I began blogging in 2013 at ‘For Love of Gaia’ (Homepage). ForLoveofGaia explores the intersections of life experience, culture, religious and spiritual beliefs (spiritual ground), the emerging theories and philosophy of new science, and practice/spiritual matrix (performance, ritual, performance-ritual). Since the I have extended to writing about ancestral journeys such as, Elizabeth Pulley Sets Sail and other stories and From Miller to Rope, the Matriarchs as well as uploading a visual summary and the text for the performed elements of my thesis, Centre of the Storm.
[i] The Triads of Britain as quoted in Pennick, N. Celtic Sacred Landscapes, UK, Thames & Hudson, 1996
January 2024. Windradyne is captured, beaten into submission breaking his ribs, and imprisoned for a month. The raids on stock and crops, which the Wiradjuri consider their right as ‘the white men have driven away all the kangaroos and opossums and that black men must now have beef’, temporarily subside.
Meanwhile pastoralists are moving further afield. William Lawson has been moving his sheep to his Mudgee holdings for greener pastures. After retiring from his position of Commandant of Bathurst in 1823 Lawson returns to his role as magistrate at Bathurst.[2]
January and February 2024. Judge Advocate Wylde, whose holdings at Macquarie-Wambuul river has been previously attacked numerous times, is attacked again. He calls for urgent military action.
February. Governor Brisbane is preparing his troops, calling for campaign equipment as well as ‘gawdy articles’ and hunting rifles to bribe the ‘Chiefs’ to change sides.
March. By nowWindradyne is a free man. Raids on stock, huts and workers resume by large bands of Wiradjuri. There is a robbery at Swallow Creek Station within days of stock and a few convicts returning. The Wiradjuri are reported as being ‘marked all over with pipe clay’ (ochred) and on a war footing. The military nearby (2 soldiers) is called in. The soldiers, assisted by convicts and others, return to the hut at 2 am, surprise the remaining Wiradjuri, and take the offensive. During the fighting two Wiradjuri are killed and three captured (one of whom later escapes).
April is unusually quiet. From later events and reports it is now believed that the Wiradjuri clans are holding war councils with neighbouring nations – ‘Mountains Tribes’ (probably the Burra Burra/Gundangarra) and southern tribes (possibly the Dharawal and Yuin). Although traditional ‘enemies’ these nations gather peacefully for ‘corroboree’, including in the Capertee Valley. On this occasion they are combining forces and planning strategies to repel the invading British.[3]
May. A gift of potatoes to some Wiradjuri people goes haywire when the same group returns the next day and begins to dig up more. The colony ethos is that it is acceptable to kill Wiradjuri seen stealing so reprisals are swift and a number of the group are killed and injured. (The Bathurst Massacre or The Potato Field Incident)
Wiradyuri people are poisoned at a place called the ‘Murdering Hut’.
Members of Windradyne’s family are killed; remembered from the oral history handed down by descendants as being ‘shot down in front of him’.
[1] Primary source is the research and writing of Stephen Gapps, Gudyarra: The First Wiradyuri War of Resistance. For a more detailed investigation of events and people involved read this publication.
[3] In May John Macarthur who holds land in Camden, a traditional meeting place of the Dharawal, Darug and Gundangarra peoples, reports on a large gathering of warriors from all around the coast for corroborree and afterwards heading to Bathurst.
(Image: A. Maie. Clan names are from the research of Stephen Gapps)[1]
Between 1814 and 1815 a road is constructed across the mountains under the supervision of William Cox with assistance from Colebee, son of Yarramundi/Yellomundie (Chief of the Boorooberonngal clan around Richmond and a Koradji/clever man, who would have been well-known), another Aboriginal guide (‘Joe’ from Mulgoa), 30 convicts and a party of soldiers. The construction leads to further conflict and war with the Gundungurra, who then attack Cox’s labourers at Mulgoa.
Gundungurra Country. (Image: A. Maie)
April-May 1815 – Governor Macquarie, Mrs Macquarie and a party of 50, including William Cox, set out to ‘inspect the road and the land beyond the mountains’. Macquarie selects the site for a town (Bathurst).
April 1816 – Back in Sydney Basin the war for land continues. Governor Macquarie publishes a Proclamation restricting Aboriginal movement and for them to ‘be driven away by force of arms’. He dispatches troops to capture or kill the ‘troublemakers’. This results in two massacres on Dharawal country – at Appin and Mulgoa. Attacks and unofficial retribution raids continue. Throughout this period local Magistrate William Cox is integral to the planning with Governor Macquarie and has sent out raiding parties himself. For some time it has been commonly agreed among settlers and soldiers that this is a war and the only way to stop Aboriginal peoples from fighting back is to arrive unexpectedly and massacre groups at a time; a practice that continues in Wiradjuri country and in every area would-be-settlers move throughout the continent.[2] (map of massacres)
Between 1816 and 1817 pastoralists, including William Lawson and William Cox, have moved into Wiradjuri country with their stock and without grants. Wiradjuri warriors begin to attack stock runs and plunder cattle. Talk turns to the establishment of a settler militia and bounties for capture of Wiradjuri warriors.
May1815 – William Lawson hears that there is fine country towards the north-west, beyond where the surveyor George Williams Evans had reached. Lawson and Aaron, who is Chief of the Tabellbucoo people of the Wiradjuri nation (between Mudgee and Lithgow) and Lawson’s guide, reach Cudgegong country, travelling down the river to Mudgee and then to Liverpool Range.
1818-1821 – Lawson, Cox and Blackman are becoming well established and in 1819 William Lawson is appointed Commandant of Bathurst, succeeding William Cox. Governor Macquarie begins handing out grants and builds a garrison and barracks. War continues around stock runs. There is trouble a Lawson’s holding south of Bathurst. Four Wiradjuri are killed and Lawson’s horse is speared. Macquarie presses England for more soldiers and England pressures Macquarie to open up mores areas for settlers and cattle.
November 1821 Thomas Makdougall Brisbane arrives in the colony and takes over governorship from Lachlan Macquarie.
Aaron (Ering), Windradyne, Tuerum and Warragurra
1821 – James Blackman jnr. and Aaron, who seems to be the guide-of-choice, reach the Burrundulla Swamps. Later that year Lawson and James’ brother make it as far as the local Aboriginal camp at Mowgee/Mudgee country and at some stage Lawson meets about 40 locals (possibly Mowgee peoples). Lawson takes 5,000 acres to the north-west and convinces the Coxes to take land nearby. Along the Cudgegong River the Wiradjuri fight for their land, food sources and sacred sites. In 1821 George Cox leads a shooting party against the Wiradjuri from his property on the Cudgegong River. By now ‘Saturday’ (Windradyne) is mentioned as leading the resistance army.
Burrundulla. (Image A. Maie)
1822 – Attacks continue, including at Cox’s ‘Menah’ near Mudgee. At ‘Mehah’, after ‘interference’ with the local women, Cox workers are driven away, cattle set loose and sheep killed. George Cox assembles an armed force in pursuit and Henry Cox sends for military assistance.
Blackman and Lawson trace out a route from Wallerawang to Dabee. Aaron (‘Ering, Chief of Tabalbucco’)*, Tuerum (Chief of Carrigurra) and Warragurra, (Chief of Mugee) are issued with ‘Chief’ brass plates’; a common practice of the British to curry favour and support in an attempt to quell opposition.
1822-1823 – People and stock continue to flood across the mountains, much in the charge of convicts and stockmen. More land is claimed and surveys conducted. The wars continue with Wiradjuri targeting stations, huts, stock runs and cattle. Settlers respond with hunting parties and are calling for military assistance. There are reports of poisoned damper being left out for the Wiradjuri. Wiradjuri bands begin holding councils-of-war to co-ordinate their reprisals and attacks – killing sheep, stealing cattle and attacking shepherds and stockmen.
November 1823 William Lawson retires as commandant of Bathurst and is replaced by militarian James Thomas Morisset, a serving member of the 40th Regiment.
By the end of 1823 stockmen report being frightened to go outside their huts and stock owners are reticent to move into more remote areas. A reward is offered for Saturday/Windradyne’s capture and a military detachment dispatched. ‘Philanthropus’ writes in the Gazette suggesting that the British should pay rent for the lands they had taken.
[1] Drawn in the main from the research and writing of Stephen Gapps, Gudyarra: The First Wiradyuri War of Resistance. For a detailed examination this is the publication.
Additional information provided by Nola Turner-Jensen, Diversity Excellence Research Fellow at University of Melbourne – Repatriating Aboriginal Morphology Frameworks. “We are working on mapping the 12 Ngurumbangs (clans) but not ready to release. The spelling of some people is incorrect – We did not begin words with A,E or T – An e sounding name would be Y -Aaron (Ering), Tuerum would have been “dy” and Windradyne is spelt Windradhaany – dhaany is pronounced dine.” (Correspondence Monday 12 February 2024)
[2] Reflected in a number of place-names, including in the Central West.
26 January 1788 – the British First Fleet arrives in Warrane/Sydney Cove, the country of the Cadigal peoples. During the year people straying unarmed outside the camp boundary are in danger of being attacked, killed or go missing. Everyone is warned not to venture beyond camp without armed guards. (https://maietime.blogspot.com/2020/01/elizabeth-pulley-sets-sail-vii-fifth.html)
December 1788 – Explorations are conducted during the year to the north and west. All are accompanied by armed guards. Governor Phillip begins planning a satellite settlement at the head of the river on Burramattagal country. Conflict between the locals (Eora – people of this place) and the new arrivals (Berewalgal – people from far away) continues. https://maietime.blogspot.com/2020/02/1788-elizabeth-pulleys-first-year.html
1789 – The smallpox outbreak in April-May decimates the Eora (locals). Infection spreads across the Sydney basin, including to Broken Bay and Dyarubbin (Hawkesbury-Nepean river). By June armed British exploratory parties have reached Dyarubbin (Nepean-Hawkesbury river) and in December one party reaches Colomatta (the lower Blue Mountains). https://maietime.blogspot.com/2020/02/1789-elizabeth-pulleys-second-year.html
Burramatta: The Place of the Eels (Image: A. Maie)
1790 – The second fleet arrives, the settlement at Burramatta/Rose Hill is established with a garrison and soldiers, convicts are transferred there and the local Barramattagal peoples and neighbouring clans protest formally to Governor Phillip. Phillip reinforces the detachment. Conflict follows. Convicts are given arms for protection. First mention of the warrior Pemulwuy. https://maietime.blogspot.com/2020/02/1790-elizabeth-pulleys-third-year-and.html
Dyarubbin (Image: A. Maie.
1794 – Convicts and ex-convicts begin to move north-west squatting around Dyarubbin (Nepean-Hawkesbury river). This leads to conflict and all-out war with the Darug and Darkinjung peoples which continues on and off for decades. https://maietime.blogspot.com/2023/03/the-move-to-dyarubbin-i-mulgrave.html
August 1794 – Henry Hacking and party attempt unsuccessfully to cross Colomatta/Blue Mountains.
1792-1805 – As the colony expands north and south so do Aboriginal raids and intermittent war. Escalation leads to punitive raids, massacres, rape, torture, decapitation, hanging and taking of children. Pemulwuy, a Bidjigal man from Kamay/Botany Bay, leads a resistance army against the expanding settlements. He is a marked man, hunted down on orders from Governor King, and shot. His head is cut off and sent to Sir Joseph Banks in England. It has not been located. On Pemulwuy’s death his son, Tedbury, continues the resistance until he too is shot in 1805. Other warriors, including ‘Bulldog’and ‘Mosquito’, are arrested. ‘Mosquito’ is finally hung in 1825.(https://www.sydneybarani.com.au/sites/pemulwuy/)
January 1798 – John Wilson, John Price and a party of soldiers discover a possible crossing further south although John Wilson seems to have made many forays into the mountains previously.
1802 – Francis Barralier a refugee from the French Revolution who is assisting the NSW Corps, and a party including Gogy ‘king of the mountains’, crosses within 2km of the Great Divide.
Gundungurra Country (Image: A. Maie)
May 1813 – Gregory Blaxland, William Lawson and William Wentworth, who are searching for grazing land for their cattle, reach Gundungurra country (Mt. Blaxland), 12km short of the Great Divide.
November 1813 – Three months later Assistant Land Surveyor George Evans and party, with ‘horses, arms and ammunition’, follow Blaxland’s, Lawson’s and Wentworth’s route and makes it over the Great Dividing range to Wiradjuri Country, where Bathurst now stands.
Aboriginal peoples and especially Wiradjuri peoples should be aware that this series will contain content which is highly upsetting and may contain images, names and stories of people who are deceased.
2024 marks 200 years since Martial Law was declared on the Wiradjuri peoples in the Central West, including on Mowgee and Dabee peoples. (Mudgee region). [1]1
This series attempts to summarize some of the major events which led to this Declaration and the violence that was part of it. It is drawn from my own research and reading which I dived into in 1998 as part of research into my own family’s journey and what occurred in the areas they moved. Links are to my family’s story as well as other related information. Prime source for the war in Central West NSW is Stephen Gapp’s Gudyarra: The First Wiradyuri War of Resistance. A link to the reference list is at the end of each section.
I view this series as a pilgrimage of remembrance and yindyamarra (respect) and my informal contribution to the Dhuluny Project and Conference (Dhuluny meaning – “Truth and that which is direct”) being organised by members of the Wiradyuri community around Bathurst, Bathurst Regional Council and Charles Sturt University – ‘an opportunity to engage in truthtelling and reconciliation’ – and I invite you to walk with me.
65,000+/- years ago people are living in this continent we now call Australia.
40,000+/- years ago people are making tools and 30,000+/- years ago people are grinding grain and making bread in NSW with a thriving cultural life, including complex systems of law, ceremony and social structures which support them in surviving the last Ice Age from 30,000 to 20,000 years ago until today. (Australia’s epic story: a tale of amazing people, amazing creatures & rising seas)
2024 is also the Bicentennial of the Legislative Council of NSW. Eleven days after the Proclamation the first meeting was held and Lieutenant Governor Colonel William Stewart was appointed, leading to the establishment of the NSW Mounted Police which were eventually used “to enforce British rule on the Wiradjuri Nation” (quote from memorandum). On 20 March 2024 in Parliament a memorandum establishing this connection, and that it should be considered in the Bicentennial celebrations, was tabled and accepted. This was the first time Wiradyuri language was heard in Parliament. (Notice Paper No. 46 pp. 70-72)↩︎
This year for International Women’s Day I wish to honour the life of one of my teachers and sources of inspiration – that of Margaret Chapple, ‘Chappie’ (1923-1996).
What is enlightening when I began to research her online was how little information there is about her legacy, which says a lot about her personality. Most of the information available focusses on her early life as a dancer with Bodenwieser Dance Company and that she continued Gertrude Bodenwieser’s vision of “endeavouring to live in truth, simplicity and spirituality” by establishing Bodenwieser Dance studio at 18 City Road Chippendale in partnership with another Bodenwieser dancer Keith Bain.
I remember well the regular treck to and from the studio during the 1970’s, 80’s and 90’s for her contemporary classes and rehearsals as well as jazz classes taught by Keith Bain, Ramon Doringo, Cyril Generoso and others, and contemporary classes by Chappie, Mira Mansell and others. Chappie refined her own philosophy and technique, which she extended into a day-time course to include improvisation and choreography. The studio also became the place where teachers and choreographers who were visiting from overseas ran classes and workshops, including from international folk dance companies.
From my point of view, her greatest legacy was as a teacher. She was unassuming, caring and supportive and in her quiet way, fanned the embers of our love for dance, creativity and performance. She also gave opportunities for students to perform in a professional context, on the stages of large Sydney theatres at the annual end of year extravaganzas. Her husband, Les Humphrey, would compile beautiful photos of these performances, some of which were featured on the studios entry walls.
I imagine for many of us Chappie’s shock death during heart surgery in 1996 was felt as a great loss and marked the end of an era. As the late Keith Bain wrote in his eulogy, “Moreover she has been the chief influence and the turning point in thousands of lives and careers”.[1]
“At the inaugural 1997 Australian Dance Awards, Chapple was posthumously inducted into the Hall of Fame.”[2]
Remembered with love and thanks from one of thousands of your ‘dance children’.
Karskens, G. People of the River: Lost worlds of early Australia. Australia, Allen & Unwin, 2020
I had carried out, what I considered to be at the time, extensive research of colonial Australian history over 20 years ago when I embarked on our family history.[1] Last year I had reached the moment in the story when my First Fleet convict ancestors, Elizabeth Pulley and Anthony Rope, were on the verge of moving out to the Nepean-Hawkesbury rivers (Dyarubbin).
Simultaneously, through various articles, documentaries and networks, I was introduced to the work of Emeritus Professor of History Grace Karskens, who had uncovered old diaries written by Reverend McGarvie in 1829 with Dharug and Darkinyung place-names and words[2] and was working with local Dharug peoples to bring the information to the attention of the Australian public.
One of the outcomes of that research and collaboration was ‘People of the River’.[3] Intrigued I decided it was time to update my research and bought the book.
Karskens presentation of the history of Dyarubbin is broad and meticulously researched – covering the environmental and human pre-colonial history of the area in deep time and evidence of cultural and agricultural life, as well as the complex and uneasy story of the arrival of the British and other settlers and what eventuated.
What differs from other Australian history records I’ve read is the way in which she attempts to view and write about these events from multiple perspectives – that of the Original Inhabitants and landholders, that of the ex-convicts and convicts who began arriving in the area from 1794, and that of the free settlers and wealthy, identifying their names where known – and how change was a constant for everyone as the Fleets continued to arrive.
In addition she does not avoid confronting and detailing the conflicts, wars and massacres that exploded along the river between the Aboriginal families, clans and nations and the new arrivals: naming players and places (giving the original Indigenous name where known), identifying where the triggers and orders originated, and unravelling where possible the intricate web of cause, effect and motivation.
So pleased I purchase the book. So much more had been uncovered than I expected and knew. It was enlightening. I decided to buy ‘The Colony’ as well.
Karskens, G. The Colony: A History of Early Sydney. Australia, Allen & Unwin, (2009) 2010
This is the first published of the two works and sets the style for the later People of the River. Beginning with the deep time history of the environment and the Original Peoples and their cultural expression and life around Sydney/Warrane[4] it continues, as would be expected, with the temporary arrival of Captain Cook in 1770, and then the permanent arrival of the First Fleet in 1788 – the berewalgal (people from far away or across the sea).
The pre-Dyarubbin story of colonisation/invasion is forensically examined. As the story unfolds and the settlement begins to expand there is general overlap in the two books but not in detail. The different ways in which the material has been thematically organised, and the amount of information gathered during the research has meant that it has been possible for similar stories to be told from different perspectives, emphases and with different minor characters in play. Much to learn and understand.
What I especially love about The Colony is that it also names and includes the stories of a number of First Nations peoples who were known to the British and had survived the smallpox and influenza epidemics, conflicts, wars, massacres and had found ways to live around the British. I can’t say ‘with’ the British because we were always viewed, and still are, as intruders on land that belongs to them.[5] Perhaps ‘in spite of’ is a more appropriate phrase. Their names keep popping up throughout the book. So many names of First Nations peoples around Sydney Cove/Warrane and the Sydney basin/Dharug country that were known and I have never heard of. These people have been ignored and forgotten in the white-colonial focus of Australian history previously written and taught in school when I was growing up.[6] So much of a gap. Unforgivable. I hope it is changing.
Having begun this journey I decided to also follow up and learn more of the history of Dharawal country, where I spent my childhood.
Donaldson, M., Bursill, L., Jacobs, M. A History of Aboriginal Illawarra, Volume 1 – Before Colonisation. Australia, Dharawal Publications, 2016.
I loved reading this book and came away with deep regret that I had never been taught this when I did my schooling on Dharawal country, and how rich and meaningful it could have been to have been introduced to Dharawal and Dhurga culture and life. How our dad would have also loved to have known this deep history in our backyard.
Written by Dharawal academics and educators it covers,
Dreaming and the Law
Land, Forests
Middens
Totems
Fire
Art
Knowledge
Power and Healing
People of the Sea
Crossing borders (trade and sharing ceremony across clans and nations)
Our future
In the last chapter, Our Future, they write:
“Over 1,000 generations Dhurga and Dharawal Elders and their forbearers have maintained Illawarra, and they have good reason to be proud of their achievements. Illawarra’s Aboriginal population roughly equals its pre-invasion peak and Dhurga and Dharawal culture continues to gather strength.” (p. 27)
Bursill, L. The Story of Djeebahn/Deeban: The Bay of Orcas and the Creation Serpent.Australia, Dharawal Publications, (2012), 2017.
I am inserting my response to this publication here as it draws the focus of A History of Aboriginal Illawarra Volume 1 to the area around Deeban/Port Hacking River.[7] This compact book was written by Traditional Dharawal Knowledge Holder the late Les Bursill OAM and edited by Mary Jacob, lecturer in Early Childhood Development at Sydney Institute of TAFE.
The Story of Deeban is a summary of the deep history of the area. the extensive evidence of pre-colonial Dharawal life along the river – rock art, tool making, ceremony, the archaelogical discoveries of Bursill and his wife – as well as that of the first European settlers. Original Dharawal names are given where known as well as the background to some of the people whose names are now carried in the area – Hacking (Port Hacking) and Gray (Gray’s Point). The final chapter introduces plants traditionally used for food and medicine.
Again I would have loved to have learned this at school and the book itself is suitable as a text. I hope all primary schools in the area have purchased and are teaching from it.
Donaldson, M., Bursill, L., Jacobs, M. A History of Aboriginal Illawarra, Volume 2 – Colonisation, Australia, Dharawal Publications, 2017
This book was not an easy read. I wasn’t prepared for the different ways in which history can be told: that reading well-researched events, from both colonial and state records and family histories, told by Dharawal academics and educators, could differ so much in impact to those same histories told by white historians. I am still trying to get my head around it.
To read these stories and events and the repercussions they repeatedly had on family lives, who are named and have spoken of their experience and action, is devastating. Underlying all was the taking of everything: land and children, and moving families on, again and again and again and… This process continued even as Aboriginal individuals and families were working for the white man on their own land. And then if anyone finally had enough money to set up house they had to buy their own land back from the white man and still hope that they would not be moved on again. Of course this occurred everywhere around Australia. I knew that. This book brought it home for me.
This volume begins with ‘Strange Beings from Over the Sea’: the watched progress up the coast of the Endeavour carrying James Cook and company, the attempted landing at Botany Bay challenged by armed warriors of the Gweagal clan of the Dharawal nation, the musket-fire response that wounded two Gweagal men, the invader’s plundering of a nearby camp, the booty of which ended up in a Cambridge University museum, and their cutting down of trees and pollution of a spring. Then there was the 1788 Fleet which also arrived in Botany Bay/Kamay, made a mess and then more or less left the area alone.
It wasn’t until the arrival of the whalers and sealers in the Illawarra in 1801, who would call into the bays to refresh on the way further south, followed by the illegal loggers not long after who would decimate the forest of the sacred cedar trees[8] that things really came to a head. Then there were the wealthy settlers who would be handed out thousands of acres of land for free by the government and function as absentee landlords while their farms were managed by convicts and ex-convicts. No wonder the south coast ended up another war and massacre zone for decades.
I was also not aware that rampant discrimination and racism was still continuing not that far south from where I was growing up and I don’t remember ever hearing about it, or perhaps I did and let it roll over my head.[9] I did not know that in 1960, when I was twelve, the south coast was functioning on a system of apartheid (p.60) or that when I was thirty-four the Mayor of Nowra burned the Aboriginal flag calling it a ‘rag’ (p.71). How did I not know or put 2+2 together?
By the 1980’s I had moved and was slowly becoming aware that there was something not quite right in Australia; not that I could really pinpoint it at that stage.
I now have a greater understanding of, and this publication has specified and detailed, the persistence of the fight by Aboriginal Peoples for their land and other rights, the repeated ignorance of and pushbacks by Councils, other government bodies and business, and how long this fight has been going on. Also illuminating is the longterm collaboration and planning among different Aboriginal groups and organisations that this involved, the central position that Keven Cook and Tranby (as well as many others) played in coordinating, educating and actioning, as well as the role of the Labor party, Communist Party, Unions and independent religious in supporting.[10] These were not just isolated events. It is all beginning to make sense.
The final chapter in this volume includes the long fight against a proposed major development at Sandon Point in 2000; an area which is of great cultural and spiritual significance.
“But in the end came victory. In 2008, Wollongong City Council was sacked for corruption on other counts after an Independent Commission Against Corruption inquiry. The fire ignited with embers from the 1972 Canberra Tent Embassy is still burning at Sandon Point. Artists played and children sang at SPATE in May 2007 to celebrate the declaration of 14 hectares at Sandon Point as the 55th Aboriginal Place in NSW. Non-alcoholic refreshments were provided and singer Jimmy Little, whose father is from Illawarra, gave a heartfelt performance that left no eyes dry. Community leaders spoke. South Coast Aboriginal Advancement League founder, Elder Mary Davis, said, “We got what we wanted, though not all that we wanted, land we can call our own” (p. 96)
[5] There never was and never has been a Treaty or agreement made with the First Peoples of this country.
[6] Henry Reynolds also addresses this omission and bias during his schooling, including studying Australian history at University in his book, Why Weren’t we Told: A personal search for the truth about our history. Australia, Penguin, 1999.
[7] I grew up in the ‘Shire’: the Dharawal country between Botany Bay/Kamay and Port Hacking River/Deeban
[8] “By 1812 at least 10 vessels had carried away the trunks of more than 400 huge sacred cedar trees cut from Shoalhaven forests” p.8
[9] I have begun reading Henry Reynold’s, Why Weren’t we Told? which mirrors my journey over the last 25+ years. However there is also the niggling thought that perhaps we did hear fragments and thought that it was just the way it was, that it was isolated or that there must be something wrong with those involved and thought no further.
[10] For example, the Unions would refuse deliveries to businesses where apartheid and racism was practiced.
(All photos from Margaret’s book, ‘Opening the Door to Dance’)
This International Women’s Day it seems appropriate to honour one of my teachers, Margaret Walker. Margaret was ahead of her time. She had a vision for peace and spent her life and any money she made on connecting peoples from all cultural backgrounds through dance. For her dance was ‘the dance of the peoples’.
I must have first come into contact with her in the late 1960’s or early 1970’s. I can no longer remember how I heard of her. I do remember Saturday afternoon drives to the other side of Sydney to learn dances from many cultures, followed by improvisation with ‘Uncle Barry’ on the piano.
Even before moving to Sydney Margaret’s particular vision was strong. Although she had trained as a chemist it was not to last long. In Melbourne, after seven years of training in Classical Ballet, she realised that the specialised form was “not accessible to all”;[1] Instead she focussed on the Character dances that were part of ballet training and formed Unity Dance Group which took these dances to workplaces and factories as well as taught and established groups for other organisations.
In 1951 she was an Australian delegate to the World Festival of Youth and Students for Peace and later a delegate to the USSR, extending this opportunity to include several other European countries.[2] The contacts and links she made through the USSR and Europe opened up many opportunities for Ethnologists, Folk Dance specialists and companies to visit Australia in the following years. During her visits she also collected dances and resources from which she developed her programs.
On moving to Sydney in 1952 she wasted no time setting up the Association of Australian Dances with branches in each state, and spreading her love of cultural dance through her school, Roseville Dance Centre as well as through invitations that came her way, such as being invited to establish a Childrens’ Arts Club (dance, theatre, art, film) for the Waterside Workers’ Federation.
Her philosophy spread to her family which consisted of four children from four cultural backgrounds whom she had adopted. As I do not know how to find them to request permission I will not include any details here.
Dance Concert, of which I became a member, was established in 1967/68 and I can’t remember whether I was already doing classes with Margaret before then. Looking back at what she was able to accomplish, it was pretty amazing, especially on very limited funding. We had teachers from all over the world. I remember classes with Csaba Palfi from Budapest, workshops with the Moiseyev Dance Company (Russia) when they were on tour here, an Israeli dance specialist, traditional Philippine dance from Lucy Jumuwan and there must have been many others I no longer remember.
“Dance Concert is building a unique repertoire of dances and ballets many arranged by choreographers of the world’s leading folk dance ensembles. These include:
Yuri Mironov – Osipov Ensemble
Witold Zapala – Polish Mazowse Ensemble
Igor Moiseyev – & teachers Nelli Samsonova & Anatole Fedorov
Libertad Fajardo – Filipino Bayaniban Company
Csaba Palfi – from Budapest”
Margaret would also co-work with dancers from local cultural groups and invite them to perform with Dance Concert and we’d perform in traditional costume anywhere we were asked. At the same time Margaret was running and teaching folk dance in schools and I taught with her and for her on many occasions. She developed a program for schools called ‘Folk Dance is Fun’.
Eventually Dance Concert began to receive funding from the Australia Council to support her work. That was when trouble began. As I understand it, because it was compulsory to have a company with a Board of Directors to receive funding, and the Board, who now owned the name ‘Dance Concert’, and Margaret were not agreeing, they dismissed her in 1977. I could not believe they would do that – take her life work and vision – so easily and supplant her with another.
At the end of that same year Margaret set up the ‘Margaret Walker Folk Dance Centre’ and continued teaching under her own name in schools and in the community, as well as organising performances for festivals and other events. During this period, although I had my own work, I was still in contact and teaching for her in schools, some of which was festival preparation for events like the Blacktown City Games which involved 500 children from fourteen local schools. As well we would meet up at events run by NSW branch of the Australian Association for Dance Education.
During this period Margaret had made contact with members in the Aboriginal community in Australia and I suspect was the first person to bring a Traditional Knowledge holder and dancer from the Northern Territory to Sydney to share his culture and dance in schools. The dances Magungun taught were performed by children as part of the program for the Blacktown City Games. It was a brilliant experience. She also at some stage worked with the Aboriginal Islander Dance Theatre in Sydney/Warrane.
In 1982 Margaret was invited to choreograph a folkloric sequence as part of the Commonwealth Games in Brisbane and later was officially recognised for her lifetime of work in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list with a Medal of the Order of Australia. She continued to work almost to the end of her life and in 1992 published ‘a method for teaching International folk dance’, Opening the Door to Dance.
On page viii she writes –
“Folk dance provides a bridge, an enjoyable introduction to other cultures and customs. It can become part of a thematic approach to studying other countries. Participants need to be made aware of the meaning or purpose of a dance and a teacher should try to teach it in a way that is respectful to that culture. An introduction to folk dance can open doors in a person’s life leading to appreciation and tolerance for the ways of others.”
In the copy I have Margaret has written,
Her legacy for me, I think, fostered a lifelong love of the broadness of dance and yet the uniqueness of each culture’s expression, and the thought that ‘if we could just dance together we would be friends.’ Perhaps many have had similar thoughts. I was also very fond of her and I hope she also considered we were friends.
[1] Walker, M. (in collaboration with Nicki Lo Bianco), Opening the Door to Dance, v.
A few years ago a member of one of the family networks I am part of posted an image of a plaque which marked the departure of the First Fleet from Portsmouth on 13th May 1787.
The plaque’s heading states “THE BIRTH OF AUSTRALIA”, which of course is historically incorrect and I commented as such on the post. As the plaque had been unveiled by the Queen in 1987, it illustrated to me that the message that Australia was NOT ‘terra nullius’ had, at that stage, still not been recognized by the British establishment.
It reminded me of reading of a similar instance where one of my ancestors, Elizabeth Pulley, is described as one “who had helped found Australia” in the museum at Wymondham Bridewell.[1] Again this is misleading and historically incorrect.
What the plaque above does commemorate is my convict ancestors’ departure from Britain, an event which I do celebrate as, at least in Elizabeth’s case, she was not “hung by the neck till she be dead”.
Since writing my comments on the post I’ve reflected on timing; how the month of May has special significance for me, not the least of which is that RECONCILIATION WEEK also occurs during this month, and how that has influenced the way I react to the ignorance of ‘official’ versions of what occurred in and around 1788 and since.
As with Australia Day, the month of May can be a conflicted time for some of us whose ancestors arrived on the First Fleet: one of wanting to honour and celebrate life events of those ancestors and at the same time one of wanting to remember and acknowledge the devastation and havoc it caused, and in some cases is still causing, for the First Nations peoples of this country and their descendants.[2] Some of these events include,
13th May 1787 – the departure of the First Fleet from Portsmouth
19th May 1788 (one year later) – my ancestors Anthony’s and Elizabeth’s marriage
April/May 1789 (one year later) – reports begin coming in of many local First Nation people dying of smallpox, which is thought to be brought in by the First Fleet. According to Governor Phillip “judging from the information of the native now living with us…one-half of those who inhabit this part of the country died” and those who left the area carried it further. [3]
Fast forward to 20th century
27th May 1967 – Referendum that saw more than 90 per cent of Australian voters chose ‘Yes’ to count Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in the census and give the Australian Government the power to make laws for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. It is unimaginable to think that before this referendum Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples did not officially exist, let alone in many instances did their original names and Countries/Nations of origin, and that the rest of Australia had to agree to this to make it happen??? [4]
3 June 1992 – Mabo decision by the High Court which recognised that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have rights to the land that existed before British arrival and still exist today; the date now marking the end of Reconciliation Week.
1993 – Inaugural Week of Prayer for Reconciliation involving Australia’s major faith communities.
27 May 1996 – Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation launched Australia’s first National Reconciliation Week to be held each year from 27 May to 3 June, recognised by the Parliament of Australia; the dates chosen to include the Referendum and Mabo decision.
26 May 1997 – Bringing them Home report of the separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families tabled in Federal Parliament; a practice that has not ceased.
26 May 1998 – National Sorry Day inaugurated to commemorate the anniversary of the Bringing them Home report and the grief and longterm effects forced separation has on their families and their descendants.
28 May 2000 – Reconciliation Walk across Sydney Harbour Bridge in support of meaningful reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples in Australia.
26 May 2017 – Uluru Statement from the Heart is offered to the Australian people at Uluru, Central Australia after a two year consultation period with over 1,200 representatives of different Indigenous Nations around Australia. The document summary is an appeal from the hearts of First Nations people to the hearts of all Australians, requesting Voice, Treaty, and Truth(telling).[5]
19 May 2023 – Journalist and presenter Stan Grant, a Wiradjuri and Kamilaroi man, announces his decision to ‘step away‘ from the spotlight and the rampant racist and online attacks which are increasing during the lead up to the Voice Referendum – a direct outcome and response to the 2017 Uluru Statement From the Heart. At the end of ABCTV Q+A on 22 May he exits with dignity, grace, and an open but hurting heart.
The juxtaposition of our ancestors’ life events and the call for recognition and acknowledgement of important life events in the history of Aboriginal Australia, which is really the history of us all, has not been lost on me. So how to hold the two together? I think the answer is held in the Uluru Statement from the Heart. I think we need to take this document seriously, listen to what it is saying and requesting, and act on it. [6]
To begin with, our country needs to recognise the First Nations peoples of this country as First Nations in our Constitution. How could we not and why would the rest of us need to be asked? It is self-evident.
Then, the rest of us need to support the call for a constitutionally recognised Indigenous Voice on all matters relating to Indigenous communities. This is not going to affect the rest of us in any way, shape or form. The programs that have been directed from the top-down over the last 230+ years with an Eurocentric mindframe have not worked and seem to be continually making the situation worse. There are differences in cultural behaviour and understandings that keep being ignored.[7] Those who have developed and run successful programs in communities from and on the ground are telling authorities there are workable alternatives. It is time the rest of us listened, supported what is being developed and hand back control and responsibility. The rest of us do not know better. There are increasing numbers of First Nations descendants and organisations making successful inroads in so many areas. It is in good hands.
And we need to ensure that all schools and educational institutions teach the truth of Australia’s history. We also personally need to know the full history of the area in which we live, and learn the traditional names and stories if still known.[8] We need to respect that the names and stories predate the rest of our arrival by tens of thousands of years.
I believe that if the Australian people can do this as a start, the rest will follow.
One of the core requests of the Uluru Statement from the Heart is a call for Makarrata, a Yolungu word which encapsulates something like ‘two parties coming together after a struggle to heal the divisions of the past to make peace…acknowledging that something was done wrong and working on making it right‘ (my interpretation).
“Australia is on a Reconciliation journey. Reconciliation is an aspiration. For us to reach Reconciliation, individual Australians need to personally decide to join the journey. Making that decision involves a commitment to the two steps that precede us reaching Reconciliation, Truth, and Healing. We must understand what it is we are Reconciling. We are not Responsible for the broken relationship that needs to be reconciled. But we do have the Responsibility to recognise that broken relationship, understand it, and take the action required to reconcile it. We accept this responsibility because we know better than those responsible, it’s the right thing to do, and we want better for our kids. Yours and mine.”
How could we as a country and as individuals do otherwise?
*I am using ‘ides’ here metaphorically to designate days around which the rest of the month turns; a sense of the day(s) being ‘central’ or ‘key’…and I like how it sounds.
[2] I can’t begin to imagine how First Nations descendants feel about these events. Journalist and leader Stan Grant (Wiradjuri and Kamilaroi), often addresses these conflicts in his writing and orations.
[3] The Indigenous Australians called it ‘devil devil’. The question ‘where did it come from?’ remains unanswered. Smallpox has a 10-14 day incubation period so it is unlikely to have come directly from the fleet’s human cargo or from the French in 1788. Test tubes of scabs/puss from a recovering sufferer were brought in by Surgeon John White for inoculation purposes and probably stored in the hospital laboratory. Questions about whether it would have remained active for the length of, and weather changes during, the journey have now been proven baseless. So either someone accidentally or purposefully let it loose or it came from somewhere unknown. I doubt, from reading his letters home in the Historical Records and other journals at that time, it would have been on Governor Phillip’s orders. However, he had enemies and those officers, let alone the rest of the rabble, were out to cause trouble and did target the First Peoples. (https://www.nma.gov.au/defining-moments/resources/smallpox-epidemic)
[4] In Chapter 2 of Everything You Need to Know About the Uluru Statement From the Heart, Megan Davis & George Williams discuss what the 1967 referendum did and did not achieve.
[5] This is simplified. If you wish to know more about this document and its history visit the Uluru Statement From the Heart website or read the detail in Everything You Need to Know About the Uluru Statement from the Heart by Megan Davis and George Williams or the more accessible The Voice to Parliament by Thomas Mayo and Kerry O’Brien.
[6] As Professor Megan Davis said at the end of her Henry Parkes Oration in 2018, “it is an invitation to the Australian people. It’s an important statement that will kickstart a reform so that perhaps finally after decades and decades and decades my people, our people, will find their rightful place in our own country”. Or, as Pat Anderson is reported as saying in her 2021 Lowitja O’Donoghue Oration in Adelaide recently, it seeks to “change the narrative about who we are as a nation”.
[7] Victoria Grieves (Warraimaay), Aboriginal Spirituality: Aboriginal Philosophy, The Basis of Aboriginal Social and Emotional Wellbeing and Nola Turner-Jensen (Wiradjuri) on Cultural Mindsets.
[8] a number of local councils run special events led by elders and Indigenous representatives during Reconciliation Week. Reconciliation Australia and NSW lists numerous events during this time as well as during the rest of the year. For 2023 Reconciliation events visit, Reconciliation Events.
[9] Jolleen Hicks is a “Cultural Education Provider – Indigenous Engagement, Director, Author, Advocate for Aboriginal People, Teacher, Mother, Living and Walking in Two Worlds, Ngarluma, Yindjibarndi, Australian”.
We left Elizabeth and Anthony last year at Parramatta with exciting news of the arrival of the Dutch snow, Waaksamheyd, with its cargo of flour, rice and salt.
Although the Waaksamheyd’s load of provisions was not quite what it should have been, it supplemented the colony’s better than expected yield of wheat and barley in January, and the colony was able to remain on full rations. Then in mid January Edward Dodd, the superintendent of convicts at Rose Hill, died. This was a bitter blow to Phillip who had considered Dodd to be ‘the only person in this settlement equal to that charge’ (i.e. directing the convict’s labour). According to Judge-Advocate Collins his funeral service was attended by all the free people and convicts at Rose Hill, which would probably have included Elizabeth, Anthony and Robert.
Drought, lack of provisions and Anthony ‘buys’ some shoes
The summer was severe. There had been no real rain since the previous June and by January the drought was causing difficulties. In February the temperature soared to over one hundred degrees farenheight (c. 38°C). There was a bat infestation at Sydney Cove/Warrane and at Rose Hill birds and bats were seen to drop out of trees, or in mid-flight, dying in the heat. The scrub fires lit by the local Dharug people made the heat oppressive. The smaller streams around Rose Hill and Sydney Cove/Warrane dried up, although the brook and spring at Rose Hill maintained enough water to supply the settlement there.
Once again the local Indigenous people were starving and began to attack settlers for food. The settlement retaliated and a local Indigenous man, who was well-known, was shot and later died.
The convicts were looking tired and half-starved. Their stealing of provisions and the ripening Indian corn and vegetables, especially at Rose Hill, became more frequent. By March when Anthony was charged with possession of stolen shoes, the severity of punishment had increased to iron collars of seven pounds, linked together with chains. Fortunately Anthony only received twenty-five lashes as he claimed to have bought the shoes from a friend and theft could not be proven.
April saw a return to reduced rations and Phillip was determined to encourage as many people as he could to become self-supporting in an attempt to ease the reliance on public stores. Already in March he had placed three more civilians on their own farms near Rose Hill, just north of the brook, and in April two ex-seamen were settled nearby.
Land grants begin in earnest
When the first ships of the Third Fleet appeared Phillip went out to Rose Hill in person to hurry the process along. As the Third Fleet convicts and soldiers of the NSW corps were being landed from their transports in Sydney Cove/Warrane, Phillip was granting tracks of land to convicts whose sentences had expired at Rose Hill, now renamed Parramatta[1]. He placed them in two areas west and north-east of the settlement, (re)named Prospect Hill and The Ponds. One lot of grants were given in June/July, and a second in August/September.
The Ponds/Dundas Valley
In a way the granting of land was also a delaying tactic as most of the ex-convicts, like the marines, seamen and officers, wanted to return to England. However England did not want the ex-convicts back and pressured Phillip to discourage them. Those who were now ‘free’ felt they were no longer compelled to work and were beginning to cause problems.
So Phillip gave the ex-convicts a choice, either continue to labour for the government for provisions as they had been doing, or become settlers. As settlers they were to work on their own land while receiving provisions and free medical assistance for the first twelve to eighteen months. If they still wanted to return to England after that time they would get no assistance from the government and would have to negotiate their return passage directly with the ships masters. [2] In addition, if they chose not to work on the land they had been given they would lose it.
Mary is born
John Summers, a friend and workmate of Anthony, was offered and accepted a grant of land at The Ponds. Anthony, whose sentence was not yet completed, continued to labour as a bricklayer at Parramatta where Elizabeth gave birth to their second child. Mary Rope was baptised at Parramatta on 31st July. It was also during this month that relations between the local Dharug and other clans and the settlers began to unravel again.
Indigenous-British relations
Interaction between the Aboriginal groups and the British had, by this time, settled down into a cycle of peaceful co-existence followed by individual and small group conflict. Most of the conflict was caused by the encroachment of settlers on Aboriginal land and food sources and by the convicts continually stealing their equipment. Indigenous retaliation would usually involve attacking lone convicts in the woods or taking settlement food and stores. They had also realised that by coming into the settlements and befriending those in authority it would lead to a sharing of food and provisions. So Aboriginal people became frequent visitors to the towns, treating them as an extension of their home, which, as there had been no Treaty or formal agreement between the two cultures, it was.
At Parramatta a trade of fish for bread and salted meat had been proceeding quite peacefully for some months. The trade was led by Ballederry, who was well-known and liked by the settlers. Ballederry sometimes stayed over with Governor Phillip and, along with Colbee, had accompanied some officers on an expedition northwest of Parramatta in April.[3] However during June some convicts destroyed Ballederry’s canoe. Although three of the culprits were caught and punished, Ballederry retaliated a few days later by spearing a convict which, of course, was his cultural norm. As this sort of payback was not acceptable to the English orders went out to arrest or kill him.[4]
Ballederry was now a wanted man and he went into hiding. The peaceful trade between the two cultures at Parramatta ceased. Every now and again during the rest of the year Ballederry would send word asking if the Governor was still angry with him. Then in December he became ill with fever. The surgeon examined him, Phillip invited him to go to the hospital for treatment, and their former friendship was resumed.[5]
In spite of singular incidents like these settler-Indigenous interaction seemed to continue as an uneasy truce. For example, at Sydney Cove/Warrane in August a large group of First Peoples called in and stayed overnight on the way to and from a ceremony at Botany Bay/Kamay. In the same month Bennelong’s wife arrived to birth her baby. Others would come in and stay overnight, or for food, or to visit the hospital for assistance. There are also records of some deciding to accompany their English friends to Norfolk Island during this period, and of English being lost in the woods and being escorted back by some of the local Indigenous people.
At Parramatta the unease was fuelled by the establishment of the satellite farms. In July a large group of the Aboriginal clans had appeared at Prospect Hill and after being fired on set fire to a hut. Phillip responded by sending a small troop of soldiers to guard this outlying post, and another to the Ponds. His original idea had been to establish equal blocks of crown land in between each settler, but now he could see it was a mistake. He began to offer the crown land to other convicts, and encouraged them to clear it as quickly as possible.
Perhaps Elizabeth and Anthony, whose term was near its end, were among those who profited by this decision for by the end of the year the family was settled at the Ponds. Yet Anthony was still not considered ‘free’ and probably continued to work as a bricklayer in town. If so in October he would have gathered with all the other convicts as part of the general muster to welcome Barrington, the new superintendent. He would also have been later visited by him at the brickworks. During leisure hours Anthony, as were others in a similar situation, was under instruction to cultivate his own land and by December they had one acre under cultivation, probably of maize or corn.
expeditions
Meanwhile the push to find alternative settlement sites continued, further motivated by the long drought, which meant that the identification of alternative fresh water sources was a priority[6] . Expeditions recommenced from Parramatta. One expedition revisited northwest, confirming that the Nepean and Hawkesbury/Dyarubbin was the one river and finally breaking through to the mountains in the west.
Another expedition moved south from Parramatta, and along the Georges River which was shared by many clans north, south, east and west along the river. Bays to the south of Sydney Cove/Warrane, in Dharawal-Dhurga country and which were (re)named Jervis Bay and Matilda Bay, were discovered by some of ships of the Third Fleet. These ships were whalers and as soon as their human cargo had landed they made good use of the bays as anchorage points from which to track and fish the whales. Their hunts were not as successful as they had hoped, but Phillip saw the potential for a future industry and wrote to England with the news.
abscondments continue
At the end of March a group of convicts, some of whose terms had expired, had absconded at night in a boat well-stocked with food, provisions and tools. It was led by the Governor’s fisherman and had been planned over many months.[7] The Governor immediately placed size limits on the boats being built and carefully monitored all night work.
Then in November a group of twenty male Irish convicts and one female, who had arrived on the Third Fleet, absconded from Parramatta into the woods heading for China. Gradually they were found lost and starving and were brought back, only to abscond again almost immediately. Phillip once again gathered all the new arrivals together and warned them they would be shot in future and would suffer instant death for robbing the stores, as he had heard of their plot to do so. Yet by December thirty-eight convict men were missing in the woods and plundering the stores at night. There was even a report of two men assaulting another man on the newly completed Parramatta Road. And the stealing of boats continued spasmodically.
departure of Third Fleet ships
During the last months of the year the Third Fleet began to depart with those ex-convicts, officers and marines who had elected to return to England. The departees included Major Ross, and Lt. Clark who had both returned from their duty in Norfolk Island, and Captain Watkins Tench, whose journal is an invaluable resource. All had arrived with the First Fleet and, like many others who still had to remain, were suffering the effects of the long absence from home and the deprivations experienced since arrival.
Not many were sorry to see Ross go. As Judge-Advocate Collins wrote, ‘It is the Prayer of every one in this Colony, that he may not stay two Days in it, when he returns’ (ie. from Norfolk). Nevertheless Ross still managed to engage in a duel during the week before departure. Lt. Clark, Elizabeth’s ‘foe’ on the Friendship, had acquired a lover, Mary Branham, with whom he had a daughter, Ann Alicia, while at Norfolk Island. Mary, Ann and another of Mary’s children arrived in Sydney with him and apparently accompanied him back to England.[8]
life goes on
The Third Fleet’s departure left a gap. The Fleet’s arrival from July to October had offered many diversions. People living at Sydney Cove/Warrane would go to the shore to greet the ships and to inquire after friends and news from home. Others would sort through the luxury goods the ship masters had brought with them for sale at the usual inflated prices. A few from the Aboriginal community would wander down to watch.
Newcomers, such as Mr. and Mrs McArthur, Superintendent Barrington, Rev. James Bain, chaplain of the NSW corps, as well as officer’s wives, would be entertained at dinners, picnics and excursions along the river, or at Parramatta. By mid December all the ships had gone, including the Supply from the First Fleet and, as Judge-Advocate Collins wrote, everything settled ‘back to a dull uniformity’.
Rations had been reduced again in December making it a lean Christmas. So a gift of a pound of flour was given to each woman, which Elizabeth would no doubt have appreciated. The season was also celebrated with a divine service at Parramatta, probably where a temporary shelter had been built for that purpose, and the robbing of the marine store of twenty-two gallons of spirits at night[9] .
Then on the last day of the year convicts gathered in front of Government House Parramatta to protest the reduction in rationing and the daily, rather than weekly, distribution of food.[10] The protest was led by the newly arrived convicts from Irish gaols.[11] As Judge-Advocate Collins wrote, there was a ‘spirit of resistance and villainy lately imported by the newcomers’.
[1] Phillip had renamed Rose Hill, Parramatta as part of the Kings Birthday celebrations on 4th June. Parramatta was the name the local Aboriginal people gave to the area, thought to mean ‘the place where eels lie down’ or ‘the head of the river’.
[2] England did finally support Phillip’s requests and allowed ex-convicts to return.
[3] The expedition was an unsuccessful attempt to find the junction of the Hawkesbury and Nepean rivers (originally called Dyarubbin). As on previous occasions, Aboriginal People were not comfortable outside their own locale and could not wait to return home. Although they openly greeted the Bu-ru-be-ton-gal people, who lived around the Hawkesbury/Dyarubbin river and seemed friendly, both groups spoke different dialects and were nervous of each other. Privately Ballederry described them as ‘enemies’ and in one instance burnt one of their shelters.
[4] The unevenness of British attitudes towards and punishment of other British and First Peoples regarding such infringements has to be noted. The men who retaliated and killed the local Indigenous man do not seem to have been hunted down.
[5] In spite of Phillip’s friendship with and respect for, many of the First Peoples, he was under pressure from England to procure ‘specimens’. In a letter which accompanied the many specimens of flora and fauna he sent home in December he wrote of the difficulty of procuring Aboriginal heads as ‘the Natives burn their dead: no European has yet seen the ceremony’. He was hopeful, however, that Bennilong, who Phillip described as very intelligent, would accompany him in person when he eventually returned home. The practice of collecting human trophies was rife at the time. From a 21st century perspective it is, or should be, repugnant. According Aboriginal remains repatriation the practice continued to the late 1940’s with 1990 marking the “year of the first ever repatriation from the UK”.
[6] The tank stream in Sydney Cove/Warrane had gradually silted and the water level was very low. During 1791 effort was put into clearing, widening and deepening it. Palings on the bank were erected to keep out the stock and in November stonemasons were ordered to cut tanks out of the rock for reservoirs.
[7] Some were actually seen by one of the officers one year later at the Cape of Good Hope from where they returned to England to face the courts for their abscondment.
[8] So much for the ‘damned whores’ and desperately missing his beloved wife, Alicia, and son. He did, interestingly, name the baby Ann Alicia after his wife.
[9] Spirits, such as Rum and Porter, were in limited supply for everyone and had always caused problems among the convicts and marines. A fresh supply had arrived with the Third Fleet but Phillip had stopped it being landed until guards could be put into place to secure it once on shore.
[10] Convicts had been bartering their weekly ration for spirits. By mid-week they were starving, and began to steal. So Phillip decided to try and reduce, or control, the problem with daily hand-outs instead.
[11] As usual the newly arrived convicts did not think they should have to work for food; preferring to abscond and/or steal.
Australia Day is looming on the horizon again and a feeling of unease is rising, including in someone like me whose ancestors arrived on the First Fleet and who has researched and is very aware of how that arrival impacted on the First Peoples. [1] However I am not the only one who experiences this inner conflict and sense of disconnect.
I recently read Australia Day written by Stan Grant, a well-known journalist who has worked overseas and is of Wiradjuri and Kamilaroi descent. Yet Stan Grant also has Irish heritage. In Australia Day he explores and analyses this mix and conflict, “Those of us who identify as Indigenous, as First Peoples, we too grapple with our whiteness”, and what it means in relation to the dating of Australia’s major national celebration. He explores and debates identity politics and mixed ancestry while being confronted by real problems and results of systemic racism and the white gaze. It is a complex and interesting journey, part of which led him, almost by accident in 2015 after writing an article for The Guardian in response to the incessant booing of Adam Goodes over a number of years as well as other instances, to become a public spokesperson for Indigenous rights – The Racism Debate.
I have also recently read Welcome to Country by Marcia Langton, who is a highly respected first Associate Provost at the University of Melbourne with a lifetime of Indigenous rights activism and is a respected advocate and voice for Indigenous Australia. The subtitle reads “An introduction to our First peoples for young Australians” yet I found it suitable for anyone. It gives an extensive background to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history and culture, the history of colonial impact and growing activism, and some of the current leaders and icons. It is a great introduction to the usually hidden parts of Australian history and should be in every school and community library.
Then there is Loving Country by Bruce Pascoe and Vicky Shukuroglou. If ever you want to fall in love with Australia, this is the book to read. It takes you on a tour around Australia from an Indigenous perspective, resting at places of significance along the way to listen to stories about the land, its First peoples, wildlife and importance. The stories are beautifully told. Suggestions are also made of Indigenous tours and guides if there is a desire to know more. Of course it is impossible to avoid having to confront stories of the destruction which past and current practices are having on these sacred sites, the land itself and the sea, so there is also at times a deep sense of loss. As Bruce says in relation to landuse since colonization, “Australians have been spending agricultural capital built by Aboriginal land care and that capital is all but gone, as if a wayward child had surrendered the family fortune to gambling and decadence”. His challenge is that “all this beauty and soul satisfaction has a price” and there is a tax to be paid for our lifestyle. “It seems most Australians realise that the time has come to care for the planet and its history”.
I read Tyson Yunkaporta’s sand talk: How Indigenous Thanking Can Save the World in 2020 when a friend loaned me a copy. This year I bought my own copy as I realised it was important to reference the book here, and I needed to reread to gain a deeper understanding of the content. Although I am not yet finished the second read, here is a brief introduction.
Through yarns with ‘diverse peoples’ and his own thoughts and understanding Tyson presents Indigenous patterns of thinking, being and doing as a lens to view and critique contemporary systems. As he is quick to point out ‘Indigenous’ is used as a catch-all phrase, as it is in the English language, for many diverse peoples all of whom may have fragments and related parts of a larger meta-story, which starts with parts of the interrelated songlines in Australia. He begins with the challenge of the crisis of our age which is a result of humans thinking that they know better than nature. The challenge and invitation of the book is for ‘us-two’ to walk and yarn with him and others to gain ‘understandings needed in the co-creation of sustainable systems’ (p.18) and, as I understand it, see what might emerge.
And So It Goes....... 