Bass State School
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Love Story I Preface Print Notes II TOC III CHAPTER 1 Early Inhabitants, Explorers and Pioneers ustralia has always been here, in its raw uninhabited The Next Wave of Migration state. Australian rocks, more than 2.5 billion years A old, are among the oldest known to man. Our - White Explorers continent was once located on the southern super-continent The second wave of inhabitants, some 40,000 of Gondwanaland which included Africa, Antarctica, South years later, due to European exploration in the America and some southern parts of the Asian continent. 17th century, were of British descent. In those days Australia split from Gondwanaland about 40 million years exploration and discovery of foreign lands for ago. colonisation was sought after by many nations. The first human migration of people to its shores ocurred Abel Tasman, on a voyage of discovery in 1642 roughly 40,000 – 50,000 years ago when the ancestors discovered ‘Van Diemen’s Land’, the original name of Australian Aborigines arrived from the north by traditional for Tasmania. canoes, and with the aid of landbridges that existed. Many of the megafauna died out after this time too, with some anthropologists suggesting it was a result of hunting assisted by the Aboriginal practice of managing the land with burn- offs. In Victoria, Indigenous people used to travel to Tasmania across a landbridge which existed between Wilson’s Promontary, across the islands of Bass Strait, to northern Tasmania. Port Phillip Bay was a lush grassy plain with a large river flowing through it. However, when the last Ice Age finished, around 10,000 years ago, ocean levels rose cutting-off Tasmania from the mainland and flooding the Victorian bays. When Europeans first came to the Victorian region, there were 11,000 to 15,000 Aborigines divided into around 38 tribes, each with their own language and territory. Around Bass, the local Indigenous people were from the Yallock- Bullock clan, which was part of the Boonwurrung people who belong to the Kulin nations. Captain James Cook, in 1770, took possession of the continent on behalf of Great Britain by The five Kulin nations are the Wathaurong, the Woiwurrung, securing a flag in Botany Bay. A later settlement by the Taungurong, the Djadjawurung and the Boonwurrung Captain Arthur King in Port Jackson, New South peoples. Wales secured the land as British. The Boonwurrung (also spelt Bunerong, Bunwurrung, Boonwerung, Bunurowrung, Boonoorong) lived sustainably on the land, predominantly as hunters and gatherers for tens of thousands of years. They are the traditional owners of the coast and land along the northern, eastern and southern shorelines of Port Phillip Bay, the Mornington Peninsula, Western Port and its two main islands – Phillip Island and French Island, and land to the south-east down to Wilson’s Promontory which they shared with the Gunai-Kurnai people. George Bass in 1798 discovered Western Port. Woolamai (Wollamia) incidentally is the Aborginal word for Snapper. 1 Early Inhabitants, Explorers and Pioneers Early Contact Aboriginal people had sporadic contact with outsiders for hundreds of years before the first recorded accounts. Sealers and whalers hugged coastlines when seeking onshore provisions, so there were many sightings and meetings. Some of the earliest written accounts of contact between Impact On The Boonwurrung white people and the Boonwurrung people began early in the 19th century when Bass discovered the river, that later The Aboriginal clans in Victoria responded in different ways to took his name was a source of fresh water. Other ships the ‘white invasion’. Some realised the futility of direct conflict called in to replenish stocks of food and drinking water. whilst others defended their territory fiercely. According to Gary Presland, in the 1830’s... ‘There was an alarming increase Lieutenant John Murray’s log book from the voyage in the amount of conflict between Europeans and aborigines of Lady Nelson, 1802: Mr Bowen observed, “blacks in the Western District, and also closer to Melbourne. ... sitting on the beach... and each of them with a However, attacks on aborigines were often unwarranted. ‘...... bundle of spears in hand.” What follows is a fascinating at Westernport Bay in March 1836, a party of men employed to description of the meeting of two cultures complete with collect wattle bark, fired on a group of aborigines, wounding six. gestured communication from both parties and the close One of the injured was a young girl who was shot through both examination of Bowen’s white skin. It was a friendly legs’. exchange that involved women and children who kept at a distance, until Bowen was asked to leave. The young The Boonwurrung ‘blacks’ were spoken of as being friendly aboriginal men, and one very old man were all “clothed except on rare occasions when the Gippsland natives attacked in skins of Apossums as far as their middle”.1 the Westemport tribes. On one of these occasions, natives attacked the homestead of Robert Jamieson of Yallock and did Generally during this early stage of exploration by British considerable damage, but no lives were lost. and French expeditions, reports reveal the local natives were peaceable and amiable in disposition. By 1839, (only 4 years after the settlement of Melbourne) only 83 Boonwurrung remained in the Western Port Bay and D’Urville, described an aboriginal village located at the Mornington Peninsula area from a population estimated to be east end of Griffiths Point. “We discovered only some between 250 and 500 before 1800. old traces of the natives’ residence there, though their huts, 40 – 50 in number were still set up not far from By 1844 many new settlers had taken up grazing licences with the bank, surrounded by the remains of fire places and hard hoofed animals such as sheep and cattle destroying many fragments of shellfish which they had used for food. native plant foods vital to the Boonwurrung people. Some huts consisted of a framework of thick branches covered with wide pieces of bark.2 By 1850 Protector William Thomas estimated just 28 Boonwurrung people still survived. The dramatic decrease in 1 Horton & Morris, the Andersons of Westernport, 1986 population was due to the effects of alcohol, weapons, violence 2 ib id and introduced diseases in particular smallpox. Aboriginal birth numbers plummeted too, as the traditional people witnessed the dramatic and detrimental change on their lifestyle and lands. 2 Early Exploration of Westernport George Bass On a journey of exploration in 1798, sailing south from Port Jackson, Bass’ expedition encountered heavy seas which damaged their whaleboat. Bass and his men hugged the mainland coast seeking shelter, in order to repair the boat and replenish food supplies. They entered a large break in the land, (between Cape Woolamai and Griffiths Point) with a strong current against them. The tide changed and they were able to sail further into the bay. The mouth of the Bass River must have been a welcome sight. The men rowed round bend after bend of the winding river until they found the place above the tide line where the water was free from a brackish taste and they were able to refill their water casks. They had left Sydney with provisions for six weeks but by the time they entered Western Port they were into week 5, so food was a major concern. The repaired whaleboat was then rowed back to the sea and some further exploring done. Kenneth Morris in his book, Bass in Westernport carefully analyses the “eye sketch” drawn by Bass and explains that the explorer did an outstanding job of mapping the area, and that Bass basically reached the narrows of Jam Jerrup at low water, before turning back and heading back to Sydney. The lack of food meant Bass’ prime consideration was to care for his crew. When George Bass was in Westernport he was 27years of age. His father in law described him as being, “ six feet high, dark complexion, wears spectacles, having a very penetrating countenance.” Bass has been praised for his vision, courage, strength. Skill and qualities of leadership, but most remarkably was not a professional seaman. He carried out this classic voyage (of which DARKER much more is written), without serving an apprenticeship in navigation, seamanship or ship handling. 3 to inundation. The possibilities of Western Port were only just being discovered, both bark cutters and farming men saw advantages and vast quantities of black swans were havested and Wattlebark too, a valuable cargo at the time there for the taking. The first Wattlebark was stripped in November 1834 at Western Port, the labour came from Tasmania. When the first permanent settlers did arrive in Western Port in late September 1835, it was the fresh water in the River Bass that provided the When Bass sailed out of Western Port it was the magic ingredient, the lure that fixed the position for western most point that had been charted, although it generations to call home. was quickly realised that another bay, Port Phillip lay further still to the west. In 1801, the ship’s boat of The Lady Nelson made two different trips up the Bass River, also to take on fresh water. The area of the Bass River was proving rather enigmatic. Depending on the seasons, the particular part of Western Port that was explored, the reports back to Sydney varied remarkably. Captain Wright: 26/1/1827 On our way to Port Phillip, being caught in the Straits by a gale of wind, which compelled us to pull into Westernport to repair, I ... walked for some miles through as rich a country as I have seen. It was thickly clothed of kangaroo grass upward of three feet high and on mentioning this at Port Phillip was informed that in this district there were excellent cattle stations but the ground was considered too wet for sheep.