Uncovering Musquito with Naomi Parry Duncan
Professional Historians Association NSW-ACT
Join Naomi Parry Duncan in conversation with Rachel Franks about her book, Musquito: The real story of a legendary colonial warrior (Allen & Unwin, 2026).
Nibbles and drinks will be provided and books will be available for purchase and signing. Note that this event will be followed by the PHA NSW-ACT Annual General Meeting, commencing at 7:30 pm.
About the book
A vivid, compelling portrait of the intertwined lives of Aboriginal people and new arrivals in the fledgling colonies. Musquito was just a boy when a convoy of eleven British ships assembled in the waters of Port Jackson in January 1788. Seventeen years later, he was a warrior fighting for Country west of Sydney, hunted by white colonists.
Exiled, in Van Diemen’s Land he joined with local Aboriginal people as they began the resistance that ignited the colonists’ Black War. Wrongly accused of being the ringleader, he was executed in 1825.
Musquito is one of the better known First Nations resistance fighters but even while he was alive, his story was shrouded in misinformation and myth. Historian Naomi Parry Duncan has uncovered the real story of this remarkable man. Searching the archives for evidence, she realised the lives of convicts in her family tree intersected with Musquito in disturbing ways.
About the speakers
Dr Naomi Parry Duncan is a professional historian and president of the History Council of NSW, as well as a senior research officer with the Indigenous Land and Justice Research Group at UNSW. She holds adjunct roles at Western Sydney University and the University of Tasmania and was the 2022 Hazel Rowley Literary Fellow. She was lead writer for the NSW Centenary of Anzac publication New South Wales and the Great War (2016).
Dr Rachel Franks is the Coordinator, Scholarship at the State Library of New South Wales. Rachel holds PhDs in Australian crime fiction (CQU) and in true crime texts (Sydney). An award-winning writer, she is the author of An Uncommon Hangman: The Life and Deaths of Robert ‘Nosey Bob’ Howard (NewSouth, 2022).
Event details
When: Tuesday, 1st September 2026, from 5:45 pm for a 6:00 pm start.
Where: Hybrid – History House, 133 Macquarie St, Sydney NSW and Online.
Admission: PHA Members Free | Non-members $10.
The Professional Historians Association NSW-ACT represents practising professional historians in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory.
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