Later in April, Bennelong and Yemmerrawanyea were bought expensive suits, which may indicate a belief at that time that Yemmerrawanyea’s condition was not terminal.
The men's return to New South Wales was approaching, as John Hunter prepared to replace Phillip as Governor. On 7 May, the men returned to Eltham, supposedly on their way to Portsmouth to join Hunter.
However, arrangements appear to have been made for only Bennelong to accompany Hunter. A chest and bedding were provided for Bennelong on the voyage, but not for Yemmerrawanyea. It seems that by now it was known he was going to die. Whether he and/or Bennelong knew is unknown.
When the inevitable happened, Yemmerrawanyea was buried as a christian in the local church. His name is noted in the church register as “Yemmorravonyea Kebarrah”.
“Kebarrah” is a title to which Yemmerrawanyea was entitled as a result of undergoing initiation as an adult male. Only Bennelong, or possibly Phillip, would have known this.
But one wonders what Bennelong thought of leaving the young man’s body in a land so very, very far from home, and whether he made any effort to take Yemmerrawanyea with him, to be disposed of according to the beliefs of his people. Perhaps pickled in a barrel, as Nelson’s body was, and as Pemulwuy’s head was after he was murdered. But in all probability he was given no choice, but still, one wonders.
Bennelong would have known that consequently Yemmerrawanyea's spirit would wander alone and unloved forever as a result of this act. Whether or not he tried to explain this is unknown, but it is recorded he was intensely upset by Yemmerrawanyea's death.
A number of attempts have been made to return Yemmerrawanyea’s remains to his homeland. Unfortunately, it seems it will be forever impossible.
Current belief is that his remains were removed from the grave to make way for later corpses. How and where they were disposed of is apparently unknown.
It’s unclear what the custom was at that church at that time, but the removal of bones after a couple of decades was common habit in prior times. So the removal of his bones need not be seen as a racist act, with his replacement by a “more important” white person. On the other hand, that view may be correct.
Yemmerrawanyea’s headstone was moved to its current location at some stage, and it’s believed to be nowhere near where he was buried, a location that is now apparently unknown. It's possible German bombs during world war 2 may have been responsible for its movement.
So, even if the story of his removal is not correct, it’s not possible to locate his remains without digging up the whole churchyard and doing some kind of DNA testing. Oddly, Arthur Phillip’s remains are apparently in much the same situation.
18th century Eltham is described as a "substantial village". It 's now a fully settled suburb well within the bounds of "Greater" London. Yemmerrawanyea and Bennelong, as they were dragged through Eltham in a rough-travelling horse-drawn carriage might have seen the above buildings, without the shops. It's unknown where Edward Kent's house was, nor do we know anything, apart from guesses, about Kent himself. It's thought the house was in the "south end" of Eltham.
The church where Yemmerrawanyea was buried.
Another building they might have seen if they came this way. We very much doubt this pub was called Ye Olde Greyhound in those days, and we would love to know what "Yak & Yeti" refers to in the upper windows, and we doubt very much that the inn has much to do with the pentecostal church!
It seems likely Yemmerrawanyea and Bennelong would have approached Eltham from the left (or west) on this 1746 map, and then turned south, towards the bottom of the map, at Eltham. An alternative might have been for them to come down from the north (the top), through the middle of Eltham, heading south.