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Ancient Kurnell
A million years or so before the Endeavour anchored in Botany Bay,
Kurnell was an island, and an ancient river flowed into the sea in an
area now known as Boat Harbour. This was at a time when the level of
the Pacific Ocean was much further out to sea than it is today. Cook
arrived after the island had been joined to the mainland and when the
rising sea submerged the river after the end of the last ice age.
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(from Sutherland
Shire Environment Centre Towra Point Nature Reserve)
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Cook landed on a 2-kilometre stretch of sand. At the southern
end of this strip, there was a mangrove swamp, known today as Quibray
and Weeney Bays, which were snake infested swamps and a favourite resort
of ducks, swans and other birds as well as crabs, oysters, mussels and
other sea life. These were great sources of food to the local Aborigines
who called the area Gwea, and the males identified themselves as the Gweagal
while the females styled themselves as the Gweaeean. They were members
of the Eora / Dharawal tribe and lived in the area for thousands of years. |
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Aboriginal Culture
The Australian Aborigines found 'the meaning of life' in the Dreamtime
stories and songs of their particular tribe. Answers to such existential
questions as: "Who am I?" "Where do I belong?" and
"What happens to me when I die?" - were all answered in this
way. Some stories and songs related accounts of ancestral beings taking
the form of animals, birds and other wildlife during the creation period
known as the Dreamtime. During the Dreamtime the creators also made
animals, birds, insects and all other forms of fauna - 'everything'
and this provided the Aborigines with a teleological view of life. In
other words, they saw that everything had been 'made' with a plan and
a purpose and that all living things were in relationship to each other.
These factors determined Aboriginal culture.
Sydney Tribes
It has been suggested that the word Eora was the Aboriginal word of
the coastal Aborigines for 'native'. It probably meant 'man' or 'men'
as traditional Aborigines identified themselves collectively in this
way. Europeans have adopted these names as tribal names. During the
late 19th century R.H. Mathews said that the language spoken by this
group was Tharawal also spelt as Dharawal. Early records also identified
another group of Aborigines who occupied inland areas of Sydney. They
were initially identified as the 'woods tribe' but have become known
as the Dharug - said to be the name of their language. A number of sub-tribes
of the Eora / Dharawal are listed below:
- Tagary - In 1795, the Talgary were identified as being 'from the
south of Botany Bay'. In 1974 Norman Tindale said that Tagary was
an alternative name for the Five Islands tribe that lived in the Illawarra
district.
- Bejigal - This is the name of a sub-tribe of the Eora / Dharawal
tribe. They occupied the western shores of Botany Bay extending along
the Cook's River into the Tempe / Marrickville area and south to the
George's River extending west to Bankstown. However local historians
often confuse the Bejigal with the Bidjigals (sometimes spelt Bediagal)
who occupied the Castle Hill district. As Captain John Hunter recorded,
the Bejigal were the Botany Bay 'tribe'.
- Nongerragal - This sub-tribe of the Eora / Dharawal lived in present
day Menai / Bangor. Their territory no doubt extended into the Australian
Army Military Reserve at Holdsworthy where there are more than 1,400
Aboriginal rock carvings.
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James Cook
Born on the 27th October 1728 in Yorkshire, James Cook combined attending
school and helping his father on his farm until he was 13 years of age.
Around July 1746 James Cook made his first voyage on a collier plying
along the coast of Britain. In 1755 he volunteered to join the Royal Navy,
and his name appears in the Muster Roll of H.M. Eagle on 25th June of
that year. He was transferred to a number of ships and participated in
the war between England and France over Canada. On his 29th birthday,
he joined the Pemroke as Master and sailed to the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
At the end of the war Cook stayed in Canada and was engaged in marine
surveys, making a name for himself in what was a mysterious business at
the time. During the winters of 1759 and 1760 he learned all he could
about mathematics and astronomy. In October 1766, he observed an eclipse
of the sun. Cook combined the information he gathered with information
that had been gathered at Greenwich by another observer, and thus deduced
the longitude of his observation location. Determining longitude was difficult
at the time and his methodology was published in 1767. It had far-reaching
consequences. |
| In 1768 Lieutenant James Cook (he became Captain on his
return to England) undertook a scientific voyage taking a group of scientists
to observe the Transit of Venus at Tahiti. In 1716 Edmund Halley had predicted
that a Transit of Venus might occur in 1769, and that it would not be
seen again until 1874. By 1767 the Royal Society and the Admiralty were
planning to send expeditions to observe and record the transit. In March
1768 the Secretary of the Admiralty purchased a Bark renamed the Endeavour.
James Cook was selected to take the scientific group to Tahiti. Cook sailed
with a second, secret set of instructions - to search for the great Southern
Continent believed to be positioned somewhere in the vicinity of latitudes
35 and 40 degrees south. |
(from HM
Bark Endeavour Foundation)
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| After leaving Tahiti, James Cook sailed the Endeavour in
a westerly direction from New Zealand and on 19th April land was sighted.
This was the continent of Australia (or New Holland as it was called at
the time). Cook named the point of land Cape Hicks after Lieutenant Hicks
who first saw it. This area of land was occupied at the time by the Kurnai
Aboriginal tribe. The Endeavour steered north following the coastline.
On Saturday 21st 'smook (sic) of fire' was seen in several places along
the southeast coast 'a certain sign that the Country is inhabited'. On
Sunday 22nd after naming Mount Dromeday smoke was again seen. This was
in the land of the Yuin tribe. Later, several people were seen upon a
beach. They appeared to be dark or black 'but whether this was the real
colour of their skins or the clothes they might have on I know not' said
James Cook. This however was not an idle observation: James Cook needed
to determine whether the land was occupied or not. If it was, he had to
decide whether the people owned their land or were merely occupants of
it. |
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(from Captain
Cook's Landing Place)
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After several other sightings and one attempt to land on
the seashore near present day Bulli in Eora /Dharawal territory, the Endeavour
sailed along the coastline of the present day Sutherland Shire. At daylight
on Saturday 28th April, 1770 the Endeavour sailed into the bay known by
the Aborigines as Kamay, which Cook named Stingray Harbour, and is now
known as Botany Bay.
The Endeavour came to anchor opposite an Aboriginal camp on the southern
shore of the Bay. The Aborigines knew this area as Gwea. Europeans called
it Kurnell. As James Cook, Joseph Banks and a party of marines rowed
towards the shoreline in longboats, two warriors were noticed standing
on the beach facing the boats. The warriors waved their spears over
their heads and shouted to the strangers: Warra warra wai. Many writers
have interpreted these words as meaning: go away. In fact, they meant:
'bad, you are doing wrong'. The strangers were disobeying the Dreamtime
lore. They were not carrying message sticks seeking to be invited into
their territory.
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During the nine days that James Cook and other members of the Endeavour
stayed at Botany Bay, there were a number of encounters between them
and the Eora / Dharawal people. This is also true of the 7 days that
the First Fleet was anchored in the bay and during the period when the
French Expedition under the command of La Perouse was there.
There is a consistent pattern of contact in all three of these encounters.
Initially the Aboriginal people opposed what they saw as an invasion
of their territory in breach of Dreamtime lore. Their resistance was
immediate but they soon learned that European weaponry was more effective
than their spears and shields. So they retreated from the strangers
growing hostile as they watched them shoot animals and birds, walk into
their huts, cut down trees and generally act as if 'they' owned the
land. On a number of occasion spears were thrown at the Europeans.
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(from State
of the Bay - Botany Bay 1988)
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Forby Sutherland
Generally acknowledged as the first European to die on Australian soil,
Forby Sutherland was buried at Kurnell during the visit of the Endeavour
in 1770. According to James Cook's journal, Sutherland died and was
buried on the 1st May 1770 and is generally considered to have died
of consumption. Tom Kenny disputed this in his book 'In the Footsteps
of Captain Cook' stating that Sutherland died at a battle that took
place at Kurnell. Cook named Point Sutherland after Froby Sutherland.
Traditional Aboriginal Society
When the First Fleet landed at Sydney Cove the Aborigines had been
living a lifestyle that had virtually remained unchanged for at least
40,000 years. This is identified as a traditional lifestyle that was
based on Dreamtime beliefs and practices. As a result of colonisation
a number of changes were imposed on the people.
Adaptation
During the early years of the establishment of the English Colony of New
South Wales, the Aborigines of the Sydney district learned to adapt their
lifestyle with the presence of the 'strangers' in their lands. Other tribes
were faced with this challenge as the colony expanded. But adaptation
basically meant 'learning the Whiteman's rules'. This usually involved
a number of encounters or conflict between the two races. The Aborigines
resisted the establishment of farms and settlements, striving to remain
as Dreamtime people in accordance with the traditions and lore that had
existed for thousands of years. From a European perspective the 'natives'
were expected to adapt and adopt British ways of life. Adaptation led
to pauperism - a state of being dependent upon settlers and others for
handouts of food and clothing. |
