HIST106 Indigenous Peoples ~ Lecture 2

Assignment 1 Online Quiz

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Deep Time
The Aboriginal History of Sydney
- Deep time-geological time. Concept from Scottish enlightenment
after observing geological satisfaction.
- Long history that pre-dates humans and includes human arrival and
evolution
- Deep also means meaningful
- Archaeological
John Mcphee, Basin and Range (1981)
- Numbers do not seem to work well with regard to deep time.
The dawn of time
- Thinking about time
- Ways of understanding time
- Ways of experiencing time
- Ways of measuring time
- Time as a causal agent
- Dreamtime
The Dreaming
- The Dreaming, is a complex set of beliefs and ideas that has many
meanings for Aboriginal people.
- It serves, in Aboriginal culture, a role similar to that filled in our
culture by history, philosophy, science, religion and literature
 - It tells of the world as it once was (history), as it could and should
be morality as it must always necessarily be philosophy and religion

Gondwana
- Southern super continent that became Australias continent also
Anatartica, Souther America, Africa
Gondwana shifts and Australias landscape
- The climate of Gondwana was mild
- New Guinea is on the same continental plate as Australia
A time of Ice and Fire: Australia over the last 100, 000 years
- Starting about 100, 000 years ago, the history of Australia begins to
speed up
- Several dramatic changes occur close together in time:
Onset of the Ice Age
- The temperate of the Earth changes naturally over time resulting in
cooler and warmer periods
Changing Biomes
- Biomes are areas of the Earth that are host to similar sets of plants
and animas
Ice Age changes: increase of bushfires
- Fossilised charcoal found deep in the earth give us some idea of
how often bushfires happened in pre-historic time
Africa to Sahul
- Humans began to move out of Africa around 70 thousand years ago
- But others think it could be even longer
Recent archaeological research pushes back time
- Australians were able to quickly adapt to the environment
- They exploited areas and formed artworks
Beach or Inland people?

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Did the first people in Sahul stay on the coast or move inland?
Moved inland controversy among archaeologists about why
What did they eat?
Seafood on the coast moving inland changed diet
Where was the climate most hospitable?
Inland at first as climate changed, n the coast
How can we find out?
Interdisciplinary studies geology, archaeology, climate sciences etc.
Trade and subsistence
- The assumption that Aboriginal Australians were subsistence
hunters and gatherers has been proved wrong
- Farming deliberate and systematic exploitation of the land was
conducted
- So was minding, for ochre and flint
- Trade was conducted especially in ochre, across vast distances,
including exports to New Guinea
Ice Age changes: the extinction of the Megafauna
- Australia was home to a variety of large mammals
The Great Megafauna Extinction Debate
- Most of the large animals lost their habitat and were taken to
other parts of areas in Australia for water and better habitat.
- Bisen in northern America it survived until 20th century.
First arrival to Sydney
A few days after arrival at Botany Bay the fleet moved to the more
suitable Port Jackson where a settlement was established at Sydney
Cove on 26th of January 1788. This date later became Australias
National Day, Australia Day. The colony was formally proclaimed by
Governor Philip on 7th February 1788 at Sydney.

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Bungaree
Bungaree became the first known Aboriginal person to circumnavigate
Australia and contribute to the mapping of the Australian coastline.

A short man with a sharp intellect, Bungaree arrived in Sydney in the

1790s with the remains of his Kuring-gai mob, after conflicts with white
settlers had escalated along the Hawkesbury River. He must have quickly
made a mark in the fledging colony, as by 1798 he was employed on a 60-
day round trip to Norfolk Island on the HMS Reliance, where he met the
young English naval lieutenant Matthew Flinders. Flinders was so
impressed with Bungarees friendly demeanour, intuition and bravery
that the following year he took him on a coastal survey voyage to Bribie
Island and Hervey Bay (Qld) on the 25-tonne longboat Norfolk.

Bungaree was a brilliant diplomat and despite language barriers could

quickly ascertain the wishes of the coastal Aboriginal groups they
encountered. Flinders therefore used him again on his most exploratory
voyage, the circumnavigation of Australia in the HMS Investigator, from
1802 to 1803. It was on this expedition that much of Australias unknown
coastline was mapped.

Back in Sydney, Bungaree established a reputation as a brilliant mimic,

imitating the walk and mannerisms of various governors and
personalities. He was given fine clothing, including military cloaks and a
hat. Governor Macquarie took a particular liking to Bungaree, and gave
him both the fictitious title King of the Broken Bay Aborigines and the
first Aboriginal land grant, on Georges Head, where he briefly grew
peaches and other produce.

In 1817, Bungaree sailed to north-western Australia with Phillip Parker

King in the 76-tonne cutter HMS Mermaid, again showing his skill as a
diplomat and intermediary between white and black people. He died in
Sydney in 1830 and was buried at Rose Bay.

Many paintings exist of Bungaree in his European garb. He is also

remembered through the naming of the Bongaree settlement on Bribie
Island and, early in 2015, the naming of a walk at Mosman, Sydney, from
Chowder Bay to Georges Heights, where his farm had been located.