Woretemoeteryenner (c. 1795 – 13 October 1847), also known as "Bung", "Pung", "Maria" and "Margaret", was an Aboriginal Tasmanian woman who was taken from her family and had children with George Briggs, an English convict and sealer.
She was one of five Aboriginal Tasmanian women who were taken to harvest seals at Île Saint-Paul in the southern Indian Ocean, and were later abandoned at Rodriguez Island near Mauritius.
Upon being returned to Van Diemen's Land, Woretemoeteryenner became part of George Augustus Robinson's "friendly mission" to round up all the remaining Aboriginal Tasmanians.
[2] The life of the Aboriginal Tasmanians changed significantly after the late 1790s when the British began to colonise the region.
The first capitalist industry to exploit the resources in Woretemoeteryenner's homeland was the hunting of seals for skins and oil.
After harvesting seals here, these Aboriginal women and their children were left by the ship's captain at Rodriguez Island.
In 1830, she was removed from these men by George Augustus Robinson and became part of his "friendly mission" to round up all the remaining Indigenous Tasmanians.
The request was approved and in a highly unusual circumstance, Woretemoeteryenner was permitted to leave Wybalenna and live in the relative freedom of British colonial society, albeit mostly confined to her daughter's residence where she was a loving grandmother to her grandchildren.