Ted Egan, a prolific author and songwriter, is calling for what he says would be a more inclusive public holiday to celebrate the nation — the day Australia was named.
"I'm suggesting that the eighth day of September should be recognised as Foundation Day for all Australians," he said.
Mr Egan, the beer-carton-playing former Northern Territory administrator, is on the cusp of turning 90 and for many decades has worked closely with Indigenous people across the NT to promote Aboriginal rights.
Mr Egan has written a song, Foundation Day, to highlight the crucial role Bungaree played on board Matthew Flinders' vessel the HMS Investigator from 1802 to 1803, ultimately becoming the first Indigenous person to circumnavigate the continent.
Mr Egan said September 8, 1803 was significant because it was the day Flinders presented his journals to Governor King in Sydney.
Mr Egan said if people wanted to dispute how Australia was named, all they needed to do was to read Flinders' journals.
"He says; "I declared the name of this continent to be Terra Australis, Australia.
At the filming of the song's yet-to-be-released film clip at the Araluen Arts Centre, Mr Egan said, "It was pretty logical for me as a songwriter to seek to compose a song about the association between Flinders and Bungaree.
"I thought to myself: 'Well, Trim's too good to miss so I'll put Trim [the cat] in as well.'
Mr Egan said that despite Flinders paying tribute to Bungaree throughout his journals as a "trusted and very respected and important member of [his] crew", Bungaree was lesser known in Australia's popular history.
"[Bungaree] was respected in the various places that they landed along the coast," he said.
Despite not speaking the same languages as the different kinship groups, "he could communicate … and generally make himself understood."
An alternative to Australia Day?
Mr Egan said January 26 was divisive but he would not be drawn on date changes.
"There should be no division about September 8."
Mr Egan's song and a subsequent book will be aimed at a younger audience.
"[That's] to impart really deep and important historical and geographical messages," he said.
Mr Egan said that his Foundation Day song also served to debunk the theory of terra nullius and that Captain Cook discovered Australia.
"You still hear: 'Oh, Captain Cook discovered Australia' — that's nonsense.
Mr Egan said people had lived on the continent for tens of thousands of years before European settlement.
"They circumnavigated a country that had people all the way around Australia," he said.
Support for Foundation Day
Author, artist and curator Djon Mundine, a Bundjalung man, has studied Bungaree's legacy, culminating in a multi-artist exhibition titled Bungaree's Farm at the Mosman Art Gallery in 2015.
Mr Mundine supports Mr Egan's call for a public holiday.
"It's very important that they identified that this as a separate continent, separate from Asia, separate from all these other places in the Pacific," he said.
Mr Mundine said it was important to raise awareness of the number of people who lived on the continent when Flinders and Bungaree circumnavigated the country.
"In travelling around [Flinders] also realises that there are all these different Aboriginal people everywhere, that the continent is full of many different nations," he said.
"He'd been described on the historic record as being manly, undaunted, being gallant, modest, sensitive, most intelligent, intrepid, having a good disposition and quick to seize an opportunity."
Mr Mundine said Bungaree was described as an "enterprising Australian".
Mr Mundine said that in Bungaree's life there were four governors of Australia and he had more portraits painted than all governors combined.
"He was someone who obviously talked to people, he was someone who could engage with people in conversations about matters.
"In a couple of instances, he resolved conflicts with the people they were visiting."
Mr Mundine said that Bungaree's legacy had been overshadowed by the "heroic Europeans".
"Aboriginal people are either non-existent or they are like fairytale people rather than real people, of any character," he said.
Musicians help record Bungaree's history
On a hot and humid afternoon late last year, a dedicated group of Central Australian musicians gathered in the Araluen Art Centre's dressing rooms to shoot the Foundation Day film clip.
As musicians Chris Philips (Flinders) and Nicholas Williams (Bungaree) did vocal warm-ups, a make-up session transformed vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Gleny Rae into Trim, the cat that joined Matthew Flinders on his epic circumnavigation.
Mr Williams fell into the role after his father, Warren H. Williams declined as he was busy filming another project.
"I heard the music for the song and I enjoyed it and then I said yes," Mr Williams said.
Mr Williams said, through his participation, he had learnt about the important role Bungaree played on Flinders' Investigator.
"I know the name, Flinders, but I had never heard Bungaree until I was asked by Ted to sing as Bungaree," Mr Williams said.
A spokesperson for the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet said public holidays were the responsibility of state and territory governments.
"For a public holiday to be recognised nationally, it must have the support of all states and territories," they said.
