Timelong of Kangaroo Valley

Contents

Timelong Trail, Meryla Pass.

Searching
Chronology
Thoughts
References

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Abstract: Timelong was a senior Aboriginal figure in Kangaroo Valley / Kangaroo Ground, New South Wales, Australia, during the early colonial period, which extended from the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788 through to the 1840s. Born around 1800, he was known by English names such as Young Bundle, Bundle Junior or John Bundle, whilst his Aboriginal name was also variously spelt Temarang, Turramalong, Thurmolong and Trumelong. The following article outlines what is known about Timelong, apart from that of being a guide and tribal leader.

[NB: In the following article references to Aboriginal people are provided in terms of original usage, such as use of the term Natives. Personal names, whether English or Native, are indicated in italics.]

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1. Looking for Timelong

During October 2025 the present writer carried out an internet search for information on Timelong, an Aboriginal man who lived in Kangaroo Valley / Kangaroo Ground, New South Wales, Australia, during the early colonial period, between circa 1800 and through to the 1840s. One of the initial points was the AI search engines Google AI and GROK which would hopefully produce a summary of what was then currently known, with appropriate links. The following were the results of the question: Who is Timelong of Kangaroo Valley?

GROK: Timelong was an Indigenous Australian man from the Dharawal (or Wodi-Wodi) people, the traditional custodians of the Kangaroo Valley area in New South Wales, Australia. In 1818, he served as a guide for explorer Charles Throsby, who had been commissioned by Governor Lachlan Macquarie to find an overland route from the Southern Highlands (near Moss Vale) to the Shoalhaven region and Jervis Bay. Starting from the Bundanoon Creek area, Timelong led Throsby along an ancient Aboriginal track through the challenging terrain of the Meryla Pass, successfully reaching Kangaroo Valley below. This path became a key early colonial route, later formalized as the Meryla Road, and is now commemorated as the Timelong Trail - a 16 km walking track starting from the Meryla Pass car park, offering views of the Yarrunga Valley and historical features like retaining walls built from local rocks. Timelong's role highlights the critical contributions of First Nations people to early European exploration in Australia, often using their deep knowledge of the land. The valley itself had been inhabited by Aboriginal peoples for around 20,000 years prior to European arrival, with a 1826 census noting about 79 Indigenous residents in five encampments. Today, Timelong Road in Kangaroo Valley honors his legacy, running through rural properties and holiday retreats in the area (GROK, generated 16 October 2025).

Google AI mode: There is no person named "Timelong" in Kangaroo Valley. Rather, the search results indicate that Timelong Road is a street in the region (Google AI mode, generated 16 October 2025).

Google AI was wrong and a mere distraction, pointing to the recent move by the search engine away from providing relevant links towards merely answering questions, which it often does badly. GROK was more useful, providing a number of useful references of an historical nature. However, as can be seen, the information was limited, requiring a more traditional research approach in order to flesh out the life and activities of Timelong. Fortunately the writer had recently carried out research into the subject of Bundle and other elements of the early history of Kangaroo Valley and the Shoalhaven region. These contained numerous referenced to Timelong, all of which are sumarised below in the Chronology section. Despite this, there is no image of Timelong, such as a drawing, and no precise details of his family or death. The only personal details we have of him is from the following 1818 quote by Charles Throsby:

One of them Timelong is a robust man, very dark, with a very long beard... (Charles Throsby 1818)

This reminds the present writer of the 1858 portrait of Illawarra Aboriginal man Tullimbah, who could also be described in those terms. He live in the Albion Park area, north of Jamberoo and Kangaroo Valley. He was born around the same time as Timelong and his impressive physical features reflect the "robust" nature of some Aboriginal men during the early colonial period.

Josef Selleny, Thullinbah, Wollongong, 1858.

Timelong is remembered best for the Timelong Trail and Timelong Road in Kangaroo Valley, but little personal detail is available beyond those geographical references. Of more usefulness is the following summary from 1975:

Timelong is a man of particular interest to Kangaroo Valley. In 1827 Timelong was entertained by Captain Richard Brooks - the first man to have cattle in the Valley - at Brook's home at Denham Court near Liverpool. In a letter to a friend after the event, Mrs. Brooks referred to Timelong as the "King of Kangaroo Ground." Now this designation "King" was a title and concept quite foreign to the Aborigine way of life. But it seems that it was in this fashion that Timelong was regarded by white people who knew both him and the Kangaroo Valley at the time. It is possible that he was a chief among the elders of the Valley Aborigines of those days. Aided by Timelong, Throsby was able to find he way into the Valley down the Meryla Pass (Griffith 1975).

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2. Chronology

The following chronology of the life of Timelong includes material from published and archival historic records. Within it the spellings of Timelong's name vary, including the following: Trimalong / Timmulang / Temarang / Trumelong / Thurmolong / Treemelong.

c.1800

- Timelong is born in the Illawarra / Shoalhaven region of coastal New South Wales. His father is Woolmarry, known in English as Bundle. There is no other information about the family or specific tribe. The age of birth is a guess only, based on approximate age information provided in blanket lists during the 1830s and 1840s (refer below).

1818

- March: Bundell and Broughton accompany Charles Throsby on an exploratory expedition from his property Glenfield Farm near Liverpool to Jervis Bay. They meet Timelong en route, somewhere near Bundanoon, located on the edge of the Illawarra escarpment. Extract from Throsby's diary:

28th March. At daylight cloudy, wind from the N.E. At 8 o’clock passed through a very good forest (Sutton Forest), to the place appointed, at 12, to leave the carts, at which spot we were met by Timelong and Munnaana who had been in search of us. They are two natives whom I have seen at Five Islands. Munnah is one of the two strangers whom myself, Colonel Johnson, his son George etc., met at the River Macquarie, Five Islands, the first time the Colonel was there, and which was the first time he had seen a white man. On our meeting them they had many jaged spears etc. but on my telling them through Bundell that the Governor required the Natives not to carry spears when with white people, they very readily consented to leave them, in fact they threw them away and assured me that the carts and other things we left would be safe. Meeting with the natives and being determined to travel with the horses as long as possible this evening, I thought it prudent to halt for a short time longer.

Bantanoon, 29th March, 1818 ... The two strange natives we met yesterday cannot be prevailed on by those two we have had with us to taste pork, say it is salt. One of them Timelong is a robust man, very dark, with a very long beard, the other Munnana, a thin man, more of a dirty brick colour than black, with a beard only on the chin, on the upper lip and under the mouth it appears to be kept cut or most likely burnt off as is their custom, both are perfectly naked and not even provided with the most trifling covering for the night. ... About half an hour after we halted for the night several natives joined us, most of whom I have seen at Five Islands. They were most women and children, only three men. I conceive them to be three familys the whole perfectly naked and slept round fires like as many dogs, they all approached us without spears or weapons of any sort except one stone axe and one small tomahawk.

8th April 1818 .... They now passed through a locality called Boolaa where Timelong left them in a rather unexpected manner. By evening they reached a stream running into Parronrah (Kangaroo Valley). (Cambage 1921).

1829

- 1 April: Old Bundle and Young Bundell each receives a blanket or rug at Wollongong. See under 1834 for their Aboriginal names.

1830

- 7 May: Old Bundle, Chief of Wollongong, and Young Bundle each receive a blanket or rug at Wollongong.

1834

- 21 May: the blanket list for Wollongong lists the following:

Bundle Senr | Woolmarry | 40 | 1 | 1 | Wollongong

Bundle Jnr | Temarang | 20 | 1 | |

1836

- 20 May: the blanket list for Wollongong lists the following:

Old Bundle | | 40 | 1 | 1 | Five Islands

Young Bundle | | 23 | 1 | | & Kiama

1837

- 3 May 1837 - List of Illawarra Aboriginal Chiefs. Letter containing details of Aborigines at Illawarra, including tribal and chief names, and census details. A total of 105 Aborigines are recorded {Archives Office of New South Wales, Colonial Secretary Correspondence, 4/2045, Letter 27/4459}.

Chief's name: Timmulang / What tribe - Kangaroo Ground / Number of Men (5) Women (9) Children (1).

- 8 May: the blanket list for Wollongong lists the following:

Young Bundle | Turramalong | 30 | 1 | | do.

1838

- Bundle is given a brass breastplate, and identified as Chief at the Cowpastures.

- 7 May: the blanket list for Wollongong lists the following:

Old Bundle | Wolmorry | 57 | 1 | 1 | Five Islands

- 11 September: report on the death of Old Bundle at Elizabeth Bay, Sydney.

1840

- 1 May: the blanket list for Wollongong lists the following:

English names | Native names | Age | No. of wives |

John Bundle | Trumelong | 45 | 1 |

1842

- 1 May: the blanket list for Wollongong lists the following:

English names | Native names | Age | No. of wives |

John Bundle | Treemelong | 47 | 1 |

| Timelong |

Based on the above information, the age of Timelong can be approximated from the five estimates provided between 1834 and 1840.

Date	Age	Location	English names		Native names
1818		Shoalhaven				Timelong
1829		Wollongong	Old Bundle	Young Bundle
1830		Wollongong	Old Bundle	Young Bundle
1834	20	Wollongong	Bundle Snr	Bundle Jnr	Woolmarry	Temarang
1836	23	Wollongong	Old Bundle	Young Bundle
1837	30	Wollongong	Old Bundle	Young Bundle	Woolmarry	Turramalong
1837		Kangaroo Ground				Timmulang
1838	30	Wollongong	Old Bundle	Young Bundle	Wolmorry	Thurmolong
1840	45	Wollongong		John Bundle		Trumelong
1842	47	Wollongong		John Bundle	Treemelong	Timelong

From this table we can see the discrepancies between presumed ages and identities. There is no clear connection, as there would be with non-Indigenous people who had traditional records such as birth, death, marriage and census data.

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3. Thoughts

The revelation that Timelong was the son of Woolmarry, i.e., Bundle Junior was the son of Bundle Senior, is significant, as it ties together two Illawarra and Shoalhaven men who served as guides to early British explorers such as Evans and Throsby. It also enables us to flesh out some of the history of Timelong beyond his years associated with Kangaroo Valley. There are three Indigenous men associated with guiding explorers into and out of the Shoalhaven during the early colonial period - Broughton, Bundle and Timelong. To be able to develop biographical portraits - brief though they are - and to uncover linkages, is important. Why? Because in many of the early historical texts on the regions, such as the works by William A. Bayley and James Jervis during the 1950s and 1960s, Aboriginal guides were often invisible. Bayley's Shoalhaven and Jervis's Berrima are good examples.

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4. References

Anonymous, Bundle (c.1781 - c.1844), Journeys in Time, Macquarie University, 1998.

Bayley, William A., Shoalhaven: History of the Shire of Shoalhaven, New South Wales, Shoalhaven Shire Council, Nowra, 1975, 271p.

Botsman, Peter, Barbarity of our own Countrymen, Academia.edu, Peter Botsman's Working Papers, 27 November 2020.

Cambage, R.H., Exploration between the Wingecarribee, Shoalhaven, Macquarie and Murrumbidgee Rivers, Journal and proceedings of the Royal Australian Historical Society, 7(5), 1 October 1921, 217-288.

Griffith, John, A History of Kangaroo Valley, Kangaroo Valley Historical Society, 1978; 2nd edition 1980; 3rd edition 1986, 104p.

Illert, Chris, A mathematical approach to recovering the original Australian Aboriginal language, PhD thesis, School of Languages and Linguistics, University of Western Sydney, 2013, 277p.

Jervis, James, A History of the Berrima District 1798 - 1973, Library of Australian History and Wigencarribee Shire Council, 1986, 213p.

Organ, Michael, Illawarra and South Coast Aborigines, 1770 - 1850, Aboriginal Education Unit, University of Wollongong, 1989, 640p.

-----, Tullimbah - Aboriginal Warrior of the Illawarra, blogger.com, 5 February 2022.

-----, Kangaroo Valley - aspects of Australian Indigenous cultural heritage, blogger.com, 9 February 2025.

-----, Cornelius O'Brien and Kangaroo Valley, blogger.com, 9 May 2025.

Rabitte, Tony, Meryla Pass, New South Wales, Australian Geographic, 14 September 2009.

Throsby, Charles, Journals & letters re exploring expedition with James Meehan to Jervis Bay, the Wollondilly, 3 March - 20 May 1818, Archives Office of New South Wales, Reel 6034, 9/2743 pp.9-76; Fiche 3276, SZ1046 pp.1-77).

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Last updated: 19 October 2025

Michael Organ, Australia

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