The Explorers (15 page)

Gogy, the native I had in my service, started running, and went and sat with them, where he remained until we arrived. He came and told me that one of these natives was a mountaineer called Bungin, and the other knew the white men and was called Wooglemai.
^*

I went to the mountaineer to examine a mantle with which he was covered. This mantle was made of skins of various animals sewn together. It was a very great curiosity and, as I was desirous of obtaining it, I proposed to him to exchange it for a new axe, but he would not part with it, and told me that the nights were very cold and his mantle was his only covering. I was compelled to abandon my proposal, and in order to attach to me this mountaineer, who would be very useful to me in the country I was in, I had the head of the kangaroo given to him to appease his hunger, after which he came and proposed, as a token of friendship, to exchange his old axe for the new one I had offered him for his mantle. I filled him with joy by complying with his request.

I resumed my journey at half past five o'clock, and arrived with my party and baggage on the border of a small creek…The place where I decided to spend the night was on the territory of the mountaineer Bungin. He gave a proof of his friendship and gratefulness for my good treatment by building a hut for me, and I was very thankful for his kind attention.

I was then at about two miles from a chain of mountains, the direction of which is westerly, inclining towards the south; southerly there is a range of hills stretching in various directions…

On the 8th November I crossed the creek, the banks of which are nearly perpendicular; but the bullocks succeeded in making a wide passage, quite practicable for men on foot, but too steep for a carriage to pass, and I was obliged to have the waggon carried by hand to the other side. I walked until noon, when I stopped near another creek in order to rest ourselves until four o'clock. A soup made of boiled rice, with pickled pork, composed our repast, and I saw that the two natives had their share; but whilst one of the newly arrived mountaineers would not partake of this food the other ate it with avidity. The former, having caught a lizard, roasted it and devoured it. I tasted some of it and preferred it to the opossum…

I resumed my journey at four, and at six o'clock crossed another creek. After having travelled over a plain, I perceived fires in several places, and Bungin told me that it was a chief called Canambaigle with his tribe, who were hunting and had on that very day set the country on fire. He showed me the imprints of various feet, both of males and females, scattered here and there…

On the 9th November, at six in the morning when I was preparing to start, Bungin, one of the mountaineer natives, told me that he heard the voice of a native at some distance from us and, after having spoken to Gogy, they went together towards the spot whence the sound of the voice had appeared to come. I heard them repeat, several times, the word coo-ee shouting with all their strength; and a quarter of an hour later after I had lost sight of them they came back, bringing two other mountaineers with them. One was called Bulgin and the other Wallarra. The latter had never seen a white man, but the former had seen several whilst kangaroo hunting.

Wallarra was seized with a great fright when I stepped forward to shake hands with him, and I was obliged to withdraw and leave him with the other natives, who tried to reassure him and give him confidence, telling him that I did not do them any harm, that I had come to gather some pebbles and plants and that I had the animals skinned to preserve their fur.
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The forenoon was already far advanced. I gave orders to yoke the bullocks to the waggon, and to place in it my utensils for my journey to Nattai, which I reached at 11 a.m., after having gone over a very difficult country, all covered with stones and bush, the soil of which is very arid…
^†

I told some of my people to cut some trees to make a hut large enough for the whole of my party, and to procure a good supply of water, as the nearest creek was almost one mile from us. Whilst my orders were being carried out, and the other portion of my people were preparing our dinner, I went to explore the neighbourhood and there gathered various plants.

After dinner I took two men with me and went down the creek, which I followed until dusk, gathering flowers and fragments of a rather peculiar sandstone. I returned to the depot at sunset, and about the same time Bulgin (one of the mountaineer newcomers), with Bungin, arrived with their wives and two children; but Wallarra, the other mountaineer, was not with them.

Gogy told me that they had brought portions of a monkey (in the native language
colo
) but they had cut it in pieces, and the head, which I should have liked to secure, had disappeared. I could only get two feet through an exchange which Gogy made for two spears and one tomahawk. I sent these two feet to the governor in a bottle of spirits.

N
ICHOLAS
P
ATESHALL

The King Of Port Phillip, 1803

Young Nicholas Pateshall, third lieutenant on HMS
Calcutta
, wrote an intriguing account of the first attempt, in October 1803, to establish a European settlement on the shores of Port Phillip Bay. After the Baudin expedition the English suspected the French had designs on Australia. HMS
Calcutta
had been dispatched from England, with her cargo of convicts, to cut timber for the navy and to establish a settlement in Bass Strait before the French could. Pateshall provides tantalising evidence about Victoria's Aborigines when he records seeing a distinctively robed individual, whom he calls ‘their king', being carried on the shoulders of other men. Early accounts of western Victoria also mention similar ‘chiefs'. Is it possible that some Aboriginal societies of Victoria were more stratified than those of the rest of the continent? Unfortunately, they were so quickly destroyed that we will probably never know.

On the 8th of October birds were seen about the ship, and the air was fumigated with a sweet scent, so that we assured ourselves of our approach to land. Every person seemed enlivened after running 6,893 miles and being forty-five days without seeing land.

King's Island in Bass's Straits, New Holland was now seen right ahead which we stood very close to and then tacked in. A short time after, a hurricane of wind, with a tremendous sea making a clean breach over the ship's poop, suddenly split or blew away every sail from the yards. In this situation did we remain during a long and awful night in the unexplored sea until morning, when an opening in the land on the main gave us hopes as to its being our port of destination. The weather being now more moderate we stood in towards it. When we were within a mile of the entrance we observed the sea to break all across. Our situation now became most serious with the wind and sea dead upon the land. We attempted to tack the ship but she refused stays. This brought us still nearer the danger; our anchors now seemed to be our only dependence.

At length we observed a small opening in the breakers through or on which it was evident the ship must go. Our sails were scarcely trimmed for the purpose when a cry from the look-out men aloft that a ship's masts were seen over the land again animated every heart, as it assured us of its being Port Phillip and the ship at anchor to be our consort the
Ocean
. All sail was now crowded upon the ship and the supposed reef of rocks proved to be an immensely strong ebb tide against the wind which caused the great sea at the entrance.

On the 9th of October 1803 we came to an anchor under the southern shore, the
Ocean
being half a mile from us. Upon entering this spacious harbour nothing could be more pleasing to the eye than the beautiful green plains with lofty trees which surrounded us. In short the country appeared more like pleasure grounds than a wild savage continent…

On the following morning we hoisted out all the boats. Captain Woodriff, Governor Collins and Lieutenant Tuckey went on shore in the barge and in a short time afterwards returned with a very unfavourable account of the place, not having been able to find fresh water, and soil they found to be little better than sand. Upon their approaching the shore two natives appeared brandishing their spears and making signs of hostile motion but, a musket being fired over their heads, they ran into the woods with a hideous yell leaving their war weapons behind. Again all the boats went in search of fresh water and returned with the same ill success. Vast quantities of wild fowl, black swans, pelicans, ducks and an innumerable number of parrots were seen, and likewise the prints and other marks of the kangaroo.

It was now proposed and determined to fit the launch and another boat for the purpose of surveying the harbour and if possible to find an eligible situation for establishing the colony. We next began to make wells for the daily supply of water by boring holes in casks and sinking them in the low grounds even with the surface. This plan answered our purpose as well as could be expected but the water was brackish.

On the 11th the captain, governor and some others visited part of the bay called Arthur's Seat. Lieutenant Dowers, the Reverend Mr Knopwood and myself went to an island five miles from the ship where we found excellent shooting and returned to the ship before night, bringing with us large swans, two couple of redbills and six pelicans, besides many other small birds and as many eggs as we could conveniently carry.
^†
Upon this island I got a young eagle of the golden species. Other parties were equally successful having killed quail, parrots, snakes and pigeons.

Captain Woodriff and party returned with no better opinion of the place than before, but had determined upon landing the convicts in a bay which we called Sullivan.
^††
The two boats before mentioned, under the command of Lieutenant Tuckey and some civil officers belonging to the colony establishment, well armed and fitted out in every respect for fourteen days, proceeded upon the intended survey. Arming the boats was thought prudent for, although as yet few of the natives had appeared, there could be no doubt that the place was swarming with them from the constant fires round the bay. In the evening we hauled out nets for fish but not with any great success: most of those we caught were of one sort to which we gave the name of aldermen from their delicious eating and from finding fish in them half as big as themselves…
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The natives in general were very friendly and proud of everything given them, but seemed quite ignorant of the use of firearms or anything else, although they stole from us axes and saws. Both sexes go entirely naked excepting their chiefs or kings who wear cloaks on their backs of small skins sewn very neatly together with grass. The men seldom approach you without their instruments of war, which are spears pointed with sharp bones and shields neatly carved and ingeniously made. The women carry fish-gigs, nets etc. They are a robust race of people fond of adorning themselves with scars, white and red paint, and long necklaces made of reeds. Their chief's head-dress is composed of feathers of the cockatoo and parrot, and kangaroo teeth. The women appear very shy, always keeping in the rear, are well made, but very dirty; their heads are likewise dressed with feathers etc. When the men approach you with hostile intention their chiefs are carried upon the shoulders of four men and are otherwise distinguished by having a bone or reed from ten to twelve inches long run through their noses which, added to the painting of their faces, makes them curious figures.

On the 22nd Lieutenant Tuckey and the former party again proceeded in two boats armed to finish the survey of the
NW
part of the harbour and did not return till the 28th when he gave us the following report: that he had found two or three freshwater rivers at a distance from the ship, that the navigation was exceedingly difficult and that it would be impossible for a colony to flourish there, as the soil was little better than sand.

On the evening previous to his return he had had a serious skirmish with the natives, which proceeded from their wishing to steal or take by force everything he had on shore in a tent, or even in the boats. From the account he gave it is evident that they are brave and clever as to their mode of attack. A small party of them came down first, with every sign of friendship, and received several presents. Lieutenant Tuckey then left the shore in one of the boats to survey a small spot while dinner was preparing; this the look-out party of the natives observing, they stole off from about the tent without giving the least suspicion of anything improper. In less than half an hour a large body was seen advancing on the right, carrying their chiefs as before described, and another party on the left equally large.

Mr Gammon, a midshipman who was commander of the small party left by Lieutenant Tuckey, ordered them immediately to seize their arms but on looking round saw they were completely encircled by another party which had advanced in the rear through the woods. Lieutenant Tuckey very fortunately had observed them in their first approach and had used all possible exertion to get on shore, as he happily did just as they had begun to brandish their weapons and to sing their war songs. He immediately commenced a firing over their heads, which for the moment made them retreat, but in a short time afterwards they advanced again, seemingly with double resolution.