Clash of cultures
Sydney Morning Herald
Monday June 22, 2009
Contact with the outside world was peaceful at first, but not for long, writes Melinda Ham. Indigenous people's contact with people from other cultures did not begin in 1770, when Captain James Cook and his ship, the Endeavour, first landed at Botany Bay. There had been other visitors to Australia for almost 300 years.The important fact, though, is that 1788 marks the beginning of Europeans' occupation and settlement of Australia. Before then, only indigenous people lived here, in harmony with the environment, for more than 60,000 years.FIRST CONTACTFrom about 1450 to 1700, visits to the Australian coast by Indonesians who fished for trepang were probably Aborigines' first meetings with outsiders. Bark paintings detail these meetings and goods, technology and cultural experiences were exchanged.Then, during the 1600s, first in 1606 and then in 1623, the first Europeans arrived. Dutch explorer Willem Jansz and his ship, the Duyfken, explored Cape York Peninsula. His crew had clashes with the local indigenous people.His countryman, Jan Carstensz, also visited the north coast in 1623 and reported that shots were fired at the local people. A third Dutch explorer, Abel Tasman, claimed Tasmania for Holland in 1642, naming it Van Diemen's Land.Then, on April 29, 1770, Captain Cook landed at Botany Bay and wrote in his journal about the indigenous people he met: "All they seem'd to want was us to be gone."Cook charted the eastern coast of Australia and claimed it for England even though he had seen indigenous people living there (see story below).So, taking Cook's word that Australia was free for the taking, the first European settlement began in January 1788.The First Fleet, carrying about 1000 people, including convicts, their families, soldiers and sailors of the 11 ships, went ashore, set up tents and, not long after, began erecting permanent buildings.In his journal, Governor Arthur Phillip wrote that there were about 1500 indigenous people living in the Sydney region (known as Port Jackson) at the time.RESISTANCEAustralia's indigenous people did not just allow the settlers to take their land.The manager of the Learning Services indigenous program at the Australian Museum, Sheryl Connors, points out that almost from the very beginning of European settlement there was organised indigenous resistance.According to estimates, 10,000 to 20,000 indigenous people died and at least 2000 British settlers were killed in conflicts throughout the next century.One of the most famous indigenous warriors was Pemulwuy, a Bidjigal man from Botany Bay, Connors says. He led several attacks, some comprising more than 100 people, against the settlement in the Parramatta area and Toongabbie between 1788 and 1802."He was the first to wage a guerrilla war and is cast as a strong leader in our history," she says.In 1790, Pemulwuy speared a gamekeeper named John McIntyre and a bounty was put on his head for murder. During a battle, he was shot and put in hospital and eventually died of his wounds.In the years immediately after settlement, every time there was resistance, the British troops and settlers retaliated against indigenous people, often killing innocent women and children.For example, at Myall Creek in northern NSW, 28 elderly indigenous men, women and children were killed in 1838. Other notable massacres occurred in Pinjarra in Western Australia, Wangaratta in Victoria and Bathurst and the Murrumbidgee River in NSW - all in the first 50 years ofEuropean settlement.Also in Tasmania, the Black Wars began in 1802, when settlers were allowed to kill indigenous people who came on their land even if they were unarmed.One famous indigenous man from the Wangal people, named Bennelong, attempted to straddle both cultures. Bennelong was captured by Governor Phillip's soldiers but was encouraged to wear European clothes and learn English, which he did.In 1792, with another indigenous man, named Yemmerrawanie, Bennelong travelled by ship to Britain and in 1793 was presented to King George III.Some elements of indigenous life were also influenced by contact with Europeans for example, adaptations were made to traditional weapons.The senior education officer at the National Museum of Australia in Canberra, Trish Albert, says that after 1788, indigenous people started using glass spearheads made from bottles they found around the Sydney settlement. They also began using metal tools and axes.DID YOU KNOWThe traditional owners of the Sydney city region are the Cadigal. Their land stretches from South Head to Petersham. The "Eora people" was the name given to Aborigines living around Sydney. Eora means "here" or "from this place".aetagHLine1!
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