Musquito

Musquito ( 1780 – 25 February 1825) (also rendered Mosquito, Musquetta, Bush Muschetta or Muskito) was an Indigenous Australian resistance leader, convict hunter and outlaw based firstly in the Sydney region of the British colony of New South Wales and, after a period in exile on Norfolk Island, in Van Diemen's Land.

Early life Musquito, of the Gai-Mariagal clan, also spelled Gamaragal, or Cammeraygal , of the North Shore of Sydney Harbour, was born around 1780.

Resistance to British colonisation in the Sydney region In 1805, there was serious conflict between the British colonists and the resident Indigenous Australians. Aboriginal men, such as Tedbury, Branch Jack and Musquito engaged in violent raids on British farms in the Parramatta, Hawkesbury and Georges River areas. Several settlers were killed and numerous Aboriginal people were shot dead. In April, Governor Philip Gidley King ordered a mobilisation of soldiers and decreed that no Aboriginal people be allowed to approach any British settlements.

In May, a punitive expedition conducted by the colonists captured Tedbury near Pennant Hills. Tedbury was forced to lead the British to the Dharug hide-out near North Rocks where they found stores of plundered corn. The Sydney Gazette reported that they also encountered Musquito and a small band there. Musquito called out to them "in good English" that he would continue his raids before running off. On 9 June 1805 the colonial authorities authorised the specific arrest of Musquito, whom they regarded as a key ringleader.

Norfolk Island

The transportation of Musquito to Norfolk Island resulted in a long period of peace between the Aboriginal and settler populations around Sydney. With this diminishing of hostilities, Governor King proposed in 1806 to repatriate Musquito and Bull Dog back to Sydney, but this never occurred. Musquito spent around 8 years on the island as a convict, working as a charcoal burner.

As part of the evacuation from Norfolk Island, Musquito was sent in January 1813 on the ship Minstrel with other convicts to Port Dalrymple in northern Van Diemen's Land. Many years later Kikatapula told George Augustus Robinson that one of the stock keepers shot a woman in the back. The Oyster Bay people retaliated and two of the stockmen were killed, while the other was severely wounded.

Musquito was charged with aiding and abetting the murder of a Tahitian farm hand named Mammoa and settler George Meredith's servant, William Hollyoak, at Grindstone Bay, and held in custody at Old Hobart Gaol. In November 1824, a group of 64 members of the 'Oyster Bay tribe' entered Hobart courageously to solicit Musquito's release. Although Governor Arthur was receptive to their entreaties and ordered some huts to be built at Kangaroo Point to accommodate them, Musquito remained incarcerated and the disappointed Oyster Bay people soon returned to the bush.

Historian Naomi Parry describes the evidence arrayed against Musquito for aiding and abetting as "dubious" and says that after his death it "remained unclear whether Musquito committed any murders". Musquito's contemporary Henry Melville called the conviction a "most extraordinary precedent" and Gilbert Robertson said it provoked further violence. The execution of Musquito undoubtedly inflamed the remaining members of the "tame mob" and 'Oyster Bay tribe' who, now led by Kikatapula, quickly resumed hostilities against the invaders. This expanded into a bloody conflict of extermination that has become known as the Black War.