Dick-a-Dick

Dick-a-Dick (traditional name Djungadjinganook, Jumgumjenanuke or Jungunjinuke, c.1834–3 September 1870) was an Australian Aboriginal tracker and cricketer, a Wotjobaluk man who spoke the Wergaia language in the Wimmera region of western Victoria, Australia. He was a member of the first Australian cricket team to tour England in 1868 and was one of the most well-known Aborigines of the nineteenth century.

Early life

Dick-a-Dick was born in the area around what is now Nhill, Victoria, the eldest son of Wotjobaluk Chief Balrootan. He later claimed that, aged about ten, he was present at the European discovery of Nhill by explorers Dugald MacPherson and George Belcher in 1844.

Aboriginal tracker

Living at Mt Elgin station in the Wimmera, Dick-a-Dick first gained notability as a talented tracker, someone who could read the land well enough to find and follow the tracks of people or animals. On Friday, 12 August 1864, three white children, Isaac, Jane and Frank Duff, went missing in the Mallee scrub of the Wimmera near Natimuk on the edge of the Little Desert and although their tracks were found the following day, a thunderstorm erupted soon after and destroyed the tracks.