By Greg Spearritt
Australia Day, celebrated – or mourned – on January 26, marks the arrival of the First Fleet ships at Port Jackson. So much about the arrival of the British is surprisingly little-known by contemporary Australians, however.
Botany Bay, for a start, was initially named Stingray Bay by James Cook because of the number and huge size of the creatures that lazed around the Endeavour there. His crew fed on these, but at up to 200 kilograms, even gutted, some had to be hauled aboard with block and tackle.
There were some unsanctioned celebrations taking place at Sydney Cove soon after the fledgling colonists arrived. Some ten days after that first ship’s arrival at Sydney Cove, women convicts, making up less than a third of the convict population, were set ashore. A terrifying storm occurred, during which a pig and at least five of the new colony’s precious sheep were killed by lightning, and the authorities took cover. The storms continued for several days. It seems the lower classes made the most of this situation, with rum and much carousing and fornication, as remarked upon by a shocked Lieutenant Ralph Clark:
Good God what a Seen of Whordome is going on there in the women’s camp… I would call it by the name Sodom for there is more sin committed in it, than in any other part of the world.
In spite of threats from Governor Phillip to shoot miscreants trying get into the women’s tents at night, the party apparently continued for some time.
In contrast to our Prime Minister’s ill-advised complaint that Indigenous people weren’t the only ones to find the situation less than “flash” in the early days at Port Jackson, some at least of the convicts and sailors seemed to be enjoying themselves.
The historicity of this episode is apparently questioned by some historians. It’d be a real pity if it turned out to be apocryphal.
However, all of this and much more besides, from politics to geology to sociology and biology, is revealed in a Tim Flannery essay titled ‘The Sandstone City’, collected recently in his book Life and originally from his 1999 book The Birth of Sydney. Every Australian should read it!.
Photo by David Dibert on Unsplash
Disclaimer: views represented in SOFiA blog posts are entirely the view of the respective authors and in no way represent an official SOFiA position.
In ‘Celebrating Arrival’, Greg Spearritt rightly fleshes out the arrival at Sydney Cove of Arthur Phillips and the First Fleet on 26 January 1788 and the early annual celebrations of that event. However, in the 21st century, Australia Day re-enactments are all about Capt Cook’s arrival at Botany Bay. On 26 January 1770, James Cook and the Endeavour were still charting the New Zealand coast. They didn’t reach the east coast of Australia until April and dropped anchor in Botany Bay on 29 April 1770. This all makes the celebrations more and more problematic. But as Greg Spearritt tells us, some sort of celebration of the arrival of the first fleet with Arthur Phillip started very early.
While I understand why many indigenous people will only ever see 26 January as Invasion Day, I think the idea of shifting the Australia Day celebrations to another date is just not going to happen. For a start, there are too many alternative dates to chose from and we all know how bad Australian politicians are at consensus and compromise.
Australia Day celebrations, whether a re-enactment, a march, a citizenship ceremony or a BBQ, don’t get going until mid-morning. But we know Australians of all colours love the ANZAC Day dawn service and the symbolism behind it so why not emulate these features?
I thought ‘why not have an Invasion Day commemorative dawn service on 26 January? It can celebrate what was here before the arrival of the first fleet. Then I discovered, this year (2021), that Wesley Enoch was one step ahead of me, holding a Vigil, a Bungul, a procession, a new ritual the night before on the stage erected for the Sydney Festival. I have only just listened to his speech, which mirrors exactly the conclusion I had come to. We are both theatrical people, but Wesley speaks with much more authority than I do. The activities BC [that’s Before-Cook] could be extended back for the whole of 25 January. There are endless opportunities for symbolism here. There are school holidays preceding the date [ideal for kids, both black and white, learning about and working up historical re-enactments, etc for performance on 25th]; story-telling at every juncture; night-long Invasion Day memorial vigil; a first sighting of the Endeavour; a dawn Invasion Day re-enactment service/ceremony; a much-condensed history of 250years; a makarrata coming together ceremony leading in to the usual Australia Day celebrations. That’s my suggestion of a way forward.