-
7Antipodean Contact: Perceptions and
Misperceptions of the Australian Aborigineson Captain Cook’s
Endeavour Voyage
by Claudia Lang
In 1770, Captain Cook sailed the ship Endeavour up the eastern
coastof Australia, then called “New Holland,” on a voyage of
science,exploration, and imperialism. This part of the world was
previouslyundiscovered to the Europeans, yet was home to around
three-quarters of amillion people now known as Australian
Aborigines.’ As a result of thisexpedition, in 1788 the “First
Fleet,” eleven ships carrying over a thousandpeople, arrived and
established a settlement in the area that is todaySydney. Over the
next two hundred years the settler population grewrapidly while the
numbers of indigenous inhabitants plummeted due toEuropean
diseases. As the settlers claimed more and more land, theAborigines
were forced westward. Racial tensions and discriminationtowards the
Aborigines grew, and government treatment of Australia’sindigenous
inhabitants became increasingly repressive. By the 1950sgovernment
policies were described as “worse than the pre-Mandela daysin South
Africa.”2 Australia has finally emerged from a dark age of
racialintolerance, and according to the Australian Bureau of
Statistics theAboriginal population is on the rise.3
Although the travelers on the Endeavour spent only a
relativefragment of the voyage observing and interacting with the
Aborigines, theperceptions they formed during this time would prove
crucial to the futureof the Aborigines, and to the future of
Australia. The men aboard theEndeavor were not only explorers,
scientists, and scholars out to seek newinformation about the
world. They also were viewing the land and itsinhabitants from an
imperialist perspective, asking whether “this land [is]suitable for
settlement? Is it already inhabited?” Their conclusion was
yes,leading Joseph Banks, a gentleman botanist and significant
journal keeperon the voyage, personally to advocate the settlement
of Australia.4However, the Endeavour voyagers were not
conquistadores — they weremen of the Enlightenment, men of science
and learning. They had nomalicious intentions toward the
Aborigines, nor did they plan for them tobe conquered and wiped out
by Europeans. While the voyagers were notactually antagonistic
toward the Aborigines, their failure lay in their
Smail Macintyre, A Concise Histo,y ofAustratia (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1999), 14.2 Margarette Lincoln, ed,,
Science and Exploration in the Pacific (Suffolk: The Boydell Press,
1998), 206.Australian Bureau of Statistics, Australian Bureau
ofStatistics, various dates [websiteJ;available from
http://www.abs.gov.au; Internet; accessed April 25, 2006.Lincoln,
Science and Exploration in the Pacific, 39.
-
8 • Ex Post facto XVIgeneral lack of understanding. The voyagers
lacked information, and thepatience and effort required to obtain
real knowledge about the inhabitantsof Australia. Instead, the
voyagers were content to make judgments andassumptions based on
superficial observations, and then to use theseassumptions to
justify settlement.
The gentlemen aboard the Endeavour kept meticulous
journals,which consequently have been subjected to rigorous
historical analysis.5Glyndwr Williams, an important scholar in this
field, interprets Cook asnotably forward thinking and open-minded
for his time.6 Alan Frost hasalso written on this subject, and
agrees that “Cook and Banks werepercipient, tolerant of racial and
cultural difference, and empathetic to aremarkable degree, far
beyond the generality of their contemporaries.”7While Cook and the
gentlemen of the Endeavour were liberal for theirtime, this must be
reconciled with the outcome of the voyage: the claimand settlement
of Australia and its subsequent settlement without theconsult or
permission of the inhabitants.
The British Admiralty gave Cook two sets of instructions. The
firstwas the official and published mission to observe the transit
of Venus inthe southern hemisphere. The second mission was
classified as secret, andcame in a sealed envelope. Cook was
ordered to travel to Latitude 400 andto seek out the great southern
continent believed to exist somewhere inthat region. The secret
document went on to instruct that
[ylou are likewise to observe the Genius, Temper,Disposition and
Number of the Natives, if there be any, andendeavour by all proper
means to cultivate a Friendship andAlliance with them, making
presents of such Trifles as theymay Value, inviting them to
Traffick, and Shewing themevery kind of Civility and Regard.8
Cook was then instructed, “with the Consent of the Natives to
takepossession of Convenient Situations in the Country in the Name
of theKing of Great Britain.” In addition to these directives, Cook
was alsogiven a list of ‘hints’ from the president of the Royal
Society, a code ofconduct with regard to the treatment of the
natives they anticipated that hewould encounter. These hints
display the Society’s concern that
The term “gentlemen” is used to refer to the scholars, artists
and scientists aboard the ship,whose journals are the primary
sources for this paper. Specifically, journals referenced in
thispaper are those belonging to James Cook, Joseph Banks, Sydney
Parkinson and JohnHawkesworth. There were altogether eight
gentlemen-scholars aboard the ship including thefour mentioned, as
well over 150 non-journal keeping crewmembers. Any reference to
the“crew” in this paper is specifically referring to the gentlemen
aboard the ship, as opposed to thesailors. Beaglehole, 588 gives
the entire list of the ship’s company and their roles.° Glysidwr
Williams, “Seamen and Philosophers in the South Seas,” Mariner’s
Mirror 65(1979): 13.Alan frost, “New South Wales as Terra Nullius:
The British Denial of Aboriginal Land
Rights,” ifistorical Studies 19 (October 1981): 523.Grenfell A.
Price, ed., The Explorations of Captain James Cook(New York: Dover
Publications, 1971), 18-19.
Claudia Lang
-
Ex Post Facto XVI • 9indigenous populations not be mistreated,
injured, or disrespected by thevoyagers, and demonstrate the
Enlightenment and humanitarian outlook ofthe time, which was
[tb exercise the utmost patience and forbearance withrespect to
the Natives of the several Lands where the Shipmay touch.. .They
are human creatures, the work of the sameomnipotent Author, equally
under his care with the mostpolished European; perhaps being less
offensive, moreentitled to his favor.9
However, this letter of recommendations, while
romanticizingindigenous peoples to a certain extent, shows no doubt
about ultimateEuropean supremacy, stating that “[t]here are many
ways to convincethem of the Superiority of Europeans, without
slaying any of those poorpeople.”t° The letter then specifies the
kind of information that should beacquired regarding any natives
encountered. Cook was asked to observeand record their temperament,
level of progress, physical appearance anddress, habituations and
weaponry, and finally religions, morals, and typeof government.
The crew aboard the Endeavour were not the first Europeans to
comeinto contact with the Australian Aborigines. In 1688,
Englishman WilliamDampier landed on the northwest coast of
Australia, and recorded hisexperiences with the Aborigines in his
journals. Dampier’s publisheddescription of the Aborigines is
disparaging to say the least, asserting that“[t]he Inhabitants of
this Country are the miserablest People in theWorld.. .And setting
aside their Humane Shape, they differ little fromBrutes.”11 Banks,
in particular, frequently referenced Dampier’s journaland compared
his impressions with Dampier’s descriptions. In fact,
thedescriptions in Dampier’s original manuscript had been
significantlydoctored and sensationalized to make them more
exciting for the readingpublic. Dampier’s original document
actually was sympathetic to theAborigines and did not use
derogatory terms in describing them)2However, on the first day that
the Endeavour’s crew first sighted peopleon the Australian coast,
Banks reported that “so far did the prejudiceswhich we had built on
Dampiers [sic] account influence us that we fanciedwe could see
their Colour when we could scarce distinguish whether ornot they
were men.”13
J.C. Beaglehole, ed., The Journals ofCaptain James Cook on his
Voyages ofDiscovery (NewYork: Cambridge University Press, 1955),
514-515. Hereafter referenced as “Cook Journal.”‘° Cook Journal,
514.“William Dampier, A Nesv Voyage Round the World (New York:
Dover Publications, 1968), 312,2 Diana & Michael Preston, A
Pirate ofExquisite Mind (New York: Walker & Company, 2004),
175.“South Seas Research, “Banks’s Journal: Daily Entries,” The
Endeavour Journal of JosephBanks, 1768-1 771, 2004 lwebsitel;
available from http://nla.gov.au/nla.cs-ss-jml-banks17700422;
Internet; accessed April 26, 2006. Hereafter referenced as “Banks
Journal.”
Antipodean Contact
-
10 • ExPostfactoXVlFor the crew of the Endeavour, interaction
with the Aborigines was
the exception rather than the norm. During most of the journey,
forming aconnection with the natives proved to be much harder than
anticipated.Despite their efforts, the travelers more often than
not were subject toindifference, fear, or outright hostility. On
numerous occasions, uponseeing the Europeans for the first time,
Aborigines reacted by shouting,brandishing their weapons, and
taking on a generally aggressive andunwelcoming attitude. A week
after first sighting the Aborigines on thecoast, Cook and his
colleagues attempted to interact with them. However,“as we
approached the shore,” Cook recounts, “they all made off excepttwo
Men who seemd resolved to oppose our landing.”4 The
incidentresulted in a minor scuffle, with the Aborigines throwing
stones and dartsand Cook firing his musket, causing the Aborigines
to run away. Thefollowing day, another group of “the natives”
approached members of thecrew at a watering hole on the coast and
“made a stand.” Cook reports,“Mr Hicks who was the officer ashore
did all in his power to entice themto him by offering them presents
etc. but it was to no purpose, all theyseem’d to want was for us to
be gone.”15
Another common reaction of the Aborigines was to flee
immediatelyon sighting the Europeans. The sight of these intruders
frightened many ofthe Aborigines, who felt threatened by their
presence and reacted with atypical “fight or flight” response. The
Aborigines ran away so frequentlythat Banks commented in his
journal that he was “now quite void of fearas our neighbours have
turnd out such rank cowards.”16
While the aggressive reactions of the Aborigines at least
providedsome form of interaction, and their fear and flight
represented someacknowledgment of the uniqueness of the travelers’
presence, morefrustrating and disappointing to the voyagers was the
frequent indifferenceand total absence of curiosity the Aborigines
displayed towards them. Thenonchalance of some of the Aborigines in
their response to the ship wasparticularly difficult for the
travelers to understand. Disappointment anddejection are evident in
Banks’ journal as he observes that
[n]ot one was once observed to stop and look towards theship;
they pursued their way in all appearance intirelyunmovd by the
neighborhood of so remarkable an object as aship must necessarily
be to people who have never seenone.’7
As the ship sailed up the coast the crew continually
sightedAborigines, who continued with their everyday lives. In
general the
“ Cook Journal, 305.‘ Cook Journal, 306.6 Banks Journal;
httphttp://nla.gov.aulnla.cs-ss-jrnl-banks-17700504; accessed
January 13, 2008.‘‘ Banks journal;
http://nla.gov.aulnla.cs-ss-jrnl-banks-17700515; accessed January
13, 2008.
Claudia Lang
-
ExPostfactoXVl • 11Aborigines would only respond if the crew
attempted to come ashore, butwhile sailing up the coast the ship
was largely ignored. Thus, any instancein which the Aborigines
showed interest was considered noteworthy, suchas the entry stating
that “we saw with our glasses about 30 men, womenand children
standing all together and looking attentively at us, the
firstpeople we have seen shew any signs of curiosity at the sight
of the ship.”18
The general lack of interaction between the Aborigines and
theEuropeans hindered any deeper cultural understanding, and
disappointedthe ever curious travelers, many of whom considered
collectinginformation and artifacts to bring back to England to be
a significant partof their mission. Banks exemplified this regret
as the ship left NewHolland, writing that “I much wishd indeed to
have had betteropportunities of seeing and observing the
people.”19
The only constructive interaction between the Aborigines and
theEuropeans took place while the ship was harbored for repairs in
the‘Endeavour River,’ after a close call on the Barrier Reef had
severelydamaged the hull. Perhaps it was only because the ship and
crew wereforced to remain in one place for an extended length of
time that there wasany communication with the Aborigines at all.
The level of interactionattained at Endeavour River suggests that
the Europeans could haveestablished relations with the inhabitants
anywhere along the coast hadthey considered communication with the
local inhabitants importantenough to invest the time and
effort.
While Cook was instructed to win over the friendship of
nativeinhabitants with presents, and to “invite them to Traffick”,
the Aborigines’total lack of interest in European manufactured
goods was a constantbarrier to developing a commercial relationship
with them. TheAborigines simply did not put such a value on
material items, a fact thatwas very hard for the voyagers to
understand and accept. The voyagersrepeatedly gave the standard
trinkets of nails, beads, and cloth to theAborigines, only to find
these same items later abandoned. As Cook notes“we could know but
very little of their customs as we never were able toform any
connections with them, they had not so much as touch’d thethings we
had left in their hutts on purpose for them to take way.”2°
InBanks’ final description of the Aborigines he comments that
“[tJhesepeople seemd to have no Idea of traffick nor could we teach
them; indeedit seemed that we had no one thing on which they set a
value equal toinduce them to part with the smallest trifle.”21
On the other hand, the Aborigines put great value on gifts of
food, afact that the travelers may have been able to utilize to
make contact,especially since it appears that the gesture of giving
food was more
“Banks Journal; http://nla.gov.aulnla.cs-ss-jrnl-banks-17700608;
accessed January 13, 2008.‘ Banks Journal;
http://nla.gov.au/nla.cs-ss-jrnl-banks_remarks-259; accessed
January 13, 2008.10 Cook Journal, 312.2 Banks Journal;
hup:/fnla.gov.aulnla.cs-ss-jml-banks rernarks-285; accessed January
13, 2008.
Antipodean Contact
-
12 • Ex Post facto XVIimportant than the quantity of food
offered. On one occasion, after muchencouragement, a group of
Aborigines wearily paddled their canoealongside the ship. Banks
relates that
Cloth, Nails, Paper, &c &c. was given to them all
whichthey took and put into the canoe without shewing the
leastsigns of satisfaction: at last a small fish was by
accidentthrown to them on which they expressd the greatest
joyimaginable, and instantly putting off the ship made signs
thatthey would bring over their comrades.
The next day the Aborigines returned and “brought with them a
fishwhich they gave to us in return.. .for the fish we had given
themyesterday.”23 This gesture also indicates that the gift of food
was a symbolof friendship and reciprocity to the Aborigines, a sign
of goodwill thatthey understood far better than the strange and
apparently useless articlesthey had been given so far. However,
just as giving food signifiedgoodwill, Aborigines perceived
withholding food as an act of enmity. Justas European-Aboriginal
relations were beginning to develop, an incidentoccurred that
nearly destroyed the fragile relationship altogether. A groupof
“Indians” visited the boat and gestured that they had come to get
one ofthe turtles that the crew had hunted and that now lay on the
deck of theship. Finding their request refused the Aborigines
responded with greatanger. Banks writes of “one who had askd me on
my refusal stamping hisfoot pushd me from him with a countenance
frill of disdain and applyd tosome one else.”24 After
unsuccessfully trying to take a turtle by force, theAborigines
abruptly left the ship and headed to the shore, where they setfire
to the Europeans’ camp. The dispute was eventually settled in
atentative truce. It would have been prudent, for the sake of
diplomacy, toallow the Aborigines to take one of the turtles, but
the travelers saw theturtles as just too valuable to give away. As
Hawkesworth writes, “theyseemed to set very little value upon any
thing we had, except our turtle,which was a commodity that we were
least able to spare.”25 This incidentillustrates that forming
amicable relations with the Aborigines was not theprimary priority
for the Endeavour crew.
The voyager-scholars managed to compile rudimentary word
lists,which are entertaining for the reader because they bring to
life theenvironment in which the words were attained, as the words
were gatheredby pointing to surrounding objects. The word lists are
all nouns, and startwith parts of the body, and are so thorough in
their identification that they
22 Banks Journal;
http://nla.gov.aulnla.cs-ss-jrnl-banks-17700710; accessed January
13, 2008.23 Banks Journal;
http://nla.gov.au/nla.cs-ss-jml-banks-17700711; accessed January
13, 2008.24 Banks Journal;
http://nla.gov.au/nla.cs-ss-jrnl-banks-17700719; accessed January
13,200$.25 South Seas Research, “John Hawkesworth: An Account of
the Voyages undertaken by the orderof his present majesty for
making Discoveries in the Southern Hemisphere,” 2006
[websiteJ;available from http://nla.gov.au/nla.cs-ss-jrnl-hv23-583;
Internet; accessed January 13, 2008.
Claudia Lang
-
Ex Post facto XVI • 13matter-of-factly include the Aboriginal
words for penis and scrotum,indicating that the Europeans were at
ease enough at this time to point attheir subjects’ private parts
inquiringly. Even so, more prolongedinteraction would have been
required for the scholars to develop enoughknowledge of the
language to have a conversation about Aboriginalculture. Therefore,
most of what they learned of the Aboriginal way of lifewas either
through observation, or through the limited level ofcommunication
they could attain by gestures and signs. One example ofcultural
knowledge attained in this method pertains to the large scars
inregular patterns that some of the Aborigines bore. Banks noted
that“[t]hese as far as we could understand by the Signs they made
use of werethe marks of their Lamentations for the deceasd, in
honour to whosememory or to shew the excess of their grief they had
in this manner weptfor in blood.”26 This comment demonstrates that
complex meaning couldbe conveyed to a certain extent, by the use of
signs. However, culturalknowledge about the Aborigines remained
extremely limited. When therewas an absence of knowledge, the
Europeans willingly filled in the gapswith conjecture, and where
social, political, and cultural structures werenot readily apparent
they were assumed not to exist. It is remarkable thateven after
learning about the meaning of the scars, the Europeanscontinued to
believe that the Aborigines had no form of religion, despitethis
clue into their inner world.
Both Banks and Cook go to great lengths in describing
theAborigines’ physical characteristics. Although some level of
judgmentcreeps into both reports, Banks and Cook are not consistent
with eachother in their perceptions. While Cook remarks that
“[t]heir features arefar ftom being disagreeable and their Voices
are soft and tunable,”27Banks’ first comment on their appearance is
that they are “compleatlycoverd with dirt.” 28 He goes on to
disclose that “I tryd indeed [to removethe dirt] by spitting upon
my finger and rubbing,” an admission that showsthe extent to which
the Aborigines were inspected. Furthermore, Bankslists exact height
measurements of a number of “the tribe,” indicating thatthe
Aborigines had allowed themselves to be measured, no doubtwondering
what exactly these peculiar visitors were doing. In contrast
toCook’s perception of the Aborigines’ voices, Banks describes them
as“shrill and effeminate.”29 Overall, Cook’s attitude to the
Aborigines’appearance is more objective than Banks’. For example,
he unemotionallyreports that “[t]he men wear a bone about three or
four inches long and afingers thick, run through the Bridget of the
nose.”30 Banks, on the other
26 Banks Journal;
hup:ulnla.gov.aulnla.cs.ss-jrnl-banks_remarks-287; accessed January
13, 200$.27 Cook Journal, 395.Banks Journal;
http://nla.gov.au/nla.ca-sa-jml-banks_remarks-282; accessed January
13, 2008.
29 Banks Journal;
http://nla.gov.aulnla.ca-sa-jml-banks_remarka-283; accessed January
13, 2008.° Cook Journal, 395.
Antzodean Contact
-
14 • Ex Post facto XVIhand, describes the same ornamentation as
“making in the eyes ofEuropeans a most ludicrous appearance.”31
The Aborigines’ total absence of clothing shocked and
bewilderedEuropean eyes, and the journal keepers mention this fact
repeatedly intheir daily journals, and again in their final
descriptions. Europeansperceived nakedness as another example of
the Aborigines’ “lack ofcivilization.” Cook writes that “[t]hey go
quite naked both Men andWomen without any manner of cloathing
whatever, even the women donot so much as cover their pnvities.”32
This and other journal entriesindicate that Cook regarded the
uninhibited nakedness of the women aseven more shocking than that
of the men. Banks tries to explain theAborigines’ nakedness,
however none of the reasons he can think of arepositive, and he
does not consider for a moment that nudity may be a
validalternative to European dress. Banks wonders “[wJhether this
want of whatmost nations look upon as absolutely necessary proceeds
from idleness orwant of invention is difficult to say.”33
Notably, European clothing was equally hard for the Aborigines
tounderstand. Parkinson reports an encounter that he had had with a
group ofAborigines, explaining that
[tJhey became, at length, more free when only three of uswere
present, and made signs for us to take off some of ourgarments,
which we did accordingly. They viewed them withsuprize; but they
seemed to have had no idea of cloaths; nordid they express a desire
for any; and a shirt, which we gavethem, was found afterwards tom
into rags.34
Hawkesworth describes another occasion when a crewmember, whohad
been separated from his party, came across “four Indians”
who“considered him with great attention and curiosity, particularly
his clothes,and then felt his hands and face, and satisfied
themselves that his bodywas of the same texture with their own.”
Occurrences such as these offera small window of insight into how
the Europeans appeared to theAborigines. Perhaps the Aborigines
wondered what nature of creaturetheir pale guest was, and whether
he too was human like them. It would befascinating to know what the
Aborigine’s concluded from their inspection,but sadly the only
information available as to how the Aboriginesperceived the
Europeans is what can be discerned from the Europeanaccounts.
Banks Journal;
http://nla.gov.au/nla.cs-ss-jml-banks_rernarks-284; accessed
Januaty 13, 2008.32 Cook Journal, 395.Banks Journal;
http://nla.gov.au/nla.cs-ss-jrnl-bsnks rernarks-283; accessed
January 13, 2008.South Seas Research, “Sydney Parkinson,” Journal
of a Voyage to the South Seas, in His
Majesty’s Ship, The Endeavour, 2006 [websiteJ; available from
http://nla.gov.aulnla.cs-ss-jmlparkinson-195; Internet; accessed
January 13, 2008.Hswkesworth;
http://nls.gov.aulnla.cs-sa-jrnl-hv23-582; accessed January 13,
2008.
Claudia Lang
-
Ex Post facto XVI • 15In addition to their difference in
perception of the Aborigines’
physical appearance, Cook and Banks also differ in their
interpretation ofthe Aboriginal temperament. Cook describes their
temperament by writingthat “I do not look upon them to be a warlike
People, on the Contrary Ithink them timorous and inoffensive race,
no ways inclinable to cruelty.”36Meanwhile, Banks takes the
opposite stance by proclaiming “[t]hat theyare a very pusilanimous
people we had reason to suppose from every partof their conduct.”37
This difference of perception is intriguing given thatboth Cook and
Banks both had an almost identical experience of theAborigines.
Given, that many of the Aborigines felt threatened by theEuropeans
and frequently reacted in a fight or flight response, Cookappears
more sensitive to their fear, while Banks was more aware of
theirhostility.
Within the general summations written by Cook and Banks as
theEndeavour left Australia for good, are philosophical sections in
whichthey analyze the lifestyle of the Aborigines and compare it to
that of theEuropeans. These sections of analysis are similar enough
to each other ingeneral content that, perhaps, Cook and Banks
conversed on the subjectbefore they put pen to paper. Both conclude
that the Aborigines’ lack ofmaterialism is a desirable quality, and
that perhaps the Aboriginal way oflife is more enjoyable and less
stressful than the modern European way oflife. Of the Aborigines,
Banks observes that “{tjhus live these I had almostsaid happy
people, content with little nay almost nothing, far enoughremovd
from the anxieties attending upon riches, or even the possession
ofwhat we Europeans call common necessaries.”38 However, Banks
thenfocuses much more on the European way of life and its problems,
andcomments little more on the Aborigiiies. Cook’s writing style
differs fromhis usual practical outlook, and could even be called
romantic. He wrotethat
[f]rom what I have said of the Natives of New-Holland theymay
appear to some to be the most wretched people upon theEarth, but in
reality they are far more happier than weEuropeans; being wholly
unacquainted not only with thesuperfluous but the necessary
conveniencies so much soughtafter in Europe, they are happy in not
knowing the use ofthem.39
As he continues, Cook focuses primarily on the Aboriginal way
oflife and its benefits, rather than merely writing an indictment
of Europeansociety. Cook himself came from a working class
background. He was aman of simple tastes and led an austere life,
and so perhaps he
36 Cook Journal, 396.Banks Journal;
hftp://nla.gov.aulnla.cs-ss-jml-banks_remarks-303; accessed January
13, 2008.
38 Banks Journal;
hftp://nla.gov.aulnla.cs-ss-jrnl-banks_remarks-295; accessed
January 13, 2008.Cook Journal, 399.
Antipodean Contact
-
16 • ExPostFactoXVlsympathized with the Aboriginal lifestyle.
Even so, this type of writing isunusual for Cook, and almost seems
out of place. He may have beenimpressed by concepts of the “noble
savage” that were circulating duringthe Enlightenment or, perhaps,
he was influenced by the writings of othervoyagers and their
descriptions of the native inhabitants of distant lands.The
Endeavour carried a copy of George Shelvocke’s A Privateer’sVoyage
Round the World,40 in which the description of the
indigenousCalifornians is fairly similar, stating that “they seem
to enjoy a perfecttranquility, to the happiness ofwhich nothing
could be added.”4’ However,despite Cook’s sympathy and romanticism
of the Aboriginal way of life,he did not regard them as equals
worthy of the same rights and status.
Cook and Banks were unimpressed with the
technologicaldevelopment of the Aborigines, and based on their
disdain for Aboriginalinnovations, perceived them to be at a lower
level of progress. Aboriginalshelters are described by Cook as
“mean small hovels not much biggerthan an oven,” and their canoes
“are as mean as can be conceived,” yet healso concedes that “bad as
they are they do very well for the purpose theyapply them to.”42
Banks believes that the Aborigines would benefit fromsome
innovation and improvement, saying “how well therefore worth
thepains for them to stock themselves better with boats if they
could do it!”43Aboriginal tools and other items were feeble to
European eyes, and Cooknoted that “[tJhey have not the least
knowledge of Iron or any other Metalthat we know of, their working
tools must be made of stone, bone andshells, those made of the
former are very bad.”44
Both Cook and Banks note the Aborigines’ apparent lack
ofagriculture or domestication of animals, and based on the
assumption thatthe Aborigines were not tied to the land in this
respect, they concluded thatNew Holland was indeed terra nullius,
“land belonging to no-one.” TheAborigines lived a nomadic
existence, and Banks described them as“wandering like the Arabs
from place to place.”45 Banks also commentson the low population
density and speculates that the interior isuninhabited, though the
reasoning behind this conjecture is not alwayssound. He argues that
all known inland nations engage in agriculture ofsome sort, and
that if such an inland nation were to exist, the coastalpopulations
would have learned the “arts of cultivation” from them. Hegoes on
to state that if the coastal population could not manage at least
toimitate a superior inland nation, then “their reason must be
supposd to
Glyndwr Williams, ‘Far more happier than we Europeans’:
reactions to the AustralianAborigines on Cook’s voyage,” Historical
Studies 19 (October 1981): 507.41 George Shelvocke, A Privateer’s
Voyage Round the World (New York: Jonathan Cape &Harrison
Smith, 1930), 262.42 Cook Journal, 396.Banks Journal;
http://nla.gov.au/nla.cs-ss-jml-banks_remarks-307; accessed January
13, 2008.Cook Journal 397.Banks Journal;
hftp:f/nla.gov.au/nla.cs-as-jml-banks_remarks-292; accessed January
13, 2008.
Claudia Lang
-
Ex Post Facto XVI • 17hold a rank little superior to that of
monkies.”46 Banks also suggests thatthe Aborigines’ low numbers may
be a result of warfare. Cook describesthe land to be “in the pure
state of Nature, the Industry of Man has hadnothing to do with any
part of it.”47 In this same passage Cook clearlyviews the land with
an imperialist eye, stating that the land “doth notproduce any one
thing that can become an Article in trade to inviteEuropeans to fix
a settlement upon it. . .but what most sorts of Grain,Fruits, Roots
etc of every kind would flourish here were they once
broughthither.
As Cook approached the Torres Strait he acknowledged that,
whilethe Western side had already been discovered by the Dutch, the
Easterncoast which he was now leaving had been previously
undiscovered byEuropeans. He goes on to state that
I had in the Name of His Majesty taken possession of
severalplaces upon this coast, I now once more hoisted
EnglishCoulers and in the Name of His Majesty King George theThird
took possession of the whole Eastern Coast.. .by thename of New
South Wales.49
There is no mention of a negotiation or agreement with any of
theAborigines before making a claim to this land, despite the
instructionsfrom home to acquire the “consent of the natives.”
While there is no doubtthat the land was inhabited, the way it was
habited — the Aborigines’ lowpopulation density, their way of life,
and their relationship with the land —made the issue of their
ownership and right to the land a matter ofinterpretation for Cook
and his crew.
The assumptions Cook and his crew made about the Aborigines —
thatthey were not tied to the land, that they had no religious
beliefs or politicalstructures, that their level of social
organization was minimal — weresimply incorrect. It is not
surprising that the crew came away with only thefaintest
understanding of Aboriginal life, given the brevity of their
stayand the meager amount of meaningful interaction achieved during
thevisit. Aboriginal life was just too different, too alien, for
the Europeans tocomprehend, and it did not appear worthy of further
investigation. Thusthe travelers’ own preconceptions served as a
barrier to genuineknowledge and understanding.
Historian Alan Frost argues that during this time the
Britishgovernment was cautious to follow a convention of
negotiating withindigenous inhabitants before settling foreign
land. He contends that
Banks Journal;
http://nla.gov.au/nla.cs-ss-jml-banks_remarks-280; accessed January
13, 2008.n Cook Journal, 397.Cook Journal, 397.Cook Journal,
387-398.
Antipodean Contact
-
1$ • Ex Post Facto XVI.had [the British government] known that
the Aborigines
were not truly nomadic, that they had indeed mixed theirlabour
with the land, and that they lived within a complexsocial,
political, and religious framework — that is, had theBritish not
seen New South Wales to be terra nullius, thenthey would have
negotiated for the right to settle the BotanyBay area.5°
The observations of the Endeavour’s scholarly team provided
theinformation from which the British Government worked. These
reportswere gathered during the four months it took to sail up the
coast, but onlyabout two weeks was spent forming the most basic of
relationships. Itbecame a matter of priorities as the crew of the
Endeavour wanted to learnabout the Aborigines, and form
relationships, but they considered theirsuperficial observations to
be sufficient. Looked at more cynically, it wasnot in their best
interests really to study the Aboriginal way of life, lestthey
reach the conclusion that Australia was not terra nullius — that
thesepeople did own the land and that the establishment of any
settlementwould require their permission.
50 Alan Frost, “New South Wales as Terra Nullius: The British
Denial of Aboriginal LandRights,” Historical Studies 19 (October
1981): 522.
Claudia Lang