TWO hundred years ago today, Aboriginal leader Burigon was murdered in Newcastle by an escaped convict who would later be the first white man convicted and hanged for killing an Aboriginal under British law.
The events, as well as Burigon's relationship with Newcastle's European commandant, are depicted in an upcoming documentary from filmmakers Glenn Dormand and Tony Whittaker.
The duo this week released a short teaser of their film Lycett and Wallis: The Convict and the Commandant to coincide with the 200th anniversary.
Part of the Stories of Our Town series, the film is mainly about the work of artist Joseph Lycett, who spent time in Newcastle as a convict before being pardoned; and Captain James Wallis, who was the commandant of Newcastle.
But Mr Dormand said it was impossible to tell Wallis' story without telling the story of Burigon.
Wallis was sent to Newcastle after leading the massacre of 14 Aboriginal people at Appin in 1816.
He was tasked with transforming the settlement and formed a friendship with Burigon, hunting and exploring together.
Burigon was murdered on November 7, 1820.
His murderer would be the first white man tried, convicted and hanged for the murder of an Aboriginal person.
Mr Dormand said after recently becoming aware of the looming anniversary, the filmmakers put together the Burigon section for release.
"A 200-year anniversary, it would be pretty crazy to miss that, and it's also the start of NADOIC Week," he said.
"We're very careful how we tell Aboriginal stories, but really this is the story of Wallis and that this guy went from someone who massacred Aboriginal people to sort of falling in love with one."
Mr Dormand said Lycett's paintings were the basis for the film, given their significance to Aboriginal people and early life in Newcastle.
"There's no image of Lycett, there's no image of Wallis and there's hardly any images of convicts in Australia, believe it or not," he said.
"But in Lycett's paintings there's dozens of Aboriginal scenes, living traditional life like they had for probably 40 or 50 thousand years previously. That is nuts. Nowhere else in Australia has that.
Mr Dormand said the film, which is still being edited, would be about 30 minutes in length and released over "the summer break".
"All the details in them, you couldn't know unless you were actually there.
"He seemed to have a rapport with the Aboriginal people to get the intimacy, to get these things across."
