The Axe Had Never Sounded’ Place, People and Heritage of Recherche Bay, Tasmania
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‘The axe had never sounded’ place, people and heritage of Recherche Bay, Tasmania ‘The axe had never sounded’ place, people and heritage of Recherche Bay, Tasmania John Mulvaney Published by ANU E Press and Aboriginal History Incorporated Aboriginal History Monograph 14 National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry Mulvaney, D. J. (Derek John), 1925- . The axe had never sounded : place, people and heritage of Recherche Bay, Tasmania. Bibliography. ISBN 9781921313202 (pbk.) ISBN 9781921313219 (online) 1. Aboriginal Tasmanians - Tasmania - Recherche Bay. 2. Cultural property - Political aspects - Tasmania - Recherche Bay. 3. Recherche Bay (Tas.) - Discovery and exploration - French. 4. Recherche Bay (Tas.) - History. I. Title. 994.62 Aboriginal History is administered by an Editorial Board which is responsible for all unsigned material. Views and opinions expressed by the author are not necessarily shared by Board members. The Committee of Management and the Editorial Board Peter Read (Chair), Rob Paton (Treasurer/Public Officer), Ingereth Macfarlane (Secretary/ Managing Editor), Richard Baker, Gordon Briscoe, Ann Curthoys, Brian Egloff, Geoff Gray, Niel Gunson, Christine Hansen, Luise Hercus, David Johnston, Steven Kinnane, Harold Koch, Isabel McBryde, Ann McGrath, Frances Peters-Little, Kaye Price, Deborah Bird Rose, Peter Radoll, Tiffany Shellam Editors Ingereth Macfarlane and Kaye Price Copy editor Geoff Hunt Contacting Aboriginal History All correspondence should be addressed to Aboriginal History, Box 2837 GPO Canberra, 2601, Australia. Sales and orders for journals and monographs, and journal subscriptions: T Boekel, email: [email protected], tel or fax: +61 2 6230 7054 www.aboriginalhistory.org ANU E Press All correspondence should be addressed to: ANU E Press, The Australian National University, Canberra ACT 0200, Australia Email: [email protected], http://epress.anu.edu.au Aboriginal History Inc. is a part of the Australian Centre for Indigenous History, Research School of Social Sciences, The Australian National University and gratefully acknowledges the support of the History Program, RSSS and the National Centre for Indigenous Studies, The Australian National University. Cover design by Teresa Prowse Printed by University Printing Services, ANU Apart for any fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part of this publication may be reproduced by any process whatsoever without the written permission of the publisher. This edition © 2007 ANU E Press and Aboriginal History Inc ‘We were filled with admiration at the sight of these ancient forests, in which the axe had never sounded’ Labillardière 1792 Contents Foreword xi Introduction xvii Acknowledgements xxi Chapter 1. Setting Out 1 The Officers 3 The Savants 5 Ships and Stores 10 Chapter 2. Recherche Bay 13 Recherche Bay, revisited summer 1793 19 Chapter 3. Naturalists Ashore 25 Chapter 4. Botanising 31 The Garden 36 Chapter 5. Measuring and Charting 41 Chapter 6. Seeking the Tasmanians 53 Chapter 7. Meeting the Tasmanians 63 Chapter 8. An Archaeological Heritage 75 Chapter 9. Labillardière’s Luck 81 Chapter 10. Retrospect: Recherche Bay, History and Anthropology 87 Chapter 11. The Chaotic Years 93 Whaling 93 Piracy on the Brig Cyprus 96 Chapter 12. Lady Jane at Recherche Bay 103 Chapter 13. Good and Bad Times 107 Coal Mining 110 James Craig 113 Chapter 14. The Concept of Heritage 117 Chapter 15. National Heritage Nomination 127 The Dénouement 134 References 137 Illustrations Aerial view of northern area of Recherche Bay, 2005. xi Recherche Bay, north-eastern peninsula from the air, 2005. xiii Map 1: South-eastern Tasmania. xiv Map 2: Recherche Bay, showing places mentioned in the text. xv Recherche and Espérance under way. 1 Antoine-Joseph-Bruny d'Entrecasteaux, 1737-1793. 2 Jacques-Julien Houton de Labillardière. 6 Recherche Bay entrance from Bennetts Point. 14 Looking towards Mt La Perouse from the 1792 beach. 16 The enigmatic stone structure at Bennetts Point. 18 Beautemps-Beaupré's chart of the northern harbour. 21 Type specimen of Eucalyptus globulus (blue gum). 33 The `garden' in 2003, outlined by rocks. 38 The dip needle used by Rossel. 42 de Borda's `cercle répétiteur' (left) and `cercle de reflexion' (right). 43 Beautemps-Beaupré's chart of Rocky Bay, southern Recherche Bay. 46 Beautemps-Beaupré's chart of D'Entrecasteaux Channel. 49 View of Rocky Bay from 1793 watering place. 50 `Aborigines of Van Diemen's Land preparing a meal', [`Sauvages du Cap de Diemen preparant leur repas'], Jean Piron, 1793. 66 `Tasmanians preparing a meal from the sea', [`Peche des sauvages du Cap de Diemen'], Jean Piron, 1793. 68 Quiet Cove, 2006. 69 Imlay shore-based whaling station. 94 Fisher Point pilot station and pub, 2006. 95 Woodcut of Cyprus castaways attributed to W. B. Gould, 1829. 97 Machinery at Leprena mill site. 108 Leprena timber mill site. 109 Timber mill remains, Cockle Creek. 110 Base of coal storage bin, Evoralls Point. 111 Overturned tram engine near Evoralls Point. 112 James Craig (then the Clan Macleod), New York harbour 1890. 113 ix ‘The axe had never sounded’ James Craig submerged, 1960s, Recherche Bay. 114 The logging track through Southport Lagoon Conservation Area, 2005. 123 Mulvaney addressing the April 2005 rally. 129 x Foreword Aerial view of northern area of Recherche Bay, 2005. Northern Recherche Bay from the air. D'Entrecasteaux River at bottom; Leprena mill site near beach at right. In 1792 ships anchored in the last embayment before the harbour entrance. Photograph by Senator Bob Brown, 2005 Recherche Bay, at the southern tip of Tasmania, combines exquisite natural beauty with a rich, exciting human history. In 1792, French Vice-Admiral Bruny d'Entrecasteaux brought his two ships Recherche and Espérance to anchor in the bay. `It will be difficult to describe my feelings at the sight of the solitary harbour situated at the extremes of the world, so perfectly enclosed that one feels separated from the rest of the universe,' he wrote. After their storm-tossed journey from Brest via Cape Town, the ships and the 219 seamen, officers and scientists aboard recovered from scurvy and distemper at Recherche Bay. It provided fish, greens, fresh water, timber for repairs and an intriguing natural environment to study. A year later, after circumnavigating Australia, the d'Entrecasteaux expedition returned to Recherche Bay and this time met up with local Aboriginal people. The French diaries record the unfolding, friendly investigation of each other by these totally different peoples from opposite ends of the globe. The two centuries since d'Entrecasteaux anchored in Recherche Bay have seen British colonisation, whaling stations, sawmills, coal mines, pubs and piracy all xi ‘The axe had never sounded’ come and go. Yet as the twenty-first century dawned, the naturalness of its setting remained remarkably unchanged. Suddenly, after 2000, Tasmania's rapidly expanding export woodchip industry threatened the forest on Recherche Bay's north-east peninsula which had helped sustain the Aborigines, which had safely enfolded the French frigates in 1792, and which inspired d©Entrecasteaux's rhapsodic description. By 2003, Recherche Bay itself needed rescue. In a race against time and government indifference, the local people, including historians, raised the alarm. Soon there were protest rallies in Hobart and a rising chorus of national and international concern. Into the centre of this growing storm stepped Emeritus Professor John Mulvaney, Founding Professor of Prehistory at The Australian National University, and a world-renowned authority on Indigenous and cultural heritage. He had been a champion of the Franklin River and its World Heritage wilderness and archaeological sites that, against the odds, were saved from damming in 1983. His arrival at Recherche Bay lifted everyone's morale and contributed to Recherche Bay's listing as National Heritage. John Mulvaney helped trigger the vital intervention by philanthropists Dick and Pip Smith that made possible the purchase of the peninsula. That guaranteed the forest's survival as a centrepiece of the Recherche Bay region. Recherche Bay should now be incorporated into Tasmania's Wilderness World Heritage Area, which includes the Franklin River. In The axe had never sounded, John Mulvaney has written the galvanising story of Recherche Bay, its Aboriginal people, the extraordinary French visits and the remarkable people and events which have followed. The book is also a tribute to John Mulvaney himself. His devotion to Australia's humanity and history was pivotal in converting the impending tragedy of Recherche Bay into a triumph for all concerned. Senator Bob Brown Senator for Tasmania Leader of the Australian Greens xii Foreword Recherche Bay, north-eastern peninsula from the air, 2005. The north-eastern peninsula. Observatory (Bennetts) Point at bottom right; Blackswan Lagoon centre; Southport Lagoon top left, the area in which the first contact was made in 1792. Photograph by Senator Bob Brown, 2005 xiii ‘The axe had never sounded’ Map 1: South-eastern Tasmania. xiv Foreword Map 2: Recherche Bay, showing places mentioned in the text. xv Introduction This is a tale of two conflicting interests over a cultural landscape, between heritage conservation and political and economic expediency. Belatedly it had a happy ending. It reflects my personal involvement in heritage issues across the years, so my opinions