Simon Wonga

Simon Wonga
Portrait by Carl Walter, 1866
Born	c. 1824
Died	1874

Simon Wonga (1824-1874), ngurungaeta and son of Billibellary, was an elder of the Wurundjeri indigenous people who lived in the Melbourne area of Australia. He was resolute that his people would survive the 'onslaught' of white men.

In 1835, he was present when his father and other Wurundjeri elders met with John Batman and witnessed the signing of the historically contentious 'treaty' which heralded the establishment of a permanent British colony in Victoria.

In 1840 Simon Wonga injured his foot in the Dandenongs. Billibellary searched for him, and when found carried him to a homestead where he was transported back to Melbourne by dray to be cared for and have his wound dressed for a period of two months by Assistant Protector William Thomas and wife Susannah.

He became ngurungaeta or headman of the Wurundjeri people in 1851.

In February 1859 some Wurundjeri elders, led by Simon Wonga (aged 35) and brother Tommy Munnering (aged 24) petitioned Protector William Thomas to secure land for the Taungurong at the junction of the Acheron and Goulburn rivers.

Initial representations to the Victorian Government were positive, however the intervention of the most powerful squatter in Victoria, Hugh Glass, resulted in their removal to a colder site, Mohican Station, which was not suitable for agricultural land and had to be abandoned. Finally in March 1863 the Kulin suggested a traditional camping site located at Coranderrk, near Healesville and requested ownership of this land. Access to the land was provided, though importantly not granted as freehold.