| Windradyne | |
| Birth Place: | Northern Wiradjuri nation (Central West (New South Wales)) |
| Death Date: | 21 March 1829 (aged 29–30) |
| Death Place: | Bathurst, New South Wales |
| Resting Place: | Brucedale Station, Peel |
| Monuments: | Grave of Windradyne |
| Nationality: | Wiradjuri, Australian |
| Other Names: | Saturday, Windrodine, Windradene |
| Occupation: | Warrior |
| Years Active: | 1822–1829 |
| Known For: | Fighting British settlers |
Windradyne (1800 – 21 March 1829) was an Aboriginal warrior and resistance leader of the Wiradjuri nation, in what is now central-western New South Wales, Australia; he was also known to the British settlers as Saturday.[1] Windradyne led his people in the Bathurst War, a frontier war between his clan and British settlers.[1] [2]
Although only limited information about Windradyne is available, mainly from the contemporary British accounts, it is possible to put together an approximate description of the man.
Windradyne's date of birth is unknown, but on his death in 1829 his obituary in The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser—thought to be by his settler friend George Suttor from Brucedale Station north of Bathurst—stated "His age did not, I think, exceed 30 years", thus putting his year of birth at approximately 1800. It is believed he had no children and there are no descendants of his bloodline.
Coe's biography of Windradyne from 1989 states that he was handsome and well built, with broad shoulders and muscular limbs. He had dark brown skin, thick black curly hair, and a long beard. He typically wore a headband, and had his beard plaited into three sections.[3] However, Coe's description does not fully correlate with a drawing of a Wiradjuri warrior that is thought to depict Windradyne.
When Windradyne visited Parramatta to meet with Governor Thomas Brisbane in December 1824, the Sydney Gazette (using the British appellation for him of Saturday) wrote that: