrior
Warrior
A warrior is a person skilled in combat or warfare, especially within the context of a tribal or clan-based society that recognizes a separate warrior class.-Warrior classes in tribal culture:...
and resistance
Resistance movement
A resistance movement is a group or collection of individual groups, dedicated to opposing an invader in an occupied country or the government of a sovereign state. It may seek to achieve its objects through either the use of nonviolent resistance or the use of armed force...
leader of the Wiradjuri
Wiradjuri
The Wiradjuri are an Indigenous Australian group of central New South Wales.In the 21st century, major Wiradjuri groups live in Condobolin, Peak Hill, Narrandera and Griffith...
nation, in what is now central-western New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
; he was also known to the British settlers as Saturday. Windradyne led his people in the Bathurst Wars, a resistance movement by the Indigenous Australians against the invasion of their lands by the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
settlers.
Description
Although only limited information about Windradyne is available, mainly from the contemporary British accounts, it is possible to put together an approximate description of the man.Windradyne's date of birth is unknown, but on his death in 1829 his obituary
Obituary
An obituary is a news article that reports the recent death of a person, typically along with an account of the person's life and information about the upcoming funeral. In large cities and larger newspapers, obituaries are written only for people considered significant...
in the The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser
Sydney Gazette
The Sydney Gazette was the first newspaper in Australia. Governor King authorised the publication of what was initially called 'The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser in 1803. Subsequently the first edition was published 5 March...
—thought to be by his settler friend George Suttor
George Suttor
George Suttor was an Anglo-Scottish farmer and pioneer settler of Australia, who is notable as the founder of a significant Australian family, and also as a supporter of Captain Bligh following the 1808 Rebellion at Sydney, New South Wales.-Early life:Suttor was born in Chelsea, London, England,...
from 'Brucedale Station' north of Bathurst
Bathurst, New South Wales
-CBD and suburbs:Bathurst's CBD is located on William, George, Howick, Russell, and Durham Streets. The CBD is approximately 25 hectares and surrounds two city blocks. Within this block layout is banking, government services, shopping centres, retail shops, a park* and monuments...
—stated "His age did not, I think, exceed 30 years", thus putting his year of birth at approximately 1800.
Coe's biography of Windradyne from 1989 states that he was handsome and well built, with broad shoulders and muscular limbs. He had dark brown skin, thick black curly hair, and a long beard. He typically wore a headband
Headband
A headband is a clothing accessory worn in the hair or around the forehead, usually to hold hair away from the face or eyes. Headbands generally consist of a loop of elastic material or a horseshoe-shaped piece of flexible plastic or metal...
, and had his beard plaited
Braid
A braid is a complex structure or pattern formed by intertwining three or more strands of flexible material such as textile fibres, wire, or human hair...
into three sections. It should be noted, however, that Coe's description does not fully correlate with a drawing of a Wiradjuri warrior that is thought to depict Windradyne.
When Windradyne visited Parramatta
Parramatta, New South Wales
Parramatta is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located in Greater Western Sydney west of the Sydney central business district on the banks of the Parramatta River. Parramatta is the administrative seat of the Local Government Area of the City of Parramatta...
to meet with Governor Thomas Brisbane
Thomas Brisbane
Major-General Sir Thomas Makdougall Brisbane, 1st Baronet GCH, GCB, FRS, FRSE was a British soldier, colonial Governor and astronomer.-Early life:...
in December 1824, the Sydney Gazette (using the British appellation for him of Saturday) wrote that:
At the same event, another observer wrote that he was "a very fine figure, very muscular ... a good model for the figure of Apollo
Apollo
Apollo is one of the most important and complex of the Olympian deities in Greek and Roman mythology...
".
Writing in his obituary, George Suttor described Windrodyne's appearance and character as:
British settlement
Hostilities between the Indigenous Australians and the British settlers began just a few months after the First FleetFirst Fleet
The First Fleet is the name given to the eleven ships which sailed from Great Britain on 13 May 1787 with about 1,487 people, including 778 convicts , to establish the first European colony in Australia, in the region which Captain Cook had named New South Wales. The fleet was led by Captain ...
arrived in January 1788, with casualties on both sides occurring as early as May 1788. While the early confrontations generally involved few combatants and were relatively rare, as the British population increased and spread further out from Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
, they came into contact with increasingly large numbers of Aborigines of different tribes and nations, and the frequency and intensity of the conflicts increased. These conflicts would come to be known as the Australian frontier wars
Australian frontier wars
The Australian frontier wars were a series of conflicts fought between Indigenous Australians and European settlers. The first fighting took place in May 1788 and the last clashes occurred in the early 1930s. Indigenous fatalities from the fighting have been estimated as at least 20,000 and...
.
For the first twenty-five years of British settlement, the Wiradjuri's land in the central part of New South Wales remained isolated from the settlers due to the intervening barrier of the Blue Mountains. In May 1813 the exploration party of Blaxland
Gregory Blaxland
Gregory Blaxland was a pioneer farmer and explorer in Australia.- Early life :Gregory Blaxland was born 17 June 1778 at Fordwich, Kent, England, the fourth son of John Blaxland, mayor from 1767 to 1774, whose family had owned estates nearby for generations, and Mary, daughter of Captain Parker,...
, Lawson, and Wentworth
William Wentworth
William Charles Wentworth was an Australian poet, explorer, journalist and politician, and one of the leading figures of early colonial New South Wales...
found a route across the mountains, essentially by following existing Aboriginal trails. From a peak later named Mount Blaxland, the explorers claimed to have seen "enough grass to support the stock of the colony for thirty years" on the other side of the mountains—the Wiradjuri country.
Later that year Governor Lachlan Macquarie
Lachlan Macquarie
Major-General Lachlan Macquarie CB , was a British military officer and colonial administrator. He served as the last autocratic Governor of New South Wales, Australia from 1810 to 1821 and had a leading role in the social, economic and architectural development of the colony...
sent his surveyor George Evans
George Evans (explorer)
George William Evans was a surveyor and early explorer in the colony of New South Wales. Evans was born in Warwick, England, migrating to Australia in October 1802.-Early Career:...
to confirm the findings of the explorers, and in 1814 commissioned a road to be built across the Blue Mountains, which was completed in early 1815. Macquarie himself travelled the new road shortly thereafter, and on 7 May 1815 selected the site for the town of Bathurst
Bathurst, New South Wales
-CBD and suburbs:Bathurst's CBD is located on William, George, Howick, Russell, and Durham Streets. The CBD is approximately 25 hectares and surrounds two city blocks. Within this block layout is banking, government services, shopping centres, retail shops, a park* and monuments...
, thereby opening the region for British settlement.
First contact
There is evidence that the early encounters between the Wiradjuri and the British were quite affable. The first recorded meeting with them was by the surveyor Evans in December 1813 on the Macquarie River about 8 kilometres (5 mi) from present day Bathurst. Evans wrote in his journal:Macquarie himself met with some members of the Wiradjuri camped at what would become Bathurst on his trip in 1815, making a positive report about their skills and nature, concluding with "They appear to be very inoffensive and cleanly in their persons", a quite positive assessment for the time. Macquarie's aide, Major Antill, also remarked positively of the Wiradjuri, writing in his journal "They appear to be a harmless and inoffensive race, with nothing forbidding or ferocious in their countenance ... They were perfectly mild and cheerful, and laugh at everything they see and repeat everything they hear".
Macquarie then spent a week touring the surrounding area, meeting with a number of the other indigenous inhabitants. On 10 May he wrote:
At this stage, based on his assumed year of birth of 1800, Windradyne would only have been a teenager
Adolescence
Adolescence is a transitional stage of physical and mental human development generally occurring between puberty and legal adulthood , but largely characterized as beginning and ending with the teenage stage...
. Whilst there is no solid evidence that Windradyne was amongst the people that met Evans or Macquarie's party, it is quite possible as they were travelling through his clan's country; indeed there are theories that Windradyne may have been the impressive fellow who exchanged his mantle with Macquarie. Regardless, the process of British settlement of the area would be slow at first, with tensions between the Wiradjuri and the settlers intensifying to their peak some years later as the Wiradjuri lost access to their traditional campsites, hunting grounds, water sources, and sacred sites.
Bathurst Wars
In the Wiradjuri nation tensions started increasing after the British began settling the area following Macquarie's visit. While Macquarie had favoured a slow pace of settlement causing few problems, this changed when he was replaced by Governor Thomas BrisbaneThomas Brisbane
Major-General Sir Thomas Makdougall Brisbane, 1st Baronet GCH, GCB, FRS, FRSE was a British soldier, colonial Governor and astronomer.-Early life:...
at the end of 1821. Brisbane favoured a faster pace of settlement, and a flood of settlers were granted land in the region; their influx quickly strained the available resources, as well as relationships with the Wiradjuri. Despite being just a young man in his early to mid-twenties, Windradyne arose as the key figure on the Aboriginal side resisting this change, in what would come to be known as the Bathurst Wars.
Hostilities
It is suggested that the first hostilities led by Windradyne took place in early 1822 on the Cudgegong RiverCudgegong River
The Cudgegong River is a tributary of the Macquarie River in New South Wales. It rises near Rylstone and flows generally north-west past Mudgee it flows past the edge of Gulgong and then into Lake Burrendong which is created by Burrendong Dam on the Macquarie River. Windamere Dam on the Cudgegong...
, when some stockmen were attacked and livestock
Livestock
Livestock refers to one or more domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to produce commodities such as food, fiber and labor. The term "livestock" as used in this article does not include poultry or farmed fish; however the inclusion of these, especially poultry, within the meaning...
were released or killed. A number of other attacks on settlers—and in particular their convict
Convicts in Australia
During the late 18th and 19th centuries, large numbers of convicts were transported to the various Australian penal colonies by the British government. One of the primary reasons for the British settlement of Australia was the establishment of a penal colony to alleviate pressure on their...
workers often working as stockmen or shepherds in isolated areas—as well as their stock were reported. While not directly naming Windradyne as an aggressor, these tactics of the Wiradjuri had some initial success, with workers becoming fearful, and some stations even reportedly being deserted.
In December 1823 'Saturday' was implicated as the instigator of hostilities that led to the death of two convict stockmen at Kings Plain; outraged settlers appealed for military
Military
A military is an organization authorized by its greater society to use lethal force, usually including use of weapons, in defending its country by combating actual or perceived threats. The military may have additional functions of use to its greater society, such as advancing a political agenda e.g...
assistance, and soldiers were dispatched to arrest him. Windradyne went out to confront the soldiers, and it was reported that it ultimately took six soldiers and a beating with a musket
Musket
A musket is a muzzle-loaded, smooth bore long gun, fired from the shoulder. Muskets were designed for use by infantry. A soldier armed with a musket had the designation musketman or musketeer....
to restrain him. Taken back to Bathurst, Windradyne was sentenced to prison for one month. The Sydney Gazette wrote on 8 January 1824:
Following Windradyne's release hostilities continued to escalate, and some particularly violent incidents are reported from May 1824. The murder of Wiradjuri people by settlers, including women and children, is recorded from this time, with some sources stating this included close members of Windradyne's family. There are also reports of settlers leaving out poisoned food, in particular arsenic
Arsenic
Arsenic is a chemical element with the symbol As, atomic number 33 and relative atomic mass 74.92. Arsenic occurs in many minerals, usually in conjunction with sulfur and metals, and also as a pure elemental crystal. It was first documented by Albertus Magnus in 1250.Arsenic is a metalloid...
-laced damper
Damper (food)
Damper is a traditional Australian soda bread prepared by swagmen, drovers, stockmen and other travelers. It consists of a wheat flour based bread, traditionally baked in the coals of a campfire. Damper is an iconic Australian dish...
, for the Aborigines. Another story states that a settler at Kelso
Kelso, New South Wales
Kelso is a suburb of Bathurst, New South Wales, Australia, in the Bathurst Regional Council area.-History:Kelso was the original European settlement in the area. In 1816, the initial settlement of Bathurst was established on the eastern banks of the Macquarie River, in current-day Kelso...
offered a group of Wiradjuri, apparently including Windradyne, some potatoes one day, which they accepted. The following morning the Aborigines (unfamiliar with British concepts of land or property ownership) returned to help themselves to more potatoes, on what was ultimately their land anyway. The settler, enraged with this 'theft', rounded up a group of vigilante
Vigilante
A vigilante is a private individual who legally or illegally punishes an alleged lawbreaker, or participates in a group which metes out extralegal punishment to an alleged lawbreaker....
s and pursued the Aborigines, shooting and killing an unknown number of this family group. The Wiradjuri regrouped, and Windradyne told the elders that, in line with Wiradjuri custom, he would lead the revenge against the whites.
The Wiradjuri warriors dressed for battle and set out at night to seek retribution, with the first place they called being the Suttor's Brucedale Station. While George was not home, his eighteen year old son, William
William Henry Suttor
William Henry Suttor was an Australian pastoralist and politician. Suttor was born in Baulkham Hills, New South Wales, the third son of George Suttor and his wife Sarah Maria, née Dobinson....
was, and he met Windradyne at the door, assuring him that they had had no part in the murders and expressing his disgust at the actions. William's son would later recount the story:
The revenge attack on the settler, Samuel Terry, occurred on 24 May at Millah Murrah in the Wyagdon Ranges north of Bathurst, where he and six other stockmen were killed, with his hut burnt down, and his sheep and cattle slaughtered. Reportedly this homestead had been built upon a bora ground, an important initiation
Initiation
Initiation is a rite of passage ceremony marking entrance or acceptance into a group or society. It could also be a formal admission to adulthood in a community or one of its formal components...
place for the Wiradjuri. Attacks on other properties soon followed, with the press including reports of men being speared, buildings destroyed, stock being killed, and weapons being stolen. The attacks in the north-east were led by Windradyne, with other groups attacking settlers in the south.
The settlers soon sought their own revenge, with armed parties forming to attack the Wiradjuri. One group was reported to have caught and shot an Aboriginal women with two young girls, but they had little success against the warriors. Despite their inferior weaponry, the Wiradjuri's superior bushcraft
Bushcraft
Bushcraft is a long-term extension of survival skills. A popular term for wilderness skills in Canada, The UK, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, the term was popularised in the southern hemisphere by Les Hiddins in Australia as well as in the northern hemisphere by Mors Kochanski and...
allowed them to attack unexpectedly, and disappear back into the bush
The Bush
"The bush" is a term used for rural, undeveloped land or country areas in certain countries.-Australia:The term is iconic in Australia. In reference to the landscape, "bush" describes a wooded area, intermediate between a shrubland and a forest, generally of dry and nitrogen-poor soil, mostly...
before the whites could respond. By August 1824 the Sydney Gazette was reporting genuine concerns about the ability of the colony to withstand the force of the Wiradjuri.
Due to the ongoing hostilities Governor Brisbane declared martial law
Martial law
Martial law is the imposition of military rule by military authorities over designated regions on an emergency basis— only temporary—when the civilian government or civilian authorities fail to function effectively , when there are extensive riots and protests, or when the disobedience of the law...
on 14 August 1824. The Commandant
Commandant
Commandant is a senior title often given to the officer in charge of a large training establishment or academy. This usage is common in anglophone nations...
at Bathurst, Major Morisset, was given greater powers to deal with the Aborigines, troop numbers at Bathurst were increased to seventy-five, and magistrate
Magistrate
A magistrate is an officer of the state; in modern usage the term usually refers to a judge or prosecutor. This was not always the case; in ancient Rome, a magistratus was one of the highest government officers and possessed both judicial and executive powers. Today, in common law systems, a...
s were empowered to administer summary justice
Summary justice
Summary justice refers to the trial and punishment of suspected offenders without recourse to a more formal and protracted trial under the legal system...
. With the armed settlers now backed by the military the violence quickly escalated, and the Wiradjuri were terrorised and killed in increasing numbers. While there were reports of massacre
Massacre
A massacre is an event with a heavy death toll.Massacre may also refer to:-Entertainment:*Massacre , a DC Comics villain*Massacre , a 1932 drama film starring Richard Barthelmess*Massacre, a 1956 Western starring Dane Clark...
s of warriors as they attempted to bury their dead, the main victims appear to have been the Wiradjuri women and children, shot, poisoned, and driven into gorges
Canyon
A canyon or gorge is a deep ravine between cliffs often carved from the landscape by a river. Rivers have a natural tendency to reach a baseline elevation, which is the same elevation as the body of water it will eventually drain into. This forms a canyon. Most canyons were formed by a process of...
. Recent estimates suggest that between a quarter and a third of the Wiradjuri in the Bathurst region were killed during these hostilities.
At the onset of martial law a special reward
Bounty (reward)
A bounty is a payment or reward often offered by a group as an incentive for the accomplishment of a task by someone usually not associated with the group. Bounties are most commonly issued for the capture or retrieval of a person or object. They are typically in the form of money...
of 500 acres (202.3 ha) of land was offered for Windradyne being taken alive, an offer that was extended to the Aborigines if they would turn in their leader. A week after the commencement of martial law the word "alive" was dropped from the reward notices, however he was neither captured nor betrayed. The high casualty rate of the Wiradjuri however took its toll, with many surrendering to the government, leading to the crisis subsiding. Despite Windradyne remaining at large, Brisbane repeal
Repeal
A repeal is the amendment, removal or reversal of a law. This is generally done when a law is no longer effective, or it is shown that a law is having far more negative consequences than were originally envisioned....
ed martial law on 11 December 1824.
Peace
With the loss of so many warriors and the severe damage caused to their societySociety
A society, or a human society, is a group of people related to each other through persistent relations, or a large social grouping sharing the same geographical or virtual territory, subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations...
, Windradyne gathered the Wiradjuri again and determined to meet with the Governor to seek a formal end to hostilities. It was customary at the time for the Governor to hold an annual feast or conference for the Aboriginal people in late December in the marketplace
Marketplace
A marketplace is the space, actual, virtual or metaphorical, in which a market operates. The term is also used in a trademark law context to denote the actual consumer environment, ie. the 'real world' in which products and services are provided and consumed.-Marketplaces and street markets:A...
at Parramatta
Parramatta, New South Wales
Parramatta is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located in Greater Western Sydney west of the Sydney central business district on the banks of the Parramatta River. Parramatta is the administrative seat of the Local Government Area of the City of Parramatta...
. The Wiradjuri decided that would be an ideal and safe venue for the proposed meeting, with a large number of Aborigines from throughout the colony present, and the Governor on the spot, therefore making any reprisals against Windradyne unlikely.
The Wiradjuri, led by Windradyne, travelled nearly 200 kilometres (124 mi) across the mountains to attend the feast on Tuesday 28 December 1824, with Windradyne becoming the focus of attention and receiving a formal pardon
Pardon
Clemency means the forgiveness of a crime or the cancellation of the penalty associated with it. It is a general concept that encompasses several related procedures: pardoning, commutation, remission and reprieves...
from Brisbane. The Sydney Gazette reported:
A number of factors indicate a British influence on Windradyne here, possibly that of the Suttors—the straw hat with the word peace in English, the olive branch, even the knowledge that he would be relatively safe at the feast. Brisbane reported the meeting to Earl Bathurst
Henry Bathurst, 3rd Earl Bathurst
Henry Bathurst, 3rd Earl Bathurst KG PC was a British politician.-Background and education:Lord Bathurst was the elder son of Henry Bathurst, 2nd Earl Bathurst, by his wife Tryphena, daughter of Thomas Scawen...
, Secretary of State for War and the Colonies
Secretary of State for War and the Colonies
The Secretary of State for War and the Colonies was a British cabinet level position responsible for the army and the British colonies . The Department was created in 1801...
, and Brisbane's superior:
Windradyne reportedly stayed at Parramatta for some time after the conference, before returning to Bathurst, and did not attend the feast the following year. Reports from later years occasionally implicated him in raids on crops and altercations with settlers around Lake George
Lake George (New South Wales)
Lake George is a lake in south-eastern New South Wales, Australia about 30 minutes drive north-east of Canberra along the Federal Highway en route to Sydney.-Geography / Geology:...
. With little substantial evidence, however, these may have simply been vexatious claims against the 'notorious Saturday', or attempts by individuals to glorify themselves by association with him.
Death
Details of Windradyne's death and burial in 1829 are somewhat conflicting. They agree that he was injured in a tribal fight by the Macquarie River and was sent to Bathurst HospitalBathurst, New South Wales
-CBD and suburbs:Bathurst's CBD is located on William, George, Howick, Russell, and Durham Streets. The CBD is approximately 25 hectares and surrounds two city blocks. Within this block layout is banking, government services, shopping centres, retail shops, a park* and monuments...
. Early reports then suggest that he died in the hospital soon after, talking to his people until the end, and was then wrapped in his mantle
Mantle (clothing)
A mantle is a type of loose garment usually worn over indoor clothing to serve the same purpose as an overcoat...
and buried nearby with his weapons.
An anonymous author writing from "B-------e" on 24 March 1829—thought to be George Suttor
George Suttor
George Suttor was an Anglo-Scottish farmer and pioneer settler of Australia, who is notable as the founder of a significant Australian family, and also as a supporter of Captain Bligh following the 1808 Rebellion at Sydney, New South Wales.-Early life:Suttor was born in Chelsea, London, England,...
from 'Brucedale Station
Station (Australian agriculture)
Station is the term for a large Australian landholding used for livestock production. It corresponds to the North American term ranch or South American estancia...
'—sent a biography of "Saturday" to The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser that was published on 21 April of that year. Of his death it says:
It concluded with a Latin quotation from Terence
Terence
Publius Terentius Afer , better known in English as Terence, was a playwright of the Roman Republic, of North African descent. His comedies were performed for the first time around 170–160 BC. Terentius Lucanus, a Roman senator, brought Terence to Rome as a slave, educated him and later on,...
, Homo sum, humani nihil a me alicuum puto, meaning "I am a man, I consider nothing human as alien to me". An editorial comment added: "This quotation from the Roman dramatist contains a fine sentiment for those persons who think no more of man in a state of nature than they do of a wild animal".
George's son, William Henry Suttor
William Henry Suttor
William Henry Suttor was an Australian pastoralist and politician. Suttor was born in Baulkham Hills, New South Wales, the third son of George Suttor and his wife Sarah Maria, née Dobinson....
(the boy who had faced Windradyne and the Wiradjuri on the night they were seeking retribution in 1824), also paid tribute to Windradyne in the Sydney press during April 1829.
Later reports passed down within the Suttor family and recounted some years later elaborated on the above details. They claimed that Windradyne removed his bandages and discharged himself from the hospital, returning to his homeland and his people, who were camped on the Suttor's Brucedale Station about 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) north of Bathurst. There he died of gangrene
Gangrene
Gangrene is a serious and potentially life-threatening condition that arises when a considerable mass of body tissue dies . This may occur after an injury or infection, or in people suffering from any chronic health problem affecting blood circulation. The primary cause of gangrene is reduced blood...
from his injuries, and was given a Wiradjuri burial at sunrise, sitting up facing the rising sun, (and as reported above) wrapped in his cloak and with his weapons. It is likely that the second account is the more accurate, as the grave site recognised as Windradyne's is indeed on Brucedale; the original account may have given only limited details to minimise the risk of some white settlers looking to seek a posthumous
Posthumous
Posthumous or Posthumus may refer to:People* Ladislaus the Posthumous, 15th-century monarch in Bohemia, Hungary, and Austria* Posthumus, a character in Shakespeare's play, Cymbeline* Dick Posthumus, Michigan politician...
measure of revenge on either the Suttor's, or Windradyne's grave.
Commemoration
A Wiradjuri burial site on Brucedale Station containing two graves was marked by the Bathurst District Historical Society in 1954 with a monument, plaque, and stone axe-head as the "resting place of WindradeneNational Parks and Wildlife Service (New South Wales)
The National Parks and Wildlife Service is part of the Office of Environment and Heritage - the main government conservation agency in New South Wales, Australia....
placed a boundary fence around the graves. The grave site was subsequently gazetted on 10 March 2006 under the Heritage Act as being a site of state significance.
The Wiradjuri people still revere Windradyne today as a great warrior, and his grave site is recognised and respected as an important site. While traditionally carved trees that are recorded to have marked the site from the time of his burial are no longer present, in more recent times Wiradjuri people have planted a group of trees around the grave site in a traditional diamond shaped pattern.
A suburb of Bathurst
Bathurst, New South Wales
-CBD and suburbs:Bathurst's CBD is located on William, George, Howick, Russell, and Durham Streets. The CBD is approximately 25 hectares and surrounds two city blocks. Within this block layout is banking, government services, shopping centres, retail shops, a park* and monuments...
is named after Windradyne, as is one of the student residence
Dormitory
A dormitory, often shortened to dorm, in the United States is a residence hall consisting of sleeping quarters or entire buildings primarily providing sleeping and residential quarters for large numbers of people, often boarding school, college or university students...
buildings at Charles Sturt University
Charles Sturt University
Charles Sturt University is an Australian multi-campus university located in New South Wales, Victoria, and the Australian Capital Territory. It has campuses at Bathurst, Canberra, Albury-Wodonga, Dubbo, Goulburn, Orange, Wagga Wagga and Burlington, Ontario...
, Wagga Wagga.
In 2004 Windradyne was one of two Indigenous Australians commemorated as part of an installation in the New South Wales Parliament Buildings in Sydney
Parliament House, Sydney
Parliament House in Sydney is a complex of buildings housing the Parliament of New South Wales, a state of Australia. It is located on the east side of Macquarie Street in Sydney, the state capital. The facade consists of a two storey Georgian building, the oldest public building in the City of...
. The other man commemorated was Pemulwuy
Pemulwuy
Pemulwuy was an Aboriginal Australian man born around 1750 in the area of Botany Bay in New South Wales. He is noted for his resistance to the European settlement of Australia which began with the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788. He is believed to have been a member of the Bidjigal clan of...
who fought against European settlement in the Sydney district. Two cloaks representing each of the fighters were on display. The inscription for the cloak representing Windradyne read:
In 2008 Windradyne's story was featured in the first episode of the award-winning seven-part SBS
Special Broadcasting Service
The Special Broadcasting Service is a hybrid-funded Australian public broadcasting radio and television network. The stated purpose of SBS is "to provide multilingual and multicultural radio and television services that inform, educate and entertain all Australians and, in doing so, reflect...
documentary series First Australians
First Australians
First Australians is an Australian historical documentary series produced over the course of six years and first aired in October 2008. The documentary is part of a greater project that further consists of a hard-cover book, a community outreach program and a substantial website featuring over 200...
.