William Barak (1824-1903), Aboriginal spokesman, variously called 'King William, last chief of the Yarra Yarra tribe' or 'Beruk (white grub in gum tree) belonging to the Wurundjeri Willum horde whose country lay along the Yarra and Plenty Rivers', was the son of Bebejern and great-nephew of prominent Victorian tribal leaders Billi belleri, Captain Turnbull and Jakki Jakki. He was regarded with more romance than reason by contemporaries as an innocent witness to the first European intruders, William Buckley and John Batman. He spent his childhood in traditional Aboriginal fashion but with tribal dislocation; after Melbourne's settlement he was not properly initiated. Relations invested him with the possum shawl, necklet, waist string and nose peg of manhood in a brief ceremony, but much of tribal lore was left to be picked up informally.... While adapting his own life to the changing conditions Barak maintained a remarkably balanced tie with his own culture. He was an accomplished painter in ochre and charcoal, 'a baritone of average compass', and a source on Aboriginal ways for both tourists and serious anthropologists.... He died on 15 August 1903. In 1934 the local Australian Natives' Association erected a marble monument donated by Mrs Bon in Healesville's main street. This was later defaced by vandals, stored in the municipal offices, and finally placed above the heap of stones which marks his grave at Coranderrk. Those who knew Barak described him unanimously as wise and dignified, with penetrating eyes and firm principles. The Board for the Protection of Aborigines noted him 'the most intelligent … remarkable black'. However, to the ordinary people he remained a romantic curiosity on picture postcards; erect and bearded, wearing sandshoes and a long coat, a Bible in one gloved d hand and a boomerang in the other. (http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/barak-william-2930) undefined

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