Back with Yemmerrawanne from Australia who was buried in Eltham in May 1794

His grave stone, 2011

Yesterday I was in the parish graveyard reflecting on the life of the young Yemmerrawanne from Australia who died here in the May of I794.

His was a short life and one that few people will know much about so I was pleased that Dr Keith Vincent Smith was kind enough to add more to the story.

Dr Smith is a historian and curator specialising in the ethnology and history of the Indigenous people of Sydney. His book on the Aboriginal Australian Bennelong published in 2001.*

Bennelong was a senior member man of the Eora who lived in the Port Jackson area close to the first British settlement in Australia and served as an interlocutor between the Eora and the British.

“Yemmerrawanne and Bennelong belonged to a clan called the Wangal on Sydney's Parramatta River, until they ''came in' peacefully to the British convict settlement at Sydney Cove in November 1790. Yemmerrawanne was initiated in early February 1791 on Sydney's north shore (possibly at Manly), home of the Gamaragal (gal=clan). Bennelong officiated at this ceremony in which boys were made men by knocking out the upper front right tooth and 'raising scars' on the bodies of the initiates.

Then in December 1792 the two Aboriginal Australians boarded the transport ship Atlantic with Governor Arthur Phillip for the six month voyage of 10,000 miles to England.

They passed 'ice islands' (icebergs) in the southern Pacific Ocean, rounded Cape Horn and visited Rio de Janeiro, arriving at Falmouth in Cornwall on 19 May 1793.

They reached London by coach on 21 May 1793 and were outfitted that day with clothing suitable to wear in London society at the London tailors Knox & Wilson, including long frock-coats with plated buttons, striped waistbands, breeches, underwear and spotted 'pepper-and-salt' waistcoats and buckled shoes. They later received gloves, hats from Busbys and canes.

Yemmerrawanne, date and artist unknown

They stayed at the home of William Waterhouse, a music page to the Duke of Cumberland, in Mount Street, Mayfair, where they had servants to attend them, wash and mend their clothes and repair their shoes. Coaches were provided for them to go sight-seeing to the Tower of London and St. Paul's Cathedral and they often went to the theatre.

Both Bennelong and Yemmerrawanne became ill at different times and were treated by navy surgeon Dr. Gilbert Blane. Bennelong recovered, but Yemmerrawanne suffered from the lingering lung infection that eventually killed him.

On 15 October 1793 they were taken by coach to Eltham after Yemmerrawanne injured his leg."

We know that he and Bennelong stayed in the house of Edward Kent who may have lived at South End and it was here that he was nursed by a John Briggs at Kent's house for no payment.

The parish church just sixty or so years after his burial in the graveyard

Sadly Yemmerrawanne died and was buried in the parish churchyard.


All of which has added a little bit more to the story of a young man from Australia who until now has only been a footnote in the guide books along with a name on a gravestone and an entry in the parish records.

The story of Yemmerrawanne was researched by Dr Keith Vincent Smith who gave permission to reproduce his work

**Bennelong: The Coming in of the Eora, Syndney Cove 1788-1792, Keith Vincent Smith
Kangaroo Press, 2001 - Aboriginal Australians - 182 pages

Pictures; Yemmerrawanne, Silhouette on paper, Artist unknown, no date, B10 f.14, Dixson Galleries, State Library of NSW, gravestone of Yemmerrawanne,  Irene Smith May 2011, and the parish church from The story of Royal Eltham, R.R.C. Gregory, 1909 and published on The story of Royal Eltham, by Roy Ayers, http://www.gregory.elthamhistory.org.uk/

A little bit of Australia in Eltham, the story of Yemmerrawanne and his death in 1794

Rev Shaw Brooke's entry in the parish records, 1794

“Yemmurrvonyea Kebarrah, a native of New South Wales, died May 18th 1794, supposed to be aged 19 years at the house of Mr Edward Kent.”

It is not much I grant you to sum up a man’s life, but that is about it.  The entry was written by the Rev. Shaw Brooke in the parish records and along with Yemmerrawanne’s gravestone that is all Eltham has of this young man who died so very far from home.

And I have to confess like most residents of Eltham I clocked the reference in various guide books and left it at that.

I suppose upper most in my mind was that this was a story which would be very difficult to track down. But like all good stories it deserved to come out of the shadows and with the help of Dr Keith Vincent Smith that is exactly what I have been able to do.*

Dr Smith is a historian and curator specialising in the ethnology and history of the Indigenous people of coastal Sydney. His book on the Aboriginal Australian Bennelong was published in 2001.**

Bennelong was a man of the Eora who lived in the Port Jackson area close to the first British settlement in Australia and served as an interlocutor between the Eora and the British. 

Yemmerrawanne, date and artist unknown

So I was very pleased when Dr Smith contacted me with more of the story of the young Yemmerrawanne, who was “an Aboriginal youth, who died at Eltham in the house of Mr. Kent on 18 May 1794. Yemmerrawanne and his kinsman Woollarawarre Bennelong were taken to England by Governor Arthur Phillip, first governor of the colony of New South Wales. Bennelong returned there in 1795.

The Rev. Shaw Brooke also made the entry in the parish burial register: Yemmurrvonyea Kebarrah, a Native of New South Wales, died May 18th 1794, supposed to be aged 19 Years, at the house of Mr Edward Kent

'Kebarrah' was a version of kebba or gibber, meaning 'stone' and acknowledged that the youth had been initiated by having his upper right incisor removed.”

Like so many peoples of different cultures and different places the British misnamed the young Yemmerrawanne and usually he was called “Yemmerrawanne or Imèerawanyee by English officers of the early colony of New South Wales, [and which was further compounded] by the Rev Shaw Brooke who wrote it as   'Yemmurrvonyea'.”

The grave of Yemmerrawanne, 1794

I doubt that we will get any more about his stay in Eltham.

We know that he and Bennelong stayed in the house of Edward Kent who may have lived at South End.

There is a reference to him in a tax record for 1793 which seems to suggest that he lived at this end of Eltham, and there is a record of another Edward Kent who was born here in 1785 who I guess was his son.

But my friend Jean is on the hunt and she may also be able to turn up something on “John Briggs, who nursed  Yemmerrawanne at Kent's house for no payment and also gave lessons in reading and writing to the two Aboriginal men. He was eventually paid 19 guineas (Treasury Board Accounts at the National Archives).

Briggs was due to leave on 31 October 1794 to work on the Gold Coast (Ghana) in Africa as a 'writer' (clerk). I suspect he might have been a Quaker because of his statement that he had not paid board and lodging to Edward Kent while staying at ‘my Brother’s house’, but had been ‘an expence to my friends’”.

So there you have it.

I know it is not much but it is a bit more than just a footnote in an Eltham guide book, and a place in our parish graveyard.

And who knows, perhaps more will emerge.  I hope so.

Location; Eltham, London

Pictures; the Rev Shawe Brooke's entry in the vestry records, photograph courtesy of Jeremy Steele, Yemmerrawanne, Silhouette on paper, Artist unknown, no date, B10 f.14, Dixson Galleries, State Library of NSW and gravestone of  Yemmerrawanne, Irene Smith May 2011 

*Original research and much of the story comes from Dr Keith Vincent Smith

**Bennelong: The Coming in of the Eora, Syndney Cove 1788-1792, Keith Vincent Smith
Kangaroo Press, 2001 - Aboriginal Australians - 182 pages

Biography of Bennelong (c1764-1813), a Sydney Aboriginal man who was kidnapped by Governor Phillip in 1789 and subsequently lived within both the European and Aboriginal cultures. Reveals Bennelong as a clever politician playing a double game between his people and Phillip. Recounts his leadership of a resistance movement against the European invaders, culminating in an unwritten peace 'treaty' in 1790. Includes map, illustration, appendix, notes, bibliography and index. Author worked on the 'Sydney Morning Herald' and the 'Australian' and was a correspondent for Australian Associated Press in London, Saigon and Sydney. Previous titles include 'King Bungaree'.