MICKEY JOHNSON
ABORIGINAL KING OF ILLAWRRA
MICHAEL ORGAN
Mickey Johnson, King, 1896, Wollongong City Library Collection.
Mickey Johnson (1834-1906) is perhaps the best known Aboriginal man of the Illawarra district from the nineteenth century. [1] Much has been written about him, a number of photographs taken, and in 1896, as part of the region's centenary celebrations, he was proclaimed 'King' in a ceremony at Wollongong Showground and presented with a breastplate by Archibald Campbell MLA.
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| Mickey Johnson, Samuel Cocks Collection, University of Wollongong Archives | Mickey Johnson, Wollongong City Library Collection |
Mickey Johnson, Wollongong City Library Collection
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| Mickey Johnson and family, Samuel Cocks Collection, University of Wollongong Archives | Mickey Johnson and family, with Mr McDonald who owned a shoe store , Wollongong City Library Collection |
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| Mickey Johnson, barking a tree , Samuel Cocks Collection, University of Wollongong Archives | Mickey Johnson, Wollongong City Library Collection |
Mickey Johnson and family meeting with William Buthong (King Billy or Madbili) of Shoalhaven and family, Samuel Cocks Collection, University of Wollongong Archives
Mickey Johnson receiving his king plate, Wollongong Showground, 30 January 1896, Wollongong City Library Collection
Notes
1 Michael Organ, Illawarra and South Coast Aborigines 1770-1850, Aboriginal Education Unit, University of Wollongong, 1989, 649p.