by Tim Flannery
On the 8th of October birds were seen about the ship, and the air was fumigated with a sweet scent, so that we assured ourselves of our approach to land. Every person seemed enlivened after running 6,893 miles and being forty-five days without seeing land.
King’s Island in Bass’s Straits, New Holland was now seen right ahead which we stood very close to and then tacked in. A short time after, a hurricane of wind, with a tremendous sea making a clean breach over the ship’s poop, suddenly split or blew away every sail from the yards. In this situation did we remain during a long and awful night in the unexplored sea until morning, when an opening in the land on the main gave us hopes as to its being our port of destination. The weather being now more moderate we stood in towards it. When we were within a mile of the entrance we observed the sea to break all across. Our situation now became most serious with the wind and sea dead upon the land. We attempted to tack the ship but she refused stays. This brought us still nearer the danger; our anchors now seemed to be our only dependence.
At length we observed a small opening in the breakers through or on which it was evident the ship must go. Our sails were scarcely trimmed for the purpose when a cry from the look-out men aloft that a ship’s masts were seen over the land again animated every heart, as it assured us of its being Port Phillip and the ship at anchor to be our consort the Ocean. All sail was now crowded upon the ship and the supposed reef of rocks proved to be an immensely strong ebb tide against the wind which caused the great sea at the entrance.
On the 9th of October 1803 we came to an anchor under the southern shore, the Ocean being half a mile from us. Upon entering this spacious harbour nothing could be more pleasing to the eye than the beautiful green plains with lofty trees which surrounded us. In short the country appeared more like pleasure grounds than a wild savage continent…
On the following morning we hoisted out all the boats. Captain Woodriff, Governor Collins and Lieutenant Tuckey went on shore in the barge and in a short time afterwards returned with a very unfavourable account of the place, not having been able to find fresh water, and soil they found to be little better than sand. Upon their approaching the shore two natives appeared brandishing their spears and making signs of hostile motion but, a musket being fired over their heads, they ran into the woods with a hideous yell leaving their war weapons behind. Again all the boats went in search of fresh water and returned with the same ill success. Vast quantities of wild fowl, black swans, pelicans, ducks and an innumerable number of parrots were seen, and likewise the prints and other marks of the kangaroo.
It was now proposed and determined to fit the launch and another boat for the purpose of surveying the harbour and if possible to find an eligible situation for establishing the colony. We next began to make wells for the daily supply of water by boring holes in casks and sinking them in the low grounds even with the surface. This plan answered our purpose as well as could be expected but the water was brackish.
On the 11th the captain, governor and some others visited part of the bay called Arthur’s Seat. Lieutenant Dowers, the Reverend Mr Knopwood and myself went to an island five miles from the ship where we found excellent shooting and returned to the ship before night, bringing with us large swans, two couple of redbills and six pelicans, besides many other small birds and as many eggs as we could conveniently carry.† Upon this island I got a young eagle of the golden species. Other parties were equally successful having killed quail, parrots, snakes and pigeons.
Captain Woodriff and party returned with no better opinion of the place than before, but had determined upon landing the convicts in a bay which we called Sullivan.†† The two boats before mentioned, under the command of Lieutenant Tuckey and some civil officers belonging to the colony establishment, well armed and fitted out in every respect for fourteen days, proceeded upon the intended survey. Arming the boats was thought prudent for, although as yet few of the natives had appeared, there could be no doubt that the place was swarming with them from the constant fires round the bay. In the evening we hauled out nets for fish but not with any great success: most of those we caught were of one sort to which we gave the name of aldermen from their delicious eating and from finding fish in them half as big as themselves…†††
The natives in general were very friendly and proud of everything given them, but seemed quite ignorant of the use of firearms or anything else, although they stole from us axes and saws. Both sexes go entirely naked excepting their chiefs or kings who wear cloaks on their backs of small skins sewn very neatly together with grass. The men seldom approach you without their instruments of war, which are spears pointed with sharp bones and shields neatly carved and ingeniously made. The women carry fish-gigs, nets etc. They are a robust race of people fond of adorning themselves with scars, white and red paint, and long necklaces made of reeds. Their chief’s head-dress is composed of feathers of the cockatoo and parrot, and kangaroo teeth. The women appear very shy, always keeping in the rear, are well made, but very dirty; their heads are likewise dressed with feathers etc. When the men approach you with hostile intention their chiefs are carried upon the shoulders of four men and are otherwise distinguished by having a bone or reed from ten to twelve inches long run through their noses which, added to the painting of their faces, makes them curious figures.
On the 22nd Lieutenant Tuckey and the former party again proceeded in two boats armed to finish the survey of the NW part of the harbour and did not return till the 28th when he gave us the following report: that he had found two or three freshwater rivers at a distance from the ship, that the navigation was exceedingly difficult and that it would be impossible for a colony to flourish there, as the soil was little better than sand.
On the evening previous to his return he had had a serious skirmish with the natives, which proceeded from their wishing to steal or take by force everything he had on shore in a tent, or even in the boats. From the account he gave it is evident that they are brave and clever as to their mode of attack. A small party of them came down first, with every sign of friendship, and received several presents. Lieutenant Tuckey then left the shore in one of the boats to survey a small spot while dinner was preparing; this the look-out party of the natives observing, they stole off from about the tent without giving the least suspicion of anything improper. In less than half an hour a large body was seen advancing on the right, carrying their chiefs as before described, and another party on the left equally large.
Mr Gammon, a midshipman who was commander of the small party left by Lieutenant Tuckey, ordered them immediately to seize their arms but on looking round saw they were completely encircled by another party which had advanced in the rear through the woods. Lieutenant Tuckey very fortunately had observed them in their first approach and had used all possible exertion to get on shore, as he happily did just as they had begun to brandish their weapons and to sing their war songs. He immediately commenced a firing over their heads, which for the moment made them retreat, but in a short time afterwards they advanced again, seemingly with double resolution.
Our party then took to their boats and began a firing of ball and swan shot. This, after a short skirmish, made them retreat hastily, leaving one dead and having several others wounded.
Their king, who was with the centre party, wore a beautiful turban of feathers and a very large cloak. He was a man of two or three and twenty, remarkably handsome, well made and of a much fairer complexion than the rest. Those of our party who wore fur caps were supposed by them to be females. Except the chiefs as before mentioned, all the natives were entirely naked, but had much disfigured themselves by painting their bodies with a red and white clay. Before they fight they make all the horrid faces imaginable, by way of defiance, which no doubt in many instances have great effect.
When in a good humour they are constantly laughing. At first we found them very curious in opening our shirts and taking off our hats etc. Their language is far from harsh and differs from that spoken in many parts
of the same continent: the words warree! warree! mallo! mallo! they are constantly repeating, which words I rather think express astonishment.
A party of them one day followed me along the beach shouting. A pelican being within shot, I made signs to them to keep behind, and they immediately ran into the bushes. I then fired and killed the bird. This alarmed them so much that they could not be prevailed on to come near me for a considerable time and then they would not upon any account touch the bird, but kept at a great distance from the person who carried it. They have in general many dogs with them large and swift enough to catch the kangaroo; but they are if possible wilder than their masters.
On the 25th of October we fired a royal salute in commemoration of His Majesty’s accession to the throne.† Everything now appeared to wear a new aspect. The place, which upon our first arrival seemed to afford everything that could be wished, now proved the most deplorable, without water or soil sufficient to produce the common necessaries of life. It was therefore thought prudent to equip a boat with Mr Collins (a colonial officer) and seven men to be dispatched to the governor of Port Jackson to inform him of our arrival, proceedings, and to give him an account of the place.
TE PAHI
Trans-Tasman Explorer, 1805-6
Te Pahi, leading chief of the Rangihoua on New Zealand’s northern Bay of Islands, had long nurtured a desire to visit the strange new English colony. In late November 1805 the great chief got his chance, travelling by whaler first to Norfolk Island and then on to Sydney.
Te Pahi was feted in Sydney society, and must have cut a fine if rather terrifying figure, his deeply carved tattoos transforming his face into a largely immobile mask. His interactions with the Eora people give us an inkling of how different Maori and Aborigines were, and of how they regarded each other.
Te Pahi formed emphatic views about the society he was exploring, and he certainly impressed Governor King who made these notes about him.
Soon after the Buffalo anchored, Captain Houstoun waited on me with his guest, who was clad in the costume of his country. On being introduced he took up a number of his mats, laying them at my feet, and disposed of a stone patoo patoo in the same manner, after which he performed the ceremony of etongi or joining of noses.
After many exclamations of surprise at the house and other objects that attracted his passing attention, he gave me to understand that he had long desired the visit he had now accomplished, to which he had been encouraged by the reports of my two visitors at Norfolk Island in 1793, the request of his father, and the prospect of his country being benefited by his visit, as it had been for the great blessing bestowed on it by the introduction of potatoes at Tookee and Woodoo’s return from Norfolk Island. He also added that leaving New Zealand was much against the wishes of his dependants, but that objection was much outweighed by the probable advantages they would derive from his visit, and concluded by saying that he considered himself under my protection. If I wished him to remain here, go to Europe, or return to his own country, he was resigned to either, and in the most manly confidence submitted himself and his sons to my directions. All this was said in such an imposing manner that no doubt could be entertained of his sincerity.
As I was anxious that no kindness should be wanting to impress him with a full sense of the hospitality I wished to make him sensible of, he with his eldest son, named Tookey, lived with me and eat at the table, whilst a very good room was allotted for his lodgings and that of his sons.
Tip-a-he is five feet eleven inches high, stout, and extremely well made. His age appears about forty-six or forty-eight. His face is completely tattooed with the spiral marks shown in Hawkesworth’s and Cook’s Second Voyage, which, with similar marks on his hips and other parts of his body, point him out as a considerable chief or etangatida etikitia of the first class. To say that he was nearly civilised falls far short of his character, as every action and observation shows an uncommon attention to the rules of decency and propriety in his every action, and has much of the airs and manners of a man conversant with the world he lives in. In conversation he is extremely facetious and jocose and, as he never reflected on any person, so Tip-a-he was alive to the least appearance of slight or inattention in others.
He never missed any opportunity of gaining the most particular information respecting the cause and use of everything that struck his notice, and but few things there were of real utility that did not entirely engross his most serious attention. In communicating observations on his own country he was always very anxious to make himself understood, and spared no pains to convince us that the customs of his country were in several instances better than ours, many of which he looked upon with the greatest contempt, and some with the most violent and abusive disapprobation, of which the following is an instance:
Two soldiers and a convict were sent prisoners from Port Dalrymple to be tried by a criminal court for stealing some pork from the king’s stores at that place. Tip-a-he attended their trial on the Friday, and one of them was ordered for execution on the following Monday. As is usual, they attended divine service on the Sunday. As everyone was much affected by their situation Tip-a-he was not wanting in commiseration; but the instant the service was ended he went to the criminals and embracing them accompanied them back to the jail, where it appeared they gave Tip-a-he a petition to present to me.
On returning to Government House he came into the room where I was writing, and in a very earnest manner, and I believe from the full force of conviction, he endeavoured to reason with me on the injustice of slaying men for stealing pork, and at the same time showing the severest sorrow and grief for their fate, which he concluded by taking the petition out of his pocket and giving it to me, at the same time shedding tears. He threw himself prostrate on the ground, sobbing most bitterly.
Observing that I did not give him any answer or hopes than by saying I should consider of it, he left the room and did not make his reappearance until the hour of dinner, having taken off the dress he had made here, and appeared very violent, exclaiming in most furious manner against the severity of our laws in sentencing a man to die for stealing pork, although he admitted that a man might very justly be put to death for stealing a piece of iron, as that was of a permanent use; but stealing a piece of pork which, to use his own expression, was eat and passed off, he considered as sanguine in the extreme. With much earnestness he urged his being allowed to take them to New Zealand, where taking provisions was not accounted a crime; and so earnest was he on this expedient that he went to the master of an American vessel, then lying here, to request he would take them to New Zealand, where his ship would be loaded with potatoes as a recompense for their passage.
During the three days that the fate of those criminals was pending Tip-a-he would take no nourishment whatever, and in several instances was inclined to be furious. However, on its being signified that two were forgiven and that neither of the others would be executed at Sydney, he came about by degrees, but would never be reconciled to the idea of men suffering death for taking wherewithal to eat—a natural reasoning for one who inhabits a country where everything of that kind is common, and where their other wants are but few.
A material object of Tip-a-he’s visit here was to know if the ships that touched at the bay all belonged to King George, and whether the refreshments and assistance he and his people gave them were right and agreeable to me. On this subject I explained to him the difference between the English and American colours, and that both were equally entitled to his kindness. He complained that in one instance a New Zealander had been flogged by the captain of a whaler and hoped that I would give orders that no such act should be committed in future, and very liberally observed that he supposed the captain must have been a very bad man in his own country to commit such violence on a stranger who he had nothing to do with.
As all the whalers and other vessels which have visited Tip-a-he’s residence have expressed the great convenience, hospitality and assistance they have uniformly
received from this worthy chief and his people, I told him that I should impress on those who might visit him the necessity of their conducting themselves and people in a peaceable manner, and to give them articles in exchange for their potatoes and what stock he may in future have to spare—which the supplies of breeding swine and goats, with fowl etc., sent from Norfolk Island, will soon enable him to do.
To give him some proof of the estimation he was held in by me and the inhabitants of this place, I caused a medal to be made of silver with the following engraving: ‘Presented by Governor King to Tip-a-he, a Chief of New Zealand, during his visit at Port Jackson, in January, 1806’; and on the reverse: ‘In the reign of George the Third, by the Grace of God King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.’ This medal was suspended by a strong silver chain round his neck.
With this and his other presents he was pleased and gratified—particularly with the numerous tools and other articles of iron given him from the public stores and by every class of individuals. As several New Zealanders of the lower class had come here by different vessels, it was a desirable and useful object to endeavour to get a number of people sent from that country to distribute about as shepherds. On communicating this wish to Tip-a-he he appeared to give very readily into the idea, but insisted on sending the middling order of people, who would be more expert at labour and tractable than the emokis or lower class, who were too idle and vicious to send here and from whom no good could be got.