Yagan
Credit: Frances Andrijich, courtesy of the Perth Public Art Foundation
Artist: Robert C Hitchcock
Year of Work: 1984
Location: Heirisson Island, Western End, South of Causeway
City of Perth
Asset Type: Memorial/ Monument
Provenance: Other
The sculpture commemorates Aboriginal tribal leader, Yagan.
Yagan was an Aboriginal patriot of the Nyungar tribe who resisted the invasion of the European settlers but was eventually captured. He was exiled to Carnac Island and treated as a prisoner of war. He escaped and returned to the mainland and there was a reward for his capture.
On July 11, 1833, with a group of Nyungar, Yagan approached two young shepherds he knew, James and William Keats, and asked them for flour. Recognising Yagan and keen for the reward, William, when he saw the chance, levelled his musket at Yagan behind his back and shot him dead. Both brothers then fled, but William was caught and speared to death. After his death, Yagan`s head was hacked off from his body and taken to English museums.
In 1894 the head was passed on to the Liverpool City Museum, where it was exhibited until 1964. It was then buried in the Everton Cemetery. In 1990 a request by the Western Australian Nyoongah community was put to the British Government to exhume the head. Permission was finally granted and 164 years after it was sent to England, Yagan`s head was brought back to Australia for burial according to Nyoongah custom.