Midgegooroo (died 22 May 1833) was an Aboriginal Australian elder of the Nyungar nation, who played a key role in Aboriginal resistance to white settlement in the area of Perth, Western Australia. Everything documented about Midgegooroo (variously spelled in the record as "Midgeegaroo", "Midgegarew", "Midgegoorong", Midgegoroo", Midjegoorong", "Midjigoroo", "Midgigeroo", Midjigeroo", "Migegaroo", "Migegaroom", "Migegooroo", "Midgecarro", "Widgegooroo") is mediated through the eyes of the colonisers, some of whom, notably G.F. Moore, Robert Menli Lyon and Francis Armstrong, derived their information from discussions with contemporary Noongar people, in particular the son of Midgegooroo, Yagan. Largely due to his exploits in opposing colonisation and his relationship with Lyon and Moore, Yagan has a much sharper historical profile than his father. Midgegooroo was executed by firing squad and without trial under the authority of Lieutenant Governor Frederick Irwin in 1833.
Early life
Nothing is known of Midgegooroo's life prior to the arrival of white settlers in 1829. At that time, Midgegooroo was the leader of his home country, Beeliar, which stretched from the Indian Ocean to the Canning River, south of the Swan River. Robert Menli Lyon reported that the northernmost land in Beeliar adjoined "Melville Water and the Canning", and was bordered "by the mountains on the east; by the sea on the west; and by a line, due east, from Mangles Bay, on the south". Midgegooroo's main camp ("headquarters") was a place known as "Mendyarrup, situated somewhere in Gaudoo", suggesting that it was in the vicinity of Blackwall Reach and Point Walter. However, Midgegooroo's family had some rights to use resources on a large part of what is now metropolitan Perth, and were able to move freely about an even larger area, presumably due to kinship ties with neighbours. For example, he was seen on some occasions as far afield as near Lake Monger and the Helena River.
In 1830, Midgegooroo was reported to be an older man, short in stature with long hair and a "remarkable bump" on his forehead, a physical description repeated on occasions over the next two and a half years, including in a deposition presented in evidence before his execution. Midgegooroo appears to have remained aloof from the colonists. There is evidence that he occasionally engaged in friendly communications with some local farmers, including Erin Entwhistle, a man he speared in 1831. Unlike some of the other named Aboriginal people of the region, including Yagan, Weeip and Yellagonga, Midgegooroo does not appear to have ever performed casual labour for colonists in any capacity, and continued to move around Beeliar with his wives and children. He was described as consistently hostile to the presence of Europeans on his country; "a dangerous and furious ruffian". He had at least two wives, the older described as "rather tall and wanting her front teeth", the younger of whom was named Ganiup, and at least four sons, Yagan, Narral, Billy and Willim, and at least one brother. He appears to have spent much of his time "taking care of the women and children of the tribe".
Conflicts with white settlers
Early relationships between Noongar and colonists at the Swan River colony have been documented by Neville Green and Bevan Carter. Both document a story in which Aboriginals of the Swan and Canning River areas consistently demonstrated their opposition to colonisation, initially manifested by shouted warnings and aggressive postures, but increasingly by hostility and violence. Lieutenant Governor Sir James Stirling, in his proclamation of the colony in June 1829, warned that Aboriginal people were protected by British laws and any colonist convicted of "behaving in a fraudulent, cruel or felonious Manner towards the Aborigines of the Country" would be dealt with "as if the same had been committed against any other of His Majesty's subjects". Nonetheless, the first ten years of colonisation witnessed a significant level of violence in which a number of Europeans and Aboriginal people died. The actual death toll is unknown, but Carter in particular argues that the numbers of Aboriginal dead far exceeded the losses in the European community.