Simon Wonga

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Simon Wonga

Simon Wonga (* 1824 ; † 1874 in Coranderrk ) was one of the sons of Billibellary and a Ngurungaeta (tribal leader) of the Wurundjeri - Aborigines who lived in the Melbourne area of what is now the state of Victoria in Australia .

In 1840, Simon Wonga seriously injured his foot while hunting and the Assistant Protector William Thomas and his wife Susannah cared for him for two months. During this time Thomas and Wonga met and through him Wonga learned to understand European society. This understanding helped Wonga later in life when his tribe wanted to use parts of their traditional land with white permission. Thomas also supported him in a financial dispute with an innkeeper.

Simon Wonga became the Wurundjeri tribal leader in 1851. In February 1859, at the age of 35, he went with Wurundjeri tribal leaders to William Thomas to preserve Taungurong Aboriginal land at the Acheron and Goulburn Rivers station for food growing . Wonga explained to Thomas: “ I bring my friends Goulburn Blacks, they want a block of land in their country where they may sit down plant corn potatoes etc. etc, and work like white man. “(German: I come with my friends, the Goulburn Blacks; they want to plant grain, potatoes, etc. on a piece of their land and work like the whites.)

The first response from the Government of Victoria to this request was positive, but on the initiative of the occupier, Hugh Glass, they were not given the desired land, but at Mohican Station, which was unsuitable for agriculture and they had to leave the place unsuccessfully.

In March 1963 the Kulin -Aborigines wanted to acquire a traditional Kamp-Platz at Coranderrk , near Healesville , and asked the owner. They got their own land back, but had to pay for it.

Melbourne has a Wonga Park , a suburb, and a Wonga Road .

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Isabel Ellender and Peter Christiansen: People of the Merri Merri. The Wurundjeri in Colonial Days , pp. 32-33, Merri Creek Management Committee, 2001 ISBN 0957772807
  2. ↑ a b c Simon Wonga in the State Library of Victoria. State Library of Victoria , accessed November 4, 2008 .
  3. ^ Isabel Ellender and Peter Christiansen: People of the Merri Merri. The Wurundjeri in Colonial Days , pp. 123-125, Merri Creek Management Committee, 2001 ISBN 0957772807
  4. ^ Richard Broome, p. 112, Aboriginal Victorians: A History Since 1800, Allen & Unwin, 2005, ISBN 1741145694 , ISBN 9781741145694
personal data
SURNAME Wonga, Simon
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Aboriginal leader
DATE OF BIRTH 1824
DATE OF DEATH 1874
Place of death Coranderrk , Australia