Colebee Boorooberongal (bef. 1791 - abt. 1831)

Born before 1791 in New South Wales, Australia

Ancestors

Died about 1831 after about age 40 in New South Wales, Australia

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Colebee Boorooberongal was an Indigenous Australian. Join: Indigenous Australians Project Discuss: INDIGENOUS_AUSTRALIANS

Biography

Colebee (also known as Coleby and Coley) was a Darug man of the Boorooberongal clan ^[1], which has been defined by colonists in some sources as the Richmond Tribe (sic). He should not be conflated with another notable Wangal man also named Colebee.

Work in progress

However, 'Creek Jemmy' was an alternative name for Colebee's life-long friend Nurragingy, Chief of the 'South Creek Tribe', according to Governor Macquarie^[2] when he wrote in his diary on 25 May 1816 of a grant of 30 acres of land on the South Creek between them as an additional reward for their fidelity to Government and their recent good conduct. It was actually granted on 31 August 1819, with rent to commence in 5 years' time, and was later to become known as Blackstown and then Blacktown.

It seems that Colebee was born at least 17 years before his 'sister' Maria, as he and his brother Djiembe (also spelt Deeimba) were amongst the first people to meet Captain Watkin Tench on the latter's exploration of the Hawksbury District in 1791^[3][4], along with his grandfather - Gomerberee, and his father - Yarramundi (Source: Darug Link Association, Inc., Blacktown).

The family were also to meet whitefella explorers in 1789 or 1790 - "On one occasion, while accompanied by coastal people Colebee and Burraberongal, the exploring party was greeted by Gombeeree, his son Yarramundi and grandson Deeimba, along with their respective wives, while children watched from the banks"^[5].

Colebee was a guide who assisted William Cox when he surveyed the road across the Blue Mountains in 1814. This Colebee, along with Nurragingy, tried to bring about a peaceful resolution to the years of conflict between white settlers and local Aboriginal people along the Hawkesbury, Nepean and Colo rivers, and in the South Creek area (ref.1).

He married Kitty, who was born in 1809, in the 1820s, presumably before their son Samuel Coleby was born in 1827.

On 22 October 1825, William Cox wrote a letter to the Colonial Secretary recommending Colebee be appointed as a Constable to the Windsor Police^[6].

Kitty's profile has that she was a Widow in 1831, indicating that Colebee had died about or before that time.

On 31 August 1819, under the rule of reformer Governor Macquarie, two Aboriginal leaders, Colebee and Nurragingy, were granted 30 acres (12.1 hectares) of land - in a letter dated 25 May 1816 - located on the Richmond Road at the intersection of what is now Rooty Hill Road. Although the registration of the land grant was in C. Colebee's^[7] name only, the land continued to be occupied by Nurragingy until his death and formed the crucial locus for several more land grants and the establishment of the Black Town Native Institution.

The site was resumed by government in the 1920s, and more recently was partially developed as a housing estate, but it continues as a space that connects pre-colonial traditional Aboriginal people with post-contact Aboriginal modernity and where the justice claims of post-colonialism await.

Kinship and Naming

Suggested use of naming fields (please click on hyperlinks for definitions):

• Proper first name: Colebee - This is the most widely acknowledged spelling of his name
• Preferred name: Colebee
• Skin name: unknown - this name is not public knowledge and may or may not be known, thus it cannot be used in a public profile.
• Clan/family group: Boorooberongal - in light of Colebee's skin name not being publicly available, Boorooberongal is considered to be the most appropriate name to to be used in the Last Name at Birth (LNAB) field, representing his family group.

Sources

1. ↑ Green, Richard. 'Blackstown and Windsor' in Dharug and Dharawal Resources, accessed 28 May 2019.

   Colebee, son of Yarramundie and bulunga to Maria is not to be confused with Colbee from Wungal in Sydney. We are of the line of Colebee

   Colebee (aka Coleby, Coley) succeeded in accommodating and adapting to the ways of the new colonial masters. It was he who accompanied William Cox in the construction of the road across the Blue Mountains in 1814, including acting as a guide during the European-led punitive expedition against the Gundungurra in 1816. The fact that those 14 men, women, and children who were killed at their camp near Appin were found by the only European party that did not have any Darug guides attached seems to indicate that the Darug guides led them away. Colebee and Nurragingy were granted a parcel of land by Governor Macquarie in 1816 and finalised in 1819. The land granted in present-day Blacktown was originally named BLACKSTOWN; Nurragingy and his family farmed the land until 1833 when the nearby Native Institution closed its doors. Nurragingy was said to never be the same after the death of his lifelong Mudjin Colebee, and it has been suggested that the farm went unattended during Nurragingy's months of mourning.

   The land presented is at present-day adjacent to Richmond Road to Bells Creek on Boongarrunbee, what would later become known as Blackstown, which is also related to a black place of residence.

   Colebee took the name Samuel Colebee and Married a young woman, Black Kitty, from the Prospect, or Warmuli clan who had attended the Parramatta Institution. Colebee and Black Kitty had a son and named him Samuel Colebee, who it has been said became a farmer, a native constable and eventually found his calling for the sea.

2. ↑ Smith, Keith Vincent (2008) Colebee, Dictionary of Sydney Accessed 23 Sep 2023

   Another Colebee was a guide who assisted William Cox when he surveyed the road across the Blue Mountains. This Colebee, along with Nurragingy, tried to bring about a peaceful resolution to the years of conflict between white settlers and local Aboriginal people along the Hawkesbury, Nepean and Colo rivers and in the South Creek area. For this, Colebee and Narragingy received the first grant of land made by the British to an Aboriginal person. Governor Macquarie wrote in his diary on 25 May 1816: On this occasion, I invested Nurragingy, alias Creek Jemmy with my Order of Merit by presenting him with a handsome Brass Gorset or Breast Plate, having his name inscribed thereon in full – as chief of the South Creek Tribe. I also promised him and his friend Colebee a grant of 30 acres of land on the South Creek between them as an additional reward for their fidelity to Government and their recent good conduct. This area became Blacktown in later years.

3. ↑ https://www.ancestry.co.uk/mediaui-viewer/collection/1030/tree/20306927/person/1191849963/media/77db6b27-0945-488f-bcc2-761562d87202?_phsrc=CrY4339&usePUBJs=true
4. ↑ https://www.historyofaboriginalsydney.edu.au/west/1790s
5. ↑ https://dictionaryofsydney.org/entry/parramatta_and_black_town_native_institutions
6. ↑ https://www.ancestry.co.uk/mediaui-viewer/tree/111747166/person/220101286746/media/32086_228464-00761?_phsrc=CrY4344&_phstart=successSource
7. ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20150405142758/http://www.gnb.nsw.gov.au/place_naming/placename_search/extract?id=JPIOvqUlKW

• State Records Authority of New South Wales; Kingswood, NSW, Australia; Archive Reel: 2561; Series: 1217; Description: Registers of Land Grants and Leases 1816-1822 Land Grants and Leases: cited in Ancestry.com. New South Wales, Australia, Land Grants, 1788-1963 [database on-line].