Page:Admiral Phillip.djvu/101

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ADMIRAL PHILLIP
75

before he sailed from Plymouth on his return to the colony in January 1795, alludes to him as follows:—

'Bennilong is with me, but I think in a precarious state of health. He has for the last twelve months been flattered with the hope of seeing again his native country—a happiness he has fondly looked forward to, but so long a disappointment has broken his spirit, and the coldness of the weather here has so frequently laid him up that I am apprehensive his lungs are affected—that was the cause of the other's death. I do all I can to keep him up, but still am doubtful of his living.'

The grave of 'the other,' to whom Hunter refers, is in the churchyard[1] of the village of Eltham, in Kent. Poor Hunter was put to considerable expense over these two aboriginals, who were a trying charge; and he did his best, though without result, to make the Government refund him his outlay.

During his stay in England, Bennilong did not apparently attract much attention. On his return to the colony he passed the remainder of his life drifting aimlessly about between the little township of Sydney and the native camps in its vicinity. Phillip's immediate successors apparently took but

  1. 'The stone bears the following inscription:—'In memory of Yemmerrawanyea, a native of New South Wales, who died the 18th May 1794, in the 19th year of his age. Stone renewed 1882.'