Yagan

   ====Yagan (c. 1795 – 11 July 1833) was a Noongar warrior (aboriginal) in early indigenous Australian resistance to British settlement and rule in the area of Western Australia, Perth. After he led a series of attacks in which white settlers were killed, a bounty was offered for his capture dead or alive, and he was shot dead by a young settler. Yagan's death has passed into Western Australia folklore as a symbol of the unjust and sometimes brutal treatment of the indigenous peoples of Australia by colonial settlers. Famous throughout Australia. ====

Yagan was described as over six feet (1.8 metres) tall and possessing “a dignified bearing head and shoulders above his fellows, in mind as well as in body, and though a subject of terror to the white people, he yet commanded their admiration”. The contradictory views of Yagan by the settlers can be seen in reports of the time that described him as either courteous or very frightening. Boxing and shooting where around when Yagan was only five years old.  Yagan and his tribe were soon in trouble again for several thefts. In April 1833 they were fired upon while stealing flour from a Fremantle store, and Yagan's brother was killed. Yagan, Midgigoroo and others followed some carts taking provisions to settlers on the Canning River, and savagely speared the drivers to death. He, Midgigoroo and another, Monday, were then proclaimed outlaws, with a price of £30 on their heads. Midgigoroo was captured, reward.



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 Yagan was an aboriginal who was the son of Mingaroo, Who was the chief of the Bee lair tribe, Bee liar is the native name for the region south of Perth bounded by the Swan, Canning Rivers and the sea. In May 1832 a labourer named William Gaze was murdered. Yagan was identified as the killer, and in other recent attacks Mingaroo and the bee liar tribe have participated in attacks like this. After four months Yagan was captured also with two other native culprits and they were sentenced to detention on Carnac Island. Two soldiers were ordered to be sent as guards for Yagan. While Yagan was spending his time in captivity a settler called Robert Lyon had volunteered to spend time with Yagan and the two other culprits to study the aboriginal ways and there language. For about six weeks Robert Lyon tried to teach the natives civilization. But one night Yagan and the other captives escaped and stole a boat, Boats were unknown to aboriginals so Yagan’s courage and skill propelled him out eight miles from shore. After that Yagan returned to his natives and he was very conspicuous to him. Soon after that Yagan was in trouble again for several more thefts and finally he was shot on the 11th of July 1833 by a young shepherd named William Keates, Yagan’s head was removed and sent to London it spent over a century in storage at the museum before it was buried in a unmarked grave in 1964. =====

The son of respected Aboriginal elder Midgroroo was Yagan. Yagan was born around about 1795 and in 1829, when Yagan was probably thirties and had a wife and two children Captain Stirling established the Swan River colony. A serious rift between the settlers and the local Aboriginal Community was caused by an incident concerning the shooting and death of a young boy who had entered a homestead near Melville. The Yagan family, and friends entered a homestead and while they were there they speared a servant who had been working there. The boy’s death had to be avenged under the Aboriginal Law. Further tragic events occurred. Yagan and two of his friends were caught and sentenced to an indefinite period of time on Carnac Island, a small limestone outcrop only just South of Fremantle. After Yagan had escaped from prison he spent many months avoiding recapture. William and James Keats, two teenage brothers discovered Yagan and his brothers on 11 July 1833 and suggested that they should join them in hunting kangaroo.