(Page 113)

'The eighteenth-century explorer’s close adherence to the advice offered by Lord Morton and the Royal Society produced ethnographic[description of races of men.]descriptions of the Aborigines that were significantly more detailed than those given earlier by the Dutch navigators and by Dampier.

Cook saw the first sign of habitation, smoke, in the vicinity of Mt Dromedary on 22 April 1770,the third day of sailing north after sighting the eastern Australian coast. The next day, a week before landing at Botany Bay, he saw Aborigines on the shore near Brush Island, north of Bateman’s Bay.He wrote in his journal:[we] were so near the Shore as to distinguish several people upon the Sea beach. (page 115) They appear’d to be of a very dark or black Colour but whether this was the real colour of their skins or the Clothes they might have on I know not’. Some days later he`saw the smook [cloudy mass of suspended particles that rises from fire or anything burning.]of fire in several places near the sea beach’[Cook,1,301,303].

On the ninth day he made his first attempt to communicate with the Aborigines near Bulli:[near Wollongong south of Sydney]. we saw several people a Shore four of whome were carrying a small boat or canoe which we imagined they were going to put into the water in order to come off to us but in this were mistaken. Being now not two Miles from the Shore Mr Banks Dr Solander Tupia and my self put off in the yawl[I suspect there was more people in the boat as they are two mast].and pull’d in for the land to a place where we saw four or five of the natives who took to the woods as we approached the Shore, which disapointed us in the expectation we had of getting a near veiw of them if not to speak to them; but our disappointment was heighten’d when we found that we no where could effect a landing by reason of the great surff which beat everywhere upon the shore. We saw hauld up on the beach 3 or 4 small Canoes which to us appear'd not much unlike the small ones of New Zealand. [Cook,1,304].

Banks was also a close observer of the approach to Botany Bay and entry into it the next day:[A point of interest Banks named it Stingaray Bay only to change it sometime later. I cannot remember the facts. You would need to look at Bank”s diary to check the facts].

28[April]. The land this morn appeard Cliffy and barren without wood. An opening appearing like a harbour was seen and we stood directly in for it. A small smoak arising from a very barren place directed our glasses that way and we soon saw about 10 people, who on our approach left the fire and retird to a litte emminence [cannot find this word in the dictionary. There is eminence but it does not seem to fit.].where they could conveniently see the ship; soon after this two canoes carrying 2 men each landed on the beach under them, the men hauld up their boats and went to their fellows upon the hill. Our boat which had been sent ahead to sound [I take this to mean that they where measuring the depth of the bottom. From what I have read in Cook”s diary he was very carefull]. now approached the place and they all retird to higher up on the hill; we saw however that at the beach or landing place one man at least was hid among some rocks who never that we could see left that place. Our boat proceeded along shore and the indians followed her at a distance. When she came back the officer who was in her told me that in a cove a little within the harbour they came down to the beach and invited our people to land by many signs and words which he did not at all understand; all however were armed with long pikes and a wooden weapon made something like a short scymetar[a spear and a woomera, a spear thrower.]. During this time a few Indians who had not followed the boat remained on the rocks opposite the ship, threatening and menacing with their pikes and swords[probably boomerangs]-two in particular who were painted with white ,their faces seemingly only dusted over with it[pipe clay], their bodies painted with broad stokes drawn over their breasts and backs resembling much a soldiers cross belts, and their legs and thighs also with such like broad strokes drawn round them which imitated broad garters or bracelets. Each of these held in his hand a wooden weapon about 2 1/2 feet long, in shape much resembling a scymeter;the blades of these lookd whitish and some thought shining insomuch that they were almost of opinion that they were made of some kind of metal, but myself though they were no more than wood smeard over with the same white pigment with which they paint their bodies. These two seemd to talk earnestly together, at times brandishing their crooked weapons at us as in token of defiance. By noon we were within the mouth of the inlet which appeard to be very good. Under the South head of it were four small canoes; in each of these was one man who held in his hand a long pole with which he struck fish, venturing with his little imbarkation almost into the surf.[Banks,ll,53]

Evidently, the sight of the Endeavour, massively larger than any Aboriginal canoe, did not seem to alarm some Aborigines;

These people seemed to be totaly engag’d in what they were about; the ship passed within a quarter of a mile of them and yet they scarce lifted their eyes from their employment; I was almost inclind to think that attentive to their business and deafbd by the noise of the surf they neither saw nor heard her go past. At 1 we came to an anchor abreast a small village consisting of about 6 or 8 houses. [Page 116.] Soon after this an old woman followed by three children came out of the wood; she carried several peices of stick and the children also had their burthens; when she came to the houses 3 more smaller children came out of one of them to meet her.She often looked at the ship but expressd neither surprise nor concern. Soon after this she lighted a fire and the four Canoes came in from fishing; the people landed, hauld up their boats and began to dress their dinner to all appearances totaly unmoved at us,tho’we were within little more than 1/2 a mile of them. Of all these people we had seen so distinctly through our glasseswe had not been able to observe the least signs of Cloathing; myself to the best of my judgement plainly dicernd that the woman did not copy our mother Eve even in the fig leaf.[Banks,11,54]

Cook and Banks encountered Aborigines on five days during their stay at Botany Bay. Banks described the first occasion as follows:

After dinner the boats were mann’d and we set out from the ship intending to land at the place where we saw these people,hoping that as they regagard our landing.We were in this however mistaken, for as soon as we approached the rocks two of the men came down upon them,each armed with a lance of about 10 feet long and a short stick which he seemd to handle as if it was a machine to throw the lance.They called to us very loud in a harsh sounding Language of which neither us or Tupia {this man was bought from the islands to help communicate with the people of New Zealand] understood a word, shaking their lances and menacing, in all appearance resolvd to dispute our landing to the utmost tho they were but two and we 30 or 40 at least. In this manner we parleyd with them for about a quater of an hour,they waving to us to be gone,we again signing that we wanted water and that we meant them no harm. (Page 117) They remained resolute so a musquet was fird over them, the Effect of which was that the Youngest of the two dropd a bundle of lances on the rock at the instant in which he heard the report; he however snatched them up again and both renewed their threats and opposition. A Musquet loaded with small shot was now fird at the Eldest of the two who was obout 40 yards from the boat; it struck him on the legs but he minded it very little so another was immediately fird at him;on this he ran up to the house about 100 yards distant and soon returnd with a sheild.[Sheilds were seen only at Botany Bay,Parkinson described ‘a sheild of an oval figure, painted white in the middle, with two holes in it to see through’[page 134]. In the mean time we had landed on the rock. He immedediately threw a lance at us and the young man another which fell among the thickest of us but hurt nobody; 2 more musquets with small shot were then fird at them on which the Eldest threw one more lance and then ran away as did the other. We went up to the houses, in one of which we found the children hid behind the sheild and a peice of bark in one of the houses. We were conscious from the distance the people had been from us when we fird that the shot could have done them no material harm; we therefore resolvd to leave the chilren on the spot without even opening their shelter.We therefore threw into the house to them some beads,ribbands,cloths &c as presents and went away. We however thought it no improper measure to take away with us all the lances which we could find about the houses, amounting in number to forty or fifty.They were of various lenghs, from 15 to 6 feet in lengh; both those which were thrown at us and all we found except one had 4 prongs headed with very sharp fish bones, which were besmeard with a greenish colourd gum that at first gave me some suspicions of Poison. The people were blacker than any we have seen in the Voyage tho by no means negroes;their beards were thick and bushy and seemd to have a redundancy of hair upon parts of the body where it commonly grows; the hair of their heads was bushy and thick but by no means wooley like that of a Negro; they were of a common size, lean and seemd active and nimble; their voices were coarse and strong. Upon examining the lances we had taken from them we found that the very most of them had been usd in striking fish, at least we concluled so from sea weed which was found struk in among the four prongs.-Having taken the resolution before mentioned we returnd to the ship in order to get rid of our load of lances, and having done that went to that place at the mouth of the harbour where we had seen the people in the morn; here however we found nobody.- At night many moving lights were seen in different parts of the bay such as we had been usd to see at the Islands; from hence we supposd that the people here strike fish in the same manner.[Banks,11,55]'

The above was taken from the book "Before The First Fleet" by John Kenny. The spelling is as it is in the book.

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