Arthur Phillip and his involvement in this affair
So how on earth did poor young Yemmerrawanyea end up in dead in London, so far from his home, less than 6 years after the white settlement (invasion and theft) of his homelands? It probably begins with Governor Arthur Phillip, the first governor of the British colony of New South Wales, and known to Australians as Captain Phillip, and to the British as Admiral Phillip, as he became after his stint in Sydney. Phillip was, for his time, a relatively humane man, who, unlike most of his compatriots, appears to have regarded the Indigenous Australians not only as equal humans, but as people capable of being “civilised”. Not recognising, of course, that they were already civilised, just differently to the English. To help advance his cause, Phillip took two Indigenous men back to Britain with him when his health forced him to give up his post. Now, while we might describe Phillip as a “humane man”, the important word is that which precedes this term – “relatively”. Those convicts whom he ordered hanged or whipped for what we would regard as very minor offences may, if they were able, dispute the use of this description. So, also, might the great First Australian freedom fighter Pemulwuy and his supporters, although Pemulwuy fought on for some years after Phillip’s departure. And so, also, might many modern First Australians. We don’t dispute any of these opinions, except to make it clear that much worse was to follow. Perhaps Phillip’s greatest failing was his belief there was only one form of civilisation, and that was his. He could not understand that First Australian culture represented an alternative form of civilisation with a right to co-exist with his own. Phillip meant the "best", or at least his definition of "best", in that he wanted to educate the First Australians in the delights of his civilisation and his religion, impress them with its great supremacy, and bring all its undoubted, in Phillip's mind, benefits. Of course, this meant, according to Phillip, adopting English language, christian (preferably anglican) religion, and British clothing, customs, and habits. Phillip also appears to have expected this to be a short and simple task, as even a brief connection of intelligent humans with the mostly British settlers would illustrate the supremacy of British civilisation. If it weren't so tragic, it would seem laughable that a settlement of convict slaves, with public executions and whippings, and the theft and rape of First Australian women by rampaging convicts and their guards, and the consequent pregnancies and spread of foul venereal diseases, and the overfishing of their waters. And all done by people starving where the First Australians had, for many, many generations, survived quite comfortably, could possibly be regarded as superior by a race that had adapted itself to living in some of the toughest conditions in the world. Phillip’s way of enabling his educational aim was to take Indigenous people and train them, in the belief they would in turn train their compatriots. When persuasion failed, he believed his task of such importance that he kidnapped his trainees, locking them in Government House. From this distance in time and culture, it’s impossible to see how Phillip could have believed this would work. Which, of course, it didn’t. Not that that has stopped constant similar attempts across the history of white settlement in Australia, especially at the hands of christian missionaries. We should not forget, either, that Phillip, this humane man, was the first Australian administrator to order his troops out to capture or kill suspected First Australian murderers. The victim was Phillip's gamekeeper, John Macintyre. The exact circumstances of this man's killing are buried in time, and accounts are conflicting. While it appears to us likely he was a brute who over-estimated his powers, probably raping First Australian women among a range of criminal activities, there are some alternative indicators. Having done so, however, he sent his troops out under the command of the man who was probably his most humane officer, who ensured he and his men slogged around the bush in sub-tropical and incredibly humid heat in their heavy woollen uniforms, lugging their similarly heavy gear and guns for several days. They saw few First Australians, killing and arresting none. |
The first execution in AustraliaBarrett, Lovell and Hall & five other prisoners were brot. from the Quarter Guard Tent heavy iron’d abt. 6 o’Clock p.m. [the] three former for execution; the Arm of a large Tree…was fixt upon as a Gallows. Lovell and Hall were given 24 hours respite, and ultimately they weren't hanged. There was a fourth accused, Ryan, who turned King's evidence against his comrades. He is thought to be the convict who, at the end of a gun, and because everyone else, including the soldiers, refused to do it, was "persuaded" to kill Bennett, who was the first person to be hanged in Sydney.
We don't know, but can well imagine, the First Australians' thoughts about what to them, as it is to most of us, was a nastily sadistic act. .This engraving by James Grant of 'Pimbloy'. If this is, as is claimed, an image of Pemulwuy, the great First Australian resistance fighter, it's the only known image of himis believed to be the only known depiction of Pemulwuy (illustration courtesy National Library of Australia, from Grant’s 'The narrative of a voyage of discovery, performed in His Majesty's vessel the Lady Nelson, of sixty tons burthen, with sliding keels, in the years 1800, 1801 and 1802, to New South Wales', 1803
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