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EUROBODALLA ABORIGINAL CULTURAL HERITAGE STUDY South Coast NSW the case that other encounters between Europeans and the Aboriginal people of the Eurobodalla area occurred in these early decades of European intrusion but were not recorded in any documents. In particular there was considerable whaling and sealing activity occurring to the south and the ships travelling the coastline as a result of this activity may well have pulled in along the Eurobodalla coast at times. The first documentary record of the Indigenous people of the Eurobodalla coast was the sighting of a number of individuals on the beach in 1770. In this year Captain James Cook and his crew sailed up the south coast on board the Endeavour; they did not land but did record seeing five Aboriginal people standing on the shore in the general vicinity of Bateman’s Bay on the 22 nd of April of that year. 9 In the official log book of the Endeavour it is simply recorded that the crew, “Saw severell (sic) Indians on the beach.” 10 . In Lieutenant James Cook’s private log he recorded only that they, “Saw several people upon the beach.” 11 . The master’s mate recorded slightly more detail, stating, “…as we stood along shore we saw four or five of the Indians sitting near the fire ; they appeared to be naked and very black, which was all we could discern at that distance.”. 12 A number of crew members had recorded the sighting of smoke from fires in the preceding days’ travel along the coastline. 13 The next recorded encounter was in 1797 when the ship the Sydney Cove was wrecked, probably around Ninety Mile Beach in Gippsland, and seventeen crew members set out to walk up the coast to Sydney. An account of the journey written by one of the four men who made it back to Sydney, W. Clark, is brief and provides little detail on the exact locations of events. However, during their two month walk up the coast they encountered many groups of Aboriginal people who had a range of reactions to the intruders, some hostile and violent, many extremely helpful, often feeding and otherwise assisting the sailors. It is likely that the following extract refers to a meeting with people somewhere near Tuross on the 11 th of April: Met fourteen natives who conducted us to their miserable abodes in the wood adjoining to a large lagoon and kindly treated us with mussels, for which unexpected civility, we made them some presents. These people seem better acquainted with the laws of hospitality than any of their countrymen… for to their benevolent treat was added an invitation to remain with them for the night… As far as we could understand these natives were of a different tribe from those we had seen [to the south] and were then at war with them. They possessed a 9 N. & M. Ellis, Dear Braidwood: A History of the Braidwood District, self-published, 1997, p.14. 10 Lieutenant James Cook , ‘Extracts from the Log-Book of the “Endeavour,”… [official log]’, entry for 22 April, 1770, Historical Records of New South Wales, Vol. 1, Part 1. – Cook: 1762-1780, Government Printer, Sydney, 1893, p.90. 11 Lieutenant James Cook, ‘Extracts from the Log-Book of the “Endeavour,”…[private log]’, entry for 22 April, 1770, Historical Records of New South Wales, Vol. 1, Part 1. – Cook: 1762-1780, Government Printer, Sydney, 1893, p. 12. 12 Richard Pickersgill, ‘A Journal of the Proceedings of His Majesty’s Bark Endeavour (Lieutenant James Cook, Commander), entry for 22 nd April, 1770, Historical Records of New South Wales, Vol. 1, Part 1. – Cook: 1762-1780, Government Printer, Sydney, 1893, p.213. Pickersgill was the master’s mate on board the Endeavour.] 13 See Pickersgill’s journal and also Stephen Forwood, ‘A Journal of the Proceedings of His Majesty’s Bark Endeavour’, entry for 21 st and 22 nd of April, 1770, Historical Records of New South Wales, Vol. 1, Part 1. – Cook: 1762-1780, Government Printer, Sydney, 1893, p.192. [Forwood was the gunner on board the Endeavour.] Goulding Heritage Consulting Pty Ltd 24
EUROBODALLA ABORIGINAL CULTURAL HERITAGE STUDY South Coast NSW liberality to which the others were strangers and freely gave us a part of the little they had. 14 In that same year of 1797, during an official journey of exploration down the south coast, George Bass recorded his brief observations of the Eurobodalla area. His descriptions indicate that his concern was with the potential of the area for European settlement and cultivation. Bass did not see any Aboriginal people during this trip but saw signs of their presence. In his report of the journey Bass wrote the following description of Bateman’s Bay which he visited on the 14 th December 1797: At 5 we entered Bateman Bay…. The north and south sides are hilly. Grass grows tolerably luxuriant upon them, but they seem only fit for feeding cattle. The land on the west side is low and wet, but a few grassy risings might afford good sites. The vallies (sic) and the slopes of several of the little hills at some distance back are capable of cultivation, some of them to great advantage. The only difference remarkable in the vegetable productions is the increased size of the she and swamp oaks. 15 On the 17 th of December they were in the Tuross Lake area: The form of the ground in general is either low and swampy or at once inclining to the mountainous, there being little or none upon a plane. The whole is intersected by extensive salt swamps and the arms of a branching lagoon that comes to the sea about a mile to the northward of the point… The qualities of the soil are but very indifferent. Some of the best of the low ground before you approach the edges of the swamps is thickly covered with long grass and fern, but the soil is sandy and light. A wet salt marsh then leads you down into the swamps. The sides of the hills where they do not rise up from the lake or swamp side very suddenly are really meadows, but these are few in number. The tops of some of the lower hills are well grassed, but the soil is too poor and sandy for cultivation. The country seems to be at all times but sparingly watered, but it is now in a state of drought. In the course of our round of not less than 12 or 14 miles we could not find a drop of fresh water, altho’ the heat of the day made us search for it with extreme eagerness. We met with numbers of native huts deserted, the cause of which appeared when we traced down their paths to the dried up waterholes they had dug in the very heart of the largest of the swamps. We saw here the only grey kangaroo we ever met with during our whole absence. 16 The next meeting recorded by Europeans with Aboriginal people in the Eurobodalla area was at Bateman’s Bay in 1808. A small vessel, the Fly, pulled into the Bay to escape a storm. Five of the sailors went on shore, a party of Aboriginal people met 14 Clark quoted in H.J. Gibbney, Eurobodalla: History of the Moruya District, Library of Australian History, Sydney, 1980, p.14. 15 ‘The Discovery of Bass Strait: Mr. Bass’s Journal in the Whaleboat…’, Historical Records of New South Wales, Vol. III – Hunter: 1796-1799, p.317. 16 ‘The Discovery of Bass Strait: Mr. Bass’s Journal in the Whaleboat…’, Historical Records of New South Wales, Vol. III – Hunter: 1796-1799, p.317. Goulding Heritage Consulting Pty Ltd 25
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Page 3 and 4: Introduction EUROBODALLA ABORIGINAL
Page 5 and 6: Scope of this Investigation EUROBOD
Page 9 and 10: Methodology EUROBODALLA ABORIGINAL
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Pages 9 - 77 (1600kb) - Eurobodalla Shire Council

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