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Pemulwuy: The Rainbow Warrior
The story of Australia's resistance hero, Pemulwuy, who kept British settlement around Sydney restricted for 12 years 1790-1802
310 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1987
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
June 13, 2019
A fascinating account of a very interesting person. I really enjoyed this book. Thanks Elaine for letting me borrow it.
February 11, 2013
Pemulwuy and his troops rained spears on the Rum Corps and British invaders and, like Churchill against the Nazis, fought with resolution and ferocity. Unfortunately, unlike Churchill, he was outnumbered and overpowered in the end. But in this, his story, something of his legacy has been captured and perhaps even reborn.
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December 29, 2013Brilliant narrative!
August 11, 2012
It was really interesting to read about a legend Pemulwuy a man of courage and cunning that didn't just sit back and let us whiteys have everything as easy as we wanted.
May 8, 2023
This is an important book, based on fact, describing on the ground how the invading English and the First Nations people interacted in early days, 1789-1802. Some like Bennelong were highly regarded by the English, while others like the warrior chief Pemulwuy were hated. He was determined to drive the English back to England, by harassing and burning settlers’ farms and burning their crops. The Rum Corps were sent out to shoot them but Pemulwuy, a highly intelligent, charismatic and physically stunning leader, usually beat them with strategy. He was credited with being immune to musket bullets, because he received many but miraculously recovered and carried on the war. He so embarrassed Governor Hunter that his name was not written into official records because it was shameful that one man and his tribes could do so much damage to the English – and to Hunter’s reputation as governor.
Willmot, an aboriginal himself, explains tribal customs and languages, which gives a totally different perspective to the European one: that these people were backward and would be easily beaten by the white settlement, a Darwinan view of their extinction. On the contrary, this was in fact an invasion of a fully functioning society that held strong views about land ownership, different tribes occupying clearly defined areas. Pemulwuy himself was highly charismatic and his tribe mainly Eori around Sydney but he marshalled large numbers from different tribes under his leadership. The picture we get is that there was a genuine Frontier War, in which both sides fought bravely but that was denied by the early settlers and even today, especially by the Australian War Memorial who refuse to recognise that the Frontier wars were anything but skirmishes with the aboriginals losing. Modern Australians don’t officially want to know that the First Nations gave the invaders a strong run for their money.
This perspective was very recently endorsed in the Coronation. The ABC coverage included first nations people like Teela Reid, Stan Grant and white Craig Foster who explained how British Royalty sanctioned invading and the killing of aboriginals under the false claim they were an inferior race and would die out anyway. Royalty should apologise for that: maybe King Charles will eventually. Interestingly the ABC received a lot of flac for airing the views of Grant and Reid. It is encouraging that so many fluent and educated aborigines are appearing in public life who give the lie to any claims of intellectual and physical inferiority. One of my favourite scenarios is when Teela Reid made then PM Malcolm Turnbull look like a fool on television (Q&A).
This book then resonates right up to the present. The downside is that it is heavily didactic, slow going at times, with heaps of detail. The hundreds of aboriginal names are difficult to remember. But then perhaps we should know all that detail. It demands fairly immediate rereading. My first thought was **** because of the heavy going, but then it is so important and relevant to the present day that I award five stars.
Willmot, an aboriginal himself, explains tribal customs and languages, which gives a totally different perspective to the European one: that these people were backward and would be easily beaten by the white settlement, a Darwinan view of their extinction. On the contrary, this was in fact an invasion of a fully functioning society that held strong views about land ownership, different tribes occupying clearly defined areas. Pemulwuy himself was highly charismatic and his tribe mainly Eori around Sydney but he marshalled large numbers from different tribes under his leadership. The picture we get is that there was a genuine Frontier War, in which both sides fought bravely but that was denied by the early settlers and even today, especially by the Australian War Memorial who refuse to recognise that the Frontier wars were anything but skirmishes with the aboriginals losing. Modern Australians don’t officially want to know that the First Nations gave the invaders a strong run for their money.
This perspective was very recently endorsed in the Coronation. The ABC coverage included first nations people like Teela Reid, Stan Grant and white Craig Foster who explained how British Royalty sanctioned invading and the killing of aboriginals under the false claim they were an inferior race and would die out anyway. Royalty should apologise for that: maybe King Charles will eventually. Interestingly the ABC received a lot of flac for airing the views of Grant and Reid. It is encouraging that so many fluent and educated aborigines are appearing in public life who give the lie to any claims of intellectual and physical inferiority. One of my favourite scenarios is when Teela Reid made then PM Malcolm Turnbull look like a fool on television (Q&A).
This book then resonates right up to the present. The downside is that it is heavily didactic, slow going at times, with heaps of detail. The hundreds of aboriginal names are difficult to remember. But then perhaps we should know all that detail. It demands fairly immediate rereading. My first thought was **** because of the heavy going, but then it is so important and relevant to the present day that I award five stars.
October 2, 2022
4⭐️
Based on true events, Pemulwuy: The Rainbow Warrior is a fictional story of the legendary Aboriginal warrior and Eora man who did everything possible to drive the English out from settling in the Colony of New South Wales when they arrived in 1788.
Whilst you’ll no doubt recognise the names of many of the influential white ‘settlers’ in the book; it’s a sad reflection on our history and education system that Pemulwuy is not a name that most Australians will know. Thankfully; acclaimed academic, scholar and ally Eric Willmot has brought his story to light through this magnificent novel that is based on Pemulwuy’s efforts to reclaim Eora land for his people.
There’s a fair bit to get your head around in reading this book, as there is a lot going on and a lot of players involved. Although a novel, it’s clearly impeccably researched and leaves you with no doubt as to why Willmot was the leading authority in Pemulwuy prior to his death and why this book was so well received when first released in 1981. To my mind, Willmot has struck the perfect balance of having enough detail that it feels like a non-fiction book; but writes in such an interesting and engaging manner that you feel like you’re reading a work of fiction.
Pemulwuy: The Rainbow Warrior as a book left me with much to think about and for that reason alone it’s a recommended read. However, Pemulwuy as a man, warrior, activist and a hero, left an even bigger impression. This really is a book that everyone should read, not just for the pleasure of reading but for the sake of awareness, education and acknowledgement.
Pemulwuy: The Rainbow Warrior by Eric Willmot is book 15 in #ktbookbingo. Category ‘Hero Saves The Day’. To play along with my book bingo and to see what else I’m reading, go to #ktbookbingo and @kt_elder on Instagram.
Based on true events, Pemulwuy: The Rainbow Warrior is a fictional story of the legendary Aboriginal warrior and Eora man who did everything possible to drive the English out from settling in the Colony of New South Wales when they arrived in 1788.
Whilst you’ll no doubt recognise the names of many of the influential white ‘settlers’ in the book; it’s a sad reflection on our history and education system that Pemulwuy is not a name that most Australians will know. Thankfully; acclaimed academic, scholar and ally Eric Willmot has brought his story to light through this magnificent novel that is based on Pemulwuy’s efforts to reclaim Eora land for his people.
There’s a fair bit to get your head around in reading this book, as there is a lot going on and a lot of players involved. Although a novel, it’s clearly impeccably researched and leaves you with no doubt as to why Willmot was the leading authority in Pemulwuy prior to his death and why this book was so well received when first released in 1981. To my mind, Willmot has struck the perfect balance of having enough detail that it feels like a non-fiction book; but writes in such an interesting and engaging manner that you feel like you’re reading a work of fiction.
Pemulwuy: The Rainbow Warrior as a book left me with much to think about and for that reason alone it’s a recommended read. However, Pemulwuy as a man, warrior, activist and a hero, left an even bigger impression. This really is a book that everyone should read, not just for the pleasure of reading but for the sake of awareness, education and acknowledgement.
Pemulwuy: The Rainbow Warrior by Eric Willmot is book 15 in #ktbookbingo. Category ‘Hero Saves The Day’. To play along with my book bingo and to see what else I’m reading, go to #ktbookbingo and @kt_elder on Instagram.
February 15, 2023
Eric Willmot has written a well researched, entertaining history of Pemuluy, The historic Aboriginal leader, and fighter in the colonisation wars.
Willmot was a writer of books, plays, and an inventor of technology used in agriculture. He co-wrote 'The Rainbow Serpent' with Richard Guthrie, for SBS television.
His filmscript, 'Hijacker', was re-written as a play, and produced at the University of Queensland's Cement Box, now Geoffrey Rush theatre, in 1990 and 1991.
I designed and screen-printed the posters for these shows, and they will be on permanent display in the new Avalon Theatre foyer, and one is in the Queensland Art Gallery collection.
Willmot lived in Brisbane, Newcastle, Canberra and Townsville, and received an Order of Australia in 1984. 1936-2019 Rest in Peace.
Willmot was a writer of books, plays, and an inventor of technology used in agriculture. He co-wrote 'The Rainbow Serpent' with Richard Guthrie, for SBS television.
His filmscript, 'Hijacker', was re-written as a play, and produced at the University of Queensland's Cement Box, now Geoffrey Rush theatre, in 1990 and 1991.
I designed and screen-printed the posters for these shows, and they will be on permanent display in the new Avalon Theatre foyer, and one is in the Queensland Art Gallery collection.
Willmot lived in Brisbane, Newcastle, Canberra and Townsville, and received an Order of Australia in 1984. 1936-2019 Rest in Peace.
April 19, 2023
Certainly a book I'd recommend to any Australian who would like to have some understanding of life for Aboriginal people during the days of the early settlement of Australia. Pemulwuy was a great leader of his people and resisted colonial settlement in the district of Sydney to the point where there were stories of his many lives; occasions when there was a belief that he had been killed, but he came back. This has been supplemented by excellent documentary series such as Frontier Wars and The Australian Wars by Rachel Perkins. These stories need to be told again and again so that all Australians know and understand the truth about settlement and unlawful occupation and the consequences for Aboriginal people.
February 5, 2022
With even a passing familiarity of Australian history most readers will know how this finishes before they even start it. The sense of foreboding as this story draws to a close actually makes for very hard reading. If only we were afforded the luxury of branching off into speculative fiction, but that's not how history works.
This is an important book. Pemulwuy's story is one that all Australians should know. He should be honoured and respected as one of the greatest heroes of our nation.
This is an important book. Pemulwuy's story is one that all Australians should know. He should be honoured and respected as one of the greatest heroes of our nation.
May 8, 2017
Pemulwuy was a leader of the Eora people - the Aboriginal langauge group that lived where Sydney now stands. This is the story of the resistance of the Aboriginal people to the invasion of their lands.
A gripping novel of an aspect of Australia's contact history not often written about.
A gripping novel of an aspect of Australia's contact history not often written about.
June 8, 2021
An interesting historically based fiction into what life behind the scenes may have been like for Pemulwuy and his men.
It does tend to go on a bit though; some chapters could definitely have been compressed without a loss to the plot.
It does tend to go on a bit though; some chapters could definitely have been compressed without a loss to the plot.
December 9, 2021
Pemulwuy has been republished by Brio Books and it was a revelation. An extremely readable historical fiction novel, strongly based in fact. It humanises the Indigenous population in what is often a dry historical realm.
December 15, 2019
I read this following Watkin Tench's 1788. Of course their understandings of each other & the world come from hugely disparate beginnings. Fascinating read!
December 14, 2020
an overlooked story worth telling; lots of supposition but a worthy tale well researched and well-written; provides a good contribution to advancement of Australia's understanding of its sordid past
January 10, 2022
Thoroughly interesting but dense to read.
March 15, 2022
An important but uncomfortable read. Every Australian, especially Sydney spiders, should read this. The frontier wars in what is now the Sydney metropolitan area.
December 26, 2023
Really informative. What an amazing story of resistance.
January 11, 2024
Shame this bloke claims aboriginal. There are those who are Koori and those who just want to cash in.
May 27, 2023
As with Ion Idriess's Red Chief, the remarkable Eric Willmot tells this (flawed - grammar and typos) story of another great Aboriginal warrior Pemulwuy from an Indigenous perspective. Pemulwuy is a book that has been on my bookshelf for 20 years. It leapt out at me after the uneasy residual feeling arising from Kate Grenville's A Room Made of Leaves. All three of these books are written as novels but I certainly feel more comfortable with Eric Willmot's historical accuracy than with Grenville's account. Eric Willmot was a recognised authority on Pemulwuy.
Following an important Background, the story of Pemulwuy is framed within a structure of three parts of truth which arise from a story told by an old man (Mundi) to children about the spirits entering Yunada...
The subtlety of framing the story as he does escapes me but I'm convinced that is my failing rather than any shortcoming by Eric Willmot. Essentially we read about a series of skirmishes culminating in the defeat and despair that reverberates today.
Willmot proposes that the main reason so little is known (even now) about how the great warrior Pemulwuy fought against the British for more than a decade and went close to driving them out of Tuhbowgule (Eora name for Sydney Harbour) is that the Rum Corps made no mention in reports back to England of him or the war they were fighting for fear that reinforcements would be sent and their corrupt practices disturbed.
Following an important Background, the story of Pemulwuy is framed within a structure of three parts of truth which arise from a story told by an old man (Mundi) to children about the spirits entering Yunada...
"That Yanada was seen to be mad is the first part of truth that we we can see easily." ...
"This," said the old man, "is the second part of truth, the truth is other people's minds."
The old man stopped and smiled almost to himself.
"There is a third and final part to truth. It is the secret truth within each person.
The old man paused
"Tell us Mundi," called one of the children. "What is the secret?"
"No," he said, "I shall tell you what becomes of Yanada. You must think of this last ruth yourselves." p.117-118
The subtlety of framing the story as he does escapes me but I'm convinced that is my failing rather than any shortcoming by Eric Willmot. Essentially we read about a series of skirmishes culminating in the defeat and despair that reverberates today.
Willmot proposes that the main reason so little is known (even now) about how the great warrior Pemulwuy fought against the British for more than a decade and went close to driving them out of Tuhbowgule (Eora name for Sydney Harbour) is that the Rum Corps made no mention in reports back to England of him or the war they were fighting for fear that reinforcements would be sent and their corrupt practices disturbed.
February 19, 2017
Check out my full review at https://tintededges.wordpress.com/201...
June 9, 2014
Interesting, informative, and tragic. Highly recommended, we'll-written work of historical story line
May 9, 2018
great read, with some insight into our history. when I was given the book I didn't think I would enjoy it but it wasn't long before I hated having to put it down, I just wanted to keep reading. I was even able to answer a 500k question correctly in Who Wants To Be a Millionaire (Q. who was the 1st African-American bushranger in Australia?) after reading this book!! I wouldn't have known the answer if not for this book. I loved it!
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews