Turandurey

Turandurey (1806 - ?) was a Wiradjuri woman from the Lachlan River area in central New South Wales near where the town of Hillston is now located. Turandurey is noted for her work as a guide and interpreter to the explorer Thomas Mitchell, while at the same time caring for her daughter Ballandella.

Guide for Thomas Mitchell's expedition Mitchell's Third Expedition began on 17 March 1836, setting out from Mount Canobolas with the Wiradjuri interpreter John Piper, who obtained a wife, Kitty, at Lake Cargelligo. It seems that because, as a woman, she was not limited by any of the inter-tribal protocols that local men needed to respect. A widow, she was joined by her daughter, Ballandella, who was aged four.

Turandurey agreed to the role. Mitchell's journals show that she gave directions on routes for travel, where to find water and the best locations to make camp.

At a location recorded as 'Pomabil' she located, not just a water source, but also made contact with a party of local people who were on their way up from the Murrumbidgee River, communicating when the male interpreter, Piper, appeared to be stumped.

Legacy Turandurey and Ballandella have streets named in their honour in the town of Balranald which is in the vicinity of Mitchell's depot camp where they remained while Ballandella recovered from her broken leg. The town of Ballendella in regional Victoria is also named after Turandurey's daughter.