Tunungeranbrun II

Tunungeranbrun II (Edward James Walker) is named in Yuin genealogies and South Coast historical sources as a key Ancestral figure described as “King of the Moruya Aboriginals.”

He lived in the late 18th and early 19th century, being the patriarch from whom a prominent line of Aboriginal families around Moruya, Wallaga Lake, Broulee, Ulladulla, and Kianga descend. His descendants include multiple family lines for example, through Jane Hoskins/Austin, Mary Johnson, and others, the family dispersed over wide areas.

Although direct written descriptions of his life are scarce, Aboriginal people of his era can be situated in a period when European settlement first reached Yuin Country. The South Coast at this time was undergoing profound change: new settlements at Broulee and Moruya, pastoral expansion, displacement from traditional grounds, and the disruption of established kinship and cultural systems. In this context, colonial officials often imposed titles such as “king” on respected Aboriginal Elders. Such a title suggests Tunungeranbrun II held considerable influence and responsibility within his community. Like many Aboriginal men of his era, he was assigned the name Edward Walker by settlers, replacing his traditional name with one that suited colonial record-keeping.

Tunungeranbrun II would have lived through dramatic change: before widespread European settlement, through early incursions, and likely first contact, displacement, and the beginning of frontier pressures. The 1900 obituary for his son evokes how Edward “could remember the district before the first white man came.”

Today, for the Yuin people of the NSW South Coast, Tunungeranbrun II stands as a foundational Ancestor: many Yuin families trace their descent back to him, acknowledging him through documented lineage as a forebear of continuing cultural heritage.