First Contact 1770, The Day That Changed Australia Forever...
Lt. James Cook of the British Royal Navy 'discovered' the land now known as Australia in 1770. This is considered an act of invasion by it's original inhabitants whom lived here for over 60,000 years.
The first words Cook heard in Australia were 'Warra, Warra Wai' meaning 'Go away.'
On the day after he landed April 29, 1770 He recorded in his own diary ;
'all they seem'd to want was for us to be gone.'
April 28 1770. The first musket round ever fired over Australian soil rings out across what would come to be known as Botony Bay, anouncing the arrival of the British Empire. That first shot put a hole in a wooden sheild held by one of the first indigenous Australians ever sighted by a white man.
Cook's Secret Instructions
Cook was under instructions from the Admiralty to 'observe the Genius, Temper, Disposition and Number of the Natives, if there be any and endeavour by all proper means to cultivate a Friendship and Alliance with them,'
Cook's Journal entry from the day of first contact reads ; '
As soon as we put the boat in they again came to oppose us, upon which I fir’d a musquet between the 2, which had no other Effect than to make them retire back, where bundles of their darts lay, and one of them took up a stone and threw at us, which caused my firing a Second Musquet, load with small Shott; and altho’ some of the shott struck the man, yet it had no other effect than making him lay hold on a Target. (shield)
Immediately after this we landed, which we had no sooner done than they throw’d 2 darts at us; this obliged me to fire a third shott, soon after which they both made off,'
http://southseas.nla.gov.au/journals/cook/17700429.html
Joseph Banks April 28 1770
'as soon as we aproachd the rocks two of the men came down upon them, each armd with a lance of about 10 feet long and a short stick which he seemd to handle as if it was a machine to throw the lance. They calld to us very loud in a harsh sounding Language of which neither us or Tupia understood a word, shaking their lances and menacing, in all appearance resolvd to dispute our landing to the utmost tho they were but two and we 30 or 40 at least. In this manner we parleyd with them for about a quarter of an hour, they waving to us to be gone, we again signing that we wanted water and that we meant them no harm. They remaind resolute so a musquet was fird over them, the Effect of which was that the Youngest of the two dropd a bundle of lances on the rock at the instant in which he heard the report; he however snatchd them up again and both renewd their threats and opposition. A Musquet loaded with small shot was now fird at the Eldest of the two who was about 40 yards from the boat; it struck him on the legs but he minded it very little so another was immediately fird at him; on this he ran up to the house about 100 yards distant and soon returnd with a sheild. In the mean time we had landed on the rock. He immediately threw a lance at us and the young man another which fell among the thickest of us but hurt nobody; 2 more musquets with small shot were then fird at them on which the Eldest threw one more lance and then ran away as did the other.'
http://southseas.nla.gov.au/journals/banks/17700428.html
The Gweagal Shield
It was after this armed confrontation with the Gweagal warriors whom were resisting an invasion of their homeland that Cook & Banks stepped ashore in Australia for the first time, collecting the shield and spears dropped by the two Gweagal warriors whom opposed their landing.
'We however thought it no improper measure to take away with us all the lances which we could find about the houses, amounting in number to forty or fifty. Banks
Cook & Banks collected all the spears and the shield dropped by the warriors and took them back to England.
Today that shield still exists and it resides in the British Museum. The significance of this object is that, in a single artifact, it provides concise, poetic and irrefutable proof that from the very moment of first contact Australia was not peacefully settled. Despite the violent history of the British Empire up until then (and beyond) on this occasion it was not supposed to be that way. In fact there were express written orders from the Admiralty and the King to that effect. Those orders were disobeyed..
Consecutive orders from the Crown were all similarly disobeyed throughout the colonisation of Australia ;
Secret Instructions to James Cook (1768)
'observe the Genius, Temper, Disposition and Number of the Natives, if there be any and endeavour by all proper means to cultivate a Friendship and Alliance with them,'
www.foundingdocs.gov.au/resources/transcripts/nsw1_doc_1768.pdf
Lt.-Governor Jame's Stirling's Proclamation of the colony of Western Australia (1829)
I do hereby give Notice that if any Person or Persons shall be convicted of behaving in a fraudilent, cruel or felonious Manner towards the Aboriginees of the Country, such Person or Persons will be liable to be prosecuted and tried for the Offence, as if the same had been committed against any other of His Majesty's Subjects
www.foundingdocs.gov.au/resources/transcripts/wa4_doc_1829.rtf
Letters patent establishing the Province of South Australia 19 February 1836
Provided Always that nothing in those our Letters Patent contained shall affect or be construed to affect the rights of any Aboriginal Natives of the said Province to the actual occupation or enjoyment in their own Persons or in the Persons of their Descendants of any Lands therein now actually occupied or enjoyed by such Natives
www.foundingdocs.gov.au/resources/transcripts/sa2_doc_1836.pdf The Proclamation of
Governor John Hindmarsh on 28 December 1836 South Australia (1836)
'It is also, at this time especially, my duty to apprize the Colonists of my resolution, to take every lawful means for extending the same protection to the Native Population as to the rest of His Majesty’s Subjects and of my firm determination to punish with exemplary severity, all acts of violence or injustice which may in any manner be practiced or attempted against the Natives who are to be considered as much under the Safeguard of the law as the Colonists themselves, and equally entitled to the privileges of British Subjects. I trust therefore, with confidence to the exercise of moderation and forbearance by all Classes, in their intercourse with the Native Inhabitants, and that they will omit no opportunity of assisting me to fulfil His Majesty’s most gracious and benevolent intentions toward them, by promoting their advancement in civilization,'
http://adelaidia.sa.gov.au/subjects/the-proclamation
The Pacific Island Protection Act (1875)
7. Saving of rights of tribes.- Nothing herein or in any such Order in Council contained shall extend or be construed to extend to invest Her Majesty, with any claim or title whatsoever to dominion or sovereignty over any such islands or places as aforesaid, or to derogate from the rights of the tribes or people inhabiting such islands or places, or of chiefs or rulers thereof, to such sovereignty or dominion,
http://ozcase.library.qut.edu.au/qhlc/documents/qr_paci_pacific_1875_38-39_Vic_c51.pdf
With consent of the Natives...
'You are also with the Consent of the Natives to take Possession of Convenient Situations in theCountry in the Name of the King of Great Britain: Or: if you find the Country uninhabited take Possession for his Majesty by setting up Proper Marks and Inscriptions, as first discoverers and possessors.'
No Consent was ever given.
http://www.foundingdocs.gov.au/resources/transcripts/nsw1_doc_1768.pdf
That is the story of the British's first arrival in Australia as recorded by Cook himself. But what has not been told is the version of events as told by the Original inhabitants themselves. What is the story of the Indigenous men whom stood on the shore on this fateful day as this unfamiliar boat approached their homeland bearing these new and strange people.
That story is being told now by a man named Rodney Kelly. It was his ancestor, the Warrior Cooman of the Gweagal people whom stood on the beach and opposed the landing of Cook. The story of Cook’s landing has been passed down through the Gweagal clan in their oral traditions for the past 246 years. Now for the first time, we can look through the musket hole and see the invasion of Australia through the eyes of its Original people.
