“We hope that by sharing this story with the world, that we are able to convince the British Government to return, not only Pemulwuy’s remains, but have all ancestral remains and stolen artifacts returned to all our Indigenous Communities”
Andrew Dillon (Indigenous Producer)
On 2 June 1802, Pemulwuy was killed, bringing an abrupt end to his long-fought battles with encroaching British invaders. News travelled fast across the colony that the Indigenous resistance fighter was shot dead, an original inhabitant of Toongabbie and Parramatta area, he was determined to protect the Indigenous ownership of the land and a way of life that has existed for over 60,000 years. The colonists rejoiced in the shooting. The shooting was labelled “‘Australia’s oldest murder mystery’” by the Sydney Morning Herald in 2003 and continues to perplex historians and Indigenous Australians alike.
The great mystery is what happened to him, why isn’t Pemulwuy in the history books? We know that horribly, his head was severed from his body at the time of his death and sent to England. Numerous calls have been made for the return of Pemulwuy’s remains by Australia’s Indigenous people.
There are rumours of his head being kept at the Royal College of Surgeons in London. The team behind the Pemulwuy movie have already begun, in consultation with NSW Parliament, to make inquiries with regards to Pemulwuy’s ancestral remains.
A joint letter signed by the Speaker of the House and our community elders-ambassadors in conjunction with the producers of the Pemulwuy film, have appealed to the various museums across the United Kingdom, for information pertaining to the whereabouts of Pemulwuy’s remains.
It is important for our communities and important for our people, to know that he is back in country and cared for by the people from which he originated.
The community elders supporting the Pemulwuy movie descend from the Dharug, Bidjigal and Dharawal communities.
Pemulwuy will be produced utilising the real locations in which we know historically Pemulwuy lived and breathed.
On 2 June 1802, Pemulwuy was killed, bringing an abrupt end to his long-fought battles with encroaching British invaders.