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This year marks two hundred years since one of the legends of Indigenous Australia passed away. Woollarawarre Bennelong was famous for being a mediator between Indigenous people - and the white settlers of the First Fleet. Now there are calls for him to be memorialised. Hannah Hollis has more. Tune in Tuesday nights at 7.30 pm on NITV or catch us at 1.30 pm Sundays on SBS ONE. http://www.sbs.com.au/livingblack

The first European settlement in Australia was a prison camp. It was named after the British Home Secretary Vicount Sydney, but this was also an enlightenment project. Britain had some 200 crimes punishable by death. The hanging of hundreds of people, including women and children, was making an enlightened society queasy. Sending convicts overseas seemed more humane. And so they came to Australia people like Elizabeth Pouly, who'd stolen a few shillings' worth of bacon and raisin, and James Grace, who had taken 10 yards of ribbon and a pair of silk stockings. He was 11 years old.

Captain Arthur Phillip was the first governor of Australia. He ran a tough regime for the convicts. But his attitude towards the Aborigines was more benevolent. Native peoples were to be respected, studied, and understood.

Governor Philip was an enlightenment man who was determined there should be no slavery in this new land and that the natives would be treated with respect. In fact, he had personal instructions from King George the third himself who wanted all our subjects to live in amity and kindness with the natives.

Unable to persuade the Aborigines to make contact with him, Phillip tried something which wasn't perhaps so kind. The kidnapped man, was a 26-year-old called Bennelong. Phillip wanted to teach him English so he could communicate directly with the Aborigines.

Bennelong became a go-between linking two different worlds. He entertained the British with his sense of humor, singing, and dancing. And he introduced Governor Philip to the language and the customs of his people. And in return, Philip taught him English and polite manners. And something perhaps rather unexpected happened between these two very different men: they became genuine friends.

To the King, excellent. Cheers!

On Christmas Day 1789, Bennelong dressed up in the official uniform of the British Navy and enjoyed Christmas dinner of turtle with Captain Phillip.

But after six months, Bennelong went missing. It took Phillip four months to track him down.

We have come to ask you to come back. Bennelong agreed to return, but first Aboriginal customs demanded an act of revenge against his kidnapper.

Quite remarkably, Governor Philip did not retaliate. Oh my goodness. He understood why he'd been attacked, and his friendship with Bennelong resumed. Bennelong rejoined him in Sydney.

The British even built Bennelong his own house. It stood in the same site that Sydney Opera House now occupies.

Bennelong was the first Aboriginal man to voluntarily enter the British settlement. But he'd be followed by many more. It's remembered as the coming in, and to start with, it seemed like a great Enlightenment triumph.