Warrulan

Warrulan (sometimes written Warruloong or Warru-loong; known in England as Edward Warrulan; c. 1835–1855) was an Aboriginal Australian, who migrated to England as a boy. He was educated in agriculture and found work as a saddlemaker, dying as a young man before his hoped-for return to his homeland.

Early life

Warrulan was the son of Tenberry, the leader of a group of Ngaiawang people from Moorundie on the Murray River, in what was the British colony of South Australia. His birthdate is not recorded, but he was said to be aged about ten in late 1845. Tenberry and up to 200 other Aboriginal people journeyed from their homeland to the Port to view the ship and say farewell to Warrulan. at which he was enrolled on 2 August 1847.

He proved unsuited to farming, and his educators sought other outlets for his talents, including carpentry, that would allow him to find gainful employment on his return to Australia, eventually settling on saddle-making, and from February 1852 he was apprenticed to Thomas Dumbleton, of Banbury. on 27 October.

An obituary, with contributions from Warrulan's friends, and from Richard Routh, his head teacher at Sibford, was published in Aborigines' Friend and the Colonial Intelligencer, the journal of the Aborigines' Protection Society. It noted his Christian beliefs and his wishes to introduce his new faith to his family in Australia, to which he had expressed a desire to return.

Warrulan's father Tenberry, an older brother, and various uncles and cousins closely predeceased him. News of their deaths arrived during his final illness, and was kept from him by his friends.

Commemoration

In around 2023, a brass marker was erected near the site of Warrulan's grave. On 7 October 2023, Mark Koolmatrie, an elder of the Ngarrindjeri people, visited Warstone Lane Cemetery to perform a traditional ceremony "to take Warrulan's spirit back home to the Murray River".