Barak told Howitt that Bamfield was a talker, that is he spoke for Barak. Bamfield was also known as Tom Mansfield, Tom Banfield, Birdarak, Thomas Mickie and Michie. He lived at Coranderrk after the forced closure of Acheron and Mohican stations and was important in the history of Coranderrk. Bamfield advocated for Aboriginal rights, stating in the 1881 Coranderrk inquiry ‘I think they [settlers] have done enough to this country to ruin the natives without taking it from us any more.' He would also travel from Coranderrk to Melbourne and back with other Coranderrk men to present petitions personally to the Chief Secretary. These men successfully did the same when Captain Page attempted to have Bamfield banished from Coranderrk.
See: Uncle Roy Patterson and Jennifer Jones, On Taungurung Land: Sharing History and Culture, ANU Press, Canberra, 2020.
van Toorn, Penny 2006, Writing Never Arrives Naked: Early Aboriginal Cultures of Writing in Australia, Aboriginal Studies Press, Canberra.
Giordano Nanni and Andrea James, Coranderrk: We Will Show the Country, Aboriginal Studies Press, Canberra, 2013, pp. 73-78.
