Elizabeth Pulley Sets Sail VII: fifth stop Port Jackson/Warrane

so…this is ‘ome
(Photo: descendant A. Maie)

At the time the rest of the Fleet was struggling out of Botany Bay/Kamay, Phillip was already at work at Port Jackson clearing the ground for ‘encamping the officer’s guard and the convicts who had been landed in the morning’.  Finally, on 26th January, 1788 the Prince of Wales ‘Came to an Ankor at. 1/2 p, 6 OClock in Port Jackson Close to the New town Which Was Crisned this Day’.  As the ships arrived they scattered through the bay anchored, and were secured by ropes tied to the trees on shore.



Sydney Cove 1788 (drawing A. Maie)

That evening the officers

assembled at the point where they had first landed in the morning, and on which a flag-staff had been purposely erected and an union jack displayed, when the marines fired several vollies;  between which the governor and the officers who accompanied him drank the healths of his Majesty and the Royal Family, and success to the new colony.

The land was now officially 'claimed' by England.

Collins, the Judge Advocate for the colony, was acutely aware of the impact their arrival would have on the Original Peoples and the land itself.

The spot chosen for this purpose was at the head of the cove, near the run of fresh water, which stole silently along through a very thick wood, the stillness of which had then, for the first time since the creation, been interrupted by the rude sound of the labourer’s axe, and the downfall of its ancient inhabitants;  a stillness and tranquillity which from that day were to give place to the voice of labour, the confusion of camps and towns, and ‘the busy hum of its new possessors’

Anthony at work
Some of the convicts and troops began to land the next day.  Once on shore they set to clearing the ground and setting up tents, which one observer thought looked ‘a prety amonst the Trees’.  On 28th the rest of the marines, their wives and children and the male convicts disembarked, and some stock was landed (including mares, stallions, cows, a bull and a calf, ewes, poultry, goats and hogs).  Anthony would probably now have been put to work.  Collins wrote,

‘The confusion that ensued will not be wondered at, when it is considered that every man stepped from the boat literally into a wood.  Parties of people were every where heard and seen variously employed;  some in clearing ground for the different encampments;  others in pitching tents, or bringing up such stores as were more immediately wanted;  and the spot which had so lately been the abode of silence and tranquillity was now changed to that of noise, clamour, and confusion:  but after a time order gradually prevailed ever where.  As the woods were opened and the ground cleared, the various encampments were extended, and all wore the appearance of regularity.’

Elizabeth waits
The women convicts were not yet allowed to disembark.  Elizabeth Pulley would have probably watched the activity from the deck of the Prince of Wales.  During the following week more land was cleared;   tents for the women convicts, the hospital and the temporary canvas house for the governor were erected, gardens prepared and planted, and the rest of the stock landed.

The officers, not being involved in the preparations, began to explore, chart, and (re)name the surrounds, taste the local food (fish and oysters), and collect the insects and bird life.  This comment by Lt. Clark is typical of the officers’ activities in the first few years at Sydney Cove.

‘went out with my Gun and Kild only one Parrot -- the[y] are the most beatifuless birds that I ever Saw -- when it is please god that I am to Return...I will bring Some of them home’. 

However, Clark did not enjoy the avalanche of insects which arrived at dusk.

‘I never Sleept worse...than I did [last] night -- what with the hard cold ground Spiders ants and every vermin that you can think of was crauling over me I was glad when the morning came’.

Opportunistic escapes
Some of the convicts immediately began to run away as there were no longer any constraints.  A number ended up back at Botany Bay/Kamay, and tried to obtain a passage on the French ships, but they were dismissed with threats and were given ‘a days provisions to carry them back to ye settlement.’ [1]

The First Peoples
The local Indigenous peoples, most likely the Gadigal, seemed to keep away from the settlement site [2]  but Lt. Bradley remarked that he had come across quite a few while surveying the harbour and that they seemed unconcerned and, on the whole, mixed freely.  At the areas now named Middle Head/Kuba Kaba and Bradley Point/Booragy some of the local Aboriginal people, probably the Borogegal-Yuruey, indicated where the exploring party could land their small boat.

on our landing we observed some women at the place the men came down from, they would not come near us, but peep’d from behind the rocks & trees;  when the Boats put off the Men began dancing & laughing & when we were far enough off to bring the place the Women were at in sight, they held their arms extended over their heads, got on their legs & danced till we were some distance, then followed us upon the rocks as far as the Boats went along that shore. 

Although the Aboriginal men kept the women hidden, the officers managed to bribe their way and ‘eventually the party was able to give gifts to the women who were at all times guarded by an ‘old man’.

Back at the settlement as preparations continued Elizabeth bided her time on the Prince of Wales.


[1] ‘Phillip reported that in the first two weeks, up to 400 convicts had gone missing from the settlement.  Since the total number of First Fleet convicts was 778, this means well over half the convicts were out in the bush, out of sight and control.’  (Karskens, The Colony, p. 284)
[2] It appears as if the Gadigal and Wangal peoples kept away from the camp in the first year.  Karskens suggests that the area of Sydney Cove/Warrane could have been a meeting place between the Gadigal (to the east along the harbour) and Wangal peoples (to the west along the river), rather than a living place for either clan.

NOTE.  In 1994 a national Australia Day holiday was designated on this date causing continuing conflict and division.  Since 2003 the Australia Day Council has conducted the WugulOra Morning Ceremony at Barangaroo Reserve which has become a reconciliation event to acknowledge the First Nations people's 60,000+ years of life and culture in this continent, the arrival of the British First Fleet and the impact it had on Indigenous peoples, families and clans, as well the continuing arrival of peoples from around the world, recognising their combined contributions, with the aim of moving together as Wugulora (one mob in Gadigal language) into the future.  There are also numerous Vigils, Survival Day and Day of Mourning (the first in 1938) events around the continent at this time - ANTaR maintains an updated list.

Bibliography


c. Annette Maie, 2020

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