Sydney home bought by NSW government for $2.9m to be transformed into memorial to honour Eora nation elder

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

The last resting place of 18th century Aboriginal interpreter Woollarawarre Bennelong has been bought by the New South Wales government and will be turned into a public memorial site.

The residential home at 25 Watson Street in Putney, in Sydney’s north-west, was the burial site of Bennelong, an Eora nation elder who acted as an intermediary between British settlers and Sydney’s Aboriginal community.

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The property, which sits on the banks of the Parramatta River, was once part of the estate of James Squire, an ex-convict, Australia’s first brewer and a friend of Bennelong.

Bennelong is believed to have been buried in an unmarked grave by Squire under an orchard tree, in a location out the front of house near the street’s nature strip.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest 25 Watson Street, Putney, the burial site of Bennelong. Photograph: Jessica Hromas/The Guardian

On Sunday, the minister for planning and housing, Anthony Roberts, announced the property was purchased from a developer for $2.9m to ensure the protection and preservation of the site.

“Two hundred years it’s taken to for a government and the community to say, we need to recognise where Bennelong the great leader and indeed ambassador was laid to rest,” Roberts told reporters.

As Australia moves along the path to reconciliation, the decision to purchase the property was a way to pay tribute to the contribution of Bennelong and the Aboriginal people of Australia in the past and into the future, Roberts said.

Desmond Lee Madde, a member of the Bennelong Putney committee that worked on the project with the state government, said the purchase was very significant.

A new committee will be established to determine the next step for the site, but once finished the memorial will be open to the public.

“It’s going to be culturally appropriate, it’s going to be somewhere that everyone can celebrate the life of Bennelong and also learn more about the story,” Madde said.







