Arabanoo (?-1789) was an Aboriginal man who was forced by Arthur Phillip into joining the British settlement at Sydney Cove. Phillip was the first governor of New South Wales. The settlement was Britain’s first in Australia. Arabanoo was kept in Phillip’s house from December 1788 until he died on May 18, 1789. Phillip had hoped to use him as an interpreter. Arabanoo died during a smallpox epidemic that killed many Aboriginal people but did not affect the British settlers. In November 1789, Phillip tried to replace Arabanoo by capturing two other Aboriginal people, Colbee and Bennelong.
