Eyeing Country

The first glimpse

When The Endeavour first sailed along
the East Australian coast in 1770, the
first glimpses of Aboriginal people came
through the lens of a telescope. At
Murramarang Point, the botanist Joseph
Banks was struck by what his telescope
revealed to him. He saw five people on
the beach who were enormously black.
As The Endeavour sailed into Botany
Bay a few days later, Banks observed the
faces and bodies of Aboriginal men and
women like museum exhibits in a glass
case. When he finally came ashore, he
spat on his finger and rubbed the skin of
an Aboriginal man to see whether his blackness could be washed away.

Through the lens of his telescope, Banks quickly scanned the land for its utility. He noticed the
fertile soil and the abundance of plant and animal species. From these first few glimpses, it is
easy to see why the Europeans and Aboriginal people were driven into conflict that has continued
for more than 200 years. Banks perspective of Aboriginal people was framed by the very
scientific tool that he held in his hands. It blinded him to the humanity of the Aboriginal peoples
and cultures that he encountered.

1. Which piece of technology did the Europeans use to study Aboriginal people?
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2. What did Banks do when he came ashore at Botany Bay?

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3. Look at the Aboriginal language map. What did the Europeans NOT see through their
telescopes and why did this create conflict with Aboriginal people?

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 The view from the ship
Lieutenant Cook

They may appear to some to be the most wretched People

upon Earth.
Confirmed cannibals, they lose no opportunity of satisfying
their love of human flesh. Mothers will kill and eat their own
children.
They seem to have no fixed habitation, but move about from
place to place like wild beasts in search of Food.

The view from the shore

Aboriginal people thought the first Europeans they saw might have been ghosts, or evil spirits. The Endeavour
appeared to them as a floating island. Their Dreaming provided them with no clues as to who these pale-
skinned, strangely dressed people might be. Some wondered if they might be women, as they had no beards.
Some tried to find a place for them in their kinship system by treating them as spirits of their dead.

Uncle Allen Madden

Even when they got here, blackfellas thought they were

possums running up and down the masts. Then you get all
these fellas jumping off the ship, coming ashore all
dressed up in their uniforms and its stinking bloody hot.
We had no idea if they were men or women. When you see
a bloke in a red coat, a hat and a wig, wearing a pair of
leotards, youve got to be a bit suss.

Embodied Learning

In groups of 3-5, create a pose, image or scene that you feel represents a moment of first contact
between Aboriginal people and Europeans. Your scene might involve elements of curiosity, horror,
friendship, shock, violence, peace, trade. When you are ready, ask your teacher to take a photo
of your scene.
You might consider:
Who are the characters in your scene?
What are they doing?
What are they feeling?
What are they seeing

Describe your scene using the questions above:

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