warra

WARRA WARRA

AT BOTANY BAY PHILLIP AND HIS OFFICERS FIRST ENCOUNTERED THE NATIVE ABORIGINALS. THE FIRST EVER RECORDED SPOKEN WORDS BETWEEN THE TWO WERE "WARRA WARRA" WHICH MEANT "GO AWAY" SPEARS WERE THROWN AT THE INVADERS, BUT BEFORE LONG A GUNSHOT RANG OUT AND THE ABORIGINES RAN BACK TO THE BUSH. SOON THE ENGLISHMEN WERE HANDING OUT PRESENTS OF RIBBONS AND BEADS TO THE NATIVES IN ORDER TO PACIFY THEM . PHILLIP HAD TOLD HIS OFFICERS THAT NO MATTER WHAT THEY WERE NOT TO HURT THE NATIVES, HE DID NOT WISH TO HAVE TO CONTEND WITH AMBUSHES FROM THE NATIVE POPULATION AS WELL AS THE PROBLEMS HE ALREADY WAS ENCOUNTERING WITH SETTLING THIS NEW COLONY.

THE ABORIGINALS OF AUSTRALIA HAD LIVED IN THIS LAND FOR UPWARDS OF 40,000 YEARS BEFORE WHITE MAN SETTLED IT. FOR 40,000 YEARS OR SO THEY HAD LEARNT TO LIVE IN THIS HOSPITABLE LAND, THEY HAD LOVED, MARRIED, MOURNED THEIR DEAD, AND PASSED ON KNOWLEDGE THROUGHTOUT THE GENERATIONS. ELABORATE RITUALS OF DANCE, MUSIC AND THEIR CAVE AND BARK PAINTINGS HELPED TO KEEP THEIR DREAMINGS PRESERVED. THE FACT THAT THEY HAD NOT FARMED THE LAND AS EUROPEANS HAD EXPECTED ANY "IiNHABITED" LAND TO BE, ALLOWED THE NEW SETTLERS TO TAKE FOR GRANTED THAT THIS LAND WAS IN FACT NOT INHABITED AND AS SUCH WAS THEIRS FOR THE TAKING. THIS WAS NOT THE CASE, AUSTRALIA WAS INHABITED BY APPROXIMATELY 750,000 PEOPLE, PEOPLE WHO SPOKE OVER 200 DISTINCT LANGUAGES AND FOUR TIMES THAT MANY DIALECTS. BARTER AND INTERCHANGE OVER REGULAR TRADE ROUTES HAD BEEN ESTABLISHED. A RICH SENSE OF BEING PART OF THE LAND EXISTED AND THEY LIVED A SEMI-NOMADIC LIFE IN ORDER TO LIVE OF THE LAND, THEY DID NOT CULTIVATE THE LAND, BUT STILL WERE ABLE TO MAKE THE BEST USE OF IT.

SOON PHILLIP REALISED THAT BOTANY BAY WAS NOT THE OASIS THAT HAD BEEN ASSURED IT WOULD BE, IN PHILLIP'S OPINION IT WAS INHABITABLE, ALL HE COULD SEE WAS PAPERBARK SCRUBS AND GREEN GREY EUCALPYTS. HE DECIDED THAT HE WOULD HAVE TO LOOK SOMEWHERE ELSE TO SETTLE. PHILLIP HAD SEEN ANOTHER INLET ON THE WAY TO BOTANY BAY, HE DECIDED THAT THEY WOULD LEAVE EARLY THE NEXT DAY TO INVESTIGATE THIS INLET, THE REASON FOR THE URGENCY WERE TWO FRENCH SHIPS THAT HAD BEEN SIGHTED, THE LA BOUSSALE AND L'ASTROLABE, WHICH WERE COMMANDED BY JEAN-FRANCOIS DE LA PEROUSE. PHILLIP WAS ANXIOUS TO BEAT THE FRENCH, TO HAVE TRAVELLED ALL THIS WAY AND TO BEATEN AT THE LAST BY THE FRENCH IN TAKING POSESSION OF THE LAND WOULD HAVE BEEN DISASTEROUS. ANOTHER PRIORITY WAS TO START THE COLONISATION OF NEARBY NORFOLK ISLAND WHICH WAS ESSENTIAL TO PROVIDE THE TIMBERS AND FLAX NEEDED FOR SHIP REPAIRS.

PHILLIP WAS IMPRESSED WITH PORT JACKSON, DESCRIBING IT AS " THE FINEST HARBOUR IN THE WORLD" AND HE DECIDED THAT THIS WAS WHERE THEY WOULD SETTLE . ON FEBRUARY 6TH THE DIS-EMBARKMENT OF THE CONVICTS BEGAN. THEY WERE TOLD THAT IF THEY DID NOT WORK, THEY WOULD NOT BE FED. THEIR TASKS WERE ALSO DEFINED TO THEM. THEY WERE TO CLEAR THE BUSHLAND AND HOE THE SOIL. BUILD HOUSES FIRSTLY FOR THE OFFICERS, THEN THE MARINES, AND LASTLY FOR THEMSELVES. EARLY ON IN THE LIFE OF THE COLONY PHILLIP REALISING THAT THE LAND AT PORT JACKSON WAS NOT SUITED TO CULTIVATION HAD EXPLORED AND ESTABLISED A SETTLEMENT AT PARRAMATTA. THE CULTIVATION OF LAND BEGAN, BUT STILL HUNGER AND STARVATION LIE AT EACH TURN.

BY JUNE 1790 WHEN THE SECOND FLEET ARRIVED AT PORT JACKSON, THE PEOPLE OF THE FIRST FLEET WERE FACING STARVATION. THEY WERE BEGINNING TO FEEL ABANDONED BY BRITAIN AND THE SIGHT OF THE SECOND FLEET BOUGHT RELIEF. THEIR FOODSTOCKS HAD RUN OUT, SOME OF THE LIVESTOCK HAD RUN OFF AND THE CROPS HAD NOT BEEN AS SUCCESSFUL AS HAD BEEN ANTICIPATED. BUT THE PEOPLE LINING THE SHORES TO WATCH THE OFF-LOADING OF THE SHIPS WERE TO BE SHOCKED BY WHAT THEY WERE ABOUT TO WITNESS. UPON BEING BOUGHT UP TO OPEN AIR SOME PEOPLE FAINTED, SOME DIED ON THE DECKS AND OTHERS DIED ON THE BOATS BRINGING THEM TO SHORE. THESE WERE THE TERRIBLE IMAGES THAT THE PEOPLE LINING THE SHORE WERE TO SEE.

THE FIRST FLEET HAD SAILED UNDER NAVAL SUPERVISION, THE SECOND FLEET HAD BEEN OPERATED BY PRIVATE TRADERS. THE LONDON COMPANY OF "CAMDEN, CALVERT AND KING WERE FORMER SLAVE TRADERS, THEY WERE PAID BY THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT �17 10S 6D FOR EACH CONVICT, WHETHER THEY MADE IT TO AUSTRALIA OR NOT. THE CONDITIONS ONBOARD THE SHIPS WERE APPALLING THEY LEAKED IN BOTH CALM AND ROUGH SEAS, MAKING IT IMPOSSIBLE TO KEEP DRY, SOME PEOPLE WERE SAID TO HAVE SPENT DAYS WAIST DEEP IN WATER. THE CONVICTS HAD BEEN KEPT IN CHAINS IN CRAMPED CONDITIONS. THEY RECEIVED INADEQUATE EXERCISE AND NO FRESH AIR REACHED THEIR HOLDS. FOOD WAS PITIFUL AND PEOPLE WERE STARVED. IF SOME-ONE WAS CHAINED NEXT TO A DEAD PERSON THEY WOULD KEPT QUIET ABOUT THE DEATH FOR AS LONG AS POSSIBLE SO AS TO GET THE DEAD PERSON'S FOOD RATIONS. THERE WAS NO ESCAPE FROM THE LICE OR HUMAN WASTE.

NO WONDER NEARLY ONE QUARTER OF THE ONE THOUSAND CONVICTS DIED DURING THE JOURNEY, AND MANY MORE DIED WHEN THEY HAD REACHED AUSTRALIA, UP TO 12 EACH DAY AT ONE STAGE.

PHILLIP DESCRIBED IT AS "MURDER ON THE HIGH SEAS". HE WROTE AN OFFICIAL REPORT OF THE CONDITIONS OF THE PRISONERS ON THEIR ARRIVAL TO AUSTRALIA, THIS REPORT WAS TOO LATE FOR THE THIRD FLEET THAT WAS ALREADY ON ITS WAY, BUT FROM THEN ONWARDS MODIFICATIONS WERE MADE. SHIPOWNERS WERE NOW ONLY PAID IN FULL WHEN THE CONVICTS REACHED AUSTRALIA SAFELY. SURGEONS WERE APPOINTED TO EACH SHIP, PRISONERS WERE ENCOURAGED TO USE THE TIME TO LEARN TO READ AND WRITE AND TO EXCERCISE. EVEN SO AS LATE AS 1868 A CONVICT REPORTED THAT DURING THE VOYAGE WATER WAS SCARCE AND THEY WERE PACKED SO TIGHTLY THAT MOMENT WAS IMPOSSIBLE.

ONCE THE CONVICTS REACHED AUSTRALIA THEIR FATE WAS ALMOST IN THEIR OWN HANDS. IF THEY HAD A SKILL SUCH AS CARPENTRY THEY WOULD BE GIVEN A PAID POSITION. UP UNTIL 1819 GOVERNMENT CONVICTS HAD TO FIND THEIR OWN LODGINGS. THE CONVICTS WORKED 6 DAYS A WEEK WEEKDAYS FROM DAWN TILL 3PM AND ON SATURDAYS TILL 12PM, THEY WERE NOT PAID FOR THIS WORK. IN ORDER TO SURVIVE IT WAS NECESSARY FROM THEM TO FIND PAID WORK OUT OF HOURS TO PAY FOR THEIR LODGINGS.

THE FEMALE CONVICTS WERE NORMALLY SENT TO THE "FEMALE FACTORY" WHICH WAS BASED AT PARRAMATTA. THE WOMEN WERE SET TO WORK WASHING AND MAKING CLOTHES, BUT NOT ALL WOMEN COULD BE SENT TO THE FACTORY AND THOSE WOMEN WERE FORCED TO FIND LODGINGS. IT IS NOT SURPRISING THAT MOST OF THESE WOMEN TURNED TO PROSITUTION AS THE WAY TO EARN TO NEEDED MONEY.

SOME CONVICTS WORKED IN CHAIN GANGS , IT WAS HARD LABOUR AND THEY WERE KEPT UNDER STRICT SUPERVISION. THEY BUILT THE ROADS AND WORKED BREAKING THE STONES NEEDED FOR BUILDING. THOSE CONVICTS ASSIGNED TO CHAIN GANGS WERE NORMALLY THE MORE HARDENED CRIMINALS.

CONVICTS THAT RE-OFFENDED WERE SENT TO PLACES OF SECONDARY PUNISHMENT SUCH AS NORFOLK ISLAND AND PORT ARTHUR. THESE PLACES WERE LIKE A "HELL". PUNISHMENT WAS SEVERE.

IN 1793 THE FIRST FREE SETTLERS CAME TO SETTLE IN AUSTRALIA. MANY CONVICTS WERE NOW ASSIGNED TO WORK WITH THE NEW SETTLERS. ONCE THEY WERE ASSIGNED TO A SETTLER THE WORK THAT THEY DID VARIED. SOME WORKED AS LABOURERS, OTHER AS DOMESTICS AND SOME WERE EVEN MISTRESSES, THESE CONVICTS WERE CLASSED AS ";ASSIGNED CONVICTS"

CONVICTS THAT SERVED THEIR TIME WERE CALLED "EXPIRES". THEY COULD NOW SET UP A BUSINESS OR A FARM. "TICKET OF LEAVE"; APPLIED TO CONVICTS WHO HAD BEEN PLACED ON GOOD BEHAVOUR BONDS, THEY TOO COULD SET UP A FARM OR BUSINESS. A PERSON THAT HAD BEEN GIVEN A PARDON WAS CALLED AN ";EMANCIPIST" THEY HAD THE SAME RIGHTS AS BOTH THE "EXPIRE" OR ";TICKET OF LEAVE", BUT THEY WERE ALSO ALLOWED TO RETURN TO BRITAIN.