'Timbere sauvage de la nouvelle galles du sud en grand costume (Relache au Port Jackson)'

Timbéré or Timbery (1784-1840) was a Dharawal leader from the Five Islands (Illawarra) area of the south coast of New South Wales. Members of the Timbery family are said to have been present when James Cook - and later Arthur Phillip - dropped anchor in Botany Bay, and are said to have directed both captains to fresh water sources and fishing spots. Timbery is thought to have been born under a fig tree at Charcoal Creek, near Wollongong. In 1816 Governor Lachlan Macquarie named him King of the Five Islands at a gathering of Aboriginal people in Parramatta. His breastplate was lost for ninety years before turning up in an excavation site at La Perouse in 1929; it is now in the Australian Museum. The Timbery family has lived continuously in the La Perouse area, perpetuating its craft traditions. Joe Timbery was a noted boomerang and shield maker; his boomerangs were presented to the Queen in 1954 and he was called upon to show members of Abba how to throw the boomerang. Esme Timbery is a highly-regarded shell artist, and Laddie Timbery continues the family tradition of boomerang making and sales in the area. The family has carefully preserved their stories of the arrival of the colonisers.