Munangabum

Munangabum (? - 1846) was an influential clan head of the Liarga balug and Spiritual Leader or neyerneyemeet of the Dja Dja Wurrung people in central Victoria, Australia.^[1]

He was influential in shaping his peoples response to invasion and European settlement in the 1830s and 1840s. He was gaoled in 1840 for sheep-stealing which resulted in Dja Dja Wurrung people traveling to Melbourne to plead for his release. Woiwurrung and Djadja wurrung people feared that unless Munangabum was released, he would move Bunjil to release the Mindye causing a plague to black and white.^[2]

Munangabum was released from Gaol in August 1840. On 7 February 1841 Munangabum was shot and wounded in the shoulder by settlers while his companion Gondiurmin died at Far Creek Station, west of Maryborough. Three settlers were later apprehended and tried on 18 May 1841 for the murder of Gondiurmin but were acquitted for want of evidence, as aborigines could not give evidence in courts of law.^[3]

In 1841 he acted as an envoy for Assistant Protector of Aborigines Edward Stone Parker, and almost died from lack of water for three days on an expedition to the Mallee.

Munangabum was murdered in 1846 by a rival clan-head from the south.^[4]

References

1. Gerry Gill, Sociologist presents the spiritual leader of the Jaara, University News, Vol 16 No 37, 8 October 2007. Accessed November 12, 2008
2. Ian D. Clark, pp85, Scars in the Landscape. A Register of Massacre Sites in Western Victoria 1803 - 1859, Aboriginal Studies Press, 1995, ISBN 0-85575-281-5
3. Ian D. Clark, pp99-100, Scars in the Landscape. A Register of Massacre Sites in Western Victoria 1803 - 1859, Aboriginal Studies Press, 1995, ISBN 0-85575-281-5
4. Keir Reeves, Munangabum Biographical Entry, Electronic Encyclopedia of Gold in Australia, 28 June 2007. Accessed November 12, 2008