Explorers

It became the custom to take Aboriginal guides or go-betweens on ships exploring new frontiers.

Soon after Bundle’s pioneering voyage to Norfolk Island, other Aboriginal seafarers were embarking on epic journeys: Bennelong and Yemmerrawanne to England (1792–93) and Gnung-a Gnung-a Murremurgan across the Pacific to Nootka Sound (Vancouver), the Californian coast and Hawaii (1793), while Tom Rowley visited Calcutta, Madras and New Ireland (1795–96).

In 1802–03 Bungaree, sailing with Matthew Flinders on HMS Investigator, visited Timor, and was the first Australian to circumnavigate the continent.

Worogan (Crow) and her husband Yeranabie accompanied Lieutenant James Grant in 1801 on an 11-week voyage in the 60-ton sloop Lady Nelson to Jervis Bay, Western Port and Churchill Island (Victoria).

Letters written by naval officer John Septimus Roe, acquired in December 2009 by the State Library of New South Wales, confirm that Bundle also circumnavigated Australia and visited Mauritius aboard HMS Bathurst during 1821–22.