Person
Windiitj, Tommy (1840 - 1876)
- Born
- 1840
Western Australia, Australia - Died
- February 1876
Esperance Bay, Western Australia, Australia - Occupation
- Explorer
- Alternative Names
- Windich, Tommy
Summary
Tommy Windiitj explored various parts of Western and South Australia, particularly on expeditions with John and Alexander Forrest between 1869 and 1874.
Details
Quote from the ADB:
"He belonged to the Kokar people who spoke the Njaggi Njaggi tongue but was probably also fluent in the inland lingua franca, Kalarmai. Probably detribalized when young through an epidemic, he was brought up in the recently settled Bunbury district. Without formal education, he was well trained by elders in bushcraft and by white settlers in horsemanship. He was a great help to early land seekers and government surveyors, and accompanied Charles Hunt on his expedition into the country east of York in 1866. As a police tracker and native constable he helped in the arrest of the murderers of Edward Clarkson in January."
Related entries
Published resources
Book Sections
- Crowley, F. K., 'Windich (Windiitj), Tommy (1840-1876), Aboriginal tracker and explorer' in Australian dictionary of biography, volume 6: 1851 - 1890 R - Z, Bede Nairn, ed. (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1976), pp. 422-423. https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/windich-tommy-4871. Details
Resources
- Wikidata, http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q1425203. Details
- VIAF - Virtual International Authority File, OCLC, https://viaf.org/viaf/6295148390844110830006. Details
- 'Windich, Tommy (-1876)', Trove, National Library of Australia, 2009, https://nla.gov.au/nla.party-1462137. Details
McCarthy, G.J.
Created: 20 October 1993, Last modified: 1 November 2024
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