13/01/2026
Pemulwuy and the First War on Country
When the British arrived at Warrane (Sydney Cove) in 1788, they declared the land empty, terra nullius, and began occupying it without treaty, consent, or recognition of the peoples who had lived there for tens of thousands of years. For the Eora Nation and neighbouring clans, this was not settlement—it was invasion.
Among those who refused to accept this was Pemulwuy, a Bidjigal man from the lands around present-day Parramatta, Georges River, and Botany Bay.
Pemulwuy was born with a physical difference in his foot, which under Bidjigal law marked him as a person of spiritual and cultural significance. He grew to become a lawman, a warrior, and later a resistance leader.
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The First War Begins
By the early 1790s, British farms had spread along the Hawkesbury and Parramatta River systems. These farms destroyed food sources, fenced sacred land, and violently displaced Aboriginal families. British soldiers and settlers routinely shot Aboriginal people, often without consequence.
Pemulwuy organised resistance.
This resistance was not random violence. It was war conducted under Aboriginal law—targeted, strategic, and focused on defending Country.
• Crops were destroyed
• Livestock was speared
• Settlements were attacked
• Soldiers were ambushed
Pemulwuy led coordinated attacks on British outposts, including government farms at Parramatta and Toongabbie. These attacks directly challenged the authority of the colonial government.
Governor Arthur Phillip himself acknowledged Pemulwuy as the most serious threat to British control in New South Wales.
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War with British Soldiers
In 1797, Pemulwuy was shot by British soldiers during a raid but survived. His survival elevated his status even further—many believed he was spiritually protected.
The British response was brutal.
• Shoot-on-sight orders were issued
• Bounties were placed on Pemulwuy
• Soldiers were authorised to kill Aboriginal people without trial
This marked one of the earliest formal military responses by the colony against Aboriginal resistance. It was no longer sporadic violence—it was open warfare.
Pemulwuy continued fighting for years despite overwhelming force, muskets, and organised troops. His resistance inspired other clans across the Sydney basin.
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Death and Desecration
In 1802, Pemulwuy was finally shot and killed by Henry Hacking, a British sailor and explorer.
What followed was an act of profound violence beyond death.
Pemulwuy’s head was severed and sent to England, preserved in spirits, as a trophy and a so-called “scientific specimen.” His body was denied proper cultural burial. His head has never been returned, despite repeated requests by Aboriginal communities.
This act symbolised the colonial desire not just to defeat resistance, but to erase it.
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Legacy
Pemulwuy did not lose a battle of ideas.
He forced the British to acknowledge that Aboriginal people would fight back. He exposed the lie of peaceful settlement. He led the first war of resistance in what became Australia, long before later frontier wars across the continent.
His son, Tedbury, continued the fight after his death.
Today, Pemulwuy is recognised not as a criminal—as colonial records described him—but as a freedom fighter, resistance leader, and defender of Country.
The war he fought was never formally declared, never formally ended, and never properly acknowledged.
But it was real
