Bunurong

Bunurong (also spelt "Bunwurrung, Boonwerung, Bunurowrung, Boonoorong and Bururong") is the language and name of the Bunurong people, an Australian Aboriginal tribe of six clans along the coast of Victoria, Australia. Their territory ranged from the Werribee River, across the Mornington Peninsula, Western Port Bay to Wilsons Promontory.

They were referred to by Europeans as the "Western Port" or "Port Philip tribe" and were in alliance with other tribes in the Kulin nation. The Yalukit-willam clan occupied the thin coastal strip from Werribee, to Williamstown, around to Mordialloc Creek. The Mayone-bulluk occupied the area at the top of the Mornington Peninsula and the head of Westernport Bay. The Ngaruk-Willam occupied from Dandenong across to the Mordialloc area. The Yallock-Bullock occupied from the Bass River on the eastern side of Westernport Bay. The Burinyung-Ballak occupied.... The Yowenjerre occupied the eastern-most side of Bunurong land.

The Bunurong have two totems, Bunjil (the Eagle), their creator, and Waarn (the Raven), protector of waterways.

Derrimut (1810c - 28 May, 1864), a Bunurong Elder, informed the early European settlers in October 1835 of an impending attack by clans from the Woiwurrung group. The colonists armed themselves, and the attack was averted. Benbow and Billibellary, from the Wurundjeri, also acted to protect the colonists as part of their duty of hospitality. Derrimut later became very disillusioned and died in the Benevolent Asylum at the age of about 54 years in 1864. A few colonists erected a tombstone to Derrimut in Melbourne General Cemetery in his honour.

Like the neighboring Wurundjeri people, European settlement had a devastating effect on the Bunurong. Many died from European diseases, native foods became more scarce as they were forced from their lands for grazing, and birth rates plummeted. Some of the women, like Louisa Briggs, were kidnapped by whalers and sealers and taken to islands in Bass Strait to work as slaves.

A few survivors eventually were settled in 1863 at Coranderrk Aboriginal Station near Healesville, with people from neighboring tribes, particularly Wurundjeri. Coranderrk was closed in 1924 and its occupants moved to Lake Tyers in Gippsland.

From 2005 the Bunurong people are represented by the Bunurong Land Council. They are also recognised in the name of the Bunurong Marine National Park.

External references

* [http://www.greaterdandenong.com/Documents.asp?ID=2645&Title=History City of Greater Dandenong on The Bunurong People]
* [http://www.yarrahealing.melb.catholic.edu.au/kulin/b_story.html A Boonerwrung Story]