Governor Macquarie’s Interest in the Civilisation of Aborigines

Aboriginal Badge of Distinction
  
Governor Macquarie initiated the custom of presenting to important natives a brass gorget or breastplate inscribed with the name of the recipient as chief of some tribe. This gorget was usually the shape of the quarter moon, and was worn suspended round the neck. Macquarie made a number of native chiefs by conferring this distinction on them.

Bungaree: King of the Aborigines of NSW, Augustus Earle, 1826.

This is a Lithographic print of Bungaree. It shows the brass gorget presented to him by Governor Lachlan Macquarie - it was inscribed

‘Boongaree, Chief of the Broken Bay Tribe, 1815′.

(Source: Migration Heritage Centre: Objects through time....)



  

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