by Tim Flannery
24 June—Gathering plants and hearing descriptions of the animal which is now seen by everybody. A seaman who had been out in the woods brought home the description of an animal he had seen, composed in so seamanlike a style that I cannot help mentioning it: it was (says he) about as large and much like a one gallon cagg, as black as the devil and had two horns on its head; it went but slowly but I dared not touch it.††
25 June—In gathering plants today I myself had the good fortune to see the beast so much talked of, though but imperfectly; he was not only like a greyhound in size and running but had a long tail, as long as any greyhound’s; what to liken him to I could not tell, nothing certainly that I have seen at all resembles him…
29 June—One of our midshipmen, an American who was out a shooting today, saw a wolf, perfectly he said like those he had seen in America; he shot at it but did not kill it.††† The seine was hauled today for the first time and 150 pounds of fish caught in it… 1 July—Being Sunday all hands were ashore on liberty; many animals were seen by them. The Indians had a fire about a league off up the river…
The ship was now finished and tomorrow being the highest spring tide it was intended to haul her off, so we began to think how we should get out of this place, where so lately to get only in was our utmost ambition. We had observed in coming in innumerable shoals and sand all round us, so we went upon a high hill to see what passage to the sea might be open. When we came there the prospect was indeed melancholy: the sea everywhere full of innumerable shoals, some above and some under water, and no prospect of any straight passage out. To return as we came was impossible, the trade wind blew directly in our teeth. Most dangerous then our navigation must be among unknown dangers. How soon might we again be reduced to the misfortune we had so lately escaped! Escaped indeed we had not till we were again in an open sea…
6 July—Set out today with the second lieutenant resolved to go a good way up the river and see if the country inland differed from that near the shore. We went for about three leagues among mangroves, then we got into the country which differed very little from what we had seen. From hence we proceeded up the river which contracted itself much and lost most of its mangroves; the banks were steep and covered with trees of a beautiful verdure particularly what is called in the West Indies mohoe or bark tree (Hibiscus tiliaceus). The land within was generally low, covered thick with long grass, and seemed to promise great fertility were these people to plant and improve it. In the course of the day Tupia saw a wolf, so at least I guess by his description, and we saw three of the animals of the country but could not get one; also a kind of bats as large as a partridge but these also we were not lucky enough to get.† At night we took up our lodgings close to the banks of the river and made a fire, but the mosquitoes, whose peaceful dominions it seems we had invaded, spared no pains to molest as much as was in their power: they followed us into the very smoke, nay almost into the fire, which hot as the climate was we could better bear the heat of than their intolerable stings.
Between the hardness of our beds, the heat of the fire and the stings of these indefatigable insects the night was not spent so agreeably but that day was earnestly wished for by all of us; at last it
7 July—came and with its first dawn we set out in search of game. We walked many miles over the flats and saw four of the animals, two of which my greyhound fairly chased, but they beat him owing to the length and thickness of the grass which prevented him from running while they at every bound leaped over the tops of it. We observed much to our surprise that instead of going upon all fours this animal went only upon two legs, making vast bounds just as the jerboa (Mus jaculus) does.
We returned about noon and pursued our course up the river, which soon contracted itself into a freshwater brook where, however, the tide rose pretty considerably; towards evening it was so shallow, being almost low water, that we were obliged to get out of the boat and drag her, so finding a convenient place for sleeping in we resolved to go no farther. Before our things were got up out of the boat we observed a smoke about a furlong from us; we did not doubt at all that the natives, who we had so long had a curiosity to see well, were there. So three of us went immediately towards it, hoping that the smallness of our numbers would induce them not to be afraid of us. When we came to the place, however, they were gone, probably upon having discovered us before we saw them. The fire was in an old tree of touchwood; their houses were there, and branches of trees broken down, with which the children had been playing, not yet withered; their footsteps also upon the sand below the high-tide mark proved that they had very lately been there; near their oven, in which victuals had been dressed since morn, were shells of a kind of clam and roots of a wild yam which had been cooked in it.
Thus were we disappointed of the only good chance we have had of seeing the people since we came here by their unaccountable timidity, and night soon coming on we repaired to our quarters, which was upon a broad sandbank under the shade of a bush where we hoped the mosquitoes would not trouble us. Our beds of plantain leaves spread on the sand as soft as a mattress, our cloaks for bedclothes and grass pillows, but above all the entire absence of mosquitoes made me and, I believe, all of us sleep almost without intermission; had the Indians came they would certainly have caught us all napping but that was the least in our thoughts…
10 July—Four Indians appeared on the opposite shore; they had with them a canoe made of wood with an outrigger in which two of them embarked and came towards the ship but stopped at the distance of a long musket shot, talking much and very loud to us. We hollored to them and waving made them all the signs we could to come nearer; by degrees they ventured almost insensibly nearer and nearer till they were quite alongside, often holding up their lances as if to show us that if we used them ill they had weapons and would return our attack. Cloth, nails, paper etc. etc. was given to them all which they took and put into the canoe without showing the least signs of satisfaction.
At last a small fish was by accident thrown to them on which they expressed the greatest joy imaginable, and instantly putting off from the ship made signs that they would bring over their comrades, which they very soon did and all four landed near us, each carrying in his hand two lances and his stick to throw them with. Tupia went towards; they stood all in a row in the attitude of throwing their lances; he made signs that they should lay them down and come forward without them; this they immediately did and sat down with him upon the ground. We then came up to them and made them presents of beads, cloth, etc. which they took and soon became very easy, only jealous if anyone attempted to go between them and their arms. At dinner time we made signs to them to come with us and eat but they refused; we left them and they going into their canoe paddled back to where they came from.
11 July—Indians came over again today, two that were with us yesterday and two new ones who our old acquaintance introduced to us by their names, one of which was Yaparico. Though we did not yesterday observe it they all had the septum or inner part of the nose bored through with a very large hole, in which one of them had stuck the bone of a bird as thick as a man’s finger and five or six inches long, an ornament no doubt, though to us it appeared rather an uncouth one. They brought with them a fish which they gave to us in return I suppose for the fish we had given them yesterday. Their stay was but short for some of our gentlemen being rather too curious in examining their canoe they went directly to it and pushing it off went away without saying a word. At night the boat which had been sent to the reef for turtle came home and brought three.
12 July—Indians came again today and ventured down to Tupia’s tent, where they were so well pleased with their reception that three stayed while the fourth went with the canoe to fetch two new ones; they introduced their strangers (which they always made a point of doing) by name and had some fish given them. They received it with indifference, signed to our people to cook it for them, which was done, and they eat part and gave the rest to my bitch. They stayed the most part
of the morning but never ventured to go above twenty yards from their canoe. The ribbands, by which we had tied medals round their necks the first day we saw them, were covered with smoke; I suppose they lay much in the smoke to keep off the mosquitoes.
They are a very small people or at least this tribe consisted of very small people, in general about five feet six in height and very slender; one we measured five feet two and another five feet nine, but he was far taller than any of his fellows. I do not know by what deception we were to a man of opinion, when we saw them run on the sand about a quarter of a mile from us, that they were taller and larger than we were. Their colour was nearest to that of chocolate, not that their skins were so dark but the smoke and dirt with which they were cased over, which I suppose served them instead of clothes, made them of that colour.
Their hair was straight in some and curled in others; they always wore it cropped close round their heads; it was of the same consistence with our hair, by no means woolly or curled like that of Negroes. Their eyes were in many lively and their teeth even and good; of them they had complete sets, by no means wanting two of their foreteeth as Dampier’s New Hollanders did.
They were all of them clean limned, active and nimble. Clothes they had none, not the least rag, those parts which nature willingly conceals being exposed to view completely uncovered; yet when they stood still they would often or almost always with their hand or something they held in it hide them in some measure at least, seemingly doing that as if by instinct. They painted themselves with white and red, the first in lines and bars on different parts of their bodies, the other in large patches. Their ornaments were few: necklaces prettily enough made of shells, bracelets wore around the upper part of their arms, consisting of strings lapped round with other strings as what we call gimp in England, a string no thicker than a pack thread tied round their bodies which was sometimes made of human hair, a piece of bark tied over their forehead, and the preposterous bone in their noses which I have before mentioned were all that we observed. One had indeed one of his ears bored, the hole being big enough to put a thumb through, but this was peculiar to that one man and him I never saw wear in it any ornament.
Their language was totally different from that of the islanders; it sounded more like English in its degree of harshness though it could not be called harsh neither. They almost continually made use of the word chircau, which we conceived to be a term of admiration as they still used it whenever they saw anything new; also cherr, tut tut tut tut tut, which probably have the same signification.
Their canoe was not above ten feet long and very narrow built, with an outrigger fitted much like those at the islands only far inferior; they in shallow waters set her on with poles, in deep paddled her with paddles about four feet long; she just carried four people so that the six who visited us today were obliged to make two embarkations. Their lances were much like those we had seen in Botany Bay, only they were all of them single-pointed, and some pointed with the stings of stingrays and bearded with two or three beards of the same, which made them indeed a terrible weapon; the board or stick with which they flung them was also made in a neater manner.
After having stayed with us the greatest part of the morning they went away as they came. While they stayed two more and a young woman made their appearance upon the beach; she was to the utmost that we could see with our glasses as naked as the men…
14 July—Our second lieutenant who was a shooting today had the good fortune to kill the animal that had so long been the subject of our speculations. To compare it to any European animal would be impossible as it has not the least resemblance to any one I have seen. Its forelegs are extremely short and of no use to it in walking, its hind again as disproportionally long; with these it hops seven or eight feet at each hop in the same manner as the jerboa, to which animal it bears much resemblance except in size, this being in weight thirty-eight pounds and the jerboa no larger than a common rat.
15 July—The beast which was killed yesterday was today dressed for our dinners and proved excellent meat…
18 July—Indians were over with us today and seemed to have lost all fear of us and became quite familiar; one of them at oúr desire threw his lance which was about eight feet in length—it flew with a degree of swiftness and steadiness that really surprised me, never being above four feet from the ground and stuck deep in at the distance of fifty paces. After this they ventured on board the ship and soon became our very good friends, so the captain and me left them to the care of those who stayed on board and went to a high hill about six miles from the ship. Here we overlooked a great deal of sea to leeward, which afforded a melancholy prospect of the difficulties we were to encounter when we came out of our present harbour. In whichever direction we turned our eyes shoals innumerable were to be seen and no such thing as any passage to sea but through the winding channels between them, dangerous to the last degree.
ARTHUR PHILLIP
One of the Finest Harbours in the World, 1788
Soon after the arrival of the First Fleet, Governor Phillip realised that its original destination, Botany Bay, was an unsuitable site for settlement. He set out to explore Port Jackson which Cook had sailed past eighteen years earlier. One can imagine the virginal cove which caught Phillip’s attention: the small sandy beach, the brook running through Port Jackson figs, ferns and rock orchids, and the slopes behind with their massive pink-barked angophoras growing straight from the stone. Its deflowering was a distressing business and it began when Phillip, in an irksome exercise in sycophancy, named the cove for the incompetent and forgettable Lord Sydney. If he had simply asked the ‘chief of the tribe’ what the place was called, Australia’s first city might today be known as Werrong.
Phillip’s published account of the founding of the settlement at Port Jackson was compiled from various sources. We join the narrative at Phillip’s first meeting with the Eora people, then at the discovery of Sydney Cove.
18 January—At the very first landing of Governor Phillip on the shore of Botany Bay, an interview with the natives took place. They were all armed, but on seeing the governor approach with signs of friendship, alone and unarmed, they readily returned his confidence by laying down their weapons. They were perfectly devoid of clothing, yet seemed fond of ornaments, putting the beads and red baize that were given them on their heads or necks, and appearing pleased to wear them. The presents offered by their new visitors were all readily accepted, nor did any kind of disagreement arise while the ships remained in Botany Bay.
This very pleasing effect was produced in no small degree by the personal address, as well as by the great care and attention of the governor. Nor were the orders which enforced a conduct so humane more honourable to the persons from whom they originated than the punctual execution of them was to the officers sent out: it was evident that their wishes coincided with their duty, and that a sanguinary temper was no longer to disgrace the European settlers in countries newly discovered.
The next care after landing was the examination of the bay itself, from which it appeared that, though extensive, it did not afford a shelter from the easterly winds; and that, in consequence of its shallowness, ships even of a moderate draught would always be obliged to anchor with the entrance of the bay open, where they must be exposed to a heavy sea that rolls in whenever it blows hard from the eastward.
Several runs of fresh water were found in different parts of the bay, but there did not appear to be any situation to which there was not some very strong objection. In the northern part of it is a small creek, which runs a considerable way into the country, but it has water only for a boat, the sides of it are frequently overflowed, and the low lands near it are a perfect swamp. The western branch of the bay is continued to a great extent, but the officers sent to examine it could not find there any supply of fresh water, except in very small drains.
Point Sutherland offered the most eligible situation, having a run of good water, though not in very great abundance. But to
this part of the harbour the ships could not approach, and the ground near it, even in the higher parts, was in general damp and spongy. Smaller numbers might indeed in several spots have found a comfortable residence, but no place was found in the whole circuit of Botany Bay which seemed at all calculated for the reception of so large a settlement.
While this examination was carried on, the whole fleet had arrived. The Supply had not so much outsailed the other ships as to give Governor Phillip the advantage he had expected in point of time. On the 19th of January, the Alexander, Scarborough and Friendship cast anchor in Botany Bay; and on the 20th the Sirius, with the remainder of the convoy. These ships had all continued very healthy; they had not, however, yet arrived at their final station.
The openness of this bay, and the dampness of the soil, by which the people would probably be rendered unhealthy, had already determined the governor to seek another situation. He resolved, therefore, to examine Port Jackson, a bay mentioned by Captain Cook as immediately to the north of this. There he hoped to find not only a better harbour, but a fitter place for the establishment of his new government. But that no time might be lost, in case of a disappointment in these particulars, the ground near Point Sutherland was ordered immediately to be cleared, and preparations to be made for landing, under the direction of the lieutenant-governor.
These arrangements having been settled, Governor Phillip prepared to proceed to the examination of Port Jackson; and as the time of his absence, had he gone in the Supply, must have been very uncertain, he went round with three boats, taking with him Captain Hunter and several other officers, that by examining several parts of the harbour at once the greater dispatch might be made. On the 22nd of January they set out upon this expedition, and early in the afternoon arrived at Port Jackson, which is distant about three leagues. Here all regret arising from the former disappointments was at once obliterated; and Governor Phillip had the satisfaction to find one of the finest harbours in the world, in which a thousand sail of the line might ride in perfect security.