Back on 26-jan-1788 my first Australian ancestor arrived on the Convict Transport Scarborough – Matthew James Everingham. But I never took much interest in Australia Day until I came across a book written by the late Dr Keith Vincent Smith “King Bungaree: A Sydney Aborigine meets the great South Pacific Explorers, 1799–1830″, published in 1992. I found it at the bookshoip in the State Library of NSW and have been hooked on the Indigenous history of the Sydney region ever since.
I now think about Bungaree or Boongarie (c1775–1830) every year on 26th January, since I learned from Dr Smith’s research that Bungaree was made leader of a loose collection of First Nations people, from up and down the east coast near Sydney. This was done by Governor Macquarie within 2 or 3 days of 26-jan-1815. He even gave them a land grant on Middle Head, Mosman, which became known as Bungaree’s Farm.
Just think about the historic, cultural and social significance of a British colonial Governor making the land grant to First People in “terra nullius”, back in 1815, just 27 years after the First Fleet entered Sydney Harbour!
There were some 60-70 First People in Bungaree’s thrown together mob who were suffering from poverty and alcoholism while hanging around the convict settlement at Sydney Cove, now known as Circular Quay. Few of them were local Gadigal, Eora or Cammeragal people. Historians think over 90% of the Indigenous population living close to Sydney Harbour were quickly wiped out by European diseases – such as measles or small pox – brought unintentionally by the British convicts, marine corps, officers and a very small number of free settlers who made up the passenger list of the First Fleet.
The First People who Macquarie tried to settle on Middle Head in 1815 to learn farming and fishing with nets from a naval whaling boat were a mixture of clans and mobs, including Awabakal from north of the Hawkesbury River and Broken Bay, or other mobs from south of Port Hacking.
Prior to the First Fleet arriving the Gadigal, Cammeragal and Eora people got most of their food on or around the edges of Sydney Harbour. They only needed 3 – 4 hours per day of fishing with lines, catching fish with multi-prong spears or gathering crustaceans from the rocks all round the harbour or adjacent coastline.
Bungaree was probably an Awabakal man himself. He had ventured down to Sydney Cove, drawn by stories of the British officers in their bright red uniforms, the marines and convicts who had brought such dramatic new technology and way of life to the east coast of Terra Nullius at Botany Bay and then Sydney Cove on 26-jan-1788.
Bungaree became a respected associate of Lieutenant Matthew Flinders. He sailed with Flinders along the coast of eastern Australia in 1799 and acted as a translator and “ambassador” to make contact with the many Nations, tribes and mobs living close to the coast of Australia.
Eventually he accompanied Matthew Flinders on the first circumnavigation of our continent, which left Sydney on 22-jul-1802.
Flinders knew Bungaree would be invaluable on this expedition, as did another local Indigenous man from Sydney, named Nanbaree.
Prior to the exploration and cartography performed by Matthew Flinders the words NSW or New Holland had been used to describe all or parts of our continent.
Matthew Flinders recorded in his handwritten logs the contribution Bungaree made during the voyage. He named him as “the first Australian”, the first time the word Australia was applied to our continent.
Flinders and Bungaree stand in equal importance, in my view, of the post-1770 history of Australia. Their relationship was built on complimentary skills, mutual trust and respect.
Sadly, none of their achievements were widely acknowledged for their role in modern Australian history, in their own lifetime
– Bungaree died of poverty and probably alcoholism at Garden Island on Wednesday 24 November 1830 and was buried at Rose Bay, close to the harbour.
– Matthew Flinders finally returned to England in October 1810. But on the way home across the Indian Ocean, his vessel was damaged and he stopped at Mauritius to do essential repairs. France and Britain were at war then and the French governor suspected him being a spy. Unfortunately he was detained by the French on Mauritius for several years. Flinders was in poor health when he and his vessel were eventually released. But he immediately resumed work in England, preparing his book “A Voyage to Terra Australis”, plus an atlas of his voyage charts for publication. This is a major milestone in Australia’s written history.
CONCLUSIONS
The separate and joint stories of Bungaree and Matthew Flinders are worthy of much wider acknowledgment by all Australians – Blak, white, Asian, Caucasian, fit or ill, rich or poor, educated or illiterate.
I have no strong feelings either way myself about the future name for 26th January.
– That date was only formalised quite recently in 1994. Many other dates had been used for a similar purpose since even before World War I.
– I was disappointed by the failure of the Voice to Parliament referendum in 2023. A successful YES vote would have made the processes of Recognition and Reconciliation move much faster to a positive conclusion.
So maybe 26th January should be called Reconciliation Day?
John Young
WhatsApp: +61 407 940 943
yindi1951@gmail.com
4-feb-2025