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Authors: Watkin; Tim; Tench Flannery
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find out, if possible, whether the convicts had at any time ill treated or killed any of the natives; and farther, issued a proclamation offering the most tempting of all rewards, a state of freedom, to him who should point out the murderer, in case such an one existed.
I have thus impartially stated the situation of matters, as they stand while I write, between the natives and us. That greater progress in attaching them to us has not been made I have only to regret, but that all ranks of men have tried to effect it by every reasonable effort from which success might have been expected I can testify. Nor can I omit saying that in the higher stations this has been eminently conspicuous. The public orders of Governor Phillip have invariably tended to promote such a behaviour on our side as was most likely to produce this much wished-for event. To what cause then are we to attribute the distance which the accomplishment of it appears at? I answer, to the fickle, jealous, wavering disposition of the people we have to deal with, who, like all other savages, are either too indolent, too indifferent or too fearful to form an attachment on easy terms with those who differ in habits and manners so widely from themselves. Before I close the subject I cannot, however, omit to relate the following ludicrous adventure, which possibly may be of greater use in effecting what we have so much at heart than all our endeavours.
Some young gentlemen belonging to the Sirius one day met a native, an old man, in the woods. He had a beard of considerable length, which his new acquaintance gave him to understand, by signals, they would rid him of, if he pleased. Stroking their chins and showing him the smoothness of them at the same time, at length the old Indian consented, and one of the youngsters, taking a penknife from his pocket and making use of the best substitute for lather he could find, performed the operation with great success and, as it proved, much to the liking of the old man, who in a few days after reposed a confidence in us of which we had hitherto known no example, by paddling alongside the Sirius in his canoe and pointing to his beard. Various arts were ineffectually tried to induce him to enter the ship, but as he continued to decline the invitation a barber was sent down into the boat alongside the canoe, from whence, leaning over the gunnel, he complied with the wish of the old beau, to his infinite satisfaction. In addition to the consequences which our sanguine hopes led us to expect from this dawning of cordiality, it affords proof that the beard is considered by this people more as an encumbrance than a mark of dignity.
â This is the first recorded use of the word âdingoâ in English.
â â These are shields.
â â â The word âkangarooâ was introduced to the Sydney area by members of the First Fleet. Sydney Aborigines knew the Eastern grey kangaroo ( Macropus giganteus ) as patagorang . It seems likely that they assumed that the word âkangarooâ denoted something like âlarge animalâ to the Europeans, and used it in this context, hoping the strangers would understand.
12
The departure of the French from Botany Bay, and the return of the Supply from Norfolk Island, with a discovery made by Lieutenant Ball on his passage to it
A BOUT the middle of the month our good friends the French departed from Botany Bay, in prosecution of their voyage. During their stay in that port the officers of the two nations had frequent opportunities of testifying their mutual regard by visits and every interchange of friendship and esteem. These ships sailed from France by order of the King on the 1st of August 1785, under the command of Monsieur La Perouse, an officer whose eminent qualifications, we had reason to think, entitle him to fill the highest stations. In England, particularly, he ought long to be remembered with admiration and gratitude for the humanity which marked
I have thus impartially stated the situation of matters, as they stand while I write, between the natives and us. That greater progress in attaching them to us has not been made I have only to regret, but that all ranks of men have tried to effect it by every reasonable effort from which success might have been expected I can testify. Nor can I omit saying that in the higher stations this has been eminently conspicuous. The public orders of Governor Phillip have invariably tended to promote such a behaviour on our side as was most likely to produce this much wished-for event. To what cause then are we to attribute the distance which the accomplishment of it appears at? I answer, to the fickle, jealous, wavering disposition of the people we have to deal with, who, like all other savages, are either too indolent, too indifferent or too fearful to form an attachment on easy terms with those who differ in habits and manners so widely from themselves. Before I close the subject I cannot, however, omit to relate the following ludicrous adventure, which possibly may be of greater use in effecting what we have so much at heart than all our endeavours.
Some young gentlemen belonging to the Sirius one day met a native, an old man, in the woods. He had a beard of considerable length, which his new acquaintance gave him to understand, by signals, they would rid him of, if he pleased. Stroking their chins and showing him the smoothness of them at the same time, at length the old Indian consented, and one of the youngsters, taking a penknife from his pocket and making use of the best substitute for lather he could find, performed the operation with great success and, as it proved, much to the liking of the old man, who in a few days after reposed a confidence in us of which we had hitherto known no example, by paddling alongside the Sirius in his canoe and pointing to his beard. Various arts were ineffectually tried to induce him to enter the ship, but as he continued to decline the invitation a barber was sent down into the boat alongside the canoe, from whence, leaning over the gunnel, he complied with the wish of the old beau, to his infinite satisfaction. In addition to the consequences which our sanguine hopes led us to expect from this dawning of cordiality, it affords proof that the beard is considered by this people more as an encumbrance than a mark of dignity.
â This is the first recorded use of the word âdingoâ in English.
â â These are shields.
â â â The word âkangarooâ was introduced to the Sydney area by members of the First Fleet. Sydney Aborigines knew the Eastern grey kangaroo ( Macropus giganteus ) as patagorang . It seems likely that they assumed that the word âkangarooâ denoted something like âlarge animalâ to the Europeans, and used it in this context, hoping the strangers would understand.
12
The departure of the French from Botany Bay, and the return of the Supply from Norfolk Island, with a discovery made by Lieutenant Ball on his passage to it
A BOUT the middle of the month our good friends the French departed from Botany Bay, in prosecution of their voyage. During their stay in that port the officers of the two nations had frequent opportunities of testifying their mutual regard by visits and every interchange of friendship and esteem. These ships sailed from France by order of the King on the 1st of August 1785, under the command of Monsieur La Perouse, an officer whose eminent qualifications, we had reason to think, entitle him to fill the highest stations. In England, particularly, he ought long to be remembered with admiration and gratitude for the humanity which marked
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