When the Sky Fell Down (1788 The Great South Land)
When the Sky Fell Down (1788 the Great South Land)
Guide to the Music and Worksheets (link to credits)
Note: Levels 1, 2 and 3 refer to the development of concepts. 1 = Introductory; 2 = Intermediary; 3 = Most challenging
These links are to pages within this document only
|Worlds Away |
|The years after Captain Cook and before the First Fleet. |
|Australia & Old England |Level |
|Song Title |Musical Style |No |Worksheet Title |1 |2 |3 |
|1 |Time of Change |Contemporary Rock |1 |Q&A Imagine... |( |( | |
| | |Moderate tempo |2 |The Dreaming |( | | |
| | | |3 |Caring for the Land |( | | |
| | | |4 |Time - Jack Davis | | |( |
| | | |5 |Drama Workshop Activity |( |( | |
| | | |6 |Raindrops - Jack Davis | |( | |
|2 |The Waterway |Contemporary Folk |1 |Q&A Research... |( |( | |
| | |Gentle with feeling |2 |Woman Tools |( | | |
| | | |3 |Man Tools |( | | |
| | | |4 |Map of Eora-Sydney |( |( |( |
| | | |5 |Fishing |( |( | |
| | | |6 |Drama Workshop Activity |( |( | |
| | | |7 |Drama Workshop Activity | |( |( |
| | | |8 |Music, Songs & Dance |( |( | |
|3 |The Jails Overcrowded |Rock Ballad/Chant |1 |Q&A One Solution... |v | | |
| | |Moderate, strong |2 |Select Committee Picture |( | | |
| | |accent |3 |Judges Picture |( |( | |
| | | |4 |18th Century England |( |( | |
| | | |5 |The Exchange |( |( |( |
| | | |6 |Drama Workshop Activity |( |( | |
| | | |7 |Terra Nullius |( |( |( |
|4 |A Great Advantage |Traditional Military |1 |Q&A Look Closely... | |( | |
| | |Moderate |2 |Voyage of the First Fleet |( | | |
|First Encounters |
|The first encounters between Eora people and the First Fleet officers. |
|The move to Port Jackson |Level |
|Song Title |Musical Style |No |Worksheet Title |1 |2 |3 |
|5 |Bound for Botany Bay |Traditional Folk |1 |Q&A First Encounters | |( | |
| | |Lively and Bright |2 |Landing of the First Fleet |( | | |
| | | |3 |Europeans in Botany Bay |( | | |
| | | |4 |Drama Workshop Activity |( |( |( |
|6 |A More Suitable Place |Traditional Military |1 |Q&A Think about it... |( | | |
| | |and Folk. Moderate |2 |Botany Bay “No Dispute” |( | | |
|7 |Hoist the Sail |Traditional English |1 |Phillip with Kameraygals | |( | |
| | |Moderate |2 |Hoisting the Flag | |( | |
| | | |3 |Q&A Hoisting the Flag | |( | |
| | | |4 |Broken Bay | |( |( |
|Separate Lives |
|The initial months when Europeans began their work. The local people lived their |
|own lives and kept away. |Level |
|Song Title |Musical Style |No |Worksheet Title |1 |2 |3 |
|8 |Kameraygal |Contemporary |1 |Q&A Share These... |( |( | |
| | |Soft & Rhythmic |2 |Eternity - Jack Davis |( |( |( |
| | | |3 |Living with the Land |( | | |
| | | |4 |Drama Workshop Activity |( |( |( |
| | | |5 |Kameraygal Homes |( | | |
|9 |Great South Land |Rock Ballad |1 |Q&A What reasons? |( | | |
| | |Moderately fast |2 |Convict Picture |( | | |
| | | |3 |The First Few Weeks |( | | |
| | | |4 |Summer Scene - J.Davis |( |( |( |
| | | |5 |Drama Workshop Activity |( |( | |
|10 |Bidjigal Man |Contemporary |1 |Q&A Here and now... |( |( |( |
| | |Fast and lively |2 |Possum Skin Cloak |( | | |
| | | |3 |Different Languages |( |( | |
| | | |4 |Drama Workshop Activity |( |( | |
|Desperate Times |
|The kidnapping of Arabanoo. The smallpox epidemic. The starvation of the |
|colony. The kidnapping of Bennelong. |Level |
|Song Title |Musical Style |No |Worksheet Title |1 |2 |3 |
|11 |Arabanoo |Jazz Swing |1 |Q&A British Justice... |( | | |
| | |Moderate, smooth |2 |Arabanoo’s Observations |( |( | |
| | | |3 |Q&A Observations... |( |( | |
| | | |4 |The Land at the Brewery | | |( |
| | | |5 |Arabanoo and Phillip | |( | |
| | | |6 |Drama Workshop Activity | |( |( |
|12 |Real Name |Ballad |1 |Q&A Reflect... | |( |( |
| | |Slowly with feeling |2 |Smallpox at Broken Bay | |( | |
| | | |3 |Smallpox Epidemic |( |( |( |
| | | |4 |The Elder - Jack Davis | | |( |
| | | |5 |Drama Workshop Activity | |( |( |
|13 |We are Starving |Ballad |1 |Q&A Investigate... |( |( | |
| | |Slowly |2 |Starvation in the colony |( |( | |
| | | |3 |The land would yield... | |( | |
|14 |Bennelong |Rock |1 |Q&A Explain & Reason... | |( | |
| | |Lively feel |2 |Common Flora |( | | |
| | | |3 |Common Fauna |( | | |
| | | |4 |Drama Workshop Activity |( |( |( |
|Communication |
|Aboriginal groups gather to feast on a beached whale. Phillip is speared. |
|Bennelong and Phillip negotiate. Trade begins. |Level |
|Song Title |Musical Style |No |Worksheet Title |1 |2 |3 |
|15 |Whale of a Time |Rock & Roll |1 |Q&A Read Carefully... |( |( |( |
| | |Bright rock feel |2 |The Spearing of Phillip |( |( |( |
| | | |3 |The Whale Feast |( | | |
| | | |4 |The Food Gatherers |( |( | |
| | | |5 |Generous People | |( | |
| | | |6 |Drama Workshop Activity |( |( | |
| | | |7 |Drama Workshop Activity |( |( | |
|16 |Bennelong's Dilemma |Ballad |1 |Picture it... |( |( | |
| | |Slowly, with feeling |2 |Between Two Enemies | |( |( |
| | | |3 |Q&A Two Enemies... | |( |( |
| | | |4 |Drama Workshop Activity |( |( | |
|17 |Bennelong's Hut |Swing chant |1 |Q&A In your own words. | |( | |
|18 |Fish for Tools |Country |1 |The story of Balloderee | |( | |
| | |Bright feel |2 |The story of Bungaree | |( | |
| | | |3 |Drama Workshop Activity |( | | |
|Survival |
|After some interaction, a change of attitude emerges between the Europeans, and the Aboriginal |
|people of the area. The resistance begins with Pemulwuy. The struggle continues. |Level |
|Song Title |Musical Style |No |Worksheet Title |1 |2 |3 |
|19 |Lawlessness |Dramatic |1 |Timeline of Resistance |( |( |( |
| | |Slow ominous feel |2 |No More Boomerang | |( |( |
| | | |3 |Undeclared War |( |( | |
| | | |4 |A Successful Summer 1 | |( | |
| | | |5 |A Successful Summer 2 | |( | |
| | | |6 |A Different Kind of War | | |( |
| | | |7 |Pemulwuy’s War | |( |( |
| | | |8 |Drama Workshop Activity |( |( | |
|20 |What is it in Your Law? |Ballad |1 |Q&A In living memory... | |( |( |
| | |Moderately slow |2 |Aboriginal Australia | |( |( |
| | | |3 |The Law of Protection | |( |( |
| | | |4 |Assimilation Policy | |( |( |
| | | |5 |Q&A Assimilation | |( |( |
| | | |6 |Harsh Realities | | |( |
| | | |7 |What is the Reason? | | |( |
| | | |8 |My Mother the Land |( |( |( |
| | | |9 |Drama Workshop Activity |( |( |v |
| | | |10 |Drama Workshop Activity | |( |( |
|21 |Our Dream |Contemporary |1 |Aboriginal Reconciliation |( |( |( |
| | |Fast and lively |2 |What is Reconciliation | | |( |
| | | |3 |Key Issues | |( |( |
| | | |4 |Lily’s Daughter 1 | |( |( |
| | | |5 |Drama Workshop Activity | |( |( |
When the Sky Fell Down
[pic]
Our tale begins at opposite ends of the Earth and tells of encounters between two vastly different cultures. These events shaped the history of Australia as we know it.
1788 was a time of dispossession and change. Aboriginal and European people were forced together in the midst of cruelty and destruction never known in this land.
We will journey from the very first encounters, through desperate times of disease and starvation, to the important first communication and an undeclared war. We explore decisions which resulted in long periods of injustice.
The struggle to survive these times of immense change for our ancestors is expressed here. As we share their hopes and fears, we face the challenges of our own times and our new beginnings in this, our Great South Land.
Worlds Away
1. Time of Change
Aboriginal spirituality had ways to explain everything. In the years following Captain Cook's visit, stories spread along the east coast of Australia. This song is based on a story that the sky was collapsing from the east. The story came from the Yarra region around Melbourne.
2. The Waterway
Reflects the harmonious land management and lifestyle of Aboriginal people living around the waterways of the ‘Sydney’ area. These people were quite different from their friends and enemies who lived in the western area now known as the outer metropolitan area.
3. The Gaols Are Overcrowded
Joseph Banks and the ministers in England discuss a solution to the convict problem. They show their attitude to Australia and its peoples. Derived from actual transcripts of the Select Committee on the Transportation of Felons 1787. Makes reference to ‘Terra Nullius’ and ‘Terra Australis’.
4. A Great Advantage
Based on Arthur Phillip's own ‘views on the conduct of the expedition’. It reflects his intention to carry out the King's orders to enter into discussion with 'the natives' and win their affections, but Aboriginal people avoided the settlement. Eventually Phillip used force to begin his “discussions”.
A Time of Change
Since the Dawn of Time
Aboriginal Australia has always been governed by laws and boundaries established in the Dreamtime.
“In song, story and poetry, art, drama and dance, the Dreamtime tells how the spirit Ancestors formed and gave life to the land and laid down the Law - the structure of society, rituals to maintain the life of the land, and rules for human behaviour. For Aboriginal people the Dreaming explains the origin of the Universe, the workings of nature and the nature of humanity, the cycle of life and death. It shapes and structures Aboriginal life by regulating kinship, family life, and the relations between the sexes with a network of obligations to people, land and spirits.”
‘Survival: A History of Aboriginal Life in New South Wales’
by Nigel Parbury
[pic]
After Captain Cook
The visit from Captain Cook in 1770, began stories amongst Aboriginal people. The stories spread to different Aboriginal nations through various trade routes around Australia. Such visits were explained in the spiritual way of Aboriginal people.
First Stories of Europeans
The following story from the Yarra region around Melbourne tells of a danger coming from the East...
“The solid vault of the sky was believed to rest on props [pillars] placed at the extreme ends of the Earth. The Eastern prop was in the charge of an old man who lived on the high plains.
A Yarra Tribesman stated that when he was a boy, news came to his people from the Northern tribes that the Eastern prop was rotting, and that if presents were not sent to the old man he would not repair it, the sky would fall down.”
‘When the Sky Fell Down’ by Keith Willey
First Contact
“When we saw them climb the mast of the ship, we thought they was opossums...”
Mahroot of Botany Bay
On first contact it, was common for Aboriginal people to believe that the Europeans were spirits or returned spirits of their ancestors. This belief was usually short lived due to the way the “spirits” behaved. Then they were often thought to be evil spirits.
A similar pattern of first contact was repeated in Aboriginal nations right around Australia.
What is there? See what it is
It eats the grass. It is tied by a rope.
What is beside it? A spirit!
Is it a stump we see through the maze?
It rests on the grass. See it walks.
It's like the fork of a tree.
It's a spirit.
Go away cold, why tarry so long?
Return into the blue sky.
Get behind the clouds,
The spirits will let you in.
Why remain cold?
Let the bright sun shine forth.
Go away cold
and remain with the spirits above.
Go away.
Beyond the Sky...
Eliza Dunlop of Wollombi (north west of Sydney) translated this song about the first sighting of horsemen...
Time of Change
Since the dawn of time
When the heroes of the
Dreaming were here
Carving out the shape of this Land
We’ve known they will return
A time of change will come
to this land... One day
Our ancestors are far
Beyond the sky - held on pillars
The stars reveal their fires
But the pillars may collapse
We’ve heard the Eastern one is falling
A time of change is here
Into this World we’re born
Into the Earth we do return
And so with all this World
For everything a place
A time, a feel, a sacred space
since the dawn of time
No one can ever change
The way it is - no power strange
Yet to be endured
The time is always here
The dreaming never disappear
A time of change is here
The Waterway
Peaceful People
The Kuringai people, and groups such as the Cadigal and Kameraygal, lived amongst the waterways of the ‘Sydney’ region then known as Eora country.
They differed in appearance and lifestyle, to the Darug people, who belonged to the area now known as ‘the Western Suburbs’ and the Darkinjung - who belonged to the land of the ‘Central Coast’ area. Both main groups shared a similar language, distinct cultures and unchanged boundaries since time began.
[pic]
A Place for Everything
This description by Captain Collins in 1798 gives a vivid picture of the peaceful life of the people who lived on the lakes district of the Central Coast.
“The lake abounded with fish of all sorts, but what attracted my attention were the black swans; their nests built in the water of sticks were dotted over the whole of the shallow beaches of the lake. Every nest contains several eggs, and we each collected as many as we could conveniently carry. The several points of land which extended into the lake were black with ducks, and waterfowl; they were in their thousands, and covered acres of ground. The outlines of the sand flats were indicated by a countless number of pelicans...
...A bark canoe, paddled by a very old, grey headed man, now silently approached and drew close to our camp. The canoe was so laden with fish of all sorts as to be but a few inches above water. The old man by name “Jew Fish”, at once commenced to throw the fish onshore. There was no rush or scramble for them; In fact no one seemed to pay the slightest attention..”
Keep the Fires Burning
To call Aboriginal people ‘nomads’ was a mistake. Aboriginal peoples moved in a cyclic pattern, returning to the same place at regular intervals and improving the land through the careful use of fire, looking after the land and belonging to it.
The use of the firestick was an important part of caring for the land - commonly known as “firestick farming” or “mosaic (pattern) burning”. It was often a responsibility for women. When extended family groups returned to a region it would be fully regrown with abundant flora and fauna to share. This practice was carried out in Australia for tens of thousands of years.
Certain areas were communal and shared in special ways, some were sacred places and others were personal Dreaming Places.
Our Elders
“Aboriginal society appeared democratic to European observers because there were no chiefs and no inequalities based on birth or wealth. The important distinctions were sex, age and knowledge. Of these knowledge was the most important.
Aboriginal society was ruled by the Elders, select older people who had passed through all the stages of initiation... Their power was based on their knowledge of the ceremonies. They arbitrated and settled disputes, they held inquests if anyone died unexpectedly, fixed punishments if laws were broken, and decided on revenge parties or war against other tribes. They were keepers of the Law, the source of practical and spiritual wisdom, and responsible for the well being of all their people and their land...”
The Elders and the Rule of the Law - from ‘Survival’ by Nigel Parbury
[pic]
The Waterway
We are a peaceful people here
Sea-food is plentiful year after year
A place for everything
In the stories that we say
This our home -
On the waterway
Keep the fire burning,
Keep control in your hand
Our way of living cares for the land.
There’s a time for moving
And the land will burn
More better land when we return
All the spirits of the world we know
Ancestors made it long - long ago
Our Elders hold the secrets of the Law
This our home - on the waterway
All people have their place
In the time and space all around
Dreaming Places everywhere
Here to the western plains
The Gaols are Overcrowded
What do we do?
Britain during the late 1700s was growing in power but was also in crisis. Big factory industry had grown and many small cottage industries had closed down. Common land and Irish land was taken and large numbers of people came to live in the cities which were already overpopulated.
There was competition for basic human living needs. A huge gap had developed between the wealthy landowners and factory owners, and the growing number of struggling working class people.
The crimes are more each day
[pic]
The law was designed to protect life and property and it favoured the rich. The authorities responded to the crisis by making penalties harsher. People could be imprisoned simply for stealing a loaf of bread to survive.
With no welfare system or other help for the poor, many people became ‘criminals’ in order to live. Alcohol was cheap and alcoholism became commonplace.
The ruling class could not cope and exported ‘criminals’ to colonies, mainly America. When this ‘transportation' came to an end after the War of Independence, old or damaged ships known as hulks were used as prison ships.
Terra Nullius
In 1770 Captain Cook had ‘discovered' the east coast of Australia. He declared it to be ‘terra nullius’, which means “land belonging to no-one”, and on that basis claimed it all for England.
The War of Independence meant that no more convicts could be sent to America.
The gaols soon became overcrowded due to the very harsh laws and punishments in England in the 1700s.
One Solution
The government tried to find a solution to their ‘problem’ and called Sir Joseph Banks to question him about using Australia. Joseph Banks, who had sailed with Cook, was the expert on New South Wales and promoted NSW as the solution. He was called to a meeting with the Select Committee for Transportation of Felons and was asked a number of things about Aboriginal people: Their numbers, their weapons, would they negotiate, were they peaceful or hostile, could the land be taken over?
BANKS: “...it was not to be doubted, that a tract of land such as New Holland, which was larger than the whole of Europe, would furnish matter of advantageous return.”
COMMITTEE: “Do you think 500 men being put on shore there would meet with that obstruction from the Natives that would prevent them from settling there?”
BANKS: “Certainly not - from my experience... I am inclined to believe they would speedily abandon the country to the newcomers...”
[pic]
The Gaols Are Overcrowded
Thousands of convicts were sent
from England
From Scotland and Ireland too
To America but they won't take them
anymore... What do we do?
All the Gaols are overcrowded
And the crimes are more each day
“There is only one solution
Take them down to Botany Bay
There is land, plenty of it
Unclaimed and fertile too
There are natives and they won’t hurt you
They’re poorly armed and their numbers are few”
Terra Nullius - no one there
Terra Nullius - unclaimed land
Terra Australis - Great South Land
Of the Holy Spirit
Should we colonise this great south land?
Would it all be worth our while?
“It is bigger than the whole of Europe
That should make his Majesty smile!”
All the Gaols are overcrowded
And the crimes are more each day
There is only one solution
Take them down to Botany Bay
A Great Advantage
The King's Orders to Arthur Phillip
“You are to endeavour by every possible means to open an intercourse with the natives, and to conciliate their affections.
And if any of our subjects should wantonly destroy them, or give them any unnecessary interruption in the exercise of their several occupations, it is our will and pleasure that you should see such offenders brought to punishment according to the degree of the offence.
You will endeavour to procure an account of the numbers inhabiting the neighbourhood of the intended settlement, and to report your opinion to the secretaries of state in what manner our discussions with the people may be turned to the advantage of the colony.”
We must protect ourselves
In his ‘Views on the Conduct of the Expedition and the Treatment of Convicts’, Phillip wrote his plans for dealing with Aboriginal people.
“On landing in Botany Bay it will be necessary to throw up a slight work as a defence against the natives - who, tho' only seen in small numbers by Cook, may be very numerous on other parts of the coast...”
Things to civilise them
“I shall think it a great point gained, if I can proceed on this business without having any great dispute with the natives; a few of them I shall endeavour to settle near us and whom I mean to furnish with everything that can tend to civilise them, and give them a high opinion of their new guests, for which purpose it will be necessary to prevent the crew from having any intercourse with the natives. The convicts must have none, for if they have, the arms of the natives will be very formidable in their hands, the women abused, and the natives disgusted.”
Aboriginal people were angered when “their ‘guests’” chopped down trees and failed to share their large fish catches. They avoided the ‘settlement’ entirely.
The kidnapping of Arabanoo was Phillip's first attempt to “civilise them”.
The second attempt was when Bennelong and Colby were captured, after Arabanoo had died in the smallpox epidemic.
A Great Advantage
We must protect ourselves
from the natives
When we land in Botany Bay
Though Cook said there
were just a few
More could be on their way
But I've heard that they like hatchets
We'll be happy to exchange -
So they will like their guests instead of
Thinking we are strange!
I shall think it a great advantage
To be friendly with a few
We'll give them things to civilise them
They could even live with us too
Or else they could fall into the hands
Of the convicts or the crew
They'd think we were a sorry old lot
They'd be disgusted too!
First Encounters
5. Bound for Botany Bay
Two verses and choruses of the old favourite - with three verses added, bringing the story up to the landing at Botany Bay in 1788.
6. A More Suitable Place
Arthur Phillip and the officers look for a better place than Botany Bay. The crew and marines stay behind and sample the rum stores.
It is decided that the new location will be Port Jackson.
7. Hoist the Sail
Soldiers, sailors and convicts reboard the First Fleet ships to move to Port Jackson.
Bound for Botany Bay
The Landing of the First Fleet
In 1787, eleven ships of the First Fleet had set sail for Australia “The Great South Land”. On 18th January 1788, after 7 months at sea, they arrived at the bay of Kamay (Botany Bay). As the flagship, HMS Supply, approached forty Aboriginal people gathered on the south shore - “shouting and making many uncouth signs and gestures”.
Governor Phillip chose to land on the north side of the bay where only six men were visible. Presents were offered:
“they called to us. Some of them walked along the shore and others kept sitting on the rocks.”
William Bradley
“We went a little way up the bay to look for water, but finding none we returned... where we observed a group of natives. We put the boats on shore near where we observed two of their canoes lying. They immediately got up and called to us in a menacing tone, and at the same time brandishing their spears and lances...”
Philip Gidley King
[pic]
First Encounters
Governor Phillip ordered a man to tie some beads to a canoe:
“We then made signs that we wanted water, when they pointed round the point on which they stood, and invited us to land there. On landing they directed us by pointing to a very fine stream of fresh water.
Governor Phillip then advanced towards them alone and unarmed, on which one of them advanced towards him, but not near enough to receive the beads which the Governor held out for him... (he) made signs for them to be laid on the ground, which was done. He (ye native)...seemed quite astonished at ye figure we cut in being clothed.”
Two days later, while several miles upstream looking for water, King noted:
“I gave two of them a glass of wine, which they had no sooner tasted than they spit it out... They wanted to know what sex we were, which they explained by pointing... I ordered one of my men to undeceive them in this particular, when they made a great shout of admiration, and, pointing to the shore which was but ten yards from us, we saw a great number of women and girls, with infant children on their shoulders, make their appearance on the beach, all in puris naturalibus [Latin for completely naked]. I (offered) a handkerchief to one of the women (who) suffered me to apply the handkerchief where Eve did ye fig leaf. The natives then set up another very great shout, and my female visitor returned onshore.”
Watkin Tench also noted of the same scene:
“...they burst into the most immoderate fits of laughter, talking to each other at the same time... After nearly an hour's conversation, they repeated several times the word “Whurra” which signifies, begone, and walked away from us into the head of the bay.”
[pic]
Bound for Botany Bay
Farewell to Old England forever
Farewell to my old pals as well
Farewell to the well known Old Bailey
Where I used to look such a swell
CHORUS
Singing too-ral li-ooral li-addity
Singing too-ral li-ooral li-ay
Singing too-ral li-ooral li-addity
And we're bound for Botany Bay
There’s the Captain as is our commander
There’s the bo’sun and all the ship's crew
There’s the first and the second class passengers
Know what we poor convicts go through
Us soldiers we ain’t too intelligent
We’re carefully guarding our rum
We don't bother guarding the convicts
We’re too busy sampling some
After days on the high rollin’ ocean
We finally come to the shore
And the captain who’s sailin’ in front of us
Says keep goin’ north a bit more
CHORUS
So eventually most of us made it
To the swamp land at Botany Bay
And before we could get our feet dry again
Captain says that we aint goin' to stay
A More Suitable Place
A God-Forsaken Waterway
The bay of Kamay, now known as Botany Bay, was not as Captain Cook had described it. The ground was sandy and swampy and there was a lack of fresh water. It was considered an unsuitable place to start a colony. Lieutenant Ralph Clark described it like this...
“If we are obliged to settle here, there will not a soul be left alive in the course of a year.”
Let The Captain and His Men
Convicts and jailers were kept in the ships while Arthur Phillip and his officers explored Botany Bay and the surrounding area. During that week, the sailors and soldiers had time on shore.
Journals record the first words spoken by the local Aboriginal people to the Europeans: “Whurra, Whurra!” meaning “Go away!” There were some nervous encounters between the First Fleet officials and Aboriginal people - but mostly, Aboriginal people kept a distance. Each account of brief communication ends with Aboriginal people telling the strangers to go away. It was common for Europeans to be asked to reveal what lay beneath their trousers - this was thought to be to determine what sex they were - but another reason was that certain spirit ancestors were believed to have a tail like a kangaroo. Aboriginal people of Botany Bay soon discovered that the Europeans were in fact, human after all.
Arthur Phillip explored the next bay north (Tuhbowgule). He decided to establish the colony in this place, which he named Port Jackson. To him and his officials, it seemed lush and beautiful. His words to Lord Sydney are as follows...
“We... had the satisfaction of finding the finest harbour in the world, in which a thousand sail of the line may ride in the most perfect security.”
First Offences
While Phillip and his team were surveying Port Jackson and Broken Bay, two French ships arrived. They were La Boussole and L'Astrolabe, commanded by Francois de la Perouse.
Aboriginal people reacted angrily when the French people cut their way through the rushes looking for water. The French reacted with gunfire. Another first experience with guns occured when Surgeon White demonstrated a pistol by shooting through a shield. This caused quite a commotion with the group. He whistled a tune as a distraction and the group joined in with him.
The Move From Botany Bay to Port Jackson
The ships would have been an interesting sight as they left the bay, Friendship rammed Prince of Wales, Charlotte just missed the rocks and bumped into Friendship while Lady Penrhyn just missed ramming her amidships.
[pic]
“Let’s be on our way”
A More Suitable Place
I have come to a great conclusion
regarding Botany Bay
When we can find a more
suitable place
We’ll be on our way
The land is swampy everywhere
How could we get our ships in there?
With the shallow water in this bay
It’s a God-forsaken waterway!
Let the Captain and his men
Survey the sand - ’till then
We’ll keep well clear of the natives here
And drink a round or maybe ten!!
I have come to a great conclusion
regarding Botany Bay
It seems we’ve found a more suitable place
Let's be on our way
Hoist the Sail
Arthur Phillip's first letter to Lord Sydney.
“With respect to the natives, it was my determination from my first landing that nothing less than the most absolute necessity should ever make me fire upon them, and tho' persevering in this resolution has at times been rather difficult, I have hitherto been so fortunate that it never has been necessary.
Mons. La Perouse, while at Botany Bay, was not so fortunate. He was obliged to fire on them, in consequence of which, with the bad behaviour of some of the transports' boats and some convicts, the natives have lately avoided us, but proper measures are taken to regain their confidence.”
Aboriginal Peoples of the
Sydney Region
Most authorities differ on the location of the Sydney Aboriginal language groups. This map is derived from the following sources:-
‘Pemulwuy.The Rainbow Warrior’ by Eric Willmot; ‘Aboriginal People and their Culture, North of Sydney Harbour’ - Met Nth NSW Department of School Education; ‘When the Sky Fell Down’ by Keith Willey.
Hoist the Sail
So its hoist the sail once more
And bring the camp from Botany Bay
Off the swampy shore
Port Jackson is the better way
We’ll be cuttin’ and we’ll be clearin’ and
They’ll be living free
From the labour of our bony arms
In the penal colony
Hoist the sail once more
Drag your shackles and get off the ground
Or we’ll give you four
And 20 lashes next time ’round!
We’ll be flogged and we’ll be beaten
Just you wait and see
And we’ll all live our dyin’ days
In the penal colony
So it’s hoist the sail once more
(repeat verse one)
Separate Lives
8. Kameraygal
Kameraygal people, whose land is on the northern shore of Port Jackson, sing of themselves, their world and their spirituality. They are a waterway community and neighbours to the Cadigal on the other side of the harbour. While the peoples were quite distinct, they all shared a common respect for the Land, and the Law - including each other’s land boundaries. A Kameraygal man named Arabanoo later became the first Australian to be kidnapped by the Europeans.
9. Great South Land
The Europeans begin the task of building but in their building, they are changing the land and destroying sacred places without permission. They have no idea of Aboriginal spiritual beliefs or boundaries and they don’t care, as their own troubles are so great. Convicts labour to chop down trees and break up rocks. Untrained and unwilling soldiers oversee their work, drink and complain.
10. Bidjigal Man
The Bidjigal people sing of the coming of the Europeans. The song introduces Pemulwuy, who later became the first to lead organised war against the European invasion. Pemulwuy was a Clever Man known to all Eora (people) of the region. Mystery still surrounds Pemulwuy. It was believed that he could not be killed by white people’s weapons. Until recently he was written out of history.
Kameraygal
Northern Shores
[pic]
The Kameraygal lived on the north side of Port Jackson on places from Cammeray to Manly in Sydney. The boundaries of Kameraygal are not exactly known, but like other Aboriginal communities, they moved around a central region with known borders.
Governor Phillip described the Kameraygal men as “manly” in their appearance and named Manly after them. The Kameraygals are also reported to have had connections with the Bidjigal people, and they were known to be enemies of the Cadigal group who lived on what is now the city of Sydney. It was on their land that Arthur Phillip was speared at the whale feast.
“The waterways of Kameraygal - my Dreaming Place eternally”
Sacred Places, Special Ways
[pic]
For the people of the coast, the waterways were a special part of their spiritual life as well as their day to day living. Dreaming Places are common to Aboriginal peoples across Australia. The song represents the spiritual connection between the place and the people.
One European observer noted that the people at Port Jackson sang all day long...
* Women sang while fishing and kept time with a song while paddling.
* On seeing a school of dolphins, people chanted a short repetitive song which changed words whenever the dolphin dived.
* A similar song was sung when a pelican flew overhead.
* There were also songs, usually performed by women, for the sick and the dying.
“...The women with their hand lines either fished from rocks, or more usually, from the bark canoes which they manoeuvred with great dexterity. Young children accompanied the women while fishing. It was common practice to have a small fire burning in the centre of the canoe, laid on seaweed, sand or a tablet of clay, so that fish could be cooked and eaten straight from the water. The women usually sang while fishing, some of the ditties being designed to persuade the fish to take their baited hooks”
(Collins 1798)
Kameraygal
The waterways of Kameray-gal
Come fishes swim beneath my feet
Come swim into this place for you
And we will take you home
CHORUS
Oh Kameray - Oh Kameray-gal
Oh Kameray - Oh Kameray-gal
Oh Kameray - Oh Kameray-gal
Not far away - from the sea
Sacred places - Kameraygal
The spirit of Biami here
You feed my life - You feed our people
My Dreaming Place eternally
The waterways of Kameraygal
A finer place there could not be
The Rainbow Snake beneath the surface
Brings in the creatures from the sea
Great South Land
What's so great about it?
The following quotes from people of the First Fleet give some idea of their first impressions of a land vastly different to their own.
“Every person who came out with a design of remaining in this country were... now most earnestly wishing to get away from it...
... in the whole world there is not a worse country. All... is so very barren and forbidding that it may with truth be said that here is nature reversed; and if not so, she is nearly worn out...If the minister has a true and just description given him of it he will surely not think of sending any more people here.”
Lieutenant Governor Ross
“...the sterility and miserable state of New South Wales. It will be long before ever it can support itself... French bastilles, nor Spanish Inquisition could not contain more of horrors.”
Thomas Watling - Convict Artist
“I never slept worse, my dear wife, than I did last night, what with the hard cold ground, spiders, ants and every vermin you can think of was crawling over me.”
Lieutenant Clark in his journal
We won't see 'ome no more
“...there is no other river or spring in the country that we have been able to find or meet with, all the fresh water comes out of large swamps... the country is overrun with large trees, not one acre of clear ground to be seen... nor nothing in it fit for the substance of man, what with earthquakes, thunder & lightning... the most terrible I have heard...”
David Blackburn, Master of the ‘Supply’
“I was the convict, sent to Hell”
These opening lines from a famous poem by Dame Mary Gilmore, are about convict life. The following quote from ‘The Fatal Shore’ by Robert Hughes, gives a picture of the hardship experienced:
“For nine months there I was on five ounces of flour a day; when weighed out, barely four... In those days we were yoked to draw timber, twenty-five in gang. The sticks were six feet long; six men abreast. We held the stick behind us, and dragged with our hands. One man... was put to the drag; it soon did him. He began on a Thursday and died on a Saturday, as he was dragging a load down Constitution-Hill... Men used to carry trees on their shoulders. How they used to die!”
Convict Henry Hale, from the Third Fleet, 1792
[pic]
“...The prevalence of disease among the troops & convicts who on landing were tainted with the scurvy, and the likelihood of its continuance from the food (salt provisions) on which they are from necessity obliged to live, has made the consumption of medicines so very great that the enclosed supply will be very much wanted before any ships can possibly arrive here from England. The distress among the troops, their wives and children, as well as among the convicts, for want of necessaries to aid the operation of medicines has been great.”
Surgeon John White to Lord Sydney
Great South Land
Sent to work down here in this
Great South Land
What’s so great about it?
We don’t understand!
All the flies remind us of a single fact
That we won’t see home no more!
Break the rocks up
Chop the trees down
Break the rocks up
Chop the trees down
Life in this here colony is living hell
All these bleedin’ convicts - all they do is yell
Good thing we remembered to bring all this rum
’Cause we won’t see ’ome no more!
WORK!
Break the rocks up
Chop the trees down
WORK!
Break the rocks up
Chop the trees down
Sent to work down here in the Great South Land
What’s so great about it? We don’t understand!
All the flies remind us of a single fact
That we won’t see ’ome no more
Bidjigal Man
Neighbouring Countries
The places referred to in this song are the main language areas of the Sydney region.
The Bidjigal and Wanegal peoples are now regarded as being a part of the Darug area with links to Darkinjun.
A man from this region stands in history as a hero of his people, and was the first to conduct organised warfare against the invasion of Australia.
His name is Pemulwuy.
Pemulwuy
Pemulwuy is described as standing about 6' tall and having a distinct cast in one eye. His story is unforgettably told in the book ‘Pemulwuy - The Rainbow Warrior’ by Dr Eric Willmot.
Battles with the British began when Pemulwuy and his people were cheated and mistreated soon after trade began.
The writings of Judge Advocate David Collins, Marine Captain Watkin Tench and Chief Constable of Parramatta George Barrington, all contain many references to Pemulwuy. They record his active hostility and resistance to the British invasion throughout the rule of the first three Governors.
The First Battles
Pemulwuy was the first to lead an organised Aboriginal resistance. He operated over a large area from Castle Hill in the north to Lane Cove and Kissing Point through to Toongabbie and Parramatta in the west, south to Botany Bay and north to Broken Bay. Some escaped Irish convicts also joined and fought beside Pemulwuy against the British.
Pemulwuy fought from 1790 until his death in 1802 and his son, Tedbury, continued to lead the fight for several years afterwards. The Governor had placed a reward on his head and he was killed by two settlers in an ambush. After Pemulwuy’s death, Governor King wrote of him:
“...Altho' a terrible pest to the colony, he was a brave and independent character....”
Pemulwuy was said to be at the head of every party that attacked the maize grounds. Aboriginal people believed Pemulwuy to be a Clever Man, which means having special powers. Collins mentioned the mystery that surrounded him:
[pic]
“...they entertained an opinion, that, from his having been frequently wounded, he could not be killed by our fire arms.”
Until recently, Pemulwuy's name has been omitted from most Australian history books. His name means Earth: Man of the Earth.
Elements of mystery still surround our knowledge of Pemulwuy and there are still secrets of his life which are known only to Aboriginal descendants of the Darug and Darkinjung people.
Bidjigal Man
He’s a Bidjigal man -
He’s a Bidjigal hunting man
He’s a Bidjigal hunting man
The best in all the land
Clever so they say -
Don’t you mess with Pemulwuy
You would never get away from him...
White spirits came here down from the sky
I saw this with my very own eye
They sailed the sea on boats with wings
People have said they are the strangest things!
He’s a Wanegal man. He’s a Wanegal warrior man
Just initiated - see the marks upon his shoulder
Keepers of the Law - like ancestors gone before
Dwelling here forever more we know this land
From Parramatta the place of the eels
Up to Berowra with dust on our heels
Down to Cronulla with the wind on the sand
This is our home - we belong to this land!
Eora - Kuringai - Darug - Dharawal - Darkingung way
Desperate Times
11. Arabanoo
Arthur Phillip uses force to try to learn the language of Aboriginal people. Under his orders Arabanoo, a Kameraygal man, is kidnapped and taken to ‘Sydney’, the land of his enemies, the Cadigal. The Europeans try to show him British justice - to his disgust. He is held in high regard and admired by his captors.
12. Real Name
The words of a Jack Davis poem are used here to portray Arabanoo's sadness after being removed from his home and losing his identity. It was at this time that smallpox killed most of the local Aboriginal population.
13. We Are Starving
The colony's food resources dwindle. Crops fail. Rations are cut and food is rancid, as they await the lost Second Fleet. Arthur Phillip decides to kidnap two more Aboriginal people in the hopes of learning how to find food.
14. Bennelong
The kidnapping of Bennelong and his popularity in the colony. Concludes with his escape after six months.
Arabanoo
Learning the language?
Arthur Phillip was keen to carry out his orders to communicate with, and win the “affections” of Aboriginal people. He believed they were refusing to come near because of “bad behaviour” of some of the Europeans, yet Aboriginal people had reasons of their own for keeping away. In late December 1788, he wrote:
“The natives still refuse to come amongst us... I now doubt whether it will be possible to get any of these people to remain with us, in order to get their language, without using force.”
The Capture
Under Phillip's orders, a group of officers and marines went in two boats to Manly to take prisoner two Aboriginal people. Tench and Collins described them giving presents and trying to talk with them and then... “our people rushed in among them, and seized two men.”
One of the captured men dragged a marine into deep water and escaped. Arabanoo was tied to a boat and...“set up the most piercing and lamentable cries of distress”. It is reported that his group...
“threw spears, stones, firebrands, and whatever else presented itself, at the boats: nor did they retreat... until many muskets were fired over them.”
[pic]
[pic]
We Call Him Manly
When he arrived back at the settlement, Arabanoo was the centre of attention: “Clamorous crowds... flocked around him.” He is described as around 30, not tall, and robustly built. At first he was called Manly, but within a few weeks his real name became known. He impressed people with his great courtesy shown to European women. A handcuff was placed on his wrist. At first he thought it was an ornament which he pleasantly called “ben-gad-ee”, but when he realised it was meant to hold him captive, he reacted with “rage and hatred”.
[pic]
Call That Justice?
In March, a convict was killed and seven were wounded, when 16 men tried to steal spears and fishing tackle from Eora people. Governor Phillip took side with the Indigenous people. He tried to impress Arabanoo by showing him the flogging of the convicts as their punishment, but Arabanoo reacted with... “symptoms of disgust and terror only”.
During the smallpox epidemic, an Aboriginal family suffering from the disease were brought in to Sydney. The two adults died, and their two children were cared for by Arabanoo who contracted the disease himself and died.
Arabanoo
All for the sake of learning
the language
All for the sake of the things
that we do
We caught a man and we call
him Manly
Even though his name is Arabanoo
He walked chained through the streets of Sydney
People gathered ’round to see what they'd found
The ladies all swooned at his courteous nature
The manliest man in Sydney Town
(SPOKEN by Arthur Phillip)
“In order that you, Mr. Arabanoo, should see that we are just and fair, we will now let you witness the severe punishment of these convicts caught stealing from your people.”
(Arabanoo)
Take me home, I wanna go back
Call that Justice? Don’t wanna know!
Take me home, I wanna go back
Back to the life I used to know
(All)
Arabanoo was kept in Sydney
They fed him up well and treated him fine
Couldn’t keep him from new diseases
Arabanoo went into decline
Real Name
A Wave of Death
Smallpox was a disease new to Australia and it took hold in 1789. Aboriginal people of the Sydney area were known to use the word “gal-gal-la” for smallpox. It also meant “evil spirit”.
Europeans wrote of the events and gave similar accounts of its ravages. Many pondered how it came to have spread in such a way. Some accounts suggest that it was caused by the French, Cook or other visitors, but Tench adds that the ship's surgeon brought out “variolous matter in bottles”.
[pic]
After being shown British justice, Arabanoo died of the wave of death which killed over half of the Aboriginal people of the Sydney region and beyond. In the following year, it spread as far as Victoria and even South Australia.
Too much to endure
“In the year 1789 they were visited by a disorder which raged among them with all the appearance and virulence of the small-pox. The number that is swept off, by their own account, was incredible. At that time a native was living with us; and on our taking him down to the harbour to look for his former companions, those who witnessed his expression and agony can never forget either. He looked anxiously around him in the different coves we visited; not a vestige on the sand was to be found of human foot; the excavations in the rocks were filled with the putrid bodies of those who had fallen victim to the disorder; not a living person was anywhere to be met with. It seemed as if, flying from the contagion, they had left the dead to bury the dead.”
“He lifted up his hands and eyes in silent agony for some time; at last he exclaimed, ‘All dead!' and then hung his head in mournful silence, which he preserved during the remainder of our excursion. Some days after he learned that the few of his companions who survived had fled up the harbour to avoid the pestilence that so dreadfully raged. His fate has been already mentioned. He fell a victim to his own humanity when Boo-rong, Nan bar-ray, and others were brought into the town covered with the eruptions of the disorder.
On visiting Broken Bay, we found that it had not confined its effects to Port Jackson, for in many places our path was covered with skeletons, and the same spectacles were to be met with in the hollows of most of the rocks of that harbour.”
Collins - after taking Arabanoo to visit his home country
Victim of Smallpox
On the 18th May, 1789, Arabanoo died. Captain Tench wrote of him:
“...we early discovered that he was impatient of indignity, and allowed of no superiority on our part. If the slightest insight were offered him he would return it with interest. He knew he was in our power; but the independence of his mind never forsook him...”
Tench
[pic]
Real Name
Dear God
They have buried our past now
Those pink legislators
And stolen our names
They knew our mothers were black
So they came, and they took us away
And pinned on a label
One that's a lie
So much we have been through
Too much to endure
No more no more no more no more!
I need my real name
I need the arms
Of the woman who bore me
The feel of her hands
And the warmth of her fires
Circling around me
So please hurry God
Before it's too late
I need my real name
Arabanoo - you are dying
What can we say now - what did we do?
We are trying - praying for you
So much we have been through
Too much! Take it away!
Gotta be a bran' new day again some day
I need my real name
So please hurry God
Before it's too late
I need my real name
We Are Starving
The Rations
The First Fleet carried enough food to keep its passengers alive for two years in Australia. The rations issued to sailors, marines and officers each week were:
Beef 4 lb. Hardtack 7 lb.
Pork 2 lb. Cheese 12 oz.
Dried peas 2 pints Butter 6 oz
Oatmeal 3 pints Vinegar 1/2 pint
Male convicts got one-third less and female convicts got two thirds of the male ration.
At Table Bay (Cape Town) in South Africa, their last port of call before Australia, some officers bought livestock for themselves. When these were added to the animals Phillip had bought for the government herd, the colony's total stock came to:
74 hogs and sows 2 bulls 5 cows 29 sheep 19 goats
18 turkeys 35 ducks 35 geese 209 chickens 5 rabbits
All these creatures were guarded with care. Phillip had told the convicts that the life of a breeding animal was worth a man's.
The cows escaped within the first week and were found some years later over fifty miles away at a place now known as the Cowpastures near Camden. It is interesting that they travelled through Darug land and into Dharawal country without being eaten by Aboriginal people. It has been suggested that stories of the Bunyip as a cow-like creature may have originated from these cows. The Cowpastures were later used by Macarthur to start Australia's first wool industry.
Rice that can walk on its own
“The pork had been salted between three and four years and every grain of rice was a moving body from the inhabitants lodged within it.”
Starvation in the Colony
Only a third of the prisoners could work. More than 50 convicts were too feeble from age and incurable illness to work at all, and many others, slum-raised and ignorant of farming, would starve if left to themselves.
Some officers had their own vegetable gardens tended by convicts but few were successful. The soil and weather conditions were very different to those of England.
1789 brought no ships, and as 1790 crept by, the colony sank into starvation.
“God help us. If some ships don't arrive, I don't know what will.”
Watkin Tench described the mood that now descended over Sydney Cove.
“Famine was approaching with giant strides, and gloom and dejection overspread every countenance. Men abandoned themselves to the most desponding reflections, and adopted the most extravagant conjectures.”
[pic]
Little efforts were made to use the food resources available to them. The Europeans still preferred salted beef from England which was up to three years old - rather than eat kangaroo meat. Hoofed animals like cows, which are not native to Australia, have since been farmed on vast areas around Australia. This has contributed to soil erosion on a grand scale. After 200 years, eating kangaroo meat is still an issue of much debate, along with how to best manage forest resources.
We Are Starving
We are starving
We are starving
One piece of meat
That is three years old
Two pounds of bread
That is covered in mould
We cannot grow any food in the ground
We can’t work any more
We are starving
We are starving
We have some peas that are just like stone
We have some rice that can walk on it’s own
What can we eat from this hostile land
We don’t know what to do
We are starving
We are starving
Bennelong
Under Phillip’s Command
Not long after the death of Arabanoo, Governor Phillip decided to take more captives. This was at a time when the colony was becoming desperate about the short supply of food. Solving this problem was one of Phillip's main reasons for kidnapping Bennelong and Colby.
Tench wrote:
“Intercourse with the natives, for the purpose of knowing whether or not the country possessed any resources, by which life might be prolonged, as well on other accounts, becoming everyday more desirable, the governor resolved to make prisoners of two more of them.”
The capture was carried out by Lieutenant Bradley who described it as
“by far the most unpleasant service I ever was order'd to Execute.”
Bennelong and Colby were led away from their group by using 2 large fish.
An officer gave a signal and...
“the two poor devils were seiz'd... The noise of the men, crying and screaming of the women and children together with the situation of the two...in our possession was really a most distressing scene.”
On 12th December 1789, after two weeks in custody, Colby escaped by gnawing through the rope tied to his leg iron and was not seen again until the whale feast.
Bennelong was kept in the colony for about six months, where he became quite popular, especially because of his sense of humour. He dined with the Governor often and became the talk of the town.
Worried Officials
The British tried to hide from Bennelong the fact that they were in such a bad state of desperation. Tench wrote:
“Had he penetrated our state, perhaps he might have given his countrymen such a description of our... diminished strength, as would have emboldened them to become more troublesome. Every expedient was used to keep him in ignorance.”
"Australian Aborigine". Henry King, 1890s. Courtesy Trustees, Museum of Applied Arts and Science (Powerhouse).
Reference: ‘Survival’ by Nigel Parbury, page 26. Used with permission.
Bennelong surprised everybody when he escaped on 3rd May 1790, after pretending to be ill. He was not seen again until September.
Tench described Bennelong as being about 26 years old, and having...
“a bold intrepid countenance, which bespoke of defiance and revenge.”
Bennelong
All for the sake of finding a way to
get some food in a hostile land
We Kidnapped Bennelong and Colby
Now they’re under Phillip’s command
After some time all sad and lonely
When captivity first began
Colby chewed through the rope on his leg,
Got into the bush - now a free man
Bennelong stayed with Governor Phillip
Dined with him and became his friend
Everybody loved the way he acted
Bennelong was the latest trend
I’ve gotta go - See you later...
I’ll see you but you won’t see me!
I’ve gotta go - Catch you later...
Back to my own livin’ for me!
After six months in civilisation
At the height of popularity
Cleverly he faked being ill
He got away - now he’s free
Communication
15. Whale of a Time
Kameraygal, Cadigal, and Bidjigal people were present at the very special occasion of a beached whale at the bay of Kayumay - now called Manly. The song expresses the celebration of plenty. The Governor and his party turn up. Negotiations follow but Phillip is speared.
16. Bennelong's Dilemma
After the spearing Bennelong wonders about his role in the two worlds. How does he deal with the strangers? The British officers gave Bennelong the message that Phillip was not angry with him.
17. Bennelong's hut
Phillip and Bennelong reconcile and become friends. Phillip sends gifts to Bennelong and even builds him a house on request, at ‘Bennelong Point’ (now the site of the Sydney Opera House). The Kameraygal and Bidjigal are more suspicious and sing of what is happening - how strange it is.
18. Fish For Tools
Trading between Aboriginal and European people happens for the first time by supplying each other’s needs. These terms of trade are short lived.
Whale of a Time
A Special Gathering
In September, 1790 over 200 Aboriginal people from Manly, Parramatta, Port Jackson and Botany Bay gathered to feast on a whale beached at Kayumay (now known as Manly Beach). The whale was shared according to custom. People who were normally enemies came as invited guests to the occasion.
Interrupted
Captain Nepean and a small crew came upon the beach nearby. There they were met by Colby, who boldly approached them - pointing to his leg - showing how he'd freed himself from the rope used to hold him captive. Nepean said that Arthur Phillip was nearby. Bennelong told him to give Phillip a message that he would give him a piece of the whale in exchange for hatchets.
An Encounter with Bennelong
Arthur Phillip went to the place of the whale feast. He rushed to the area, stepped out of the boat unarmed, and “advanced up the beach with his hands and arms open”. The Governor then called for Bennelong, but he was “so changed” with a long beard, that Phillip recognised him only when he held up a bottle of wine to which Bennelong replied “The King!”(a toast at official pccasions). Bennelong still kept a distance. According to Tench, he inquired about some old friends among the Europeans asking particularly about a young lady... “from whom he had once ventured a kiss; On being told that she was well... he kissed Lieutenant Waterhouse and laughed out loud.”
[pic]
Arthur Phillip is Speared
Lieutenant Waterhouse wrote of the events that followed:
“... As they went up, I frequently heard a man on the right of them call out “Benalon” and told him what we were doing in the boat...”
Hunter tells us that a number of Aboriginal men were standing guard.
Bennelong asked Phillip for hatchets. Phillip promised to send them in 2 days time. Phillip then asked for a particularly large spear. Bennelong picked up the spear, walked some distance away and laid it on the ground - making it clear that there was no deal. He came back to Phillip and handed him a throwing stick instead.
This account by Waterhouse describes the event that followed...
“The natives now appeared to be closing around us, of which the Governor took no notice and said he thought we had better retreat, there were nineteen around us and many more we could not see...
Just as we were going, Benalon pointed and named several tribes around us, one in particular to whom the Governor presented his hand and advanced towards him, at which he seemed frightened, seiz'd the spear that Benalon had laid on the grass, and immediately threw it with great violence...”
Arthur Phillip was speared through the shoulder with the same spear he had asked for.
Whale of a Time
We are the Kamergal - fishers are we
The deadliest fishers in Eora country
But every now and then
The ocean will provide
The kind of food that makes your
Eyes go wide
Look on the beach - what do you see?
A whale is there for you and me
CHORUS
We’ll have a whale of a time
A whale of a time
A whale of a time
A whale of a time
Here on the beach, it’s in our reach
We’ll have a whale of a time
Go tell the Bidjigal, the Wanegal too
We’re gunna have ourselves some hot whale stew
Here on the beach at the bay of Kay-u-may
The whites call it Manly so they say
We’re gathering here, away from that town
We’re gunna have a party let’s all get down
CHORUS
Bennelong’s Dilemma
Where do they belong?
The Europeans were living on land where Bennelong and his people belonged.
After the spearing at Manly, Bennelong was left with the dilemma of how to deal with the invaders. His people, were not united with their neighbours, and were already weakened. Bennelong had pressure from ‘both sides’ to enter into negotiations. He had come to know more about the strangers than anyone else and it was up to him to decide what to do.
[pic]
Nowhere to go to now
Moving to another land was not an option for Bennelong’s people. Bennelong referred to the Kameraygal and Bidjigal people as enemies and special permission was needed to even enter another's country. The Europeans were obviously mortal, not spirits, and obviously here to stay. His own community had already suffered terrible losses.
The spearing of Arthur Phillip now caused him fear of retaliation. Bennelong and his community waited across the harbour, on what is now North Sydney.
Over the following month there was a series of cautious ‘conferences’ between Bennelong and Arthur Phillip...
Bennelong's demands
15th September, 1790: A week after Phillip's spearing, Bennelong and a group of Cadigal people renewed contact with the British and camped across the harbour from the settlement where the Sydney Harbour Bridge now stands. Both sides met in the morning and agreed to meet again in the afternoon. The Europeans gave Bennelong a hatchet and a fish, as well as presents to all the others. A meal was shared.
Bennelong told the Governor he had severely beaten Wileemarin for spearing Phillip. He said that he would camp for two days and wait for the Governor to visit him. He said that his people had been robbed of many items, including fish-gigs, spears, a wooden ‘sword' and other articles, and demanded their return.
Honesty
16th September, 1790: The Europeans returned the stolen weapons which were gladly received...
“Imeerawanyee darting forward, claimed the sword. ...he had no sooner grasped it than... Singling out a yellow gum tree for the foe, he attacked it with great fierceness, calling us to look on... Having conquered his enemy he laid aside his fighting face, and joined us with a countenance which carried in it every mark of youth and good nature... All the stolen property being brought on shore, an old man came up, and claimed one of the fish gigs, singling it from the bundle, and taking only his own; and this honesty, within the circle of their society, seemed to characterise them all...”
Bennelong asked about the Governor's health, indicating that he might come and visit Sydney, as long as Phillip came to see him first. He was given a share of fish from a large catch with nets of three or four thousand fish.
Refusal
17th September, 1790: Arthur Phillip went in a boat to meet Bennelong and tried to persuade him to come to Sydney town. Bennelong refused to return with him.
First Meeting
8th October, 1790: Bennelong and a group of Aboriginal people visited the settlement and spoke with Phillip, while Reverend Johnson stayed under Aboriginal guard back at Bennelong's camp. This was to be the first of their meetings, and it marked an important change in events. It also marked the beginning of a relationship between Arthur Phillip and Bennelong.
Bennelong's Dilemma
Where do I belong?
My world is changing
right before me
How could I be wrong -
to believe
That the strangers who are here
could share with us,
and we could show them...
What can we do?
Nowhere to go to now.
Got no chance of them goin’ away.
Who do we turn to now?
That so many are gone and land that we’re on
is slowly being taken away...
Where do they belong? -
Here they are - from where we don’t know...
Strangers to this Land!
A time of change is here -
we cannot run, we must decide
How will we survive?
How will we survive?
Bennelong’s Hut
Fish for Tools
Have you Heard?
At Bennelong's request, Phillip had a brick hut 3.6 metres square, built for him, on the site where now stands the Sydney Opera House. News of this would have spread quickly through the neighbouring Aboriginal countries.
The Kameraygal were Bennelong's enemies. He had often tried to persuade the Governor to fight them for him.
“...indeed from the first day he was able to make himself understood he was desirous to have all the tribe of Camaraigal killed...”
Hunter
Phillip had heard Aboriginal people near Botany Bay singing a story about Bennelong's hut.
“[Phillip] had lately been at Botany Bay, where, he said, they danced and one of the tribe had sung a song, the subject of which was his house, the governor and the white men at Sydney.
The people of that tribe, he said, would not throw any more spears, as they and the Cameraigals were all friends, and were good men.”
Hunter
[pic]
Negotiations
Details of the negotiations between Bennelong and with Arthur Phillip are not recorded. We do know that they were formal military-style peace conferences. Tench described how during the discussions, Reverend Johnson was found sitting beside a fire with Bennelong's wife, Barangaroo:
[pic]
“At a little distance, on an adjoining eminence, sat an Indian, with his spear in hand, as if sentinel over the hostages for the security of his countrymen's return...”
Trading going on
Phillip and Bennelong came to an agreement. After the peace talks - trading began.
“From this time our intercourse with the natives, though partially interrupted, was never broken off.”
Tench
“The next visit from these men brought the same favour from their wives and families, whose example was followed by many others...”
Hunter
A man of consequence
During late 1790, Tench wrote that Bennelong “...had lately become a man of so much dignity and consequence, that it was not always easy to obtain his company.”
In a letter to Joseph Banks on 3 December 1791 Phillip wrote:
“I think that my old acquaintance Bennillon will accompany me whenever I return to England...from him, when he understands English, much information may be obtained for he is very intelligent.”
Bennelong eventually went to England with Arthur Phillip, but when he returned, he became less popular with Europeans as well as his own people.
Trading had now begun in Sydney. People like Balloderee in Parramatta established themselves as commercial fishermen. Others like Pemulwuy traded kangaroo meat for tools etc. It was not long before new problems arose...
Bennelong’s Hut
Have you heard? It’s the latest news
Bennelong point they call it!
After him? Why do such a thing!
Could this be a bribe?
They’re building a house for him made of stone
They want him to live there on his own!
Stranger things we’ve never known
To happen to our tribe!
Fish for Tools
There’s some news in Sydney Town
All of the settlement gather around
For the first time we have found
Trading going on
CHORUS
Fish for tools, now you’re talking
Fish for tools, it’s what we need
Fish for tools, we could be happy
Trading going on
Thank you Bennelong - I can see
You are a very good friend to me
I’m goin to give you some property
Where the Opera House is going to be
CHORUS
Survival
19. Lawlessness
McEntire, Phillip’s gamekeeper in charge of trade, is punished by Pemulwuy for his cruelty and his trading of rum for meat. Phillip decides to punish Pemulwuy’s whole community. Two punitive expeditions are sent out with orders to cut off heads or take prisoners and bring them back to be hanged. Nobody is captured.
20. What Is It In Your Law?
Aboriginal people question the law of the British who they see as invaders and lawbreakers. They know and keep their ancient Law which is vastly different to the laws of the British. Their sentiment in the final verse can be shared by the convicts, to express the injustice of the time, or simply for all who experience or know injustice today.
21. Our Dream
The poem ‘This Is Our Land’ by Jack Davis, is used for the verses of this song. It is a statement of identity with the land and the resistance which began with Pemulwuy and has continued for over 200 years through those who have fought for justice in this land. This dream continues. The Dreaming will never disappear.
Lawlessness
Different Attitudes
Sharing has always been the basis of Aboriginal life, with expectations and rules of conduct for sharing fairly being part of Aboriginal Law. The European idea of trading for profit was not known to Aboriginal people, who began to move freely through the town. The Europeans had taken so much of their land and food supply, and now Aboriginal people of this area were invited in, and as a matter of right, they helped themselves to people's food and dwellings.
Some Europeans started to resent sharing everything they had. A European resident, George Thompson, wrote:
“If they were shy at the first settling in the colony, that is not the case now. For the people can scarcely keep them out of their houses in day time.”
Competition for resources to feed the new concentration of people, as well as the process of occupying the region with more people, meant expansion into more Aboriginal land. Trading of fish and tools soon degenerated to the trading of rum and women. Both European and Aboriginal people began to harden their attitude towards each other.
[pic]
Later Governors, when expanding into other Aboriginal lands used posters
with pictures such as this extract used in Tasmania, to explain their law to Aboriginal people.
The terms of trade are changing
Phillip's gamekeeper, John McEntire, a convict, was in charge of the trade in Sydney.
He had a bad reputation for crimes against Aboriginal people. Tench wrote that Bennelong had regarded McEntire with “dread and hatred”. He stated:
“From the aversion uniformly shewn by all natives to this unhappy man, he had long been suspected by us of having in his excursions shot and injured them...”
McEntire began to supply rum instead of tools. This, along with other crimes, resulted in his execution by Pemulwuy on 9th December, 1790.
McEntire was speared by Pemulwuy while hunting. It took more than a week for him to die and there were rumours of his deathbed confessions of horrible crimes he had committed against Aboriginal people. Arthur Phillip was angry about the spearing, and decided to make a severe example of the Bidjigal people.
“War” begins
The General Order issued on 13th December stated:
“...the Governor, ...has ordered out a party to search for the man who wounded the convict (McEntire) ... and to make a severe example of that tribe.”
Governor Phillip had a good reputation in dealing with Aboriginal people, but on this occasion he mustered fifty men to capture at least six people from among the Bidjigal, or to kill that number, bring back their heads and take two prisoners who would be executed in Sydney...
“in the most public and exemplary manner, in the presence of as many of their countrymen as can be collected...”
Though a few of Phillip's officers disagreed, two expeditions were sent to capture Pemulwuy, but failed to find anyone.
This massive overreaction marked a new, ruthless policy against Aboriginal people who resisted the imposed British law. It showed the new limits of tolerance and justice and it marked the beginnings of a time of war.
“Gradually, almost helplessly, the colony drifted towards a strange, undeclared Anglo-Australian war”
Extract from ‘Pemulwuy: The Rainbow Warrior’ by Eric Willmot
Lawlessness
(convict)
All our homes are overcrowded
First they hide,
now they’re all around
Uninvited they come right in here
Aint got enough for sharin’ around!
(McEntire)
All the terms of trade are changin’
You must think that we are dumb!
It’s time you learned the way it’s done here
No more hatchets - we’ll give you rum!
(Phillip)
McIntyre - my game-keeper
Killed in such a brutal way!
We must show these lawless people
Hunt them down to Botany Bay
Let not one man stand in your way
Bring back the heads of the seven you slay
What is it in your Law?
The Law of the Land
Aboriginal Law has always been passed on through the Elders. The spearing of McEntire and change this caused in Governor Phillip led to war. Many people see it as the beginning of the Aboroginal struggle for justice.
Later, Governor Macquarie established a school called ‘The Native Institution'. a school for Aboriginal children. A Darug chief, Yarramundi of Burraberongal, placed his daughter there. She was named Maria Lock. In 1819 she topped the colony in in the Anniversary Schools Examination. When she married a convict carpenter, Macquarie released him in her charge and promised them a cow and a grant of land. Years later Maria wrote letters in the most eloquent English, requesting the land that the Governor had promised.
From the 1860s, Aboriginal people around the state squatted on vacant land in their country and applied to the Government for title. The Government declared the land reserves for Aboriginal people rather than grant the people title rights. At the same time the squatters’ holdings were being broken up to provide land for settlers. All Aboriginal reserve land came under Government control. Many reserves were closed down with whole communities relocated.
The struggle for justice has taken many forms over the last 200 years. It is only now that the Australian legal system has acknowledged that Terra Nullius was wrong. Australians are just beginning to accept that Aboriginal people have a very unique and different Law.
“Our story is in the land...
It is written in those sacred places.
My children will look after those places,
that's the Law.
Dreaming place...
you can't change it,
no matter who you are.
No matter you rich man,
no matter you king.
You can't change it.”
Bill Neidjie "Kakadu Man"
A far away King
Aboriginal society had no idea of a ‘king’ or of a leader by birthright as in Europe. The Europeans had no idea of Aboriginal Law and when a person appeared to be ‘on side’ they would be declared ‘King of the Tribe’ or ‘King Billy’ and given an inscribed breast plate to wear. This continued throughout the ‘contact' period along with frontier massacres which were politely called “dispersals”.
Who is it really for?
Until recently, the Australian legal system did not consider Aboriginal property rights or Aboriginal law. The law tended to work against Aboriginal people. Policies and laws often had names that sounded caring - such as ‘protection’ - but their real effects were devastating and are still being felt today.
Protection
"now you primly say you're justified,
And sing of a nation's glory,
But I think of a people crucified -
The real Australian story."
Excerpt from Jack Davis, 1978
‘Aboriginal Australia - To The Others’
In New South Wales the Aborigines Protection Board was set up in 1883. Aboriginal people called it the ‘Persecution Board’. Its agents were the police. The Board created reserves for Aboriginal people, but nearly half of NSW reserve land was originally claimed by Aboriginal groups. Reserves under the control of the Board were run by non-Aboriginal managers who had absolute power. Aboriginal men on reserves could be made to work up to 32 hours per week without pay. In 1909 the Aborigines Protection Act gave the Board more powers, including the right to take Aboriginal children from their families and ‘bring them up white’. This was ‘for their own good’ but families were never consulted. Boys and girls were sent out to work as labourers and domestic servants, but rarely received the wages that were supposed to be paid them. All over the State reserves were ‘rationalised’ and closed down, often to provide land for soldier settlers. Whole communities were moved from their own country.
Assimilation
In 1937 Commonwealth policy became Assimilation. This has been seen as an improvement on ‘dispersal’ and ‘protection’, but it meant that Aboriginal culture was worthless and had to be discarded so that Aboriginal people could be like other Australians. Aboriginal people, and many other Australians, now see assimilation as cultural genocide. In 1940 the Protection Board was abolished and replaced by the Aborigines Welfare Board. More Aboriginal children were taken away to be assimilated ‘for their own good’. In the 1960s assimilation changed to integration, meaning Aboriginal people joining Australian society on their own terms, keeping as much of their culture as they liked. The Welfare Board was finally abolished in 1969.
Self Determination
In 1972 Commonwealth policy changed to self determination, an advance on self-management. Aboriginal people were to make their own decisions. In 1990 ATSIC, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission, replaced the Department of Aboriginal Affairs. Elected regional councils and a Board of Commissioners aim to allow Aboriginal people to shape their own future. The Australian Law Reform Commission has recommended the recognition of Aboriginal law, but there is much to be resolved for all Australians. This is to be achieved through Reconciliation.
What is it in Your Law?
What is it in your law?
Who is it really meant for?
How can it mean a thing
When it’s written by one far away king?
What is it in your law?
Who is it really for!
What is it in your law?
We have the law of our Fathers
And our Mother the Earth all around
You come here - you destroy her ground!
What is it in your law?
Who is it really for!
We know the law - the law of the land
We know the law of the sky
You break every law that we’ve ever known
And we just can’t understand why
What is it in your law?
Who is it really for!
What is it in your law
That’s taken us from our homeland?
And taken away our lives?
We’ll have to make some changes!
Our Dream
A New Tomorrow
ATSIC was closed down in 2004, but Aboriginal land councils, medical, legal and children’s services, educational, cultural, legal, political and family link-up groups, thousands of organisations, still fight for justice. They are joined by reconciliation groups and Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation (ANTaR) across the country. And Aboriginal enterprises.
Ignorance and racism have constantly held back the regrowth of Aboriginal culture, and recognition of Aboriginal rights. But in 1992, the High Court rejected terra nullius' as ‘wrong in fact and in law’. This means that the law of the land no longer accepts that Australia was land belonging to no one.
To Aboriginal Australians, and many other Australians, the end of terra nullius meant much more. Patrick Dodson, founding chair of the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation, explained it this way in 1994:
“Australia faces a very important challenge to improve the relationship between the nation’s indigenous peoples and the wider community. We need to show that we are capable of resolving the causes of disharmony and injustice that have so often marked this relationship, and to work towards a future based on justice and equity... We believe every Australian can take a positive step to better relationships and understanding. We believe we need to become better at working with what we have in common to better deal with what divides us...We invite all Australians to share our vision and to work to make it a reality.”
Our Vision
“A united Australia that respects this land of ours, values the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander heritage and provides justice and equity for all.”
[pic]
A Song of Hope
By Oodgeroo of Noonuccal
Look up, my people,
The dawn is breaking,
The world is waking
To a new bright day,
When none will defame us,
No restriction tame us,
Nor colour shame us,
Nor sneer dismay.
Now brood no more
On the years behind you,
The hope assigned you
Shall the past replace,
When a juster justice
Grown wiser and stronger
Points the bone no longer
At a darker race.
So long we waited
Bound and frustrated,
Till hate be hated
And caste deposed;
Now light shall guide us,
No goal denied us
And all doors open
That long were closed.
See plain the promise,
Dark freedom-lover!
Night's nearly over,
And though long the climb
New rights will greet us,
New mateship meet us,
And joy complete us
In our new Dream Time.
To our father's fathers
The pain, the sorrow;
To our children's children
The glad tomorrow.
Kath Walker wrote this poem as part of the Aboriginal protest movement of the 1960s. It shows the spirit of hope for the future that still prevails in the struggles for justice and change in Australia. Kath Walker changed her name to Oodgeroo of the Tribe Noonuccal in protest at the 1988 Bicentennial (‘oodgeroo’ means paperbark in her language).
Our Dream
This is Our Land
you cannot dispute it
This is Our Land
nor can you refute it
This is Our Land
You can gouge at our heart
This is Our Land
You can tear us apart - but
CHORUS
Nothin’s goin’ to stop our dream
Nothin’s goin’ to stop our dream
Nothin’s goin’ to stop our dream
Or the hope or the new tomorrow
This is Our Land -
You kill the forests and grasses
This is Our Land
But through life as it passes
This is Our Land and
This is our stand
In pain and in splendour
We will never surrender
CHORUS
END STORY and SONG SECTION
*************************************************************************
START WORKSHEET AND PERFORMANCE NOTES SECTION
When the Sky Fell Down
A Music-Based
Integrated Resource
1788 The Great South Land
Musicians
Produced and arranged by Chris Robinson, Charles Hull and John Prior. Recorded and Mastered in Sydney, Australia with thanks to Ritzy Business and Mammal Music.
Vocals - Chris Robinson, Scarlett Flake (aka Jay Harnetty), Kevin Duncan, John Bettison; Backing Vocals - Martine Monroe, Marea Burton; Guitars - Peter Northcote; Keyboard - Charles Hull, John Prior Michael Stanley; Didgeridoo samples courtesy of Charlie McMahon; Additional Instrumentation by Charles Hull, John Prior.
Project Team
The Publisher wishes to acknowledge the following people from the original kit.
CHRIS ROBINSON: words, music
KEVIN DUNCAN: aboriginal history
CHRIS TOBIN: illustrations
TERESA CONNOLLY: drama editing
NIGEL PARBURY: historical editing
STEVE DAVIS project development
The author and publisher wishes to acknowledge and thank the following people for their generous assistance in the development and promotion of this project.
Educational Advisors
The New South Wales Aboriginal Education Consultative Group Incorporated.
(NSW AECG Inc).
Nigel Parbury, Curriculum Officer, NSW AECG Inc; and for permission to use extracts from ‘Survival’.
The Aboriginal Studies Association supporting members.
David Ella - Regional Aboriginal Curriculum Liason Officer; Metropolitan North Region, Dept. of School Education, NSW.
Rhonda Craven and James Wilson Miller- University of NSW.
Copyright Permission
Jack Davis - for permission to use selections of his poetry.
Dr. Eric Willmot and Lansdowne Publishing Pty. Ltd. for permission to use extracts from the book ‘Pemulwuy: The Rainbow Warrior’.
Angus & Robertson/Bay Books for permission to use selections from ‘The Timeless Land’ by Eleanor Dark.
Artistic and Graphic Design
Chris Tobin - Concept Development and Blackline Illustrations
Murdo Morrison - Additional Blackline Illustrations.
Jay Harnetty and Harnetty.Art - Interactive and web graphic design and art
No part of this publication or associated material may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the written permission of the copyright owner. Worksheets included here are designed to be photocopied for educational use and are for the sole use within the school of purchase. Licence to perform the musical play is granted provided it is within the school of purchase, and performed non-profit for the school or school community. Licence to perform the musical play for profit will be granted free of charge to schools who purchase the full kit and register with Breakaway Publishing, and will be limited to the school's local community for a period of one year. All performances are encouraged but those not described here will require written permission from the copyright owner. It is acceptable to video your production, though the publishers request a copy of the video with your permission to use the material for promotion if you agree. Video sales from your show are limited to sale through the school community and will be subject to a writer’s royalty payment (minimum 10% of sales price) via APRA|AMCOS or by direct donation to Breakaway Publishing via PayPal from any of our payment enabled websites. Editions 1 and 2, 1993 - 1788 the Great South Land - Edition 3, 2008 - When the Sky Fell Down
Breakaway Publishing, Australia
Central Coast NSW
Email musicartstar@ Web chrisrobinson
( Copyright Chris Robinson trading as Breakaway Publishing 1993 - 2008.
All rights reserved. APRA|AMCOS registered
Teachers Notes
Using the Resource Kit
W
elcome to 1788 The Great South Land. Your kit features two main components:
1) Music and performance 2) Educational materials for use in the classroom.
The Great South Land tells the story of events in Australia around 1788, and after.
Aims of this Resource:
To promote an understanding, sensitivity, empathy and awareness in the wider community, of peoples who lived for thousands of years in the place now known as Sydney, and how they were directly affected by Australia’s colonisation.
To dispel ignorance of the facts of the period and draw people’s attention to issues of justice and reconciliation.
To foster a sense of honesty, dignity, identity and cultural respect amongst Australians.
This resource portrays through song and story, some of the most significant yet little known events between the two cultures at that time. It addresses these historical issues through both Aboriginal and European perspectives and looks at the impact on Aboriginal life.
The two main components of this kit are:
1. The Musical and Performance Component
This section includes the Script & Music Book (full script and sheet music for each song) and the Performance Book (comprehensive performance notes for organising and staging a show). There are three main ways in which the musical may be used for performance.
A. Full length musical: 21 songs linked by dramatic script, suited to performance by a large number of students to a large audience, using all the elements of production - lights, sound, props, sets, costumes, choreography etc. Here you have the scope for an enjoyable and profitable experience for your students and the whole school community.
B. A Mini Musical : Here you select a smaller number of songs, to be performed by a smaller group. Your choice will be governed by the needs of your class, school or community. For example, if you wanted to do a shortened version of the musical, you could choose one song from each of the six chapters in the resource kit. Or, if you were working on the theme of Aboriginal spirituality and law, you might choose three or four appropriate songs and link them together with poetry, dialogue from the script, or your own narration. (Examples of a Mini Musical are given in the Performance Book)
C. Classroom performance: This involves the students in devising dramatic activity around one or two songs during the course of a single lesson, or a small unit of work. A performance may spring from a drama workshop activity (see Resource Kit for ideas) or simply from the thematic focus of a particular song in relation to a topic of study. The diverse range of musical styles, educational content and concept levels are summarised for you in the Song Guide.
Using the Resource Kit
2. The Resource Kit Component
Educational materials aim to extend the themes, issues, topics and content, that are directly stated or expressed in the words of each song. Many subject areas have been embraced, (literature drama and poetry to Human Society and its Environment, History and Geography) and are developed through a variety of teaching and learning activities.
Both the Song & Story Book and the Worksheets are divided into six sections or chapters. These chapters reinforce the sequence of events in the story.
Ideally, each student would have their own Song & Story Book and use it in conjunction with selected worksheets. Alternatively, a class set of Song & Story Books could be used. In most cases, the first worksheet for any given song will correspond to the information in the Song & Story Book. Other sheets follow extensions or other important aspects of the themes raised. The materials are placed in order relating to the songs and their thematic extensions. You will find a balance of Literature extracts as well as historic quotes and factual information. Use the Guide to the Worksheets for easy planning.
The Cassettes: vocal and instrumental versions are included. Copies of the vocal version are available individually from Creative & Musical Resources and may be purchased in bulk by schools either for students or for sale as a fundraiser - or simply to help educate your comminity. The songs are the heart of the kit.
The Song & Story Book contains the song lyrics as well as historical information on which the songs were based. This book is the main point of reference.
The Script & Music Book is for those planning for a dramatic or musical performance. We suggest a class set or individual copies be purchased for students involved in a performance
The Worksheets contain background information, springboards and expressions around which the songs have been developed. Designed for single or double page photocopying. Drama workshop Activities are a number of exciting and enjoyable exercises that reflect the thematic concerns of the songs. Poetry by Jack Davis and Oodgeroo enhances thematic content as well as providing stimuli for discussion and expression. Information and investigation sheets, are designed to further extend and explain the content of each song. A range of stimulus material is included eg: direct quotes of the day, data, maps and general information. Literature/Language based activities have been chosen from two main sources:- ‘The Timeless Land’ by Eleanor Dark and ‘Pemulwuy - The Rainbow Warrior’ by Aboriginal author Dr Eric Wilmot. The passages have been chosen for their powerful sense of storytelling and clever characterisation. Most are accompanied by directed reading, writing and discussion questions.
Most artworks used in this resource are by Chris Tobin who is a direct descendant of the Darug people. Copyright permission is given for copying these illustrations for posters, wallcharts and performance aids within your school. We encourage you to use any original artwork in the resource to enhance appropriate performances or education in the community. Remember, this resource is not a prescriptive program but a set of resource materials to be used in an enjoyable way. We hope you and your community enjoy this material.
Guide to the Music and Worksheets
|Worlds Away |
|The years after Captain Cook and before the First Fleet. |
|Australia & Old England |Level |
|Song Title |Musical Style |No |Worksheet Title |1 |2 |3 |
|1 |Time of Change |Contemporary Rock |1 |Q&A Imagine... |( |( | |
| | |Moderate tempo |2 |The Dreaming |( | | |
| | | |3 |Caring for the Land |( | | |
| | | |4 |Time - Jack Davis | | |( |
| | | |5 |Drama Workshop Activity |( |( | |
| | | |6 |Raindrops - Jack Davis | |( | |
|2 |The Waterway |Contemporary Folk |1 |Q&A Research... |( |( | |
| | |Gentle with feeling |2 |Woman Tools |( | | |
| | | |3 |Man Tools |( | | |
| | | |4 |Map of Eora-Sydney |( |( |( |
| | | |5 |Fishing |( |( | |
| | | |6 |Drama Workshop Activity |( |( | |
| | | |7 |Drama Workshop Activity | |( |( |
| | | |8 |Music, Songs & Dance |( |( | |
|3 |The Gaols are Overcrowded |Rock Ballad/Chant |1 |Q&A One Solution... |v | | |
| | |Moderate, strong |2 |Select Committee Picture |( | | |
| | |accent |3 |Judges Picture |( |( | |
| | | |4 |18th Century England |( |( | |
| | | |5 |The Exchange |( |( |( |
| | | |6 |Drama Workshop Activity |( |( | |
| | | |7 |Terra Nullius |( |( |( |
|4 |A Great Advantage |Traditional Military |1 |Q&A Look Closely... | |( | |
| | |Moderate |2 |Voyage of the First Fleet |( | | |
|First Encounters |
|The first encounters between Eora people and the First Fleet officers. |
|The move to Port Jackson |Level |
|Song Title |Musical Style |No |Worksheet Title |1 |2 |3 |
|5 |Bound for Botany Bay |Traditional Folk |1 |Q&A First Encounters | |( | |
| | |Lively and Bright |2 |Landing of the First Fleet |( | | |
| | | |3 |Europeans in Botany Bay |( | | |
| | | |4 |Drama Workshop Activity |( |( |( |
|6 |A More Suitable Place |Traditional Military |1 |Q&A Think about it... |( | | |
| | |and Folk. Moderate |2 |Botany Bay “No Dispute” |( | | |
|7 |Hoist the Sail |Traditional English |1 |Phillip with Kameraygals | |( | |
| | |Moderate |2 |Hoisting the Flag | |( | |
| | | |3 |Q&A Hoisting the Flag | |( | |
| | | |4 |Broken Bay | |( |( |
Note: Levels 1, 2 and 3 refer to the development of concepts.
1 = Introductory; 2 = Intermediary; 3 = Most challenging
Guide to the Music and Worksheets
|Separate Lives |
|The initial months when Europeans began their work. The local people lived their |
|own lives and kept away. |Level |
|Song Title |Musical Style |No |Worksheet Title |1 |2 |3 |
|8 |Kameraygal |Contemporary |1 |Q&A Share These... |( |( | |
| | |Soft & Rhythmic |2 |Eternity - Jack Davis |( |( |( |
| | | |3 |Living with the Land |( | | |
| | | |4 |Drama Workshop Activity |( |( |( |
| | | |5 |Kameraygal Homes |( | | |
|9 |Great South Land |Rock Ballad |1 |Q&A What reasons? |( | | |
| | |Moderately fast |2 |Convict Picture |( | | |
| | | |3 |The First Few Weeks |( | | |
| | | |4 |Summer Scene - J.Davis |( |( |( |
| | | |5 |Drama Workshop Activity |( |( | |
|10 |Bidjigal Man |Contemporary |1 |Q&A Here and now... |( |( |( |
| | |Fast and lively |2 |Possum Skin Cloak |( | | |
| | | |3 |Different Languages |( |( | |
| | | |4 |Drama Workshop Activity |( |( | |
|Desperate Times |
|The kidnapping of Arabanoo. The smallpox epidemic. The starvation of the |
|colony. The kidnapping of Bennelong. |Level |
|Song Title |Musical Style |No |Worksheet Title |1 |2 |3 |
|11 |Arabanoo |Jazz Swing |1 |Q&A British Justice... |( | | |
| | |Moderate, smooth |2 |Arabanoo’s Observations |( |( | |
| | | |3 |Q&A Observations... |( |( | |
| | | |4 |The Land at the Brewery | | |( |
| | | |5 |Arabanoo and Phillip | |( | |
| | | |6 |Drama Workshop Activity | |( |( |
|12 |Real Name |Ballad |1 |Q&A Reflect... | |( |( |
| | |Slowly with feeling |2 |Smallpox at Broken Bay | |( | |
| | | |3 |Smallpox Epidemic |( |( |( |
| | | |4 |The Elder - Jack Davis | | |( |
| | | |5 |Drama Workshop Activity | |( |( |
|13 |We are Starving |Ballad |1 |Q&A Investigate... |( |( | |
| | |Slowly |2 |Starvation in the colony |( |( | |
| | | |3 |The land would yield... | |( | |
|14 |Bennelong |Rock |1 |Q&A Explain & Reason... | |( | |
| | |Lively feel |2 |Common Flora |( | | |
| | | |3 |Common Fauna |( | | |
| | | |4 |Drama Workshop Activity |( |( |( |
Note: Levels 1, 2 and 3 refer to the development of concepts.
1 = Introductory; 2 = Intermediary; 3 = Most challenging
Guide to the Music and Worksheets
|Communication |
|Aboriginal groups gather to feast on a beached whale. Phillip is speared. |
|Bennelong and Phillip negotiate. Trade begins. |Level |
|Song Title |Musical Style |No |Worksheet Title |1 |2 |3 |
|15 |Whale of a Time |Rock & Roll |1 |Q&A Read Carefully... |( |( |( |
| | |Bright rock feel |2 |The Spearing of Phillip |( |( |( |
| | | |3 |The Whale Feast |( | | |
| | | |4 |The Food Gatherers |( |( | |
| | | |5 |Generous People | |( | |
| | | |6 |Drama Workshop Activity |( |( | |
| | | |7 |Drama Workshop Activity |( |( | |
|16 |Bennelong's Dilemma |Ballad |1 |Picture it... |( |( | |
| | |Slowly, with feeling |2 |Between Two Enemies | |( |( |
| | | |3 |Q&A Two Enemies... | |( |( |
| | | |4 |Drama Workshop Activity |( |( | |
|17 |Bennelong's Hut |Swing chant |1 |Q&A In your own words. | |( | |
|18 |Fish for Tools |Country |1 |The story of Balloderee | |( | |
| | |Bright feel |2 |The story of Bungaree | |( | |
| | | |3 |Drama Workshop Activity |( | | |
|Survival |
|After some interaction, a change of attitude emerges between the Europeans, and the Aboriginal |
|people of the area. The resistance begins with Pemulwuy. The struggle continues. |Level |
|Song Title |Musical Style |No |Worksheet Title |1 |2 |3 |
|19 |Lawlessness |Dramatic |1 |Timeline of Resistance |( |( |( |
| | |Slow ominous feel |2 |No More Boomerang | |( |( |
| | | |3 |Undeclared War |( |( | |
| | | |4 |A Successful Summer 1 | |( | |
| | | |5 |A Successful Summer 2 | |( | |
| | | |6 |A Different Kind of War | | |( |
| | | |7 |Pemulwuy’s War | |( |( |
| | | |8 |Drama Workshop Activity |( |( | |
|20 |What is it in Your Law? |Ballad |1 |Q&A In living memory... | |( |( |
| | |Moderately slow |2 |Aboriginal Australia | |( |( |
| | | |3 |The Law of Protection | |( |( |
| | | |4 |Assimilation Policy | |( |( |
| | | |5 |Q&A Assimilation | |( |( |
| | | |6 |Harsh Realities | | |( |
| | | |7 |What is the Reason? | | |( |
| | | |8 |My Mother the Land |( |( |( |
| | | |9 |Drama Workshop Activity |( |( |v |
| | | |10 |Drama Workshop Activity | |( |( |
|21 |Our Dream |Contemporary |1 |Aboriginal Reconciliation |( |( |( |
| | |Fast and lively |2 |What is Reconciliation | | |( |
| | | |3 |Key Issues | |( |( |
| | | |4 |Lily’s Daughter 1 | |( |( |
| | | |5 |Drama Workshop Activity | |( |( |
When the Sky Fell Down
Worlds Away
1. Time of Change
Aboriginal spirituality had ways to explain everything. In the years following Captain Cook's visit, stories spread along the east coast of Australia. This song is based on a story that the sky was collapsing from the east. The story came from the Yarra region around Melbourne.
2. The Waterway
Reflects the harmonious land management and lifestyle of Aboriginal people living around the waterways of the ‘Sydney’ area. These people were quite different from their friends and enemies who lived in the western area now known as the outer metropolitan area.
3. The Gaols Are Overcrowded
Joseph Banks and the ministers in England discuss a solution to the convict problem. They show their attitude to Australia and its peoples. Derived from actual transcripts of the Select Committee on the Transportation of Felons 1787. Makes reference to ‘Terra Nullius’ and ‘Terra Australis’.
4. A Great Advantage
Based on Arthur Phillip's own ‘views on the conduct of the expedition’. It reflects his intention to carry out the King's orders to enter into discussion with 'the natives' and win their affections, but Aboriginal people avoided the settlement. Eventually Phillip used force to ‘begin discussions’.
Time of Change
Imagine...
1. Imagine seeing for the first time an alien craft carrying strange people with unusual things. Discuss your reaction and write your thoughts.
2. Imagine being an Aboriginal person in Australia before 1788. Write about your life.
3. Now imagine being an Aboriginal person seeing the First Fleet land. Not knowing who or what they were. How would you explain the ships and their people? How would you feel about it? What stories would you tell about it?
4. Tell what you saw, using mime, dance or art. Describe it here.
Caring for the Land
Extract from ‘Georges River Sample Activities’,
Rhonda Craven UNSW 1992
B
[pic]
ecause they belong to the land, Aboriginal people have always cared for the land, and the land has cared for them. Read the following information and think or talk about things that are sacred to people.
“Our knowledge of the beliefs of Aboriginal people of this area is limited. Much of the knowledge was sacred, which meant Aboriginal people could not tell non-Aboriginal people a lot about their beliefs. Many Europeans didn't realise Aboriginal people of the Sydney region were religious so they did not find out about their beliefs.
Aboriginal people in the region believe that a special being made the land, people, animals, customs and laws. This special ancestor was called ‘All-Father', ‘Sky Hero', ‘High Being', ‘Daramulan' (Dar-a-mul-an) and ‘Baiami' (Ba-i-ami).
The land and Aboriginal people were created by this being. Our mothers and fathers are very important people who love and care for us. Aboriginal people think of the land in the same way. The land is like their mother. The land cares for them and they care for the land in the same way as our parents care for us and we care for them. It is a special relationship.
They lived with their land, hunting and gathering food and what they needed. It provided all the resources they needed: food, shelter and tools but the land was more than a resource to Aboriginal people. The ancestors who had given the land to the people had also given them a special responsibility to care for it. They also told Aboriginal people the laws they should keep. Aboriginal people had to hold special ceremonies to make sure that the land remained well. When people died they returned to the special land from which they came.”
The Dreaming
[pic]
The Dreaming is common to all Aboriginal Australian societies.
1. Think about the Dreaming and why it is so important to Aboriginal people. What teachings of the Dreaming do you know?
Time
Jack Davis
Those countless years
if I could walk them
without fears
If I could front
a brontosaurus
and emerge then
proud victorious
If I could watch
the ice and snow
melt as others did
so long ago
If I could see
the mountains shift
the forming rifts
of valleys' plains
If I could catch the drift
of tides
I then could
stand inside
the very heart beat of
my people's history
Time of Change
Teachers’ notes: The focus of these activities is connected to the themes, words and content expressed in the song. Students should be familiar with the concepts of The Dreaming teachings to enhance the depth of their participation.
Imaginative Movement (15 minutes)
Interpret the words ‘dawn of time’ using your body. Begin curled up in a small ball on the floor. Pretend to be ‘time dawning’ by slowly opening and moving to an outreached position. Think of the words ‘beyond the sky, held on pillars’.
Imagine yourself as a pillar holding up the sky. Show through your body movement either the weight of the sky or the lightness of the sky. Hold that movement. Show through exaggerated body movement the concept of being a pillar holding up the sky and then that pillar collapsing. Finish lying on the floor.
Many ‘heroes of the dreaming’ took the form of animals. There were kangaroo, lizard, turtle, emu, goanna, snake or dog Dreamings. Instruct each child to choose a Dreaming animal. Think about being part of the Dreaming. Think about how your animal walks, runs, moves its head, eats etc. Move around the room as that animal. Individual students demonstrate their chosen animal. Other students follow.
Play the instrumental version of ‘A Time of Change’, and combine the above movements in continuous motion like a dance. Keep to the beat and rhythm.
Group Sculpture (40 minutes)
Divide the students into small groups of four or five. Discuss the words ‘carving out the shape of this land’ within the Aboriginal Dreaming context. Now discuss the shape of rivers, mountains, lakes, bush, deserts and the ocean. In the small groups the students make physical each of these six natural formations to a freeze position. Each group may show their living sculpture to the rest of the class.
Masks of the Dreaming (3 x 40 minutes)
Arrange a selection of storybooks about The Dreaming in small groups on the floor. Allocate groups of three or four students to these books and have them read through the stories with a view to choosing one for a short performance. Help them select stories with good characterisation and clearly defined dramatic action.
Give the students materials to make masks for their Dreaming characters. Paper plate masks are very simple. Sketch mask designs on the reverse of a paper plate, cut holes for eyes and mouth (nose hole optional) and attach elastic from side to side. Decorate the masks expressively.
The students rehearse their Dreaming performances using their masks. They may add costuming and set to their performances before showing their stories to another class or the rest of the school.
Resources: Paper plates, scissors, paint, textas, glue, staples, elastic and decorating materials (try grass, leaves, crepe paper, wool or twigs)
Raindrops
Jack Davis
Raindrops
glistening on palm frond
bracken and clover
pearls near the pond
A breath of air
a whispering
caress as soft
as a butterfly's wing
returns them
to their place of birth
back to the bosom
of mother earth
The Waterway
Research...
1. Find out how Aboriginal people living in coastal areas used to gather and share food. What did men and women do?
2. Compare this with Aboriginal ways of life in other environments.
3. Contact local Aboriginal people or organisations for information about the history of Aboriginal people in your region? What changes were there?
4. What Aboriginal food sources were available in your area? Are they still there?
Study these items from the Eora region (Sydney).
Discuss Aboriginal technology and adornment.
Find and compare similar natural materials from your own region.
Try to create one of these items.
Study these items from the Darug region (Western Sydney).
Discuss Aboriginal Weaponry and clothing.
Research and compare items used in other Aboriginal Countries within Australia.
[pic]
Aboriginal Peoples of the
Sydney Region
Most authorities differ on the location of the Sydney Aboriginal language groups. This map is derived from the following sources:-
‘Pemulwuy. The Rainbow Warrior’ by Eric Willmot; ‘Aboriginal People and their Culture, North of Sydney Harbour’ - Met Nth NSW Department of School Education; ‘When the Sky Fell Down’ by Keith Willey. The Museum of Sydney (on the site of the First Government House) has much information relating to these societies.
Fishing
Extract from ‘Aboriginal People and their Culture, North of Sydney Harbour’
Metropolitan North Region NSW Department of Education.
Captain Collins observed women fishing and recorded these notes:
“...The women with their hand lines either fished from rocks, or more usually, from the bark canoes which they manoeuvred with great dexterity. Young children accompanied the women while fishing. It was common practice to have a small fire burning in the centre of the canoe, laid on seaweed, sand or a tablet of clay, so that fish could be cooked and eaten straight from the water. The women usually sang while fishing, some of the ditties being designed to persuade the fish to take their baited hooks.”
In fact, fishing seems to have been a pleasant, social pastime as well as a serious quest for food, as illustrated by the description of a party of Aboriginal people fishing near The Entrance on Tuggerah Lake in the summer of 1834.
“They wait till the water is shallow, and then several enter, together swimming and wading, and pursue the fish with astonishing swiftness and dexterity; the spear, usually made of the stem of the grass-tree, has three strong points, and is sometimes thrown from the hand alone, and sometimes from a sort of sling of a peculiar construction which gives it amazing force... They seem to enjoy the sport excessively, laughing and shouting all the time, in which the rest of them on shore seemed to participate, it was really a very animated scene.”
[pic]
Night fishing was practised from canoes, using flares to attract the quarry. Intricate fish traps were more common in inland areas, but some on the coast are known also.
The Waterway
Liquid Sculptures (40 minutes)
To begin the lesson, give a dramatic reading of the lyrics of the song ‘The Waterway.’ As the students listen, encourage them to visualise what they are hearing.
Now play the song ‘The Waterway’ and, again, encourage the students to visualise as they listen.
Together, identify the three main subjects of the song. (Peaceful people, fire, spirits.)
In groups of 4 or 5 have the students form tableaux, or frozen pictures depicting each subject. Make sure they use their bodies in ways that are as interesting as possible. When the groups are frozen in positions, on the beat of a clap they extend (intensify) their tableau. When the teacher is satisfied that the picture is as expressive as possible, s/he takes a 'photo' of each group.
Now, as a class, create a dramatic body picture for each verse of the song.
eg: first verse - waterway people camping, fishing, eating;
second verse - fires being lit by the people;
third verse - Elders telling of spirit ancestors;
fourth verse - pictures from the Dreaming.
Every students should have a clearly defined role in each picture.
Practise the four pictures separately. Then, make each tableau flow onto the next in smooth succession, thereby creating a fluid or 'liquid' sculpture.
The Waterway
Character Creation (20 - 30 minutes)
Have the students lie on the floor with their eyes closed. Give them time to relax and become quiet. When they are settled and quietly breathing, play the song The Waterway.
After the song, still with eyes closed, ask them to imagine a member of the Waterway group. Suggestions: an Elder, a mother, a child, a notable warrior, a skilled fisher, hunter or weaver. Ask the students to picture what their person looks like. Now have them imagine themselves as that person.
Ask them the following question to answer in their heads. (Remember to leave long pauses between questions to allow for the students’ imaginations to roam.) What is your name? How old are you? What duties do you have in your group? Are you good or bad at your duties? What is your favourite activity? Who do you like best in your group? Why? What was the happiest time in your life? What was the most unhappy? Do you have a special spot that you like to visit? What does it look like? How do you walk? Talk? Fast or slow?
Read the following Eleanor Dark passage to students as they imagine themselves, as their character, being part of the land.
“Here it was as if the pulse of life in plant, and beast, and man had slowed down almost to immobility, taking the best from the land itself, which had all eternity in which to change. Here life was marooned and time like a slowly turning wheel was only night and day, night and day, summer and winter, birth and death, the ebb and swell of the tides. Nothing showed for the passing of the ages but a minutely changing coastline, an infinitesimal wearing away of mountains, a barely discernible lifting of coral reefs. Still the ancient grass-tree thrust its tall spear towards the sky; still the platypus laid its eggs and suckled its young as it had done in primeval times, and still through the high tops of the gum trees the blue thread of smoke from the black man’s fire wavered into the uncorrupted air. ”
After a while have the students sit up. Set a chair in front of the class - this is the 'hot seat'. Ask for a volunteer to sit in the chair. The rest of the class asks the student questions - eg: where do you live, how old are you, what is your favourite activity etc. The student answers the questions in character.
Finish the lesson by playing the song, as the students listen and reflect on the characters they’ve created.
Music, Songs & Dance
M
usic and dance are central to human life in any society. In Aboriginal societies they form the core of religious ritual and ceremonies, as well as providing a great deal of aesthetic and recreational activity.
Aboriginal people performed music and dance on many different occasions. Public entertainments, often involving several local groups, were usually performed near the general living area of a camp or near a major food source such as a beached whale, and were attended by everyone. Music and dance played an important part in all ceremonies, many of which were often performed in secluded areas and were often known and performed only by initiated men and women.
Non-sacred songs covered subjects such as fighting, hunting and fishing, relationships between men and women, the weather and dreams. Sometimes they were based on contemporary events. For example, at a Botany Bay corroboree in 1790 a man sang about Bennelong's hut, how it had been built for him by Governor Phillip and about other events at the settlement as well.
Relatively little of the poetry and songs of the ‘Sydney’ area have survived. Even with the few songs that remain, there is uncertainty about the correct translation.
Groups of Aboriginal people would create their own songs and poems, collectively or individually, rarely long but always much to the point. They may be about brave people, send up people deserving scorn or comment on a current happening. These were the pieces favoured for the nightly camp fire. If dancing could be woven into a song, then there would be a new dance.
1. Contact local Aboriginal people or organisations and investigate Aboriginal languages in your local area.
2. What place names in your area come from an Aboriginal language?
3. What Aboriginal songs or local stories can you find ?
The Jails Are Overcrowded
One Solution...
1. What would be the advantages of transporting convicts to Australia?
2. Who would it benefit and how?
3. List some of the possible problems of transporting convicts to Australia.
4. What other options would have been open to the Government?
Aspects of 18th Century England
Land, Wealth & Poverty
D
uring the 18th Century, London was considered to be one of the greatest cities in the world, but for many people it was a city of poverty and despair. Great social upheavals in Britain forced a large number of people to live in the cities with many resorting to common theft to survive. The common land which village people had used for crops and pasture for centuries had been ‘encloseed’ (taken) by the rich. People either had to move to the city or ‘steal’ from the new wealthy ‘landowners’. The Government also confiscated land in Ireland, forcing the migration of many Irish people.
For the poor, food and shelter were scarce and expensive. Beggars, pickpockets and thieves were rife in the overcrowded conditions. Living was so crowded that there was hardly room to bury the dead. In many areas of the city there were large open pits filled with rotting bodies of paupers whose friends could not get them a better burial. They were called ‘Poor Holes’ and remained common in London until the 1790s. ‘Lower-class’ people often rented cellars at ninepence or one shilling a week. These places were rented to the most miserable tenants - rag-pickers, bone gatherers or the growing crowd of Irish casual labourers driven across by famine, rural collapse and the lure of the Big City. Up to thirty people would live in a cellar.
Industry & Child Labour
The Industrial Revolution brought big factories and closed down much cottage industry. Child labor increased and children went to work after their sixth birthday. There was a rising trade in orphans and pauper children who were collected from the parish workhouses of industrial centres.
A detailed account of poverty in England can be found in ‘The Fatal Shore’ by Robert Hughes. He quotes a London ‘child-slave’, who was sent to work at age 4 in 1796 giving evidence forty years later to a Parliamentary committee on child labor:
“I have seen the time when two hand-vices... have been screwed to my ears, at Lytton Mill in Derbyshire. These are the scars still remaining behind my ears... we used to stand up, in a skip, without our shirts, and be beaten with straps or sticks...”
A children's overseer in a Leicester mill gave evidence in 1838:
“I used to beat them....I told them I was very sorry after I had done it, but I was forced to do it... Then I used to joke with them to keep up their spirits. I have seen them fall asleep, and they have been performing their work with their hands until they were asleep... going through the motions of piecening [working] while fast asleep.”
What did Joseph Banks say about Australia?
Write, describe or dramatise the story of one of these characters.
Base your story on what you know about eighteenth century England.
The Exchange
Sir Joseph Banks gives evidence to the House of Commons Select Committee on Transportation,
May 1785
COMMITTEE: Is the coast in general or the particular part you have mentioned much inhabited?
BANKS: There are very few inhabitants.
COMMITTEE: Are they of peaceable or hostile Disposition?
BANKS: Though they seemed inclined to Hostilities they did not appear at all to be feared. We never saw more than 30 or 40 together.
COMMITTEE: Do you apprehend, in Case it was resolved to send convicts there, any District of the Country might be obtained by Cession or purchase?
BANKS: There was no probability while we were there of obtaining anything either by Cession or purchase as there was nothing we could offer that they would take except provisions and those we wanted ourselves.
COMMITTEE: Have you any idea of the nature of Government under which they lived?
BANKS: None whatever, nor of their language.
COMMITTEE: Do you think 500 men being put on shore there would meet with that Obstruction from the Natives that would prevent them from settling there?
BANKS: Certainly not - from the experience I have had of the Natives of another part of the same coast I am inclined to believe that they would speedily abandon the country to the newcomers.
COMMITTEE: Were the Natives armed and in what manner?
BANKS: They were armed with spears headed with fish bones but none of them we saw in Botany Bay appeared at all formidable.
Terra Nullius
Instructions to Captain James Cook
by King George III in 1770
“...You are also with consent of the natives to take possession of convenient situation in the country, 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.”
In April 1770, the Endeavour sailed into Botany Bay. When the first boat went ashore, the landing was opposed by two Aboriginals with spears, they were fired at several times, and one was hit before they ran into the bush.
Cook Journals 1, 399
“They may appear to some to be the most wretched people on Earth, but in reality they are far more happier than we Europeans; being wholly unacquainted not only with the superfluous but with the necessary Convenience. Conveniences so much sought after in Europe, they are happier in not knowing the use of them. They live in a Tranquillity which is not disturbed by the Inequality of Condition ; the Earth and Sea of their own accord furnished them with all the things necessary for Life, they covet not Magnificent Houses, Household-stuff etca, they live in a warm and fine Climate and enjoy a very wholesome Air, so that they have very little need of Clothing and this they seem to be fully sensible of, for many to whom we gave Cloth etca to, left it carelessly upon the Sea beach and in the woods as a thing they have no manner of use for. In short they seem’d to set no Value upon anything we gave them... this in my opinion argues that they think themselves provided with all the necessities of life and that they have no superfluities.”
At Encounter Bay.... the party was attacked by Aboriginals [for refusing to share turtles caught] and the camp almost burned. After this experience, Cook did not land on the coast again. At Possession Island - uninhabited - off the tip of Cape York, he planted the Union Jack, and claimed the East Coast of Australia in the name of the King.
(Survival p44)
1. Think about what Terra Nullius means and how it has affected our history. Was Australia really ‘Terra Nullius’ ? How has Terra Nullius affected our history?
The Jails Are Overcrowded
Four way Exchange “A Royal Comission” (20 minutes)
Read the fact sheets that describe life in England in the late 1700s. Ensure that the class fully understands the societal structure and the social problems of the time.
Divide the class into groups of 4. Assign each group member a role: that of prisoner, jailer, judge, or wealthy landowner. Tell them that they have been brought together to try and come up with a solution to the problem of overcrowded jails.
Each person states his or her case to the others. Then, when everyone has had their say, each person tries to convince the others to see their point of view. Maybe the judge can keep order if things get out of hand!
After about ten minutes, come back together as a class to talk about the improvisation. Were there any solutions reached? If not, why not? If so, what were they? Are they viable options? If you were living in England in the late 1700’s, would you rather be a prisoner, a jailer, a judge or a landowner? Why?
Scriptwriting (40 minutes)
The students could follow up the four way exchange by scripting their improvisations. Then they could learn the lines and perform for another class!
A Great Advantage
Look Closely...
1. Read the King’s orders in the Song and Story Book. What did the King mean by “Open an intercourse with the natives and conciliate their affections”? How could these discussions have been turned to the advantage of the colony?
2. Why was Phillip ordered to “open an intercourse with the natives”? What was he to report? How could the colony be “advantaged”?
3. What did Phillip mean by “civilise them”? Why does Phillip refer to his colony as “their guests”?
4. Imagine that Arthur Phillip has asked for your advice on negotiations. What would you say?
The Voyage Of The First Fleet
T
hese are the ships of the First Fleet commissioned to transport convicts and supplies to colonise Australia. All the ships were small vessels, the largest being the Alexander which was 114 feet long and 31 feet wide.
|Ship Type |Name |Weight |Information |
|War Ships |SIRIUS | |flagship of the Fleet |
| |SUPPLY | | |
|Storeships |FISHBURN |378 tons | |
| |BORROWDALE |272 tons | |
| |GOLDEN GROVE |331 tons | |
|Transports |ALEXANDER |452 tons |largest vessel |
| |CHARLOTTE |345 tons | |
| |FRIENDSHIP |278 tons | |
| |LADY PENRHYN |338 tons |women's vessel |
| |SCARBOROUGH |418 tons |oldest - launched 1781 |
| |PRINCE OF WALES |333 tons | |
| | | | |
All ships combined had to carry 1,500 people
[pic]
Arthur Phillip wrote to Lord Nepean, the Secretary of State for the Colonies, to try to call attention to the lack of space on the ships:
“It will be very difficult to prevent the most fatal sickness among men so closely confined; on board that ship which is to receive 210 convicts there is not a space left... sufficiently large for 40 men to be in motion at the same time.”
1. Use a database or library to complete the chart above.
2. Convert ship measurements to metric and compare the size or weight of a ship. Draw the outline on the playground using chalk.
3. Find out what was loaded onto the ships of the First Fleet. Make a list.
First Encounters
5. Bound for Botany Bay
Two verses and choruses of the old favourite - with three verses added, bringing the story up to the landing at Botany Bay in 1788.
6. A More Suitable Place
Arthur Phillip and the officers look for a better place than Botany Bay. The Crew and Marines stay behind and sample the rum stores.
It is decided that the new location will be Port Jackson.
7. Hoist the Sail
Soldiers, sailors and convicts reboard the First Fleet ships to move to Port Jackson.
Bound for Botany Bay
First Encounters...
[pic]
1. Read the two different accounts of the Europeans being asked to undress. Which is most likely? Why?
2. Find out and talk about first encounters in your home region. When did they happen? What stories remain from that time?
The Landing of the First Fleet
Extract from ‘The Timeless Land’ by Eleanor Dark.
“More winged boats arrived and more still. In all, the message demonstrated, one for each of his ten fingers, and then one more! This was too much for Bennelong’s curiosity. He went and looked from a distance. He watched the coming and going of the small boats as they landed parties and returned to their ships.
He particularly admired the gorgeous coverings of the men who most commonly carried the weapons, and the appearance of a red coat was enough to draw his attention from any other sight.
He examined the gifts which the white man had bestowed upon the Gweagal, and agreed that, though beautiful, they were useless things, and not suitable possessions for a warrior. But still he could not bring himself to go down to the shore...
...While the white men landed they watched from the hillside, their dark bodies camouflaged in the shadow of a rocky outcrop. The strangers, too, they thought, seemed excited. They stood on the beach and pointed this way and that, but always at the harbour. Bennelong and others recognised among them, the man who seemed to be their leader; he looked pleased, and spoke rapidly, and they heard him summon one of his companions by calling: “Hunter!”.”
1. How was the First Fleet described by the messenger in this story?
2. Describe the behaviour that would have led Bennelong to recognise
“their leader”.
3. How does Bennelong appear to feel?
4. Imagine you are Bennelong or a member of his community. What would you be thinking about the landing of the small boats?
5. How would you describe it to your friends?
6. What observations would you make about the strangers' lifestyle, and intentions in coming here?
Europeans in Botany Bay
The first few days...
[pic]
Think and Write...
1. When the European boats first sailed into Botany Bay, what were they looking for? What did they find?
2. Convicts were kept on the ships during the time spent at Botany Bay. What would the Europeans have been thinking at this time? In pairs, choose one character each (convict, guard, sailor, or officer) and write an imaginary dialogue between the two as they waited for a site to be selected.
3. Imagine you are Phillip, Tench or Hunter. You are standing on the deck of your ship at night. You gaze at the sky and see how different it is. You look into the blackness of the bush and spot a flickering fire, making you aware of the presence of people. You can smell the strong unfamiliar scent of eucalyptus. What are your thoughts? Write about how you would feel in such a strange land.
4. Imagine you are a convict aboard the First Fleet. Having endured
8 months of confinement, suffering and deprivation, you are now allowed out on deck to face your new home/prison. What are the very first impacts on your senses? Try to imagine the feeling of the hot sun on your skin - the glare of the water, the sound of cicadas or cockatoos etc. Draft the story you would have to tell...Write home about it.
Bound for Botany Bay
Teacher-In-Role Improvisation: (30 minutes)
This workshop explores another imagination technique - this time for creating convict characters. The teacher participates actively by taking on the role of a harsh convict overseer.
Prepare a large open space for role-play and establish boundaries and a cue for students to become themselves after acting. If the students are very engaged in the process, you might like to extend the activity for a longer than half an hour.
When the class is lying down, relaxed and quiet, have them imagine themselves as poor people living in England in the 1780s. Outline the desperate living and working conditions they suffered at the time. Refer to “The Jails Are Overcrowded” fact sheet.
Have students remember what it was like to be poor and desperate. Ask questions to help them visualise a role, such as: How old are you? Where do you live? What does your house look like? Who do you live with? Where do you work? How do you feel about your job? What do you do for entertainment? Picture your home in old England, Scotland or Ireland - the cool air, low sky and green hills... or the dingy cellars and poor-houses of the city..
Tell the students that they have been sentenced to seven years transportation to the other side of the world for committing a crime. Get the students to decide what crime they committed and why. Then have them imagine the long, long, journey across the sea on a leaky, crowded, smelly, vermin-infested ship. Really emphasise just how terrible the conditions were for the convicts. (People starving, no sewage, corpses left unattended, terrible stench, no light or fresh air for six months or more, knowing that they will never return home). Read the following extract from ‘The Fatal Shore’ slowly, dwell on it. Have students think about it.
“[We were] chained two and two together and confined in the hold during the whole course of our long voyage... We were scarcely allowed a sufficient quantity of victuals to keep us alive, and scarcely any water... When any of our comrades that were chained to us died, we kept it a secret as long as we could for the smell of the dead body, in order to get their allowance of provision. I was chained to Humphrey Davies who died when we were about half way, and I lay beside his corpse about a week and got his allowance.”
After a couple of minutes of this, switch into teacher - in - role. Be prepared to “ham it up” and play the game naturally - yourself! As a fierce convict overseer, your dialogue might be something along these lines...
Bound for Botany Bay
"Land Ahoy! All right you lot, get a move on! I said now! Up you get, all of you - its time to move your flea bitten butts. Line up! line up! Single file march...... Say goodbye to this ship, me mates, she's going back to England. Bet you wish you were going with her, eh? Too bad - we're staying right here, in His Majesty’s Colony: New South Wales. What do you think? Sun a bit bright for you? Fresh air a little bit too fresh? Don't go fainting on me now. I suppose you'll be wanting to stretch your legs after six months in the hull. (Pause) Well - you can't. (Pause) Well, maybe if you pay me.......(convicts offer meagre possessions). All right, you've got ten minutes, ten minutes, d'you hear? No more! (Sarcastically) ten minutes to smell the flowers and look at the pretty trees. Get moving!"
Students as convicts move around to explore surrounds. Drop your overseer role here. You may choose to observe the convicts exploring the Australian landscape for the first time, or if the students are floundering, enter the drama in role again - this time as a convict, directing the action from the inside. Ensure that the improvisation addresses the strangeness of the landscape for the convicts. The bright sunlight - strange plants and trees. The notion of freedom of space and the complete impact on the senses after a long confinement. The loneliness of being an alien in a new land and the fear and uncertainty about seeing Aboriginal people. The feeling of not belonging.
Revert to your harsh convict overseer character again. Tell the convicts that Botany Bay is no good for settlement, and order them back onto the boat again. Take note of their reactions.
Discuss the results of the improvisation.
A More Suitable Place
Listen to the songs and read the information. Write your answers to these questions then compare each others ideas.
1. What was ‘wrong’ with Botany Bay?
2. Why did Governor Phillip move to Port Jackson?
3. Imagine you are there as the fleet leaves Botany Bay for Port Jackson. Describe the scene that is going on from a European and an Aboriginal view.
Botany Bay “No Dispute”
First Letter from Arthur Phillip
Four months after his arrival in Botany Bay, Phillip reported to the Colonial Office in England. Read this extract from Arthur Phillip’s letter to Lord Sydney, the Home Secretary (after whom Sydney was named), and discuss.
“With respect to the natives, it was my determination from my first landing that nothing less than the most absolute necessity should ever make me fire upon them, and tho' persevering in this resolution has at times been rather difficult, I have hitherto been so fortunate that it never has been necessary.
Mons. La Perouse, while at Botany Bay, was not so fortunate. He was obliged to fire on them, in consequence of which, with the bad behaviour of some of the transports' boats and some convicts, the natives have lately avoided us, but proper measures are taken to regain their confidence.
When I first landed at Botany Bay the natives appeared on the beach, and were easily persuaded to receive what was offered them and tho' they came armed, very readily returned the confidence I placed in them by going to them alone and unarmed, most of them laying down their spears when desired; and while the ships remained in Botany Bay no dispute happened between our people and the natives. They were all naked, but seemed fond of ornaments, putting the beads or red baize that were given them round their heads or necks. Their arms and canoes being described in “Captain Cook's Voyage”, I do not trouble your Lordship with any description of them.”
1. What was Phillip's policy?
2. What happened at Botany Bay?
3. Why does Phillip think the Australians are avoiding the colony?
4. Do you think there may have been other reasons? If so what do you think they were?
5. What do you think Phillip’s “proper measures” would be?
6. Write dialogue for any of the people shown in this picture.
Hoist the Sail
Arthur Phillip’s First Encounter with
the Kameraygal at Port Jackson
I
n Arthur Phillip’s letter to the Home Secretary, he described his first encounter with Kameraygal people. He named Manly Cove after their “confidence and manly behaviour.”
“When I first went in the boats to Port Jackson the natives appeared armed near the place at which we landed, and were very vociferous, but like the others, easily persuaded to accept what was offered them, and I persuaded one man, who appeared to be the chief or master of the family, to go with me to that part of the beach where the people were boiling their meat.
When he came near the marines, who were drawn up near the place, and saw that by proceeding he should be separated from his companions, who remained with several officers at some distance, he stopped, and with great firmness seemed by words and acting to threaten if they offered to take any advantage of this situation.
He then went on with me to examine what was boiling in the pot, and expressed his admiration in a manner that made me believe he intended to profit from what he saw, and which I made him understand he might very easily by help of some oyster-shells. I believe they know no other way of dressing their food but by broiling, and they are seldom seen without a fire, or piece of wood on fire, which they carry with them from place to place, and in their canoes, so that I apprehend they find some difficulty in procuring fire by any other means with which they are acquainted.
The boats, in passing near a point of land in the harbour were seen by a number of men, and twenty of them waded into the water unarmed, received what was offered to them, and examined the boats with a curiosity that gave me a much higher opinion of them, than I had formed from the behaviour of those seen in Captain Cook's voyage, and their confidence and manly behaviour made me give the name of Manly Cove to this place.
The same people afterwards joined us where we dined; they were all armed with lances, two with shields and swords - the latter made of wood, the gripe small, and I thought less formidable than a good stick.
As their curiosity made them very troublesome when we were preparing our dinner, I made a circle round us. There was little difficulty in making them understand that they were not to come within it, and they then sat down very quiet.”
1. Why did Phillip describe the people here as “manly” ?
2. Think of reasons for Phillip's “much higher opinion” of Aboriginal people.
3. Write what you think about the way food was ‘shared’.
Hoisting The Flag
Extract from ‘The Timeless Land’ by Eleanor Dark.
W
e can only wonder what Aboriginal people must have thought, assumed, and talked about, as they watched the unloading of the ships and the first few days of European settlement.
Read the following passage and discuss its interpretation of the flag raising ceremony.
“...It appeared that the main preoccupation of this astonishing people, upon making camp, was not to build mia-mias or to cook food, but to fell trees. For this purpose they used implements which were, obviously, hatchets, but which gleamed in the sun, and bit deeply into the wood at each stroke so that the splinters flew and the trees crashed with incredible rapidity...
All the morning their strange activities continued. What was their purpose? While the sun climbed up they sky they toiled, and the black men could see no result emerging from their labours. There began to be a few pointed comments and some derisive laughter for the inefficiency of a tribe which took so long to establish its camp; but when a row of shelters sprang into being which were not made of bark or boughs, but of some whitish substance which the strangers unloaded from their boats, a silence of astonishment fell. Bennelong was particularly interested in the doings of a small group of men who were carrying a tall, slender, sapling down to the eastern shore of the cove. Here they set it upright in the ground, embedding it firmly in a deep hole in the ground, which had been made to receive it, packing stones and earth about it so that it stood at last as if rooted. Could there be wisdom in the minds of people who felled a tree for the express purpose of setting it up in a different place? But suddenly there fluttered out from its top an object so bright and beautiful that Bennelong, who dearly loved bright colours, felt his heart lift and turn in an anguish of admiration and covetousness. A wrapt silence fell upon the watchers. They had never seen anything half so beautiful as this thing which was red as blood, and white as a cloud, and blue as the sky above it; they could not tear their eyes from its brilliance, the lovely way shadows ran and coiled along it as it flapped in the afternoon sunlight, the gaiety and cheerfulness of its fluttering corners. They were not at all surprised when they saw that it was to be worshipped. All the people assembled beneath it those who were armed and brightly clad on one side, and upon the other, the enslaved tribe. Drinking vessels were brought; the Beanga cried out loudly, a few words which were repeated by the others; they all drank, lifting their hands as if in salutation and then suddenly a noise shattered the silence.”
1. Do you think this passage give an accurate account of how an Aboriginal person would have seen these events?
Give reasons for your answer.
Hoisting The Flag
This image shows a variation of a well-known
picture of the flag raising ceremony of 1788.
[pic]
Look at the picture and discuss the moods, hopes and fears of all those involved in the scene. Discuss the passage from ‘The Timeless Land’ and answer these questions.
1. What did Aboriginal people observe the “main preoccupation” of this people as being?
2. Which group of people were “armed and brightly clad...”?
3. Which group were the “enslaved tribe”?
4. What do you think the “noise that shattered the silence” was?
5. What words does Eleanor Dark use to describe Bennelong’s thoughts as he watches the flag raising?
6. What could Cadigal people have thought the European people were doing?
7. Research pictures of the flag raising ceremony at Sydney Cove. What is the main difference between those pictures and the one shown here? How do other pictures tend to support Terra Nullius?
Broken Bay
Arthur Phillip’s First Encounter
with Kuringai people
Source: Historical Records of NSW
Reporting to Lord Sydney, Governor Phillip described an interesting encounter with a Kuringai family.
“When the south branch of Broken Bay was first visited we had some difficulty in getting round the headland that separated the two branches, having very heavy squalls of wind and rain, and where we attempted to land there was not sufficient water for the boat to approach the rocks, on which were standing an old man and a youth. They had seen us labour hard to get under the land, and after pointing out the deepest water for the boats, brought us fire, and going with two of the officers to a cave at some distance, the old man made use of every means in his power to make them go in with him, but which they declined; and this was rather unfortunate, for it rained hard, and the cave was the next day found to be sufficiently large to have contained us all, and which he certainly took great pains to make them understand. When this old man saw us prepare for sleeping on the ground, and clearing away the bushes, he assisted and was the next morning rewarded for his friendly behaviour. Here we saw a woman big with child that had not lost the joints of the little finger.
When we returned, two days afterwards, to the spot where the old man had been so friendly he met us with a dance and a song of joy. His son was with him. A hatchet and several presents were made them, and as I intended to return to Port Jackson the next day every possible means were taken to secure his friendship: but when it was dark he stole a spade, and was caught in the act. I thought it necessary to show that I was displeased with him, and therefore when he came to me, pushed him away, and gave him two or three slight slaps on the shoulder with the open hand, at the same time pointing to the spade. This destroyed our friendship in a moment, and seizing a spear he came close up to me, poised it and appeared determined to strike; but whether from seeing that his threats were not regarded for I chose rather to risk the spear than fire on him - or from anything the other natives said who surrounded him, after a few moments he dropped his spear and left us.
This circumstance is mentioned to show that they do not want personal courage, for several officers and men were then near me. He returned the next morning with several others and seemed desirous of being taken notice of; but he was neglected, whilst hatchets and several other articles were given to the others.”
The likely site of the above-mentioned cave can be visited today at West Head in Kuring-gai National Park.
1. Explain Phillip's words “This destroyed our friendship”. Why?
2. Write how you imagine the Koori man would have thought.
How was his help repaid?
Separate Lives
8. Kameraygal
Kameraygal people, whose land is on the northern shore of Port Jackson sing of themselves, their world and their spirituality. They are a waterway community and neighbours to the Cadigal on the other side of the harbour. While the peoples were quite distinct, they all shared a common respect for the Land, and the Law - including each other’s land boundaries. A Kameraygal man named Arabanoo later became the first Australian to be kidnapped by the British.
9. Great South Land
The Europeans begin the task of building but in their building, they are changing the land and destroying sacred places without permission. They have no idea of Aboriginal spiritual beliefs or boundaries and they don’t care, as their own troubles are so great. Convicts labour to chop down trees and break up rocks. Untrained and unwilling soldiers oversee their work, drink and complain.
10. Bidjigal Man
The Bidjigal people sing of the coming of the Europeans. The song introduces Pemulwuy, who later became the first to lead organised war against the European invasion. Pemulwuy was a clever man known to all Eora (people) of the region. Mystery still surrounds Pemulwuy. It was believed that he could not be killed by white people’s weapons. Until recently he was written out of history.
Kameraygal
Share These...
1. Locate waterways in your area draw where they meet the sea.
2. Search for and share stories or teachings about Baiami or the Rainbow Serpent compare them with other societies.
3. Try to create a chant for one of the scenes described on the Kameraygal page of the song book.
4. Think about the word ‘spirituality’ and talk about its meaning for others and for you.
5. Write or draw something about your own religion or culture or that of your grandparents or chosen family and discuss how things have changed.
Eternity
Jack Davis
I sat and watched the sea come in
unfolding wavelets on the beach
Froth like lace surrounded me then
receded out of reach
I cupped a hand
of sea wet sand
and thought then this is me
as I caught a glimpse of
what life is,
and my fragility
Living With The Land
Extract from ‘The Timeless Land’ by Eleanor Dark
“Through the trees the water was just visible, cool and grey in the morning light, and she left the camp and wandered down the hillside, stopping now and then on some rocky outcrop to look about her. She was hardly conscious of what she saw, for it was all too familiar; she looked at it not to see it, but to feel the stability which flowed from it to her. When she pushed through a grove of honey scented wattle, or trod knee-deep among the pink boronia, she did not notice their fragrance - but its absence would have touched her nerves with warning.
Her reaction to her environment was that of all her people, to whom the earth was simply cradle, hunting ground and bier. [Her people did not] coerce the soil, they lived in utter harmony with it. They did not demand that it produce and produce, exhausting its fertility, but were content with what it gave them, leaving undisturbed its serene cycle of disintegration and renewal. The trees which she passed clambering down to the water's edge she recognised as she would have recognised a man or woman of her tribe, and although their fallen branches would feed her fire, and their bark fashion her canoes, they maintained, not in her thoughts, but more deeply their places as fellow inhabitants of a land whose earth both their lives and her own were rooted...”
1. By reading the passage, what images do you see? What mood do you feel? Draw a picture of the scene.
2. List words that describe how the woman feels about her environment.
3. What does “cradle, hunting ground and bier” mean?
4. What is meant by “exhausting her fertility”? How does this happen?
5. Write your own description of someone caring for the land. Include their reasons, feelings and actions.
6. How do you think this passage explains what ‘belonging to the land’ means?
Kameraygal and Kuringai Homes
Extract from ‘Aboriginal People and their culture, North of Sydney Harbour’
Metropolitan North Region NSW Department of Education.
D
wellings in the area of North Sydney were constructed from sheets of bark removed from growing trees which were then flattened and supported on timber frames. The more temporary ‘hunting huts’ which were usually seen inland were ‘A’ frame structures made from pieces of bark about 3.35 metres long and from 1.22 - 1.83 metres broad, bent in the middle and set up at an acute angle. The windward end was sometimes blocked off for added protection. Some of these huts were so small as to shelter one occupant only, others were large enough for a family.
On the coast, Collins described huts that were semi-circular in design “in the form of an oven with an entrance” and were large enough to hold 6 or 8 people. The entrances were so low as to require stooping or crawling, and the fires were usually built at the mouth of the hut rather than inside or outside. There were seldom more than 8 or 9 huts grouped together. One particularly well-constructed dwelling at Broken Bay was described by Surgeon White:
“In the hut were two very well made nets, good quality fishing lines, some spears, a stone hatched of superior quality and two wooden vessels for carrying water.”
In addition to constructed huts, Aboriginal people of the Sydney Basin also made frequent use of rock shelters, a point emphasised in many of the early journals.
Barrington and Collins recorded the following:
“They appear to live chiefly in the caves and hollow of the rocks, which nature has supplied them with, the rocks about the shore being mostly chelving and overhanging so as to accord a tolerable retreat ... They make a fire at the outer part of these dismal holes which throws a heat in”
(Barrington 1795).
“Beside ... bark huts, they made use of excavations in the rocks; and as the situation of these were various, they could always choose them out of the reach of wind and rain.”
(Collins 1798).
Kameraygal
Imagination Activity (25 minutes)
To begin, create a relaxed mood for the class by having the students lie down and breathe calmly and quietly for a couple of minutes. Then, speaking softly, clearly, and with expression, create a story that follows these guidelines. Long pauses are appropriate to set the scene, and are indicated by[…].
Imagine you are living in Kameraygal country around 1786…You are walking along a long stretch of empty beach… Swinging by your side is a large fish you have caught, and a bag of crayfish… It's a warm sunny day and you are feeling happy and contented with your catch… You are taking it home to share it… In the far distance you can see a spiral curl of smoke drifting up into the sky… You know that your family and friends are gathered there around the fire waiting for you … You turn right into the scrub… Feel the prickly bushes brush against your body as you push through… You take your favourite walking track into the thickest and most beautiful part of the bush… Smell the eucalyptus trees… Smell the damp bark… You notice the distinct scent of animals as you walk through. You think of dinner… There is a cool breeze blowing gently on your face and through your hair… You fall into an easy rhythm as you walk on and on… In the distance you hear the familiar sound of running water… You walk towards the sound… When you reach the creek, you drink the cold clear water until you've had your fill… Resting now against the trunk of an ancient tree you close your eyes and relax… Listen to the sounds around you… Squawking cockatoos… the soft hum of insects above you… rustling of the trees leaves.. … a kookaburra off in the far distance… and again, the trickle and flow of the creek in front of you… You feel very deeply the rhythm of the land, the workings of nature and the cycle of life and death all around you… You feel part of your surroundings… After a time, rested and refreshed you stand up… You gather up your things, and walk back to the track that leads you home to the camp…
Instruct the students to lie quietly for a couple of minutes, and imagine a scenario that follows on from this, while they listen to the instrumental version of the song "Kameraygal".
Students sit up in their own time.
Initiate a discussion whereby students share their imaginative experiences.
Discuss our senses. Which senses could you imagine most clearly? Why?
Discuss the concept of 'being part of the land'.
1. What can we learn from this experience about the life of Aboriginal people prior to 1788?
Great South Land
What was the Reason?
Read out loud the hostile accounts given in the Song & Story Book. See who can use a voice that best shows the tenor of the writer.
1. Choose one account and draw here what you imagine.
2. Why didn't these people like Australia?
3. Why did they see the land this way?
4. List things that the Europeans did not know about Australia.
The First Few Weeks
Read about and imagine the unloading of the First Fleet. Use the space below and draw and label on the picture, the following things:
(A ship of the fleet in harbour ( small boats going to shore & back ( Eora people watching ( sailors ( officers ( marines ( convicts ( pigs ( sheep ( fowl ( cattle ( bedding ( tools ( barrels ( boxes ( ropes ( bits of furniture
1. Discuss and compare pictures and your additions.
2. Imagine if European and Eora people spoke the same language. Try to draft a discussion that may have taken place about the Land or each other's way of life.
3. Act out a conversation between Aboriginal and European people during the first few weeks of ‘occupation’
Summer Scene
Jack Davis
The dragonfly
eyes of gold
gossamer winged
skimmed across the limpid pool
Bull rush trembling dry
whispered softly
In the summer breeze
Blue sky cloud flecked
mirrored in the water
added to the quiet scene
Sinuous the water snake
water white
slipped into the pool's embrace
Faint ripples followed in her wake
The green frog, eyes obsidian,
sat unblinking on the rotted tree trunk
The dragonfly hovered near
The frog leapt
and caught the slender body
in its gasping jaws
Then with legs apart
it slapped the water
to shatter the mirrored sky
The snake slid forward
an uncoiled spring
and caught the frog
in vice like jaw
Then all was still
the pool returned
to as it was
But to me now
deathly quiet
Great South Land
Freeze, Convict! (30 minutes)
This activity explores the concept of enforced labour and the mutinous feelings of the convicts.
1. Play the game ‘Red Light’. One person (the Red Light) is out the front with their back turned to the rest of the group. The object of the game is to creep up on this person and tap him/her on the shoulder without being seen. At any time, the Red Light can turn around calling “Red Light” and the ‘creepers' must freeze. If Red Light sees anyone move, that person must return to the starting point.
2. When everyone has got the hang of the rules, recast the roles. The Red Light becomes the officer in charge of the convicts, who are represented by the rest of the group.
3. Play the game again using the character roles outlined above. As the officer turns around he/she growls “Freeze, Convict!” The convicts keep up a defiant mutter that must stop at the same time as they freeze. If they are caught moving or talking, the officer ‘shoots’ the offender who ‘dies’ and stays on the ground until the end of the game. When a convict has successfully crept up on the officer in charge, instead of a tap on the shoulder, they touch the officer with their hand like a gun. When this happens, the rest of the convicts let out a huge, mutinous cheer!
4. Play the game once more. The aim this time is to escape by moving further away from the officer in charge. Mark a spot on the floor (perhaps near the door) and call it ‘Freedom’. The object is to reach freedom without being seen. Again, if caught, the penalty is ‘death’.
5. Come together as a group, and discuss the feelings experienced in
a. Red Light.
b. Freeze, Convict!
In which game were reactions strongest? Why? How would it have felt to be incarcerated in a strange country in 1788? Talk about what might happen to you if you managed to escape.
Bidjigal Man
Here and Now...
[pic]
1. “Bidjigal Man” presents Pemulwuy and the distinct groups that lived in the Sydney Basin. Contact your local Aboriginal Land Council to find out more about Aboriginal life in your area.
2. Do you think it is important for Australians to remember Pemulwuy? Why? State your reasons. Why do you think he was written out of history until recently?
Different Languages
Extract from ‘Pemulwuy - The Rainbow Warrior’ by Eric Willmot.
Australia was divided into many countries with different languages. The following passage describes an imaginary character named Kiraban who has been brought to Sydney from around the Myall Lakes region 100 miles to the North.
“Kiraban's first few weeks in this new place were the most puzzling and exciting of his life. The British called this place Sydney. He knew this immediately to be a name given by the strangers, because of the hissing sound at the beginning of the word. The place was full of different people from the surrounding districts. It was the country of the Borogegal. He found that there were also Karegal, Kamergal, Kadigal, Gweagal and even some of the taller Bidjigal and Daruk people. Of all these, the only language that he could understand with any degree of usefulness was Karegal, which had a lot of vocabulary in common with Awabakal, his own tongue. Most of the other languages except for Dharug were clearly related to Karegal, but he recognised that it would take some time to master them.
English, which seemed the most common language used by the aliens, was not as difficult grammatically as the other New South Wales languages. Its difficulty was in the use of sounds not distinguished by the locals. For example, Kiraban interpreted “cot” and “got” as the same word. He could easily make “c” and “g” sounds, but was not used to hearing them as different. The hissing sounds like “s”, “sh” “ch” and “th” also gave him considerable difficulty. Kiraban nevertheless listened carefully to the speech of the British and quietly practised the sounds. He did this often, much to the amusement of other Eora people. It was a great occupation among the younger men and women to ape the British speech by repeating phrases and sentences, exaggerating the English sounds as jokes:
“Thisss Blassss issss Ssssydney.”
Britishers unaware of the joke would correct the consonant in “place”, explaining carefully the difference between the “p” and the “b” sound. The sentence then became mirthfully:
“Thisss pulassss issss Sssydney.”
The Eora people were equally amused by the British attempts to speak their languages. Most were unable to make some of the vowel sounds, and the subtlety of the grammar seemed well beyond any of them.
It became great entertainment among the younger men to make fun of the strangers' attempts to master the local languages.
Kiraban found that the problem with all of this was that, with the exception of a few, the aliens were rather dour people. They did not appreciate the local style of humour, and in fact, hardly any of them could tolerate themselves being the object of a joke. This led to quite a bit of bad feeling between the two groups.
1. Discuss the difficulties Kiraban has with English and with other Aboriginal languages.
2. What differences can you see in this story between English and Aboriginal languages? Why did Aboriginal people laugh at the English?
3. How would you describe the differences in humour?
Possum Skin Cloak
[pic]
Line drawing of the inside of a possum-skin cloak. National Museum of Victoria. Source: ‘Survival’ by Nigel Parbury
Bidjigal Man
These are games that promote the importance of listening, acting and reacting as a means to group unification.
1. Are You Pemulwuy? (15 minutes)
Students sit with eyes closed.
The teacher taps one person on the head. This person is Pemulwuy. Once tapped, the student cannot speak. The object of the game is to find Pemulwuy.
Still with eyes closed, the group moves silently around the room shaking hands with each other and asking softly "Are you Pemulwuy?" You know you have found Pemulwuy when the person you ask doesn't respond.
Once you have found Pemulwuy, hang on to his hand. This way you too become a silent Pemulwuy.
The game continues until the whole class is holding hands in silence.
Play the game a couple of times. How quickly can the class reach the unified silence?
2. Hampering the Hunter (15 Minutes)
The object of the game is to find a coin (or another small object) as it is passed from player to player.
Nominate one student to be the Hunter. The others in the group must try to stop this person from finding the object.
As the group moves around the room the Hunter can stop anyone at any time and demand they show both hands.
The group must work together to distract the Hunter from discovering who has the coin, and make sure that the coin is passed on quickly form person to person.
Whoever is found with the coin becomes the Hunter next time.
1. What do these games tell us about the nature of communication?
2. How do they relate to the way Pemulwuy may have operated?
Desperate Times
11. Arabanoo
Arthur Phillip uses force to try to learn the language of Aboriginal people. Under his orders Arabanoo, a Kameraygal man, is kidnapped and taken to “Sydney”, the land of his enemies, the Cadigal. The Europeans try to show him British justice - to his disgust. He is held in high regard and admired by his captors.
12. Real Name
The words of a Jack Davis poem are used here to portray Arabanoo's sadness after being removed from his home and losing his identity. It was at this time that smallpox killed most of the local Aboriginal population.
13. We Are Starving
The colony's food resources dwindle. Crops fail. Rations are cut and food is rancid, as they await the lost Second Fleet. Arthur Phillip decides to kidnap two more Aboriginal people in the hopes of learning how to find food.
14. Bennelong
The kidnapping of Bennelong and his popularity in the colony. Concludes with his escape after six months.
Arabanoo
Arabanoo is Shown British Justice
A
rthur Phillip had hoped to use Arabanoo as a “go between” for communication with what he thought was the Aboriginal people of the area. He did not realise that there were so many different nations in the area, with different languages, customs and attitudes. There could be no one person to speak for all.
[pic]
1. Describe what is happening in this picture...
2. If Arabanoo had been given the opportunity to return to his people, write what you think he might have told them about the ‘colony’.
Arabanoo's Observations
Literature extract from ‘The Timeless Land’ by Eleanor Dark
“He had begun to realise quite soon that if they had a Law, this was the foundation of it. It was quite clear that the more possessions a man had, the nobler he was assumed to be, and the greater was the authority he wielded over his fellows. The Be-anga, for instance, had more possessions than anyone. His fine dwelling was full of them. Arabanoo had been taught their names and could repeat them chair, plate, fork, table, towel, paper, pen, coat, book - there seemed never to be an end.
And yet these were not all. He had been given to understand that even the food, so carefully hidden away and so jealously guarded, belonged to the Be-anga. For a long time he had not believed this, it was so manifestly ridiculous that he though it was a joke, and laughed merrily every time it was mentioned. But he had discovered that it was not a joke at all - men were punished for taking it. It did not matter that they were hungry - they must not touch the food - for it belonged, not to the whole tribe, but to the Be-anga alone, and they might eat only what he gave them.....
The despised ones, on the other hand, had almost no possessions. Their coverings were miserable, their dwellings inferior, and it appeared that even the things they drank from, and the plates upon which they took their food, were not theirs but merely lent to them by the Be-anga. They had no weapons at all. How was a man a man without weapons?
The red coated ones, it appeared, were the only warriors. It was their duty to defend all the rest, even those worthless ones, who surely were of no value to any tribe.”
1. Who is ‘Be-anga’?
2. What does Arabanoo see as the foundation of the stranger’s law? Why?
3. What did he observe about the Europeans’ way with food?
4. Why did he at first think this was funny? Then what did he think?
5. What groups does Arabanoo see in the ‘white tribe’ and what does he think of them?
6. How was Aboriginal life different from what Arabanoo observes in the ‘white tribe’?
7. How do the extracts illustrate cultrual differences?
Arabanoo's Observations
Arabanoo sees different groups in the European tribe. Use Eleanor Dark’s passage to complete this page.
1. Name these groups, and for each picture list from the passage the things Arabanoo observed about these groups of people.
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The Land at the Brewery
Jack Davis
All that is left
is this minute patch of sand
when not so long ago
in years of time
they owned it all
Then others came
and placed a seal
of plough and cloven hoof
upon the land
and drove them back
with crack of whip
of chain and sound of gun
They tried to spin their cultured web
around them all
They passed their laws
then drew a veil of death across
the children of the sun
Arabanoo and Arthur Phillip
Extract from "The Timeless Land" by Eleanor Dark
Arabanoo...
He had seen blood and pain. That was nothing, nothing at all. His own people in their rites of initiation suffered far greater physical pain, shed far more blood... He had seen blood and pain, but it was not that which had aroused his every nerve to an agony of horror. It was that a man should be helpless while he suffered - that he should be bound, dragged, held up to contempt, humiliated in the eyes of his own tribe. It was not that pain should be inflicted on him against his will; it was not that he should struggle, and beseech, and beg for mercy... Arabanoo lifted his head slowly and looked round at the cove and settlement, now sinking into dusk. His eyes had a searching, puzzled look. His land had not seen such things before ... He had been shamed because he was a man and had seen another man suffering indignity. He had protested; he had cried out in horror. What did it matter what they had done?
No, they were men; but men beset by an evil magic of unhappiness. Men without peace, men without serenity. Men without a Law.
Phillip ...
Phillip lay awake, this light still burning by his bedside, his tired mind wrestling with a thousand cares. This was the last day of the year. They had been here for eleven months, and for all his dauntless optimism, he could not pretend to himself that they had made as much progress as he had hoped. Building still went on with infinite slowness. During the winter, all labour had been held up by heavy rains and much of what had already been accomplished was ruined. The brick kiln had fallen in, the walls of the house being built for himself had collapsed, the convicts dwellings were in a condition to beggar description.
He had become increasingly conscious of an impatient irritation, not only at the inadequacy of the settlement, but at its squalid ugliness. It was not possible, he thought, pushing his blanket back restlessly, to visit the other coves, or explore the other great harbours which lay to the north and the south, without feeling the poignancy of their wild and uncontaminated loneliness. It was not possible to return here, to walk the muddy, trampled ground, to see the rows of miserable huts, the sorry patches of garden, begun and abandoned, the heaps of stacked bricks and firewood, the sullen, hopeless, planless, ugliness of the place, without an uneasy sense of desecration.
There was only one refuge from such a feeling - only one path by which one could climb from the irrational emotion of guilt to the height of a serene and confident intellectual conception. One must not see the present, but the future. One must plan ahead -and plan boldly, nobly, magnificently not for a convict settlement, a prison for degraded outcasts, but for a city, the headquarters of a nation of free men ..
1. Give your interpretation of how Arabanoo and Arthur Phillip may have felt during this period.
2. Discuss what their priorities were. How does the extract illustrate cultural differences?
Arabanoo
Structured Improvisation (30 minutes)
Read Eleanor Dark’s imagined account of Arabanoo's reaction to witnessing the convicts being flogged. (literature extract from `The Timeless Land’ by Eleanor Dark - ‘Arabanoo and Arthur Phillip’) Discuss, predict, hypothesise. How might Arabanoo have felt? Brainstorm and list the students responses.
Use the ‘freeze frame' technique to represent the emotions listed by the students.
Now, in pairs, students take the parts of Arabanoo and a modern day interviewer.
As a class, before beginning the interviews, devise about five objective questions that the interviewers might ask to get Arabanoo to tell how he feels about what he witnessed.
Conduct interviews. Then, swap roles and repeat.
Pairs can perform their interviews for the rest of the class.
Real Name
Reflect for a Moment...
1. The song ‘Real Name’ adapts the words of a poem by Jack Davis. Discuss the words and how they relate to the story of Arabanoo.
2. The ‘Stolen Generations’ refers to generations of Aboriginal children taken from their families and placed in institutions. This began with Arabanoo and continued in different forms.
In NSW, the Aborigines Protection Board (1883-1940) and the Aborigines Welfare Boards (1940-1969) had the power to take Aboriginal children from their families “for their own good”.
Discuss how you would feel and how it would have affected Aboriginal communities and cultures.
Smallpox at Broken Bay
An account by Captain John Hunter in June, 1789
A young girl with the disease was discovered and the event was recorded by Captain John Hunter.
"In the course of the little excursions of our boats; a native woman was discovered, concealing herself from our sight in the long grass, which was at this time very wet, and I should have thought very uncomfortable to a poor naked creature.
She had, before the arrival of our boats at this beach, been with some of her friends, employed in fishing for their daily food, but were upon their approach alarmed, and they had all made their escape, except this miserable girl, who had just recovered from the small-pox, and was very weak, and unable, from a swelling in one of her knees, to get off to any distance: she therefore crept off, and concealed herself in the best manner she could among the grass, not twenty yards from the spot on which we had placed our tents. She was discovered by some person who having fired at and shot a hawk from a tree right over her, terrified her so much that she cried out and discovered herself.
Information was immediately brought to the governor, and we all went to see this unhappy girl, whom we found, as I have already observed, just recovered from the small pox, and lame: she appeared to be about 17 or 18 years of age, and had covered her debilitated and naked body with the wet grass, having no other means of hiding herself; she was very much frightened on our approaching her, and shed many tears, with piteous lamentations; we understood none of her expressions, but felt much concern at the distress she seemed to suffer.
We endeavoured all our power to make her easy, and with the assistance of a few expressions which had been collected from poor Ara-ba-noo while he was alive, we soothed her distress a little, and the sailors were immediately ordered to bring up some fire, which we placed before her; we pulled some grass, dried it by the fire, and spread round her to keep her warm; then we shot some birds, such as hawks, crows, and gulls, skinned them, and laid them on the fire to broil, together with some fish, which she ate; we then gave her water, of which she seemed to be much in want, for when the word Baa-do was mentioned, which was their expression for water, she put her tongue out to show how very dry her mouth was; and indeed from its appearance and colour, she had a considerable degree of fever on her.
Before we retired to rest for the night, we saw her again, and got some firewood laid within her reach, with which she might, in the course of the night, recruit her fire; we also cut a large quantity of grass, dried it, covered her, and left her to her repose. "
1. Think about the story. In small groups, choose readers and characters and mime the story as it is being read.
2. Rewrite the story from the point of view of the young Aboriginal woman.
3. Comment on the English attitudes to Aboriginal people as portrayed in the extract.
Smallpox Epidemic
T
he journals of Tench and Hunter document the impact of smallpox on the Aboriginal people of Eora. Tench speculates on its origin and admits that the Surgeon had bottles of what he calls “variolous matter”.
“An extraordinary calamity was now observed among the natives. Repeated accounts brought by our boats of finding bodies of the Indians in all coves and inlets of the harbour, caused the gentlemen of our hospital to procure some of them for the purposes of examination... how a disease to which our former observations had led us to suppose them strangers (smallpox), could at once have introduced itself, and have spread so widely, seemed inexplicable. Whatever might be the cause, the existence of the malady could no longer be doubted.”
Captain John Hunter noted in May, 1789:
“As we had never yet seen so many people who had been in the smallest degree marked with the small pox... Some have been found sitting on their haunches, with their heads reclined between their knees; others were leaning against a rock, with their head resting against it: I have seen myself, a woman sitting on the ground, with her knees drawn up to her shoulders, and her face resting on the sand between her feet.”
Tench, writing soon after the event, posed the following questions of the disease's origin:
“No solution of this difficulty had been given when I left the country, in December, 1791. I can, therefore, only propose queries for the ingenuity of others to exercise itself upon: Is it a disease indigenous to the country? Did the French ships under Monsieur de Perouse introduce it?... Had it travelled across the continent from its western shore, where Dampier and other European voyagers had formerly landed?--Was it introduced by Mr Cook?--Did we give it birth here? 'No person among us had been afflicted with the disorder since we had quitted the Cape of Good Hope, seventeen months before. It is true, that our surgeons had brought out variolous matter in bottles; but to infer that it was produced from this cause were a supposition so wild as to be unworthy of consideration.”
1. Describe in your own words the impact of the smallpox epidemic.
2. What is Tench puzzled about? Write your own answers to the questions proposed by Tench.
3. What does he mean by the surgeon's “variolous matter in bottles”?
4. What does he mean by “...a supposition so wild as to be unworthy of consideration” Why would he say that? Do you agree?
The Elder
Jack Davis
Cry softly my people
I am back in the dreamtime now
forgive the second children
but don't forget! and allow
your own to grow and to nourish
with the heart to see
Help them to love and to flourish
yet always remembering me
as being with them together
as one in affinity
Death & Burial
Extract from “Aboriginal People and their culture, North of Sydney Harbour”
Metropolitan North Region NSW Department of Education.
A
boriginal burial ceremonies differed [in different Aboriginal Nations], but there has always been a high degree of mourning for people of prominence or "brave warriors". Women, particularly were emotional mourners. Their cries of grief would last for days because for them death was a time of sincere mourning. (Aborigines of the Hunter Region) Mourning for the dead often involved smearing the body with pipe-clay, and grief was demonstrated by wailing and gashing the head so that blood mingled with the white clay.
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“The early European colonists were of the impression that the methods by which bodies of the dead were disposed of varied according to age - the young were buried in the ground, while those who had passed middle age were burned.”
(Collins 1798; Barrington 1795)
Burial customs vary right around Australia
“Bodies were incinerated overnight, then the ashes and bones were raked into a tumulus which was marked with two logs of wood. Men were buried with their hunting and fishing weapons, and also with whatever clothing they owned. The name of the deceased was not permitted to be mentioned, and certain food prohibitions had to be respected.”
(Collins 1798; Barrington 1795)
W.J. Enright 1937 describes a Darkingung burial.
"The body was trussed up with knees near the head, and carried on a sheet of bark from the place of death. Arriving at the place of burial the body was placed on the ground and the earth was piled on it in the form of a mound with the aid of the boomerangs."
Real Name
Performance poetry. (40 minutes)
1. Divide the class into six groups.
2. Randomly give each group a photocopied stanza from the song "Real Name." (Do not play the song - encourage the students to look at the words as poetry and think about meaning.) Discuss student’s ideas of the meanings.
3. Instruct each group to interpret their given stanza anyway they like. (For instance, they might choose to have one student reading dramatically whilst the others mime accompanying actions. Or they could recite and perform repetitive movements as a whole group. Anything goes!)
4. Each group shows their interpretation to the class.
5. Together, decide what order works best and link the stanzas in a performance piece. (Dramatic links are more important than correct poetical order.)
6. Play the song as students listen with eyes closed. How does the mood of the song differ from the mood created in performance? How does the performance increase awareness of the issues addressed by the song?
We Are Starving
Investigate...
1. Why do you think the Europeans had such difficulty with food?
2. What went wrong with the first farming efforts?
3. How has farming in Australia changed and developed since 1788?
4. How has the Australian environment changed? For the better?
5. Research Aboriginal food resources and land management.
6. What can be learned now from Aboriginal land management?
Starvation in the Colony
Sources: ‘The Fatal Shore’ by Robert Hughes
and ‘When the Sky Fell Down’ by Keith Willey
B
y October 1788, Phillip still had no idea if relief ships were on their way, and there was only enough food in store to last, if strictly rationed, one more year. He cut one pound from the weekly flour ration and sent his largest vessel, Sirius, to Cape Town to buy supplies.
Hope centred on the governor's farm at Rose Hill, or Parramatta as the Darug people called it. By the end of 1789 this farm had produced Australia's first agricultural marvel, a 26-pound cabbage. Meanwhile, the food rations were drastically cut and officers took their own bread to dinner at Government House.
Lieutenant Clark went to look at his onion bed in February 1790, found “some Boat had landed since I had been there last and taken away the greatest part....It is impossible for any body to attempt to raise any Garden stuff here, before it comes to perfection they will steal it.”
The following remarks were recorded by officers early the following year:
“The two pounds of pork when boiled, from the length of time it had been in the store, shrunk away to nothing, and when divided among seven people for their day's sustenance barely afforded three or four morsels to each.....”
“When the age of the provision is recollected, its inadequacy will more strikingly appear. The pork and rice were brought with us from England, the pork had been salted between three and four years, and every grain of rice was a moving body from the inhabitants lodged within it. We soon left off boiling the pork, as it had become so old and dry, that it shrunk half in its dimensions when so dressed. Our usual method of cooking it was to cut off the daily morsel, toast it on a fork before the fire, catching the drops which fell on a slice of bread, or in a saucer of rice...”
The colonists found few plants they could eat, and little game. The only reliable source of fresh protein, therefore, was fish. There was some prejudice against it. The ration was 10 pounds of fish issued in place of 2 1/2 pounds of salt beef. King remarked, “If there were more convicts here, they would not submit to having their salt rations stopped where a quantity of fish were caught by them”. In Sydney the “Roast Beef of Old England”---even salted and half-rotten--was more prized than any fish. “Still we were on the top toe of expectation. If thunder broke at a distance, or a fowling-piece of louder than ordinary report resounded in the woods, “a gun from a ship” was echoed on every side, and nothing but hurry and agitation prevailed.”
1. Why didn’t the colonists live off the land?
2. Illustrate one of the scenes described here.
The land would yield them nothing
Literature Extract from ‘The Timeless Land’ by Eleanor Dark
“With an effort he fixed his mind on the serious matters which were being discussed. The Governor, looking even sallower and slighter than when King had last seen him, was leaning forward over the table playing with a pen, and keeping his eyes on it as he outlined the position.
‘On our present ration, then gentlemen, the stores contain sufficient salt meat to serve us until the 2nd July. We shall have flour until about the twentieth of August, and rice or peas until October. I need not tell you, for we all know it too well, that the quality of this food is no more satisfactory than its quantity ...’
He broke off, glanced up and then down again at his pen, unable to meet the eyes of these men whose worn uniforms already hung upon them loosely. Pork between three & four years old, he thought; rice which literally crawled ...
He went on briskly. ‘Nevertheless, we can and must supplement this food with fish, and for that purpose I propose that all boats, both public and private, be engaged in fishing. Also that the best marksmen amongst us must be employed in hunting kangaroos which, when secured, must be delivered to the Commissary'
He paused again, and then said, slowly: ‘And we shall have to reduce the ration still further. I propose to order that in future two pounds of pork, two and a half pounds of flour, two of rice or a quart of pease shall be issued every week to every grown person in this settlement, and to every child over the age of eighteen months.’ In the dead silence which followed, he turned to look at Ball, sitting with his hands in his pockets and his chin on his breast. ‘And you, Lieutenant Ball, must make the Supply ready to leave as soon as possible for Batavia.’
‘Yes Sir'
There seemed no more to be said. The land held them as in a vice, helpless.
If succour were to come, it must come from over the sea, for the land, aloof and dispassionate, would yield them nothing. It would watch them die and take their bones into its earth, and reclothe their deserted settlement with its quiet, gaunt trees, and remain undisturbed in its ancient tranquillity...
Soberly in subdued voices, avoiding each others eyes, they bade the Governor goodnight, and left him.”
1. Write how you think the Governor is feeling about the situation.
2. Why were they starving?
3. How does Dark describe the land?
4. What does ‘aloof and dispassionate’mean? Why would the land be seen like this?
Bennelong
Explain and Reason...
1. Why was Bennelong kidnapped?
2. Describe the kidnap. Why do you think Bradley says it was “by far the most unpleasant service I was ever ordered to execute”?
3. Why do you think Bennelong was so popular in the colony?
4. What were the officers trying to hide from Bennelong? Why?
5. Write what you think he may have told his people about the invaders.
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Hop Bush:
Medicinal use
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Geebung:
A common fruit
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Sydney Golden Wattle:
Utensils (fibre)
Fish poison (leaves)
Soap (unripe seeds)
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Grass Tree:
Waterproof Glue (sap)
Flour (crushed seeds)
Honey (flower nectar)
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The Burrawang:
Kernels gathered, removed from hard coating, crushed, soaked for days to remove poisons, then roasted.
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Flat - Stemmed Wattle:
Fibre used as rope, bags and traps. Edible seeds.
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Gymea Lilly:
Flowers roasted, roots crushed with stones and baked in ashes or on stones to make cakes
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Flax Lilly:
Roots pounded and roasted
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Red Flowering Tee Tree:
Dried leaves added to hot water to make a drink.
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Heath Leaved Banksia:
A refreshing drink was made by soaking flowers overnight. Honey extracted from some species
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Pittosporum Rolutum:
A slightly bitter fruit eaten in season
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Austral Bugle:
Fresh leaves bruised and soaked in hot water to bathe sores and boils
Aboriginal people of coastal New South Wales relied heavily on plants for food even though there was normally an abundance of animal protein available.
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Pig Face:
Sweet fruit
Salt from leaves
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Native Raspberry:
A popular fruit. A medicinal drink made from leaves
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Swamp Rat
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Bush Rat
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Long-Nosed Bandicoot
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Eagle
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Black and White Cocatoos
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Brushtail Possum
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Echidna
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Lyre Bird
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Bower Bird
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Brush Turkey
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Rosella
Ringtail Possum
Sugar Glider
All these animals were abundant in the Sydney area. Pattern burning enabled control over their movement, so there was no need to farm with fences.
Bennelong
Exploring Group Dynamics (15 - 20 minutes)
The focus of this activity is to make students aware of spatial relationships and personal identity, particularly in regard to the capture of Bennelong (and Arabanoo).
Instruct a small group to leave the room. Have the main group decide what tactics or ploys they will use to “capture” the smaller group. They might try to incorporate them into the larger group by being friendly, for instance, or by using threats, or trickery.
When the small group returns, have the main group approach them using the tactic(s) they have decided upon. Conclude with the capture.
and reactions experienced by the smaller group. What were their bodily movements? Their facial expressions? Their emotional response?
Group Mime (30 minutes)
The students listen to the song Bennelong. Discuss the sequence of events and identify the mood expressed in the music. In small groups, work out the story in mime. Invite the groups to perform for the class.
Note the reactions of both groups. Discuss with particular reference to the feelings
Communication
15. Whale of a Time
Kameraygal, Cadigal, and Bidjigal people were present at the very special occasion of a beached whale at the bay of Kayumay - now called Manly. The song expresses the celebration of plenty. The Governor and his party turn up. Negotiations follow but Phillip is speared.
16. Bennelong's Dilemma
After the spearing, Bennelong wonders about his role in the two worlds. How does he deal with the strangers? The British officers gave Bennelong the message that Phillip was not angry with him.
17. Bennelong's hut
Phillip and Bennelong reconcile and become friends. Phillip sends gifts to Bennelong and even builds him a house on request, at “Bennelong Point” (now the site of the Sydney Opera House). The Kameraygal and Bidjigal are more suspicious and sing of what is happening - how strange it is.
18. Fish For Tools
Trading between Aboriginal and European people happens for the first time by supplying each other’s needs. These terms of trade are short lived.
Whale of a Time
Read Carefully...
Read the ‘Whale of a Time’ pages in the Song and Story book and the extracts on the next two pages. Try to think of the events in terms of understanding between cultures. Illustrate or make a cartoon of the events that show most about misunderstanding. Write your choice of event here.
Event:
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Reason for Choice:
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1. Describe the process of negotiation in the accounts in the Song & Story Book.
2. Why do you think Bennelong picked up the spear that Phillip wanted, walked some distance, and laid it on the ground?
What was he saying to Phillip?
3. Why do you think Willeemarin speared Phillip?
The Spearing Of Arthur Phillip
A
rthur Phillip was surrounded by twenty or thirty people at the whale feast. After trying to explain something to Phillip and placing on the ground the spear that Phillip asked for, Bennelong pointed out a man standing near (Willeemarin) and the Governor stepped towards him with hand outstretched.
Willeemarin then picked up the spear, fixed it in his throwing stick and instantly darted it at the governor. It struck him with such force that the barbed point came through the other side.
Captain Hunter gives the following account of the affair:
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“The spear entered the Governor's right shoulder, just above the collarbone and came out about three inches lower down, behind the shoulder blade. Mr Waterhouse who was close to the governor at the time, supposed that it must be mortal, for the spear appeared to him to be much lower down than it really was, and supposed from the number of armed men that it would be impossible for any of the party to escape to the boat. He turned round immediately to return to the board, as he perceived Captains Collins to go that way, calling to the boats crew to bring up the muskets: the governor also attempted to run towards the boat, holding up the spear with both hands to keep it off the ground; but owing to its great length, the end frequently touched the ground and stopped him (it was about twelve feet long).”
1. What does this picture show about what was happening at Kayumay?
2. What had happened to Bennelong and Colby before?
3. What did Phillip hope to achieve?
The Whale Feast
Extract from ‘The Timeless Land’ by Eleanor Dark
The following passage gives an imaginary account of the whale feast.
NB. Certain place names and characters have been created by the author.
“...In the early days of spring... a whale stranded on a beach in the town of the Kameraygal and a messenger was immediately sent to all the neighbouring tribes, inviting them to a feast such as seldom came their way.
From the bay of Gwea, down the coast where the winged ships of the white men had first anchored, came the Gweagal; from the most western reaches of the harbour came the Wanngal in their canoes; and from the opposite shore the Wallumedegal hurried on foot through the bush, which was now sweet with the honey scent of wattle and warm with the first breath of spring. Colbee, Bennelong, Kuorinn, Bygone, Ballederry and many others of their tribe embarked from the little beach below the cliffs of Burrawarra, and paddled across the entrance of the harbour where the great swell from the ocean lifted their light canoes like corks, and Bennelong shouted cheerfully to the others as they went, of the great repast which awaited them.
When they reached the beach where the whale lay stranded and already decomposing, their eyes glistened with anticipation. It was a long time since there had been such plenty! It was a long time since their bellies, accustomed to enforced periods of frugal living, had been stretched to bursting point as they were now to be stretched! Here was so much food that it was no longer unlawful to give one’s hunger-lust full play. Now one might eat and eat until ones stomach rebelled and flung up the unaccustomed excess, now one might relax the tight rein upon which one was forced to rides one's hunger, and enjoy a superabundance...
Fires were lit high on the beach, and great slabs of flesh hacked from the whale with stone knives. The feast was well in train when one of the boats of the Bereewolgal was seen approaching and a ripple of uneasiness passed through... Were they never to be left in peace by these white invaders? What was their purpose now in breaking in, uninvited, upon this momentous feast? Had they designs upon the carcass of the whale themselves? It was remembered that they had hunted it, so it was not unreasonable to suppose that they placed some value upon it, and it was also remembered, and emphasised by Bennelong, that there had been want in their camp when he left it, and that the whale, therefore, might be coveted by them as food. But they should not have it! The warriors snatched up their scattered spears from the sand and watched the approach of the boat with hostile eyes.”
Illustrate your favourite scene?
The Food Gatherers
by Oodgeroo
We are the food Gatherers, we
And all the busy lives we see,
Fur and feathers, the large and small,
With Nature's plenty for us all:
The hawk circling over the plains,
The dingo, scourge of his domains,
The lone owl whose voice forlorn
Pursues the sunset into dawn.
Even the small bronze chickowee
That gossips in bright melody -
Look, into the clump he's gone,
He has a little murder on!
For food is life and life is still
The old carnage, and all must kill
Others, though why wise nature planned
Red rapine, who can understand?
Only for food, never for sport,
That new evil the white man brought.
Lovely to see them day by day,
The food gatherers, busy and gay,
But most of all we love our own,
When as the dulled red the sun goes down
Fishers and hunters home return
To where the family fires burn.
Food now and merriment
Bellies full and all content,
Around the fires at wide nightfall,
This is the happiest time of all.
Generous People
A special way of sharing
The following extract from ‘Survival’ by Nigel Parbury (pg 13-15) helps us to understand Aboriginal society, and the Dreaming.
“Aboriginal society was - and is - the absolute opposite of modern European society. It was nomadic rather than settled, and self sufficient rather than dependent on others for food and materials. But the nomadic lifestyle of Aboriginal communities was not the aimless wandering walkabout some Europeans invented to justify their occupation of Aboriginal land. It was a seasonal cycle, caring for the land with ceremonies and taking advantage of the resources in each area at different times of the year. Necessarily Aboriginals travelled light. Anything heavy or bulky was left where it was regularly used. Possessions, beyond personal weapons and implements, were not an advantage but an encumbrance. The idea of private property of any sort was unknown. So was money. Knowledge was valued instead and older people were held in great respect.
Aboriginal people did not own the land but belonged to the land. They did not ‘work’ or ‘improve’ the land, but lived in harmony with it. Modern European society has been preoccupied with novelty, growth and progress but the ‘Dreamtime philosophy’ of Aboriginals valued tradition and continuity. The land and all forms of life contained within it were regarded as a sacred trust, to be preserved and passed on in a timeless cycle of mutual dependence.
Aboriginal life was based on sharing of all resources for the good of the group. The family unit was not the restricted modern nuclear family but an extended family of sharing and caring. Everybody was related and all relations were important. Individual interests were subordinate to the good of the group and everyone was subordinate to the Law. Aboriginal society was an all-inclusive network of reciprocal obligations of giving and receiving, which reinforced the bonds of kinship. This is why some early European observers found Aboriginals ‘truly generous among themselves’, and why Aboriginal languages had no word for thanks. Individualism, greed and selfishness were regarded as serious crimes, and in Aboriginal stories were severely punished.”
1. What are values of Aboriginal society?
2. How have Aboriginal people related to their environment?
3. What differences in value systems existed between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people at their first contact in 1788?
4. In what ways were European social systems different from Aboriginal social systems?
5. How did and does each society value possessions?
Whale of a Time
Sound Orchestra
Teachers Notes: A sound orchestra is a "montage" of noise. Words, phrases, and other sounds are strung together to tell a story, or to give an account of an incident. This activity helps students explore ways of building dramatic tension as well as looking at the dynamics of rhythm.
Sound Circle (10 minutes)
Standing in a circle, ask everyone to think of a sound that might have been heard in Eora country, eg: waves, wind, trees, birds. Don't be limited by vocal noises alone - try to make sound in as many different ways as possible. For instance, rubbing hands together as well as making a sshh....sshh...sshh sound could represent the ocean. One at a time, each person moves to the centre of the circle and makes their sound for the rest of the group. The group repeats the sound together. Do this until everyone has had a turn.
Sound Orchestra One (20 minutes)
Divide the class into groups of five or six. Give each group a piece of paper with a title written on it. Some examples of titles are: A Day's Hunting; A Day's Fishing; Eating Well; A Big Battle; Animals in the Bush. Give the groups about two minutes to devise a freeze frame picture that fits their given title. Now, each student thinks of a sound, word or phrase to accompany their frozen picture and the tittle of their group. The sounds are then combined rhythmically in an "orchestra". Following is an example of how such an orchestra might sound.
[pic]
Whale of a Time
Title: A Day's Fishing.
BREAKDOWN OF SOUNDS
Student 1. Sound: waves (Rubbing hands with accompanying sshh... sshhh...sshh...sound)
Student 2. Sound: seagull (Gaarr..gaarr...gaarr...gaarr..)
Student 3. Sound: line dropping into water (Plop! Plop!)
Student 4: Sound: canoe moving through water (Swish-swish...swish-swish)
Student 5: Sound: fisher (I can feel a bite! I can feel a bite!)
COMPILATION OF SOUNDS
Sshh... sshh... sshh...Gaarr! Sshh... sshh... sshh...Gaarr! (This as a steady undertone throughout the piece.) Sshh... sshh... sshh...Gaarr! Plop/plop. Plop/plop. Plop/plop. Plop/plop. Swishhhh...swishhh...Plop/plop. Swishhh...swishhh...Plop/plop. I can feel a bite! Plop/ plop. I can feel a bite! Plop/ plop. Swish-swish plop/plop gaar! I can feel a bite! Swish-swish plop/plop gaarr! I can feel a bite! (Build the orchestra to a climax. The fisher's dialogue might build to tell a story as the sounds grow louder and faster. eg: I can feel a bite! I think I've got a bite! Yes, I HAVE got a bite! Feels like a big one! Feels like a big one! Look, it IS a big one! Look, it IS a big one! It'll feed the whole mob! etc.)
Give the students about ten minutes to prepare their orchestras. As the groups perform their pieces, the audience listens with eyes closed. They open their eyes when the piece has finished to see the group frozen in the tableau that fits the title of their orchestra.
Sound Orchestra Two: (20 minutes)
Now that the class has got the hang of sound/story telling, have them read the information sheets that deal with the whale feast at Kayumay and the spearing of Arthur Phillip. Together, outline the sequence of events, and speculate on how the Eora people might have been feeling at each stage.
Eg: . Whale feast: happy, excited, hungry
. Sighting of Nepean's party: nervous, uneasy, resentful
Divide the class into groups of about ten. Make sure each group has students cast in the parts of Bennelong, Colby, Phillip and Willeemarin. Have the groups recreate the events at Kayumay through an orchestra of sounds, words and phrases. Varying levels of volume and speed will draw particular attention to the rise and fall of tension in the story.
Again, when performing the orchestra, the audience listens with eyes closed and opens them at the climactic end point to see a frozen picture of the story that has been told.
Bennelong’s Dilemma
Picture it
Illustrate the following scenes from the Song and Story book.
Read the sheet entitled “Between Two Enemies” for more ideas.
Between Two Enemies
Extract from ‘The Timeless Land’ by Eleanor Dark
“He was Bennelong. He had lived in the house of the Be-anga, and the Be-anga had treated him with honour, building him a house of his own, clothing him in fine garments, calling upon him for counsel and enlightenment in the ways of the tribes. If he had remained, Bennelong thought, holding the bottle clutched against his chest and walking on blindly through the warm and fragrant bush, perhaps things would not have been so difficult. For in the camp of the white people there was not now the same friendliness and honour which had been shown to him once. They said he was a maker of trouble, a provoker of brawls, and they rebuked him, which was something he would not endure. For all the time, gnawing at the back of his mind, was a contempt for them. They had fed his vanity, and they had showed him marvels... But he despised them. They were not good hunters; they could not see tracks upon the ground, be they clear as day. There was no valour in their fighting; they never fought as men fight, hand to hand, strength matched with strength, but stood afar off, and killed by magic. They were squeamish, expressing horror and repugnance at certain tribal customs, and yet they held many of their own race in infamous subjection, and inflicted upon them indignities which turned the black men cold with loathing.
They had not one Law, but two, and disobeyed them both. There was the Law of the moon-faced one, and the Law of the King, and they were conflicting laws. The Law of the moon-faced once said that a man must not kill, but the Law of the King directed him to hang his fellow from a tree by the neck until he was dead. The Law of the moon-faced one was a law of gentleness and forgiveness, but the Law of the King was harsh and revengeful. There was no way to learn the hearts of men who professed two such laws, for they could not live by one without denying the other.
And so they denied them both, and having two laws, lived by none. But without a Law a man is nothing. White man, black man, it matters not - there must be a Law to give direction to his spirit...
...Where is my Law? It dwells in the camps of my tribe, about their fires, in their hearts, in the words they speak, in the food they eat, in the tales they tell, in the sacred ceremonies of the men, and in the rhythms of corroboree. It is entwined in their life, which I have lost, and I cannot have the Law without the life. But I cannot find the life again, for it has withdrawn from me; my people do not want to hear me now, and their eyes say: ‘Stranger.' They have threatened me, and driven me from their counsels, and in anger I have gone against them with the red-coated warriors of the white men, and threatened them in turn. Now there is no peace such as the first Be-anga desired between his people and mine. For the white men take too much. They take first a little, and then a little more and yet again a little, and the hunting-grounds of my people are deserted, and their bellies are empty, and if anger rises. Pemulwuy of the Bidjigal led them in battle, and five are slain by the gooroobera of the white man, and between two enemies I stand, and am the friend of neither...”
Read, think about it, discuss - then answer the questions on the following page.
Between Two Enemies
Consider this...
The extract describes Bennelong reflecting on his relationship with the British, and his own people.
Answer the following questions with your own interpretation of the extract.
1. What emotions is Bennelong experiencing? Why?
2. What was the initial attitude towards him by the Europeans? Why did this change?
3. “For all the time, gnawing at the back of his mind, was a contempt for them.” What does this mean?
4. Why does Bennelong “despise” the Europeans?
5. What were the two laws? What is Bennelong’s opinion of these laws?
6. What reflections does he make about his own law? How does this relate to his own dilemma? What is his dilemma in this story?
Bennelong’s Dilemma
This workshop deals with the issue of alienation by looking at the confusion and sadness experienced by Bennelong.
Who’s Left Out? (10 minutes)
Have the students walking around the space. On command they must form groups of whatever number you call out. Make sure you choose numbers that necessitate some people being excluded. For fun, try grouping the students in silly ways. ie: " Groups of...(5)...joined at...(elbows)..." How does it feel to be excluded?
Play the game again but this time when you call out a number, have the students group together in an inward facing huddle. How does it feel to be left out now?
Discussion (5 minutes)
Come together in a circle and discuss personal instances of being left out, or feeling alienated or alone due to circumstances out of your control. Talk about Bennelong's dilemma. Ensure that the class understands Bennelong's difficult position. Play the song Bennelong’s Dilemma. Discuss.
Paired Improvisation (10 minutes)
In pairs, decide who is Bennelong and who is Bennelong's friend. Give the students about five minutes to devise an improvisation where Bennelong explains his problem to his friend and asks for help.
Discuss the results of your improvisation. What advice (if any) could you give Bennelong?
Swap roles and try the improvise again, this time with Bennelong asking Governor Phillip for help with his problem. Whose advice is best for Bennelong? Why?
Bennelong's Hut -
Fish for Tools
In your own words...
Trading for mutual benefit was welcome for a short period, but did not succeed. Read the story pages and answer these questions.
1. Write possible words to the song sung by the Kameraygal,
about the Hut built for Bennelong.
2. What do you think may have been said between Bennelong and Arthur Phillip? Justify your thoughts.
Fish for Tools
The Story of Balladerry
A
ll over Australia Aboriginal peoples had different ways of dealing with the tragic events that had struck them. Around Sydney most Aboriginal people died of smallpox with survivors moving to other places or remaking their social groupings. Some continued to live off their devastated tribal land by taking “livestock” from farms, while others waged a kind of war by raiding settlers (especially on the lower Hawkesbury river), or attacking individuals.
[pic]
Some made a life on the “fringe” of town, trying other ways to survive amidst the Europeans. Trade developed with the English. Balladerry was one of the first guides in the area to take advantage of the situation. Eventually he became a victim of the different view of justice between Aboriginal people and Europeans.
By June 1791, he and a few other Aboriginal people had become commercial fishermen of sorts. They would catch bream and mullet and trade these for bread or salt meat. The officers encouraged this, but it quickly came to an end when Balladerry's canoe was destroyed by convicts while he was in town with his catch.
When he saw what they had done he was furiously angry, threatening revenge on all Europeans. Three of the six guilty convicts were caught and punished at once, and others a few days later. Although he was aware of this, Balladerry wanted to punish them himself, according to the law of his own people.
A few days later, he severely wounded a convict in the bush. Even though Phillip and many officers thought highly of him, the Governor stuck to his new tough policy, and ordered him to be caught or shot if he came near the settlement. Balladerry avoided the settlement and the trade in fish with Parramatta ended. Collins noted: “All commerce with them was destroyed.”
There were many attempts to capture Balladerry, even though he was well liked. Collins wrote:
“Those who knew Ballooderry regretted that it had been necessary to treat him with this harshness, as among his countrymen we had nowhere seen a finer young man.”
Balladerry caught smallpox and died before the dispute was resolved.
Trading Going On
The Story of Bungaree
Extract from “Aboriginal People and their culture, North of Sydney Harbour”
Metropolitan North Region NSW Department of Education.
B
ungaree came from the Broken Bay area to Sydney. In reply to questions of early European contact he said; "When his group first beheld the big ships, some thought they were sea monsters; other groups thought they were gigantic birds, and the sails were their wings; many declared that they were a mixture of gigantic fish and bird, and that the boats which were towed a mixture of young ones. He told me they were too much terrified to offer any hostile demonstrations, and that when they first heard of a musket, and a ship's gun, they fancied those weapons were living agents of the white man."
Bungaree was recruited by Flinders in 1799 to accompany his first voyage of exploration. He was probably about 18 years old. His achievements were many - he was one of the few competent language interpreters available. His character was strong and his conduct earned him the praise of whomever he served with.
He visited Sydney on several occasions and became a friend of Governor Macquarie who was making special efforts to induce Aboriginal people to “settle down and grow crops”.
In 1815 Governor Macquarie persuaded Bungaree, his family group and 15 other Aboriginal families to leave the Central Coast and to occupy some huts prepared for them near the entrance to Port Jackson (now called Mosman). He called the place King Bungaree's Farm. The land, however, was rock-strewn and barren. The farming failed but the fishing boat provided was used to row out to the open sea and catch fish.
Bungaree soon became the first native born Aboriginal Australian to circumnavigate Australia twice, when he was called upon to assist with another naval voyage. On his return Bungaree found that his family group had returned back to the Central Coast and so he also returned there.
In 1821 Governor Macquarie visited Newcastle for the last time, where Bungaree and his family journeyed and put on a “Kauraberie” for him. Macquarie again persuaded Bungaree and his family to settle at George's Head.
Bungaree became a well known person in Sydney Town, greeting people as ships arrived. He was also famous for his humour and mimicking. Macquarie gave him his old uniform which Bungaree liked to wear, and he became quite a familiar figure in it As an ex-naval man, he knew and observed naval procedure in all his comings and goings. Bungaree was looked after in Garden Island Naval Hospital during his last illness. He died in 1830 and was buried at Rose Bay. There were obituaries in all the newspapers.
Fish for Tools
These activities look at the concept of working together for the mutual benefit of everyone. Make sure students understand the link between these exercises and the ideals of negotiation and trade.
1. Walk Together (10 minutes)
The students walk around the room in a line. On the sound of a whistle (or a clap, or a drumbeat) they must change direction. Increase the frequency of the changes. Do the students end up in a muddle? If this happens, emphasise that the point is to listen, concentrate and work together to achieve your objective. Keep trying until the group negotiates a way to handle the sudden changes in direction.
2. Knots (10 minutes)
Divide the class into groups of 4 to 6.
Each group stands in a small circle, facing each other. On a given signal, students reach into the centre of the circle and randomly grab hold of two other hands. (It could be an idea to do this part with eyes shut, so that the students don’t know whose hands they’ll be getting.)
When everyone is holding hands, it’s time to unravel the “knot”, Students must weave in, out and amongst each other (without letting go of hands) to free themselves.
Eventually, everyone should be standing in a circle, or a figure of eight shape. Once more, emphasise that the key to success lies in working together, not alone. If you like, you can try the activity again in larger groups.
What do these exercises tell us about problem solving? How did Aboriginal and European people try to resolve their differences in 1788?
Survival
19. Lawlessness
McEntire, Phillip’s gamekeeper in charge of trade, is punished by Pemulwuy for his cruelty and his rum trade. Phillip decides to punish Pemulwuy’s whole community. Two punitive expeditions are sent out with orders to cut off heads or take prisoners and bring them back. Nobody is captured.
20. What Is It In Your Law?
Aboriginal people question the law of the British who they see as invaders and lawbreakers. They know and keep their ancient Law which is vastly different to the laws of the British. Their sentiment in the final verse can be shared by the convicts, to express the injustice of the time, or simply for all who experience or know injustice today.
21. Our Dream
The poem ‘This Is Our Land’ by Jack Davis, is used for the verses of this song. It is a statement of identity with the land and the resistance which began with Pemulwuy and has continued for over 200 years through those who have fought for justice in this land. This dream continues. The Dreaming will never disappear.
Lawlessness
Adapted from ‘Aboriginal People and their culture, North of Sydney Harbour’
Metropolitan North Region NSW Department of Education.
A Timeline of resistance led by Pemulwuy.
1790 According to Phillip, Pemulwuy’s group had committed many raids against the colonists, and were responsible for killing or wounding seventeen people. In November, Pemulwuy speared Governor Phillip's gamekeeper, John McEntire who later died from his wounds. On 13 December, Governor Phillip ordered a punitive party to pursue Pemulwuy and his group and to bring back six adult males - dead or alive. They failed.
1794 Pemulwuy was involved in a raid at Parramatta and wounded.
1795 Pemulwuy was spotted at an initiation ceremony, fully recovered from his wounds.
Pemulwuy led an attack on settlers at Brickfield Hill near Sydney Town. Another punitive party went in search of Pemulwuy but was not successful.
1796 Pemulwuy led many attacks against settlers in Parramatta and Lane Cove.
1797 Pemulwuy and his group attacked and killed settlers at Toongabbie and north of Parramatta. Settlers finally confronted Pemulwuy and his group. Five Aboriginal people were killed and Pemulwuy was wounded. He was taken to hospital with seven buckshot wounds. Later he escaped, even though he had irons on his legs.
1798 A belief grew among Aboriginal people that Pemulwuy was immune to European weapons and could not be killed.
1799 Pemulwuy’s attacks on the settlers increased.
1801 Pemulwuy and his people started setting fire to crops and houses and continued killing settlers. Governor King issued orders that Aboriginal people of the Parramatta, Georges River and Prospect Hill districts were to be fired at on sight. Pemulwuy continued his raids, killing more settlers. Governor King outlawed Pemulwuy and offered a reward for his capture - dead or alive.
1802 Pemulwuy again attacked settlers at Parramatta and Toongabbie, killing four. Governor King told local Aboriginal people that if Pemulwuy was captured he would re-establish friendly relations with them. Not long after this Pemulwuy was shot in ambush by two settlers. His head was amputated, preserved in spirits and sent to Sir Joseph Banks in England for ‘research’ purposes.
“Although a terrible pest to the colony he was a brave and independent character” (Governor King)
No More Boomerang
By Oodgeroo
No more boomerang
No more spear;
Now all civilised --
Colour bar and beer
No more corroboree,
Gay dance and din.
Now we got movies,
And pay to go in.
No more sharing
What the hunter brings.
Now we work for money,
Then pay it back for things.
Now we track bosses
To catch a few bob,
Now we go walkabout
On bus to the job.
One time naked,
Who never knew shame;
Now we put clothes on
To hide whatsaname.
No more gunya,
Now bungalow,
Paid by hire purchase
In twenty year or so.
Lay down the stone axe,
Take up the steel,
And work like a nigger
For a white man meal.
No more firesticks
That made the whites scoff.
Now all electric
And no better off.
Bunyip he finish,
Now got instead
White fella Bunyip,
Call him Red.
Abstract picture now --
What they coming at?
Cripes, in our caves we
Did better than that.
Black hunted wallaby,
White hunt dollar;
White fella witch-doctor
Wear dog-collar.
No more message-stick;
Lubras and lads
Got television now,
Mostly ads.
Lay down the woomera,
Lay down the waddy.
Now we got atom-bomb,
End everybody.
“Undeclared Anglo-Australian War”
Extract from ‘Pemulwuy - The Rainbow Warrior’ by Eric Willmot.
Used with permission of the publishers Weldons and the author.
“On 13 December 1790, an expedition was launched against Pemulwuy. Phillip's order, following Grose's advice, were for them to capture Pemulwuy and five other Bidjigal males, dead or alive. Six heads for Sydney. The reluctant Captain Tench found himself landed with a New South Wales Corps officer, Captain Hill, as joint commander of a force composed of four officers, two sergeants, two corporals, a drummer, two surgeons and forty privates. Given the limited resources of the colony, it amounted to a major military expedition. The party carried provisions for three days.
[pic]
The British returned seven days later, worn out and half starved. Their horses had all been speared at night, but they had sighted Bidjigal people only once - long enough to fire a couple of ineffective rounds at them before they faded into the bush.
Two weeks later, Tench set out again with a small group of marines. They stumbled through the bush for ten days and saw not a single Bidjigal.
Contrary to Balmain's expectations, McEntire lingered on into the new year, dying in January 1791. There were rumours of a dramatic deathbed confession, in which he had admitted to all manner of crimes and atrocities in the colony. But by then it was too late: the might of the British had been committed against Pemulwuy, and he and his people were outlaws in all but name. Phillip's policy of peace with the natives was in tatters.
Soon after the gamekeeper's funeral, it became known in Sydney that Tedbury, Pemulwuy's son, had secretly attended the ceremony.
Major Grose, in his cups with Macarthur and his brother-officers, was heard to remark that, if it was up to him, he would see to it that every black in the town was put under lock and key. And, by God, he would have those Bidjigal heads.
There was no doubt that Pemulwuy's contacts in Sydney reported all these things to him.
An so gradually, almost helplessly, the colony drifted towards a strange, undeclared Anglo-Australian war.”
1. Research and discuss some of the characters in the story.
(Macarthur, Balmain, Grose, etc.)
2. Why were the British attacking the Bidjigal? Where were they?
3. What was “Phillip’s policy of peace with the natives”?
4. Why could a war not be declared?
5. Try performing a dramatic reading of this story using sound effects.
A Very Successful Summer
Extract from ‘Pemulwuy - The Rainbow Warrior’ by Eric Willmot.
P
emulwuy told all the groups of his concern about the loss of life they were suffering at the hands of the settlers. He said that a new method of dealing with these farmers was necessary.
Pemulwuy told the Eora that attacks on the dwellings were becoming more difficult because of surrounding areas of cleared land and the fact that the settlers were well armed. They had little livestock, so any kills were of little value. The secret was the crops at the height of the summer. They would set them all on fire. He then explained a plan involving a sequence of burnings. One force would start at Prospect Hill and the other at Castle Hill. They would both converge on the farms closer to Sydney and then move back to Parramatta.
Weuong and Tedbury would begin at Castle Hill, while he and Awabakal would take Prospect Hill. Pemulwuy reminded Weuong and Tedbury to keep their groups' size to thirty or less. The uncomfortable truth was that the Eora had found that the hard countryside could not support a group any larger, if they had to live off the land.
The general plan for crop burning was to station groups at two or three separate points according to the wind. The fires were then to be lit at different intervals, so as to draw the firefighting forces from one point to another and so ensure the escape of the raiding parties.
Pemulwuy and Awabakal arrived at the Prospect Hill area in mid-December. They headed straight for the collection of farms about the small rise where Yenowee and his comrades had perished. Awabakal and the others knew that this was to be the long-delayed revenge.
They watched the location for three days, then moved into action. The group was split into three, but unusually two of the sections contained only two people each. These two were to light fires at intervals of about half an hour, a quarter of a mile apart. The rest of the group would penetrate the grain field nearest the first intended fire at night and lie in hiding in the grain.
Just after sunrise, the first fire was lit, and within ten minutes the flames had produced a great pall of smoke. Farmers came running from two different directions to the fire. The largest party comprised some six men and came towards the fire from the west.
A Very Successful Summer
Continued from previous page...
When Pemulwuy stood up, spear in hand, less than twenty yards from the nearest man, the settler knew that he was about to pay with his life for the life of Pemulwuy's lieutenant.
By the time the second fire had started, five of the farmers lay dead in their burning maize. Some of the women and those who had escaped the initial attack barricaded themselves in their farmhouses, where they fired at the Eoras. Pemulwuy retreated. He watched the crops burn until nightfall, then successfully set fire to two of the farmhouses and left the place.
From January 1799 until April of that year, the British grain crops were systematically burnt. The technique remained the same throughout. Where possible a bushfire was started to windward, usually at about midday. This initial lighting was followed up by several others at varying intervals. When firebreaks had been cleared around the crops, the bushfire was started first and the crop set alight later.
Poor results were obtained only when low wind conditions allowed the fires to be brought under control.
On only two occasions were spears thrown at firefighters, and on only one occasion did a military patrol manage to put a firelighting group to flight.
Some farmers managed to harvest the crops before Pemulwuy burned them, but it was clear that the grain crops of New South Wales were not going to feed the colony that winter. Pemulwuy had devised an effective strategy to deal with the militant farmers. This he had done with very little risk to his own people. He had struck another blow at the existence of the colony.
It was a hot but very successful summer for the Eora.
1. Identify the tactics used by Pemulwuy in the passage.
2. How successful were they?
A Different Kind of War
Extract from ‘Pemulwuy - The Rainbow Warrior’ by Erik Willmot.
W
hatever the disease was that affected the coastal people of New South Wales in 1797, it served Pemulwuy's ends well. Any immediate threat to his authority disappeared. The Kameraygal group were decimated by the disease and were thereafter neither able to contribute to nor oppose Pemulwuy's activities.
Hunter did his best to debunk the smallpox scare, but to little avail as far as the Eora were concerned. Not very many of the British believed him either.
Pemulwuy had more or less a free rein in the Parramatta and George’s Rivers region. He attacked at will, but was finding that his own destruction of the resolve and effectiveness of the Rum Corps had created a new enemy: the settlers themselves. These determined and hardy people, living within sight of each other, were well armed and becoming difficult targets. A number of leaders had risen among them. One such man was called George Barrington, the tough ex-convict whom Macarthur had made Chief Constable of Parramatta.
In the first six months of 1798 Pemulwuy lost as many warriors to the settler's guns as he had in the last two years to the Rum Corps and the Marines.
It remained a puzzle to the more intelligent British officers why Pemulwuy did not attack the individual farms with larger forces. Collins was among those who were bemused by his strategy -- or apparent lack of it -- though he could still fall back on the explanation that Pemulwuy was at heart no more than an irrational savage. He had become more concerned, even fascinated, by another aspect of the situation.
One night Collins wrote of Pemulwuy, referring to a conversation with the now much-respected Chief Constable Barrington:
“A strange idea was found to prevail among the natives respecting the savage Pemulwuy, which was likely to prove fatal to him in the end. Both he and they entertained the opinion that from his having been frequently wounded he could not be killed by our firearms. Through his fancied security, he was said to be at the head of every party that attacked the maize grounds and it certainly became expedient to convince them....that he was not endowed with any such extraordinary exemption.”
1. What does this extract tell us about Pemulwuy’s resistance strategies?
2. Why were the settlers against him?
3. What difference did this make?
Pemulwuy’s War
Discussion Points
1. What does the word resistance imply? What is the difference between resistance and war?
2. Why was the conflict between Aboriginal and European people, generally not referred to as war?
3. What role did Pemulwuy play in the British colonisation of NSW?
Why do you think he was “written out” of history?
4. List some of the guerilla war tactics used by Pemulwuy.
5. Why, do you think, Pemulwuy’s head was considered of importance to “scientific research” in 1802?
6. How is the story of Pemulwuy important to us today?
Lawlessness
This is a common drama game, that relates well to the punitive expeditions sent against Pemulwuy and his people. To begin, refer to the Pemulwuy extracts and make sure that the incidents are clearly understood by the class.
Hunting and Hiding 1 (10 minutes)
Have the students standing in a circle, holding hands. They represent the land and the bush.
Nominate four players to stand inside the circle: three “cats” (representing the British soldiers) and one “mouse” (representing Pemulwuy).
Blindfold the three soldiers. Their objective is to find Pemulwuy, who is not blindfolded, and can leave the circle at will, aided by the wall of hands.
Let the hunt continue for about five minutes.
Discuss what happened. Was the hunt successful? Why/ why not? How did the soldiers feel? How did Pemulwuy feel?
Hunting and Hiding 2 (10 minutes)
Play the game again, with new students as the soldiers and Pemulwuy. This time, instead of being blindfolded, the soldiers are joined together at the hands. They cannot break the train as they hunt for Pemulwuy. Again, the circle of students helps Pemulwuy and hinders the soldiers. Stop the hunt after about five minutes.
Discuss. Was this hunt more or less successful than the first? Why/why not? Focus specifically on the feelings experienced by the players during the hunt. Compare the handicaps of the soldiers in the game with the soldiers sent on the punitive mission in 1790. How would Pemulwuy have viewed their attempts at finding him?
What is it in Your Law?
In Living Memory...
1. What do you know about reserves or missions that existed or still exist in your part of Australia? How could you find out more?
2. Read the poem by Jack Davis ‘Aboriginal Australia - To The Others’. How does it tell the Aboriginal story of the last 200 years?
3. Contact local Aboriginal people or organisations. What happened in your area?
4. Discuss ways that British law has been fair or not fair to Aboriginal or other people. What makes laws change?
Aboriginal Australia - To the Others
Jack Davis, 1978.
You once smiled a friendly smile,
Said we were kin to one another,
Thus with guile for a short while
Became to me a brother.
Then you swamped my way of gladness,
Took my children from my side,
Snapped shut the lawbook, oh my sadness
At Yirrkala's plea denied.
So, I remember Lake George hills,
The thin stick bones of people.
Sudden death, and greed that kills,
That gave you church and steeple.
I cry again for Worrarra men,
Gone from kith and kind,
And wondered when I would find a pen
To probe your freckled mind.
I mourned again for the Murray Tribe,
Gone too without a trace,
I thought of the Soldier's diatribe
The smile on the Governor's face.
You murdered me with rope with gun,
The massacre my enclave,
You buried me deep on McLarty's run
Flung into a common grave.
You propped me up with Christ, red tape,
Tobacco, grog and fears,
Then disease and lordly rape
Through the brutish years.
Now you primly say you're justified,
And sing of a nation's glory,
But I think of people crucified --
The real Australian story.
The Law of Protection
T
he following is an extract from a manifesto distributed by the Kooris of New South Wales at their ‘Day of Mourning’ protest meeting held in Sydney on Australia Day, 1938. The protest was against the celebrations of 150 years of European occupation of Australia - and the “Aborigines Protection Act (1909 - 1936)” and the power of the “Aborigines Protection Board”.
The Board... has power “to exercise a general supervision and care over all Aborigines and over all matters affecting the interests and welfare of Aborigines, and to protect them against injustice, imposition and fraud.”
ABORIGINAL WITHIN THE MEANING OF THE ACT
...Under certain provisions of the Act, the Board has power to control “any person apparently having a admixture of Aboriginal blood”, and may order any such person “apparently” of Aboriginal blood (under a Magistrate's order) to live on an Aboriginal Reserve, and to be under the control of the Board.
POWERS OF THE BOARD
The Protection Act gives the Board an almost unlimited power to control the private lives of Aborigines as defined by that Act. For example:
The Board may order any Aboriginal into any Reserve or out of any Reserve at its own discretion.
The board may prevent any Aboriginal from leaving New South Wales.
The Board may prevent any non-Aboriginal person from "lodging or wandering in company" with Aborigines (thus keeping the Aborigines away from white companionship)!
The Board may prosecute any person who supplies intoxicating liquor to any "Aborigine, or person having apparently an admixture of Aboriginal blood".
The Board may cause the child of any Aborigine to be apprenticed to any master, and any child who refuses to be so apprenticed may be removed to a home or institution.
The Board may assume full control and custody of the child of any Aborigine.
The board may remove any Aborigine from his employment.
The Board may collect the wages of any Aborigine, and may hold them in trust for the Aborigine.
The Board may order any Aborigines to move from their camp to another camp-site, and may order any institution for treatment.
The Board may make regulation to "apportion amongst or for the benefit of Aborigines" the earnings of any Aboriginal living upon a Reserve.
The arbitrary treatment which we receive from the A.P. Board reduces our standard of living below life-preservation point, which suggests that the intention is to exterminate us. In such circumstances it is impossible to maintain normal health.
ABOLITION OF THE ABORIGINES PROTECTION BOARD
We, representing the Aborigines and half-castes of New South Wales, call for the abolition of A.P. board in New South Wales, and repeal of all existing legislation dealing with Aborigines. We ask to be accorded full citizen rights, and to be accepted into the Australian community on a basis of equal opportunity.
Should our charges of maladministration and injustice be doubted, we ask for a Royal Commission and Public Inquiry into the conditions of Aborigines, to be held in public. We can show that the Report of the Aborigines Protection Board omits to state relevant facts, bearing on the "care and protection" which the board is supposed to give to our people. The Aborigines themselves do not need or want this "protection".
A NEW DEAL FOR ABORIGINES!
After 150 years, we ask you to review the situation and give us a fair deal - a New Deal for Aborigines. The cards have been stacked against us, and we now ask you to play the game like decent Australians. Remember, we do not ask for charity, we ask for justice.
J.T. Patten,
President,
La Perouse.
W. Ferguson
Organising Secretary,
Dubbo.
1938
Assimilation Policy
1937-1970s
B
y the 1930s it had become obvious that Aboriginal people were not dying out as per the myth of the “dying race”. In fact, the so-called “half caste” population was increasing. In 1937 the Native Welfare Conference defined a “new” policy of Assimilation.
The Second World War resulted in enormous changes taking place in Australia. These changes affected the lives of all Australians and their impact was felt by Aboriginal people as much as by any other section of society. Many Aboriginal people served in the war.
The war probably made many Australians much more aware of the disadvantaged position of Aboriginal people in Australian society. The mobilisation of many young Aboriginal men to the north of the continent meant that many white Australians met Aboriginal people for the first time. In addition many Aboriginal people joined the armed forces and for the first time in their lives received pay and conditions equal to their white counterparts. Not everyone approved of these changes (like station owners who felt threatened for their wealth) but it was certainly clear that Aboriginal people were not “dying out” and that protectionist policies were not appropriate for them.
Governments throughout Australia responded to these changes by abandoning their ‘Protection’ policies in favour of ‘assimilation’. This new policy acknowledged the continuing existence of Aboriginal people but was based on the assumption that Aboriginal culture would be absorbed into the “superior” white culture.
The then Minister for Territories, the Hon. Paul Hasluck, explained it by saying:
“Assimilation does not mean the suppression of the Aboriginal culture but rather that for generation after generation, cultural adjustment will take place. The native people will grow into the society in which by force of history, they are bound to live.”
This policy was based on several misconceptions. It assumed that there was a single Aboriginal culture and that this culture should be absorbed into the “dominant” white culture.
In 1965, the Hon. C.E. Barnes Minister for Territories stated:
“The policy of Assimilation seeks that all persons of Aboriginal descent will choose to attain a similar manner and standard of living to that of other Australians and live as members of a single Australian community enjoying the same rights and privileges, accepting the same responsibilities and influenced by the same hopes and loyalties as other Australians... to their social, economic and political advantage “
It should be easy to understand why Aboriginal people reject assimilation, but many other people continue to base their attitudes towards Aborigines on assimilationist ideas.
Extracted from ‘The Aborigines in Australian History’ Background Notes for teachers. 1986 NSW Dept of Education pp18-20
Assimilation
As a direct result of Assimilation policies, thousands of Aboriginal children were taken from their families to be ‘brought up white’ in institutions.
1. How would you feel if someone came to your house one day and took you away from your family?
2. What would it be like to be under the control of people who were completely different to you and who spoke a different language ?
3. How would you feel about being told where to live, what to do, where to go and how to live?
4. Think about what emotions you would feel. How would you feel about the people who took you away? What would you feel when you thought about your family? What would you want to do?
5. Listen to the song by Archie Roach ‘Took the Children Away’.
6. Write a short story or poem called ‘The day they took me away’.
7. How was the idea of Assimilation different to Protection?
8. What was the Assimilation Policy based on?
9. Do the ideas of Assimilation still exist?
10. Pretend you are addressing the House of Representatives in response to the statement by C.E. Barnes on assimilation of Aboriginal people. What would you say to the parliamentarians based on what you now know about Aboriginal culture. Include concepts such as the Dreaming and the diversity of Aboriginal groups.
11. Write a poem, short story or a journal entry entitled ‘The Days of Assimilation’.
Harsh Realities
Think about it
T
he facts are that Aboriginal people are the country’s most chronically disadvantaged group on every social indicator. i.e. housing, education, employment, law and justice.
During the 1980s, people began to realise that Aboriginal people were dying in police custody at alarming rates. The Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, which began in 1987, focused on this fact and the devastating effect it was having on so many people’s lives.
The Royal Commission studied the deaths in custody of 99 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander persons. The profile of those who died in police cells showed:
Deaths in custody
* Only two people had completed secondary school
* Forty three had experienced childhood separation from their families, through intervention by Australian State Government authorities
* The average age of those who died from natural causes was thirty
* The standard of health of these people ranged from poor to very bad
* Almost all people had had early contact with the criminal justice system
* Almost all people had had repeated contact with the same system
* Another fact that clearly contributed to the astonishing figures of deaths in custody are that the rate of imprisonment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders was 29 times that of other Australians.
To further illustrate the extent of disadvantage of Aboriginal people, figures show that:
* Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’s unemployment rate is 4 times the national average
* Incomes are less than two/thirds that of other Australians
* Life expectancy of these people is twenty years less than other Australians
* Three Aboriginal babies die for every one Non-Aboriginal baby that dies
* Aboriginal people suffer far more from colds and diseases caused by poor living conditions
* Deafness and middle ear disease is ten times more common in Aboriginal people, especially children
* Eye diseases are twenty times more common in Aboriginal people
* For every ten people who do not have a house to live in, five of these people will be Aboriginal
What is the Reason?
What has contributed to the fact that Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander people are the most disadvantaged distinct group in Australia ?
T
he Royal Commission into Aboriginal deaths in custody, which began in 1987, decided early to focus on underlying issues. It found the major underlying reason for the social disadvantage was "the legacy of history: the dispossession of indigenous peoples from their land and, as a consequence their lack of access to economic, social and political power."
Co- Authors the late Oodgeroo of the Tribe Noonuccal (Nunukul) of the land Minjerribah (Stradbroke Island) and her son Dennis Walker in their key note Address to the 1991 Aboriginal Studies Association Annual Conference, had this to say about the cause of the injustice in Australia;
“Aboriginal people and their supporters have protested against the denial of Aboriginal human rights, virtually since the arrival of the first fleet in 1788. Despite the outcries that have arisen...little has been done to redress or correct this problem in any significant way.
The reason for this is because , in the first instance , we have not addressed the root cause of the problem...The cause lies in the fact that Captain James Cook did not follow his instructions from his King George III in 1770 and acted illegally by disobeying those instructions and creating the legal lie of Terra Nullius. The key parts of his instructions read:
“You are with consent of the natives to take possession of convenient situation in the country, in the name of the King of Great Britain; if you find the country uninhabited take possession for His Majesty by setting up proper marks and inscriptions as first discoverers and possessors.'
This then is the root cause of the inhumanity...”
Write your thoughts or response to any of the above information.
My Mother the Land
Jack Davis
Mother why don’t you enfold me
as you used to in the long long ago
your morning breath
was sweetness to my soul
The daily scent of woodsmoke
was a benediction in the air
The coolness when you
wore your cloak of green
after the rain was mine
all mine to cherish and survey
Then the other came
and ripped the soil
and plagued our hearts
yours and mine
The benediction became a curse
of cloven hooves
whip chain and gun
The sun became to me a blood red orb
Nails and flesh fell away
leaving only
whitening bones bare in the summer sun
My voice cries thinly in the dark of night
mother oh mother
why don't you enfold me
as you used to, in the long long ago
What is it in your law?
These activities aim to explore some of the ways in which Government policies and community attitudes have disadvantaged Aboriginal people. Ensure that examples of injustice have been read about, discussed or brainstormed.
Mime circle (15 minutes)
Sitting in a circle, ask the students to remember times they had to deal with loss.
Discuss the types of loss that people experience. It might be a very deep and sad loss, like a parent or relative dying, or another sort, like when the house got burgled. In their minds, get the students to pinpoint their greatest loss. Some people might like to share their experiences with the rest of the group.
Now stand in a circle. One at a time, the students move to the centre of the circle and mime an action that demonstrates their loss, or how they felt about what happened. The rest of the group repeats the action in unison. Move like this around the circle until everyone has had a turn.
How does doing this help us understand the losses suffered by Aboriginal people? Discuss the types of losses Aboriginal people have suffered since 1788.
What is it in your law?
Facts and Figures (20 minutes)
FACT:
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders incomes are less than two-thirds that of other Australians.
FIGURE:
Allocate two-thirds of the room to half the students, to represent the privileged “other Australians”. They are welcome to use all the furniture and everything else in their part of the room. Give this group lollies or something else to encourage their feeling of wealth and ease.
The other half of the room represent the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Allocate the remaining one-third of the room for their use. Tell them they cannot afford to use the resources in their section - they can look but not touch. Do not give this group lollies.
Let the situation develop into a role play, where each group discusses their position. Perhaps the underprivileged group could elect a spokesperson to outline their circumstances. The privileged group must make a reply. Can the two groups agree on a solution?
Here are some more statistics:
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander unemployment rate is four times the national average.
Life expectancy of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people is twenty years less than other Australians.
The rate of imprisonment of Indigenous people is twenty nine times greater than that of the Non-Aboriginal community.
Lack of housing has led to one-third of all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander dwellings being over occupied.
Discuss the results of your fact and figures.
What ‘figures’ can you devise to dramatically represent these facts?
What is Reconciliation?
How the Reconciliation Process Began.
T
he Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths In Custody found that continuing injustice in all areas of life towards Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples was a major cause of the disproportionate number of Indigenous people being held in police custody and the poor relations between Indigenous and other Australians.
In its final report, the Commission stated: “If it is recognised that the cause of distrust and disunity is the historical experience of Aboriginal people and their continuing disadvantage, then plainly, good community relations cannot be achieved without elimination of the disadvantage and the recognition of Aboriginal rights, Aboriginal culture and traditions.”
'Unless the wider society gives the most tangible proof of ongoing and substantial efforts to achieve those objectives, there can be little prospect of permanently and substantially improving community relations'.
The Commission said steps needed to be taken to 'help along' the process of improving community relations. That process is reconciliation. The Commission’s final recommendation No. 339 was:
That all political leaders and their parties recognise that reconciliation between the Aboriginal and Non-Aboriginal communities in Australia must be achieved if community division, discord and injustice to Aboriginal people are to be avoided.
In 1991, The Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation was established with unanimous support of the Federal Parliament to guide this process.
The 25 member Council is made up of 12 Aboriginal people (including the chairperson), 2 Torres Strait Islanders and 11 members of the wider community (including the deputy chairperson). These figures are as of early 1995.
The process of reconciliation aims to reduce the divisions that exist in Australian society and suggest ways in which the relationships between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people can be enhanced, with respect for humanity on both sides.
The Council’s vision is:
“A united Australia which respects this land of ours; values the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander heritage and provides justice and equity for all.”
The Council for
Aboriginal Reconciliation
Source: ‘Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation - An Introduction - 1993’
In 1993 the Council adopted a Strategic Plan of which the first stage is “Mutual Recognition of the Need for Change : Looking Together at the Issues.”
Eight Key Issues were identified as essential to the community's understanding of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islands people’s past, their plight in the present and their hopes for the future. They are:
1. The importance of land and sea in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander society;
2. Improving relationships between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians and the wider community;
3. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture as a valued part of Australian heritage;
4. A shared ownership of the history of Australia;
5. The causes of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander disadvantage in health, housing, employment and education;
6. Community responses to the underlying causes of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander levels of custody;
7. Whether reconciliation would be advanced by a document of reconciliation;
8. Opportunities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to control their destinies.
1. Had you heard about the Council for Reconciliation before reading this material?
2. What did you think it was ? Is reconciliation a ‘live' issue in your community?
3. Is there already a ‘mutual recognition' of the need for change in your community and /or area of work? If not, why? What are the common attitudes you encounter?
4. Look at each of the key issues . Why do you think each is important? Are some more important than others? What other issues have not been included?
5. What do you think we can achieve by investigating the eight key issues?
Australia faces a very important challenge: “to improve the relationship between the nations indigenous peoples and the wider community. We need to show that we are capable of resolving the causes of disharmony and injustice that have so often marked this relationship, and to work towards a future based on justice and equity.”
(Patrick Dodson - Chairperson, Council for Aboriginal Reconcilliation)
Source: ‘Study Circles’ Material for Study Groups - Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation.
Key Issues
1. Had you heard about the Council for Reconciliation before reading this material?
2. What did you think it was ? Is reconciliation a 'live' issue in your community?
3. Is there already a 'mutual recognition' of the need for change in your community and /or area of work? If not why? What are the common attitudes you encounter?
4. Look at each of the key issues . Why do you think each is important? Are some more important than others? What other issues have not been included?
5. What do you think we can achieve by investigating the eight key issues?
Australia faces a very important challenge: “to improve the relationship between the nations indigenous peoples and the wider community. We need to show that we are capable of resolving the causes of disharmony and injustice that have so often marked this relationship, and to work towards a future based on justice and equity.”
source: ‘Study Circles’ Material for Study Groups - Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation
Lily’s Daughter
A life of hope
Lois O'Donoghue CBE AM, Chairperson of ATSIC and a member of the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation, has lived a life of tenacious service. Here, the 1984 Australian of the Year tells her story.
I was born at the property 'Granite Downs' at Indulkana in South Australia. My mother was a Yunkunytjatjara women. My father, an Irish station manager, I never knew.
When I was two I was taken away from my mother and placed in the United Aborigines' Mission at Quorn. It was called the Colbrook Home for Half-Caste Children.
My name, Lowitja, became 'Lois'. My brother and three of my sisters also were brought into the home. It was a time when white society thought this was the only way to cope with children like us.
The impact of taking a child from a mother is far more complex, more profound, than many imagine.
This was the fate of many other light-skinned Aboriginal children and in the mission some sense of family developed amongst us children.
We weren't allowed to speak our own language or to ask questions about our origins or our parents. But new children were constantly being brought in and, in secret, we asked about our families. I found out my mother was called ‘Lily'.
The constant stream of new children coming in enabled us to maintain our Pitjantjatjara language among ourselves and to reinforce our ties with our country and our own people.
When I was 29 and working as a welfare officer and nursing sister with the South Australian Department of Aboriginal Affairs I went to Coober Pedy. In a supermarket I heard someone say ‘That's Lily's daughter'.
It turned out that in the group were my mother's sister and my mother's brother and they had seen the family resemblance. They told me she was at Oodnadatta.
It took three months until I managed to get there, with my eldest sister, Eileen. Our mother had heard that I was coming and had been waiting along the road every day for weeks, from first light in the morning until dark.
For me, the meeting was a little bit of an anticlimax because it was Eileen, her first born, whom she was not expecting, that she was so overjoyed to see.
While we were in Oodnadatta our mother proudly introduced us to everyone in the town, but she carefully steered us away from the camp where she was living. She realised we'd been brought up differently and didn't want us to see her poor conditions.
Later, I was able to take my mother south to visit my brothers and sisters and her grandchildren.
These are precious memories. I learnt many things from this contact with my mother. I learnt what hope and patience means--how she had never given up hope of seeing her children again.
I also learnt what kinship means to Aboriginal people--how in traditional society everyone has a place and a relationship with all other members of the group. These relationships help ensure that everyone is looked after. These sorts of values still prevail in Aboriginal society.
From my mother I also realised what it meant to be on the receiving end of racist policies and to have basic human rights denied--like even the right to raise one's own children.
My time at the mission, however, had opened my eyes to other things. I realised I had some ability and I wanted to do something with my life.
Lily’s Daughter
Continued
The positive side of being in the home was that children like us had learnt discipline and skills which enabled us to fight our way through the white system later in our lives.
Along with my other Aboriginal girls at that time, I was expected to go into domestic service. I had higher aspirations and wanted to become a nurse.
I did my initial nursing training at the South Coast District Hospital at Victor Harbour in South Australia.
It was good, but I encountered my first major obstacle when I was denied entry to the Royal Adelaide Hospital to further my training. The reason I was denied entry was that I was Aboriginal.
This was my take-off point. I was not prepared to accept this set-back.
I joined the Aboriginal Advancement League (the only organisation involved in Aboriginal rights at that time). I lobbied members of Parliament. I confronted the Premier and the matron of the hospital. I spoke in Adelaide Town Hall. Remember, this was the year 1953--still 14 years before the 1967 referendum and any proper recognition of Aboriginal rights.
It was my youth and inner strength that gave me the confidence to take this stance.
As a result of all the publicity, the matron of Royal Adelaide Hospital admitted me to continue my nursing training and I graduated as a charge nurse and stayed another 10 years.
In this period of my life, I realised that there were principles worth fighting for and that it was worth fighting for and that it was worth the energy to put up a good fight, if necessary, both for me as an individual and for all people disadvantaged by the attitudes of others.
Since then, I have worked for my people as a nurse and as an administrator. I have worked with many Aboriginal organisations and have been an adviser to both Commonwealth and State governments.
Like other members of my race, I have experienced discrimination and frustration. I have developed different ways of coping.
I think I've always had a fairly positive attitude and the only times I've ever felt really angry is when I think about what happened to my mother.
I try to confront difficult situations with logic and humour.
As other people in leadership roles acknowledge, it is often lonely at the top. It seems people get the idea that you're ‘untouchable', ‘out-of-reach' or not a totally real person.
For me, the support of my own people has always given me strength. It is very important to me that people know they can contact me and that I am still a ‘real person'.
My role as Chairperson of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) has been the most important I've yet taken on. There has been a lot of criticism of ATSIC, maybe some that is valid. However, I see it as the best opportunity that has been presented to Aboriginal and Torres strait Islander peoples in my lifetime to have a say in our destinies.
As a member of the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation, I am working for a united and just Australia which values our heritage and recognises what we have contributed to this nation, and what we can and do contribute.
Reconciliation is for the benefit of all Australians, therefore it needs to be undertaken by both indigenous Australians and the wider community. An Australia that really appreciates Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures, and an Australia that could work together, would be a lovely place to live.
Our Dream
1. Read the article “Lily’s Daughter” aloud to the group.
2. Together, identify the main characters in her story. List them on the board. Then talk about what sort of characteristics you imagine these people to have.
- Lois
- Lily
- Lois’ three sisters
- children at the Mission
- matron of the RAH
- uncle
- aunt
- members of Parliament
- the Premier
3. Identify the most important scenes in the story.
- Lily’s baby being taken away
- growing up in the mission
- meeting aunt and uncle
- reunion with mother
- Lois’ time in Oodnadatta
- being denied entry to the RAH
- Lois’ fight for justice
- finally gaining entry to RAH
- Lois’ continuing work
- 1984 Australian of the Year
- Chairperson of ATSIC
4. Divide the class into groups of three. Each group chooses a scene to improvise.(5 Min) Come together again. Talk about which scenes the class consider to be the most important? Why? Groups share improvisations.
5. In the same groups, have the students create a “freeze frame” image, or tableau, depicting what happens in their scene. Make sure the image created is as interesting as possible. Pay special attention to facial and bodily emotions, and the power play between characters. Ask the students to come up with one phrase or sentence that sums up their scene.
6. Choose a spokesperson to go around to all the groups and record their phrase or sentence.
7. Link the ‘frames’ in chronological order. The spokesperson accompanies each tableau with the summing up sentence devised by that group.
8. Discuss the results of the activity. How does it increase our awareness of the differences between Aboriginal and Non-Aboriginal law? What does Lois’ story tell us about the Aboriginal struggle for justice?
9. Try performing “Lily’s Daughter” to the instrumental version of you choice of song from the musical”.
When the Sky Fell Down
(1788 The Great South Land)
Performance Registration
I/We would like to register for our license to perform the show.
We intend to perform the musical in the following way:
( School performance for fund raising ( Community or special group performance
No Fee (Valid for one year from
date of “full program” registration )
( Other Professional Performance
Name of School/Organisation:
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Licence to perform the musical play is granted provided it is within the school of purchase, and performed non-profit for the school or school community. Licence to perform the musical play for profit will be granted free of charge to schools who purchase the full kit and register with Breakaway Publishing, and will be limited to the school's local community for a period of one year. All performances are encouraged but those not described here will require written permission from the copyright owner. It is acceptable to video your production, though the publishers request a copy of the video with your permission to use the material for promotion if desired. Video sales from your show are limited to sale through the school only and will be subject to a writer’s royalty payment by notifying APRA|AMCOS or by Donation via PayPal from our websites.
1788 The Great South Land - Edition 3 2008 – When the Sky Fell Down
( Copyright Chris Robinson 1993 - 2008. All rights reserved. APRA|AMCOS registered
REFERENCES
1. Willey, Keith. When the Sky Fell Down. 1979 - 1985, William Collins Pty Ltd.
Excerpts from the following historical documents:
* Barrington, George. The History of New South Wales. M. Jones, London, 1802
* Bradley, William. A Voyage to New South Wales. The Journal of Lieutenant William Bradley RN of HMS Sirius 1786-1792. Ure Smith. Sydney, 1969
* British (House of Commons) Parliamentary Papers. Report from the select committee on Aborigines (British Settlements)Vol V11, 1837.
* Collins, David. An Account of the English Colony in New South Wales. Vol1 London 1798.
* Historical Records of New South Wales. Vols. 1 to V11. Government Printer, Sydney, 1893-1901.
* Phillip, Arthur. The Voyage of Governor Phillip to Botany Bay, with an Account of the Establishment of the colonies of Port Jackson and Norfolk Island. London.
* Tench, Watkin. Sydney's first Four Years, being a reprint of A Narrative of the Expedition to Botany Bay (first published. London, 1789) and A Complete Account of the Settlement at Port Jackson (first pub.) London, 1793) Angus and Robertson, Sydney, 1961.
2. Hughes, Robert. The Fatal Shore. A History of The Transportation Of Convicts To Australia, 1787-1868 Collins Harvill ,1987
3. Dark, Eleanor. The Timeless Land. Angus and Robertson Bay Books First Published in 1941 by William Collins.
4. Parbury, Nigel. Survival: A History of Aboriginal Life in New South Wales. Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs, Sydney, 1988.
5. Willmot, Eric. Pemulwuy the Rainbow Warrior. Weldons, Sydney, 1987.
6. These Are My People, This Is My Land. Metropolitan North Region, NSW Department of School Education.
7. Craven, Rhonda. Sample Activities for Adding an Aboriginal Perspective to a Social Studies unit based on the Georges River. University of NSW, 1992.
8. Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. Aboriginal Reconciliation, An Historical Perspective. Australian Government Publishing Service, Canberra, 1991.
9. Rhonda Craven and Nigel Parbury (eds) Aboriginal Studies in the 90's: Where to now? Collected papers of the inaugural Aboriginal Studies Association conference, University of NSW, St. George Campus, October, 1991.
10. Griffith, Peter. The School Play, A Complete Handbook. Batsford Academic and Educational Limited, 1981.
When the Sky Fell Down - 1788 The Great South Land - Edition 3: Second Revised Edition
Copyright © Breakaway Publishing and Chris Robinson, 2008. All rights reserved.
Performance Notes
[pic]
Performing a BIG production.
Dear Director,
So you’ve decided to stage the musical. Congratulations! You have chosen a show that is highly entertaining as well as educational! Your show has the potential for mass student, staff and community involvement! You have created the opportunity for those involved to explore previously untapped talent! You have also let yourself in for about twelve weeks of very hard work!
Essentially, staging a big project like this requires two major ingredients: organisation and commitment. With those on your side, you can achieve just about anything! The following points are intended as an initial guide to staging 1788 The Great South Land. Obviously each school has its own timetables, performance policies and other variables to work around, so we recommend that you adapt the following points to cater for the specific needs of your school. Good luck and happy directing!
1. Evaluating resources
Gathering the troops
Like most things in life, you will find that people are your most valuable resource.
The first thing to do is to secure commitment from a core team of helpers. Who (apart from you) will commit themselves above and beyond the call of duty? You can’t take on the whole project alone. Do you have support from the principal? The music department? The drama department? Parents? Significant others? It goes without saying, of course, that student co-operation is integral to the whole process and the potential of their contribution should never be underestimated. Draw up a list of positions you want filled: choreographer, assistant director, stage manager, set designers, costume designers, light and sound technicians, backstage crew, front of house organisers, publicity officers, financial advisers, box office and production managers - the more titles you can think of the better! Delegate roles to as many interested people as possible. The more enthusiastic people involved, the greater the likelihood of a successful show. And the more successful the show, the greater the rewards - creatively, socially, financially.
A good way of setting the ball rolling is to hold an initial meeting for all interested parties. The objective is to inspire everyone with as much creative fervour as yourself! Play one or two of the songs from the kit as a hook-in, and briefly explain the story behind the music. Read out some interesting excerpts from the script and outline any exciting staging ideas you may have developed. Motivate them! Make sure everyone realises that the project contains an opportunity of worth for them personally, as well as the other fun and exciting aspects of performing and putting on a show.
Planning ahead
Now that you’ve got everyone raring to go, it’s time to decide when and where the production will be held. Set the date(s) for performance at least twelve to fourteen weeks in advance. Organise it so that at least one full week of holiday time is devoted to rehearsal in the performance space. Look closely at your venue. Is it an appropriate place to stage a full scale musical? Does it have the capacity to contain a large cast backstage, for instance? If it doesn’t fit the bill, look around elsewhere. If you feel the space is satisfactory, then book it well in advance for rehearsal and performance dates.
The director and the vision.
As co-ordinator of such a huge undertaking, it’s easy to overlook the most important resource of all - yourself. You’re in charge. You have the final word on creative decisions, and as such, it’s important that you have a strong vision or ‘throughline’.
The first step in achieving this end is to know the play inside out. Make sure you have a very strong sense of central issues. The Great South Land is much more than a dramatic representation of historical facts. It aims to promote a solid understanding of Aboriginal history and culture for students, teachers, parents, friends - everyone! The director’s job is to make the information theatrically accessible in a lively and appealing way.
Hmmmnn. Easier said than done, I hear you say. A great way to start is by brainstorming on paper. Write down anything and everything that comes to mind: themes, colours, memories, sensations, visual and aural images. Then, when your mind is tingling with ideas, sit down with the script, cassette, pen and paper and visualise the musical in detail - scene by scene, song by song.
Conceptualise the whole show in terms of style and design. Decide on an overall concept that best suits the resources of your school and the budding ideas in your head. For instance, you might choose to stage the show in a mystical, dreamy, almost detached style. Or, you could give it a very minimal, stark, futuristic flavour. Or, a combination of both! Metaphoric stage concepts will probably work better than traditional, given the modern sound of the music and the open-ended nature of the script.
How will you utilise the performance space? If you can, avoid the “school hall syndrome” of chairs in straight rows, as it tends to cut out the action for the back section of the audience. (Please consider the benefits of tiered seating - it’s really worth it!) There are many exciting staging options before you. Why not try theatre in the round, where the audience surround the actors? Or you could put the audience in the middle of several acting areas. Surprise them! Start a scene unexpectedly behind the audience, or have some of the action happen in the seating area. Station a couple of characters (like Pemulwuy and some of the Bidjigal) silently, threateningly, amongst the spectators. Let characters interact with audience members wherever possible. There is no end to the fun you can have with innovative staging!
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Set, sound, lights, costume and props are also a part of the directors vision. They will be discussed in some detail below. In the meantime, let’s move onto the next big task...
2. Casting.
How many?
The Great South Land has ten major characters and over fifty small speaking parts. It also has the potential to involve up to one hundred and fifty students as chorus, crowds and dancers. If you want to involve as many students as possible, you could have a cast break-down that looks something like this:
major character roles: 10
small speaking parts: 50
Rainbow Serpent chorus: 10
Cadigal, Wanegal, Bidjigal, Kamergal and Gorualgal groups: 5 x 15
convicts: 20
settlers: 10
officers: 5
military: 15
marines: 10
specialty dancers: (a core group of skilled dancers used regularly throughout the musical.) 15
That’s a proposed total of over two hundred students! Of course, you can increase or cut back on numbers, juggle the chorus parts as you please, to suit the needs and abilities of students in your school.
Reaping the social rewards
It’s worth remembering, at this point, that the idea is to give every student a sense of involvement and achievement. The smart director knows that the social rewards reaped by shy students trying their hand at acting far outweigh the immediate benefits of casting flash-in-the-pan acting ‘stars’. (This is one example of how the school production greatly differs from the professional theatre world!) Do try to be mindful of the talent lurking beneath the shy veneer of some students. As for the trouble makers, remember that they, too, often respond very positively when creatively engaged. Casting is always a hard one, so make sure there is a trusted colleague around to help you with your final decisions. The following audition ideas should help with the process itself.
Auditions! Who do I choose? How do I choose?
Consider this. The ideal student performer works easily and sensitively with others. S/he moves, speaks, reads and sings with expression and emotion. Above all, the best student actor possesses a deep sense of commitment to and belief in the project. Look carefully for these qualities - they’re important!
You’ll have a large number of students wanting to try out, and you want to give everyone a fair go. Because schools are on a tight schedule, it’s best to hold group auditions. (This also gives you an opportunity to observe how the students interact with each other.) Auditions should last no longer than about twenty to twenty five minutes and numbers should not exceed twenty students.
Kick off proceedings with a five minute warm up to calm nerves, and to alert minds and bodies. Run around the room in different ways: on the balls of your feet; with long leaps; with short steps; on tiptoe; on your heels; in slow motion. Rotate wrists, shoulders, elbows, hips, knees and ankles. (For fun, give each movement an emotional motivation. ie: rotate wrists with an angry expression, shoulders with great happiness, ankles with contentment, etc.) Finish off the warm up by pairing off students and leading a ‘mirror’ exercise to focus their attention.
Now, down to business. Simply and briefly outline a scenario from the play to your group of auditionees. A good one to choose might be the capture of Arabanoo, or perhaps the spearing of MacEntyre. (Action packed scenes are best.) Divide the students into groups of four, and give them five to ten minutes to devise a improvisation based on the story you’ve outlined. The finished impros must have a time limit of two minutes, or you’ll be there forever. Observe the works in progress very carefully. Use the table below to evaluate what you see going on in each group during the rehearsal and the final showing.
1788 The Great South Land Audition & Assessment Sheet.
| |Student 1 |Student 2 |Student 3 |Student 4 |
|NAME: | | | | |
|Shows enthusiasm for improvisation |5 4 3 2 1 0 |5 4 3 2 1 0 |5 4 3 2 1 0 |5 4 3 2 1 0 |
|Listens to others |5 4 3 2 1 0 |5 4 3 2 1 0 |5 4 3 2 1 0 |5 4 3 2 1 0 |
|Offers ideas to the group |5 4 3 2 1 0 |5 4 3 2 1 0 |5 4 3 2 1 0 |5 4 3 2 1 0 |
|Follows directions of others |5 4 3 2 1 0 |5 4 3 2 1 0 |5 4 3 2 1 0 |5 4 3 2 1 0 |
|Projects voice audibly |5 4 3 2 1 0 |5 4 3 2 1 0 |5 4 3 2 1 0 |5 4 3 2 1 0 |
|Moves easily and naturally |5 4 3 2 1 0 |5 4 3 2 1 0 |5 4 3 2 1 0 |5 4 3 2 1 0 |
|Additional comments | | | | |
| | | | | |
| | | | | |
|TOTAL | | | | |
By the end of the first round auditions you will have a fairly good idea of what students you want to cast, and what students are better suited to other things. Please emphasise to the unlucky ones that they are needed for all manner of backstage and offstage duties - desperately needed! Organise them into production, design, tech and costume teams straight away!
You’ll need to hold second round auditions to decide on main character roles. Try the standard script reading approach for this lot, but be sure to let the actors become familiar with the given excerpt first - don’t make them go in ‘cold’. When casting main characters, go with students who have a fairly large dose of personality and stage presence as well as a strong voice and the ability to express their emotions readily.
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When the gruelling audition process is at an end, pat yourself on the back for assembling such a fine ensemble of talented youngsters, and brace yourself for the next challenge...
3. Directing the show.
What sort of show is this?
1788: The Great South Land is a musical - a story told mostly through song. As such, you should be working very closely with a choreographer and/or a musical director to ensure that the performance of each song is a special, unique theatrical event in its own right. We have included notes to help you do this.
Staging the dramatic sections, however, is probably going to be your responsibility alone. The script is written in a ‘Epic’ style of theatre - a form that gives its message in a simple and accessible way. Epic theatre aims to incorporate song purposefully and set up contrasts while outlining moral arguments. Essentially, the intention behind the play is to reveal a truth clearly, in a way that spurs its audience first to thought, and then to positive, reconciliatory action.
Your potential contribution.
Have you got a grasp on that philosophic handful? The script already contains many Epic theatre devices for example, the use of slides/placards to convey facts and stepping out of character to directly address the audience. Epic theatre educates the audience by ‘alienating’ them: showing them issues in a different light. Your school’s purchase of the kit means you are welcome to contribute your own Epic theatre embellishments to the script as it stands. For instance, you might see fit to do certain sections in slow motion, or do a ‘double take repeat’ of important lines or phrases. Draw upon the drama workshops in the resource section for inspiration. Use ‘freeze frame’ techniques to emphasise a poignant moment. Have some students perform a liquid sculpture alongside a regular scene. There is no end to the possible theatrical options! Feel free to experiment! Bring as many of your own ideas to the script as you want. The end result can only be successful, as you and your cast learn more about the issues at hand as well as improving your theatrical know how. Go for it!
Characterisation
As director of the whole affair in all its enormity, it’s unlikely that you’ll be able to spend quality directorial time with each and every performer. These general guidelines should help your students to bring life to their roles.
Plays represent real people and real issues. For the audience to reach understanding, the actors must have a very thorough sense of the people and the issues they are portraying. Use the information sheets in the resource section to ensure that the students know the historical background of their characters.
The meaning and emotions behind every line must be very clear to the performers. Ask questions! And more questions! How do you think your character is feeling in this scene? What makes you think so? When your character says this line, does she mean what she says? Or does she have an underlying motivation? Probe deeply into the overall journey of characters, too. How does this person change during the course of the scene? The play? What has he learnt? How will his experiences affect other characters? Sometimes it helps to plot the character’s emotional journey on a chart.
Ensure that your actors are aware of the infinite ways in which their lines can be delivered.
Crowd scenes can be one of the most engaging features of a play if you use a little imagination. Gather your crowds together at an early stage for some improvisation exercises to build characters. Use the Waterway drama workshop and the Great South Land drama workshop (in the resource section) as starting points. Every member of the crowd should know precisely what sort of person they are playing (young, old, shy, domineering, popular, silly, gossipy, etc) and what relationship they have with others in the party (best friend, mother, cousin, stranger, enemy etc). When dynamics like these are established, the audience will be watching a diverse group of real people, as opposed to static, passive ‘lumps of wood’.
Pacing, rhythm, climax.
If the script is the outline, then the directors job is to colour it in. You’re the one who decides where the climax of each scene lies, and you orchestrate the timing of the action to build up to that point. How will the climax be emphasised? It might be with a scream, a laugh, or simply a look. Make sure the actors know when and why the ‘high’ point occurs. Similarly, make them aware of the ‘low’ points. A quiet moment should be just that, not a block of dead space.
One of the most basic, but often overlooked features of acting is listening. To give the play a sense of rhythm and timing your performers must listen to each other, really listen. Instil this into them from day one, and hopefully their actions and reactions on stage will have a semblance of spontaneity and naturalness. Look also at the momentum of each scene. Which parts should move quickly? Where will you take more time? Your objective in doing this is of course to add ‘light and shade’: tension, suspense, a feeling of joy or excitement or defiance - all of which adds to the audience’s enjoyment and understanding.
Be sure to enlighten your cast as to the reasons behind your directorial choices. Whenever possible, involve them in dramatic decision making. It's their show too
- they need to know they are valued artistically. Do consider all suggestions, and incorporate as many good ideas in to the show as you like. (Don't forget, you are welcome to make as many theatrical changes or additions as suits your purpose.)
Racing against the clock
So much to do! School life is already jam-packed with activity, and staging a big production on top of carrying a full teaching load is not an easy task. The key to success (and sanity) lies in structuring time sensibly and efficiently. Collect the timetables of everyone who’s involved, and schedule rehearsals and meetings accordingly.
Finally, put everything you do under the mental banner of ‘ensemble’. You'll be spending a lot of time on this project, with these people. You're a team: there's no escaping it. So if (or when) you start tearing your hair out, remember that unity is all and that you really are helping to create a positive experience for a large number of people. Aaahh ain’t life grand?
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4. Practicalities.
It’s your show
There are never set rules to staging a play and especially not this one! Differences in stage design, tech, costumes, make up and other production elements are part of what makes each theatrical experience unique. Why not aim to make your production of the Great South Land as individual or as unusual as can be? Take risks! Experiment! This is not a traditional musical. It’s waiting for you to stamp it with your own particular brand of creativity. The following notes might kick-start a few ideas, but the rest is up to you to do what you will.
Props
Make a list of all the essentials. Keep it simple and to a minimum. Post your list around the school to see who can help out by lending what’s needed.
Don’t spend a lot of money: it’s better spent on other things, and props can be made very cheaply.
Employ the help of other departments like Art, Woodwork and Metalwork where available.
Why not try oversized ‘crazy’ props?
Why not experiment with mimed props?
Ensure that the students are entirely responsible for their own props. This means they know where they are kept, and that they put them back after each performance.
(If this sounds completely unrealistic, give the job to someone responsible and let them supervise the whole props thing.)
Costumes
Traditional costuming tends to involve a lot of time and effort. We recommend metaphorical or minimal costumes: they are much easier to create and tend to reflect the contemporary nature of the show. For instance, you might like to costume the Aboriginal people in one colour (say black T shirts with earth coloured markings) and the European people in another (perhaps white T shirts with red, white and blue markings). The major characters could be dressed in a variation on that theme.
You should approach your local Aboriginal community group for advice if you are considering something that involves traditional Aboriginal dress.
The Rainbow Serpent at the beginning of the show is easily represented by a chain of students in a Chinese Dragon style outfit: a cane structure covered in material. (If you keep the majority of costumes simple, you can afford to splash out on something like this.)
Scenery
Again, traditional-style sets are a lot of work. You might like to consider projecting slides as backdrops instead. (It's easy to get colour slides of the sea or the bush - check it out.)
If you're after something really simple, you could indicate each scene change with silent-movie style placards.
Your scenery choices should complement the costume designs, in terms of colour and style. Don't put a large group of colourfully dressed students in front of a elaborate backdrop, for example, because the overall effect will be too busy.
To represent the water, try waving lengths of chiffon across the stage. Or perhaps take a more metaphoric approach by using dancers with ribbons on sticks. Have a cardboard cut-out of a ship that tosses amongst the waves.
Try bringing the outside inside: use real tree branches around the campsite and real logs to sit on, for instance.
Lights
Lights are important. A fairly good lights display is needed to really highlight the music and the choreography. We recommend that the money you save on costumes and set be put to good use in this area.
Beg, borrow or otherwise procure the lights. Try other schools, local theatres or government departments. If you have to, you can hire a basic rig with dimmers quite cheaply.
Beg, borrow, or otherwise procure a lighting technician. When you find this person, she or he becomes your best friend. Do not put this person offside. You need them!
There are many simple but effective lighting ideas you can use to create a certain mood. To give a small example, amber or rose lights give a warm vibe to a scene, while blue light indicates coldness. Plot the lighting design with the lighting technician (your best friend) and work out the best effects for your show.
Sound
Decide how you will use the cassettes in performance. Will your students accompany the songs? Or will they sing by themselves to the instrumental version of the musical? You could use a combination of these techniques where some characters sing solo for certain songs (like Real Name or Bennelong’s Dilemma) while the majority of the cast sings along with the tape - projecting loudly and clearly of course!
If you decide to go purely with the instrumental recording, your students will need to be miked, and the sound will have to be mixed by someone competent during the performance. (Find another best friend!)
The soundtrack cassettes have been digitally recorded, so as far as possible make sure you are using reliable cassette players. Older, down at heel systems not only result in a severe loss of quality, but could chew up the tape and jeopardise the whole show!
One final note: sound effects don’t have to be pre-recorded. Try live effects, made backstage by whoever isn’t performing. It’s fun, and occupies students waiting to go on stage.
Budget
Money is an important consideration. Where will you get it? How will you spend it?
The answers to these questions will vary from school to school. It is imperative however, that you address the topic of expenditure at an early stage of the production.
Here’s a quick checklist of what might be coming in and going out.
IN
Allocated school budget.
Sponsorship (try parents, local organisations, small and large businesses.)
Sales of tickets, programmes, posters, interval refreshments. (Set prices according to how much you have outlaid overall.)
OUT
Lights and sound equipment and technicians.
Costumes, props, set and make up.
Printing costs. (Posters, tickets, programmes, flyers.)
Tea, coffee etc for interval.
Miscellaneous. (Those odds and ends that spring up unexpectedly.)
We encourage you to perform 1788: The Great South Land for profit. All you have to do is register with Creative and Musical Resources on the form provided.
Cassettes are available at wholesale prices to schools for resale to the community for fundraising. Please see re-order form for prices.
Publicity
If you want your show to make money, good publicity is a must.
“It’s no good having a great play if no one comes to see it.” An oldie but a goodie, and well worth remembering, especially when you’ve put lots of time and effort into your show. Publicity must start as soon as you’ve decided on your performance dates and venue. Tell everyone that the show is on, and keep telling them until they buy a ticket. (Or two, or three, or ten!)
A good poster and ticket design is crucial. You are very welcome to use ours. We have included the blackline design in the back of this section. All you have to do is take it to the printers, with instructions to include the name of your school and the dates and venue of your performance. If you decide to go with your own design, make sure it is simple and eye catching, with the important information highlighted.
Your target audience consists of the school population, parents and friends, and the wider community. Let’s look at each of these groups, and ways to bag them.
1. The school population:
Involve as many students and teachers as possible, in whatever capacity. They and their friends and family will be keen to see the results of their labour.
Make announcements at school assemblies. Remind everyone of times and dates, give progress reports on the state of affairs, recount some humorous rehearsal tales - anything to let the school know the show is alive and kicking and waiting for an audience.
Post ‘teaser’ slogans around the school, like “WHO IS ARABANOO?” and “A TIME OF CHANGE IS HERE.” Get people wondering, and talking!
Close to the time of performance, stage big, spectacular stunts throughout the school. Maybe the cast could parade through the playground at lunchtime, singing excerpts. Or perhaps you could stage an exciting scene or a dance piece unexpectedly somewhere!
2. Family and friends:
Include information about the show in the school newsletter. Send letters home with the students close to the performance time.
They will come to the show and proudly watch their little chum. It might be worth including a note in the program, asking them to spread the word if they enjoyed the show. (And of course they will!)
3. The general public:
Really plug your show to the wider community. There are oceans of people out there who would love to see it: they just need to know it’s on! Get the students (or anyone who’s willing) to do poster runs everywhere: local shops, supermarkets and cafes are good places to start. Community Centres are also the places to target.
School timetable permitting, stage stunts in local shopping centres and on the street. Make sure you have flyers to hand out to people who see your stunt.
Send newspapers a press release and photo. (Send black and white photos, and make sure that they are interesting shots featuring a large percentage of your cast.) Invite a member of the press to review the opening night performance.
Contact radio and television stations to see if they will do a story on the play, or an interview with you and some of your cast. (Most community stations will be happy to oblige.)
Hang a big banner outside the performance venue. Then erect a second banner somewhere else prominent. A footbridge across a busy road is a prime spot - but ask Council permission first!
Offer discounts to special groups. People in retirement centres or people with mental or physical handicaps would probably love to come to your show, and especially if you give them a good price. Invite your cast to talk with the special audience after the show - it’s a wonderful way to unite your school and the wider community.
Stage Management
Good stage managers are worth their weight in gold. Here are some of the duties your S.M. will (ideally) be performing.
The S.M. ensures that everything backstage is where it should be, when it should be. S/he quiets the unruly masses, calms nerves and generally makes order of chaos.
The S.M. holds the prompt book, which contains all the lighting, sound and blocking (movement) cues. It is the S.M.'s responsibility to signal or cue the technical operators during the performance.
S/he should prepare a comprehensive chart that outlines: the running order of the scenes, who's involved in each scene, the entrances and exits of the cast, and what props are needed when, where and by whom.
At the end of each show, the S.M. resets the stage and reorders the backstage area so that it's ready for the next performance.
Front of house
The front of housers are responsible for the selling of tickets, programmes, and whatever else you decide to have on sale. (Music cassettes, posters, T-shirts, student artwork, etc.)
They must also organise, sell and clean up after interval refreshments.
If you like, you can really go to town with the foyer displays. Use the cast photos, posters, reviews and background information about the content of the show and the process of getting it together. And, if you were persuasive enough in the staff meetings, your colleagues will have been producing an inordinate amount of Aboriginal Studies work with their students. Presented creatively, work like this makes very interesting (and educational) reading matter for the audience. It also indicates that the production of 1788: the Great South Land has been a learning experience for the whole school.
1788 The Great South Land
Choreography
Dear Choreographer,
Ready to get down? As the dance and movement co-ordinator, you hold the key to the visual success of the musical. We realise this is no small responsibility. So we have prepared some notes to start you off. Here is the basic song-by-song guide to staging and choreographing 1788 The Great South Land. We wish you the very best of luck!
First things first
Each song helps to tell the story of 1788. Make sure you are fully aware of the events of the time, so that your dance interpretations are historically accurate. The choreography of each song should not only entertain, it should evoke emotion and lead the audience to a deeper understanding of the issues at hand.
Familiarise yourself with the songs. Listen until you know the musical inside out. As you listen, conceptualise each song in your mind. Listen for certain sections, or certain beats in the song that could be used for different purposes.
When you have nutted out some basic ideas for each song, have a meeting with your director. S/he might also have some ideas you could incorporate. (It’s important to work closely with the director at all times, so that the overall performance flows smoothly and coherently.)
Be prepared to go to town with lights! Effective lighting really enhances dance performance. Become friendly with your lighting technician. Keep this person posted on all the choreographic developments, and have long chats about the various ways lights might be used to emphasise the dance pieces.
Use different levels wherever possible. Big blocks or rostrums are great! They can be positioned quickly and easily, and work well by themselves, or in conjunction with other sets. If your school doesn’t have any, they can be bought or made relatively cheaply, and will prove to be invaluable assets in subsequent performances.
You might want to hold auditions to decide on a team of core dancers. These people will form the mainstay of most of the dances. The rest of the cast will also be doing some movement, of course, but the core dancers will perform the more challenging routines.
Organise a decent sized room for your rehearsals. Come equipped with lots of different dance steps in mind. Watching dance videos is one good way of collecting ideas. Another option is to pick the brains of a student (or students) currently studying dance.
Finally, make ‘em work! Not everyone is naturally talented at dance, but that’s no excuse to cop out. The secret to successful choreography is precision, and that only comes with practice. So give your cast a good warm-up and make them practice, and practice until it’s right!
1. Time of Change
Mood
Mystical and exciting.
Lighting
Colourful and changing - red, blue, green, yellow, purple.
Conceptual ideas
This song is about the Dreaming. The dance reflects the story of the Rainbow Serpent, the Aboriginal story of creation. It should explore the beauty and newness of the world at the dawn of time, and the enduring strength of Aboriginal culture.
Dance and staging ideas
This is the first song of the production, so make it as big and as spectacular as you can. Start off with a few students, and gradually increase the number of people on stage as the song builds to its climax.
Animals, plants and people come to life. They start out curled up in a ball, then gradually unroll, rising up to form the shape of their character. Alternatively, the song begins in blackness, and each character come to life when light falls on them.
Students portray emus, kangaroos, lizards, dingos, birds. They stylise the movements of these animals.
There is a human fire, made up of people in a circle waving their arms in the air.
The Rainbow Serpent (a chain of students under coloured fabric) dances, snakelike. Or, the serpent is formed out of a string of children dressed in rainbow colours, weaving their way around the stage.
2. The Waterway
Mood
Content, natural and uncluttered.
Lights
Moving, blue green and yellow.
Conceptual ideas
A look at the peaceful way of life on the waterway. People are fishing, cooking, eating, swimming and playing. Some people are ‘firestick farming’ - managing and renewing the land through burning.
Staging and dance ideas
Some students are Waterway people, some are sea creatures and others are the fires.
Divide the stage into two sections: land and the underwater world. Show the differences between the two worlds by using strong, confident, grounded movement juxtaposed with slower, flowing, undulating movement.
Use fabric, ribbons or moving light to depict the water.
Hunters could spear fish (imaginary fish, not the actors!) in time to the music.
Fire stick farmers could drive the fires ahead of them.
Flowing movement is essential for this song. Try lifting legs high, waving arms, lots of turns and some modern ballet steps. The Waterway is written in 4/4 time, so you might like to try steps to a beat of 1, 2, 3, wait, 1, 2, 3, wait.
Smile as you dance! This is a peaceful, happy song!
3. The Jails are Overcrowded
Mood
Ominous and authoritarian.
Lights
Stark, white, with occasional flashing spot lights.
Conceptual ideas
The officials and the soldiers sing directly to the audience, whilst the poor people, the convicts and the Aboriginal people do movement in front of them.
Staging and dance ideas
Raise the officials on blocks or levels to demonstrate their power.
The convicts are chained or roped together, or are moving together tightly to give the same impression. Their actions and expressions are defeated and sullen. They drag their feet and hang their heads.
The soldiers movements are sharp and uniform. Miming, the officials discuss the problem pompously, as they stride back and forth.
Meanwhile the Aboriginal people are celebrating, unaware of the invaders’ plans. Or, alternatively, they could use minimal, uneasy movements to depict the impending threat.
4. A Great Advantage
Mood
Deliberating, comic and pompous.
Lights
Simple, a general wash.
Conceptual ideas
This song is essentially a narrative, and so dance accompaniment need only be basic. Phillip is on stage alone, or with a few soldiers or officials.
Staging and dance ideas
Use lots of swaying and marching, with sharp, precise arm and leg movements.
If you like, you could have some comic relief with silly, clumsy or drunk soldiers, who fall about in reaction to Phillip’s words.
5. Bound for Botany Bay
Mood
Excited, loud and uncouth.
Lights
White and yellow.
Conceptual ideas
Show sadness and anger at having to leave one’s homeland and the uncertainty and fear about the final destination. Show also the tedium, the seasickness and the unsavoury conditions of the voyage.
Staging and dance ideas
Give your boat a sail and hoist it before sailing off.
Use students’ bodies to make the shape of a boat. Piggy-backs, sitting on each others shoulders, or forming a human pyramids are good ways of creating levels. Synchronised swaying and rocking completes the picture. This sort of physical theatre looks impressive on stage, and saves you making elaborate sets. (If stuck, you could ask the P.E. specialist for help!)
Alternatively, cut out a ships profile from cardboard or plywood, and board everyone behind it. Then have the ship toss wildly on the open sea!
6. A More Suitable Place
Mood
Disillusioned and disgruntled.
Lights
Green, brown, purple, swampy.
Conceptual ideas
Disappointment about the harbour and the resources of the new land.
Staging and dance ideas
“The Captain and his men” disembark and row to shore. They can sit on the ground and move their arms and legs in rowing motion, sliding across the floor.
While they examine the area, the convicts and crew collapse the boat and lie exhausted in a heap.
The whole time, the Eora people are watching. They are alternatively curious, angry, puzzled and amused.
7. Hoist The Sail
Mood
Resigned and resolute.
Lights
Bright, practical lighting.
Conceptual ideas
The general feeling is one of activity. The Captain and officials are busy ordering everyone and organising everything. The convicts are sullen and grim as they go about the tasks of packing up.
Staging and dance ideas
The boat is resurrected slowly and unwillingly by the convicts.
The sail is hoisted with a great deal of effort from everyone involved.
Some unruly convicts try to escape, are caught and dragged back to the ship.
Develop a standard step or movement that is repeated by everyone each time the drumroll sounds.
8. Kameraygal
Mood
Beautiful, comfortable and timeless.
Lights
Shadowy, rainbow-hued, with a spotlight or a special light on the spirit of Biami.
Conceptual ideas
The Eora people have come to Kameraygal to gather their thoughts about the white people. The spirit of Biami is there to guide them.
Staging and dance ideas
Convey a sense of council, of coming together, of discussion. Show the Eora people listening to each other with respect.
The spirit of Biami is represented by a student in mask, dancing in a free, mystical style, whilst the Eora people watch. Gradually the people start to dance around Biami, repeating his movements.
Use canoes, with people fishing from them. Have campfires burning all around.
A group of people, representing the water itself, dance gracefully around the edges of the scene.
9. Great South Land
Mood
Hard, hot, tired and angry.
Lights
Harsh, bright.
Conceptual ideas
This song explores the brutal way of life in the European settlement. Their difficult and punishing existence is in direct contrast to the lifestyle of the Aboriginal people.
Staging and dance ideas
All convicts are on stage repeating hard, mechanical moves. They are made to work harder by fierce overseers.
Convicts mime chopping, breaking rocks up, pulling rope, carrying things, digging.
Some convicts are chained together. Others collapse, sick and exhausted, and cannot work anymore.
The soldiers beat the convicts indiscriminately, swilling rum as they go.
Perhaps one convict sings the first verse while he/she is being flogged. The soldier doing the flogging could sing the third verse.
10. Arabanoo
Mood
Factual and upbeat.
Lights
Simple, general wash.
Conceptual ideas
This song tells the story of Arabanoo. Construct the dance around the narrative of the lyrics.
Staging and dance ideas
Follow the story. Use stylised acting, rather than dance. The important thing to convey is Arabanoo’s displacement. Emphasise his desire to escape and his disgust at the convict flogging by separating him from the main group. The Europeans are fascinated with Arabanoo. They follow him, fawn on him and pass him from one person to the other.
Stage the flogging on a high level. Have the convict let out huge yells as he/she is being whipped!
The core dancers (dressed as townsfolk or convicts) perform some sharp routines to compliment the jazzy flavour of the song. Try 1, 2, 3, kick, 1, 2, 3, kick; step toe changes; clapping; clicking.
11. Real Name
Mood
Sad, lonely and alienated.
Lights
Dim, blues, purples.
Conceptual ideas
Represent Arabanoo’s displacement, and the pain of being torn away from your family and your whole heritage.
Staging and dance ideas
An Eora character enters, and sings the song solo, downstage left, to the audience.
In the background, a contemporary dance piece is performed. The dance depicts a struggle - some people are taking away a mother’s baby. She is powerless to stop them.
Downstage right, under a spotlight, Arabanoo is dying alone.
12. We Are Starving
Mood
Lean and pathetic.
Lights
Dim and cold.
Conceptual ideas
They are starving!
Staging and dance ideas
A comic approach: The convicts are working very, very, listlessly. They scrape at the ground, dig very slowly and crawl around after their mates, who have collapsed. The soldiers half-heartedly urge the convicts to work, but then they sit down exhausted, too. Everyone increasingly exaggerates their predicament until it becomes ridiculous.
- A serious approach: An officer and a convict sing the song from two spotlights. Around their feet in the semi-darkness, grovel desperate, starving and sick Europeans. Some Aboriginal people are watching silently on the edge of the scene.
13. Bennelong
Mood
Fun!
Lighting
Bright and warm.
Conceptual ideas
This is the story of Bennelong’s captivity and escape. Construct the dance around the narrative of the lyrics.
Staging and dance ideas
Bennelong shows some Europeans how to hunt food, but they don’t quite get the hang of it.
The Europeans try to give Bennelong and Colby a bath - they hate it! They dress them in European clothes and they hate that too!
Bennelong eggs his friend on as Colby chews through the rope on his leg and escapes.
Bennelong holds court in Governor Phillip’s house, entertaining everyone and being a clown. To emphasise the comedy, use some of the cast as human tables and chairs!
In the rock’n’roll breaks, the townspeople might teach Bennelong some British dance steps. He uses the steps to dance offstage in hopes of escaping, but they bring him back.
Bennelong fakes being ill very convincingly, and very comically, and finally escapes.
Make this one a big number! Lots of cast on stage, lots of handclapping. Try step-clap and step-toe, and some synchronised running and jumping.
14. Whale of a Time
Mood
Happy and fun.
Lighting
Changing, bright and warm colours.
Conceptual ideas
The Eora people have come together to feast. There is a general party spirit, a sense of festival and celebration.
Staging and dance ideas
There is one big campfire set up in the middle of the stage. A cardboard or plywood cut out of a whale is suspended on sticks held by the performers. It “dances” above the fire.
Around the fire, groups of Eora people dance. Some are dancing rock’n’roll - 1, 2, 3, clap; step kick, step kick; doing the twist. Others are using traditional Aboriginal steps. This is the general rhythm to stick to when teaching Aboriginal steps in 4/4 time: 1 rest, 2 rest, 1 2 3 rest. Feet are stomped to this rhythm.
15. Fish for Tools
Mood
Positive and happy.
Lighting
Bright.
Conceptual ideas
Trade is established between Eora people and the Europeans. A wary sort of trust is born.
Staging and dance ideas
European officials and Eora people begin formal trade procedures. Some convicts are brought in and made to return stolen goods belonging to Aboriginal people.
A huge catch of fish is exchanged for hatchets. Everyone reacts positively, with handshakes and high fives. Kangaroo meat might also be exchanged for tools.
Phillip takes Bennelong aside to tell him about the proposed “gift” of property by the harbour. They have a man to man chat and then suddenly break into dance (perhaps a waltz!) to show their happiness.
16. Bennelong’s Hut
Mood
Puzzled and suspicious.
Lighting
Bright and flashing.
Conceptual ideas
Bennelong’s mob are distrustful of him and his relationship with the Europeans.
Staging and dance ideas
The Eora people are perplexed. As they talk about the situation, they pace back and forth. They make confused head and arm gestures, and repeat them rhythmically.
Bennelong attempts to join their conversation, but they exclude him. His gestures are alternatively frustrated and depressed.
While this is going on, some convicts have entered. They begin building the hut in time to the music, block by block, beat by beat. (Use painted styrofoam bricks.) The hut is finished by the time the song ends.
17. Bennelong’s Dilemma
Mood
Sad and questioning.
Lighting
Spotlight on Bennelong, red stage wash.
Conceptual ideas
Bennelong feels caught in the middle of two cultures.
Staging and dance ideas
Bennelong begins the song alone on stage, sitting or standing on a high level.
On one side of him, some convicts and some soldiers enter. They begin work, cutting and clearing.
On the other side of Bennelong, some of his people sit at their campsite.
As the song progresses, the European group encroaches on the Aboriginal campsite. In slow motion, a battle is waged between the two groups. Bennelong watches, helpless, as he sings.
18. Lawlessness
Mood
Resentful, cruel and angry.
Lighting
Sharp spotlights.
Conceptual Ideas
Hostilities between the Eora people and the Europeans increase.
Staging and dance ideas
The first verse is sung by a convict, the second by McEntire, and the third by Phillip.
As the characters sing, a tableau or frozen picture is presented to the audience, reflecting the subject matter of each verse.
Verse 1: A convict sings, whilst Tench and Bennelong are frozen in position. Tench is offering Bennelong a piece of bread.
Verse 2: McEntire sings, having pushed two Aboriginal people to the ground where they lie, frozen. When McEntire has finished singing, Pemulwuy enters and kills him swiftly with his spear.
Verse 3: Phillip enters, discovers McEntire, and sings the final verse over his gamekeeper’s dead body.
19. What is it in your Law?
Mood
Powerful, combative and demanding.
Lighting
White or blue for the Europeans. Warm ambers and yellows for the Eora people.
Conceptual ideas
The Eora people are questioning and challenging European law.
Staging and dance ideas
Have one student depicting the King. Place the King on a high level. Put soldiers and officials on high levels as well. Their movements are stiff and stilted, statue-like.
There are more Eora people than Europeans, and they move freely around the bottom of the levels. They demonstrate a readiness to fight for their land and their rights.
The movements of the Eora people are strong and fluid: walking, running, searching, shaking heads, turning heads and bodies, looking up, arms outstretched, palms faced upwards.
End the song with a frozen image of the Eora people united defying the officials. Perhaps some of the Aboriginal people climb onto the levels to stand next to the Europeans.
20. Bidjigal Man
Mood
Strong, celebrating and victorious.
Lighting
Colourful, bright and flashing.
Conceptual ideas
Introduces Pemulwuy, the first Aboriginal person to conduct organised warfare against the Europeans.
Staging and dance ideas
Use the whole Eora cast, for strength and impact.
A mixture of contemporary and Aboriginal dance works well in this song. Imitate battle movements like spearing and clubbing. Choreograph strong, fast, jerky movements and dance steps. Occasional freeze frame moments also work well.
Organise the cast into a long line, and have them run in designated patterns (like in follow-the-leader) with Pemulwuy at the head or the centre of each pattern.
21. Our Dream
Mood
Unified and excited. The grand finale!
Lighting
Colourful, bright and flashing.
Conceptual ideas
This song finishes the production on a positive note, projecting a sense of reconciliation, unity and excitement for the future of Australia.
Staging and dance ideas
Everyone needs to be on stage for this one. If you have a very large cast, the performers should enter in groups of about 20 to 40, perform a short routine, then move to the side, where they keep the momentum of the song happening by clapping, clicking and stomping.
The finale routine should be short but flashy. Make the dance steps big, funky and spectacular. Use clenched fists, outstretched hands, handslaps, stomping, high kicks, bends and sharp head movements. Get some students to incorporate up to date house or rap moves. Smile! Get down!
Performing the Mini Musicals
What is a mini musical?
A mini musical is the performance of a select number of songs from the larger musical. You choose the songs that best suit the needs and abilities of your students and your school. Your mini musical might be based on a particular theme you’ve been studying, or simply according to what songs you like best. You are at liberty to create whatever performance arrangements you like!
This sort of show has many advantages. The big production (incorporating all of the 21 songs) will require at least 12 weeks of rehearsal. The mini musical can be as long or as short as you please. It can involve the whole school or just one year, or, just one class! Simple or spectacular, scripted or improvised - the possibilities are unlimited! You have creative control! Mix and match the music as you see fit, add your own links between songs and enjoy learning through performance!
How do I organise a mini musical?
Here are some suggestions for staging a mini musical.
Most of the songs are stories within themselves. Select which ones you want to perform and concentrate on giving them meaning through expressive singing and choreography.
Use a narrator to link each song to the next.
Group-devise links between songs using improvisation. Use the drama workshop ideas in the resource section for inspiration.
Connect each song with Aboriginal poetry, or stories from the Dreaming. Or, use student stories and student poetry.
Lift and adapt sections from the musical script fit to fit in with what you’re doing.
Explore your own scriptwriting skills, or ask another teacher or some students to help out.
Use a combination of all of the above!
We have included two mini musical ideas. Feel free to use them as is, or, make up your own original arrangement using the songs of your choice.
Pease Note: If you are planning to show your mini musical for profit, you will need to register with Creative and Musical Resources. (Please use the form provided.) If you are not performing for profit, no conditions apply to the performance of the mini musical.
Aboriginal Identity
Mini Musical 1
NARRATOR: This is the story of Arabanoo and Bennelong. The year is 1788. The place - Port Jackson in the Colony of New South Wales. Eora country. Relations between the Eora people and the white invaders were...well, in the words of Arthur Phillip
PHILLIP enters and addresses a group of officers.
PHILLIP: We are yet to establish proper communication with the natives. They need to know that they are now subjects of His Majesty the King. Like all subjects, they have rights. They need to understand that they are protected by our law! Therefore I have decided to capture two of them and teach them the King's English, so that they might return to their people and tell them how just and fair our law is...
NARRATOR: Well, time passed. By late December 1788 Phillip was determined to win the "affections" of the Aboriginal people.
PHILLIP has his back to the Aboriginal group as he writes in his diary. He speaks the following very slowly, as a group of officers and marines enter and in slow motion approach the Eora group.
PHILLIP: The .. natives.. still.. refuse... to .. come amongst us.. I now.. doubt whether ..it will .. be possible.. to get any of these people to come amongst us.. in order to learn their language.. without using force....
Things build to a climax towards the end of PHILLIP's dialogue, when Arabanoo and another man are captured. A struggle ensues. The second man escapes.
Song: Arabanoo
Two Eora groups shout the following dialogue across the stage to each other.
CAMP A: What you reckon them fellas gunna do with Arabanoo?
CAMP B: Looks pretty sick. Maybe they want to kill him.
CAMP A : You reckon they pointed the bone at him?
CAMP B: But why? He done nuthin' wrong!
CAMP A: Don't ask me!
CAMP B: Them white fellas aren't like us. Too hard to understand.
CAMP A: Must be crazy. (Indicating the settlement) All that work and only piles of mud to show!
CAMP B: Just look at them! No wonder they're so thin-all that work and no proper tucker to eat.
CAMP A: Well, they'd better not try takin' our tucker. This is our land. They have to ask!
Both campsites exit, concerned.
Song: Real Name
NARRATOR: On the 18th May 1789, Arabanoo died of smallpox, or galgalla. More than half the Eora people were wiped out by galgalla in the years 1788-1792. The Europeans weren’t dying of smallpox. Their biggest problem was lack of food.
PHILLIP enters with officers.
PHILLIP: Gentlemen, I do not need to elaborate on how dire this situation is. The colony is on the verge of starvation. The stores contain sufficient salt meat to serve us until the 2nd July. We shall have flour until about the 20th August, and rice and peas until October. I need not tell you, for we know it all too well, that the quality of this food is no more satisfactory than its quantity. It amazes me that the natives manage to survive here.
TENCH: May I make a suggestion, sir?
PHILLIP: What is it, Tench?
The officers gather around in a huddle as the music begins.
Song: Bennelong
Tench enters bearing gifts for Bennelong's group.
TENCH: These are for you, Bennelong - courtesy of Captain Phillip.
BENNELONG: He's not wild?
TENCH: No, no, no...He says you’re to visit the settlement whenever you please. And...(tantalisingly) I've got some more good news...
BENNELONG: (excited) What?
TENCH: (bursting to tell) Well...... the Governor has built you a hut down by the cove as you asked, and he's called the area Bennelong Point !
BENNELONG: Hey look out! You fellas hear that, eh?
There is a pointed silence.
TENCH: (pause) So...I suppose I'd better let you people get on with..with whatever it is that you do. Goodbye Bennelong - we hope to see you down at the settlement more often.
He exits. Bennelong turns to his group.
BENNELONG: How about that? Me, having a brick hut, just like the Governor! We can have great parties down there, eh?
Group member folds his arms and does not answer.
BENNELONG: What about you Colby, my old friend? Will you come to visit me at Bennelong Point?
COLBY: (gravely) How can the white men say the land belongs to one person? Can't give you that land. Nobody OWNS the land - the land owns us. It's there for everybody to use, if they take good care of it. You know that, Bennelong. That's our law.
ELDER: The white men have a different law.
PERSON: More like they got no law at all!
Some more Eora people enter and together they sing
Song: Bennelong’s Hut
Bennelong tries to talk to the people but is ignored. They exit slowly in twos or threes, leaving Bennelong alone on stage.
Song: Bennelong’s Dilemma
As the song progresses, he is joined by more and more people, until all the Eora characters are on stage. At the end of the song, they freeze in a tableau.
NARRATOR: The story of Arabanoo, Bennelong and the Eora people is not a very happy one. But it’s important to remember the sad parts of Australian history, to make sure everyone knows what happened. That way we can see that now is the time to work together, make new partnerships. We need to build new dreams together.
Whole cast enters to sing
Song: Our Dream
ENDS
Aboriginal Spirituality
Mini Musical 2
As the story is told, appropriate storytelling gesture and/or mime is used.
STORYTELLER: In the time of Alcheringa, the Dreamtime, the land was flat and cold. The world was empty. The Rainbow Serpent lay asleep under the ground, with all the animal tribes in her belly, waiting to be born. When it was her time, she pushed up. She came up at the heart of the country - at Uluru - the one whitefellers called Ayers Rock. She looked around - everywhere was dark. There was no light, no colour. So she got busy. She shaped the land, making mountains and hills. She called out to her frog tribe to wake from their sleep, then she scratched their bellies to make them laugh - the water they store for the bad times then spilled over the land, making rivers and lakes. Then the Rainbow Serpent threw the good spirit Biami high in the sky, telling him to help her find light. He jumped high in the sky and smiled down on the land, The sky lit up from his smile, making colour and shadow. That warm sun spirit saw himself in the shining waters. The bushes and trees made flowers and grew fruit. The Rainbow Serpent sends her spirit ones with message sticks to help us, to remind us to care for her things and to remind us to protect the land.
Song: Time of Change
Eternity
by Jack Davis
I sat and watched the sea come in
unfolding wavelets on the beach
Froth like lace surrounded me then
receded out of reach
I cupped a hand
of sea wet sand
and thought then this is me
as I caught a glimpse of
what life is,
and my fragility
Song: The Waterway
The Waterway
by Bill Neidji
Our story is written in the land...
It is written in those sacred
places.
My children will look after those places,
that’s the law.
Dreaming place...
you can’t change it,
no matter who you are.
No matter you rich man,
no matter you king.
You can’t change it.
Song: Kameraygal
As the story is told, appropriate storytelling gesture and/or mime is used.
NARRATOR: Long ago, in the Dreamtime, all waratahs were white. At that time, the first wonga pigeon camped in the bush with her mate and they grew fat on the abundant food to be found at ground level. They never flew above the trees, because they were afraid of their enemy, the hawk. One day the wonga pigeon’s mate went searching for food and failed to return. She searched a long time for him without success and finally resolved to fly above the treetops to see if she could see him from above. As she left the shelter of the trees, she heard her mate call from down in the bush and, with a glad heart , she turned to fly down to him. But the circling hawk had seen her and swooped down, grasping her in his sharp claws and tearing open her breast. Wrenching herself free from the hawk, she hid amongst the blossoms of the waratahs. The hawk couldn't find her and flew away, and again she heard her mate calling. Weak from loss of blood she tried desperately to reach him, but she could only fly short distances and every time she rested on a white waratah, her blood stained the blossom, turning it red. As her life ebbed away, she changed all the white waratahs to red, and today it is rare to find a waratah that is not tainted with the blood of the brave and loyal wonga pigeon who lost her life searching for her mate.
Song: Bidjigal Man
A Song of Hope
By Oodgeroo Noonuccal
Look up, my people,
The dawn is breaking,
The world is waking
To a new bright day,
When none will defame us,
No restriction tame us,
Nor colour shame us,
Nor sneer dismay.
See plain the promise,
Dark freedom-lover!
Night’s nearly over,
And though long the climb
New rights will greet us,
New mateship meet us,
And joy complete us
In our new Dream Time.
To our father’s fathers
The pain, the sorrow;
To our children’s children
The glad tomorrow.
Song: Our Dream
When the Sky Fell Down
(1788 the GreatSouth Land)
Related links
Edition 3
Interactive Version 1c
Breakaway Publishing, Australia
musicartstar@
Acknowledgments
The New South Wales Aboriginal Education Consultative Group Incorporated (NSW AECG Inc); The Aboriginal Studies Association; David Ella Regional Aboriginal Community Liaison Officor - Metropolitan North Region, NSW Department of School Education; Rhonda Craven - University of New South Wales; Murdo Morrison; Words, Music, Concept - Chris Robinson; Illustrations - Chris Tobin Graphic Art – Harnetty.Art; Editor - Nigel Parbury;
Musicians
Produced and Arranged by Charles Hull, John Prior and Chris Robinson. Recorded and Mastered in Sydney, Australia with thanks to Ritzy Business and Mammal Music. Re-recorded and remastered by Breakaway Publishing.
Vocals - Chris Robinson, Jay Harnetty (Scarlett Flake), John Bettison; Martine Monroe, Kevin Duncan, Marea Burton; Guitars - Peter Northcott; Keyboard - Charles Hull, John Prior, Didgeridoo Kevin Duncan, Steve Davis
Special Thanks
Jack Davis for permission to use selections of his poetry; the late Oodgeroo of the Tribe Noonuccal (Kath Walker) for permission to use her poetry; Dr. Eric Willmot and Lansdowne Publishing Pty Ltd for permission to use extracts from the book ‘Pemulwuy: The Rainbow Warrior’; Angus & Robertson/Bay Books for permission to use selections from ‘The Timeless Land’ by Eleanor Dark
No part of this publication or associated material may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the written permission of the copyright owner.
© Copyright Chris Robinson and Breakaway Publishing 1993 - 2008.
All rights reserved. APRA/AMCOS
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[pic]
Eora
Wangal
Buruberongal
Bidjigal
Cadigal
Bidjigal
Dharawal
Kuringai
Darug
Botany Bay
Darkinjung
Port Jackson
Kameraygal
Broken Bay
Common Fauna
Eora, Darug and Kuringai
Bennelong’s Demand
Honesty
First Meeting
Refusal
................
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