Deterioration of relations between the Aboriginal population and the colonists

From the end of 1790 forward, relations between Aboriginal people and colonists were generally amicable with only sporadic instances of violence. However, new problems were developing in Sydney through Phillip's encouragement of the

Aboriginal population. Aboriginal people began to take for granted the handouts of food, clothes and any other artefacts they desired and the administration's tolerance of their camping anywhere within the settlement that they chose. When their

requests were resisted by less enthusiastic colonists some Aboriginal people became hostile and demanding or resorted to stealing what they wanted. Phillip did not want to destroy the hard-won confidence of the Aboriginal population so he tolerated many of the thefts. He believed that Aboriginal people would eventually become fully reconciled, contributing members of the colonial society (Phillip 1968:338).

However, the colonists began to regard the Aboriginal population in general as a great nuisance and a danger. Colonists resorted to banning Aboriginal people from their land. The Aboriginal people retaliated by threatening to spear people who did not accomodate their demands (Phillip 1968:331). 'The tribe known by the name of Bid-ee-gal' who lived on the penininsula at the head of Botany Bay were the chief aggressors against the colony (Tench 1979:208). Adding to the problems were the convict absconders living in the bush around the settlement, further antagonising the Aboriginal population and plundering colonists' farms at night. In December 1791, Tench reported that thirty-eight convict men were missing and living as bushrangers (Tench 1979:247).

On 9 July 1791, the first ship of the Third Fleet, the transport Mary Ann, arrived in Sydney Cove with a cargo of female convicts and the news that nine more

transports were following. A total of two thousand and fifty convicts were expected to swell the population of the colony. The British government also sent word that

they intended to send two embarkations of convicts and provisions to the colony per year (Collins, vol. 1, 1975:140). The colonists heralded the news as marking the end of their sufferings. For the Aboriginal population of New South Wales it meant disaster. A continuous supply of people was to arrive in the colony necessitating the regular expansion of the limits of settlement. Aboriginal territory would decrease as the colony expanded. The choices between ignoring the colonists, resisting them or joining them became a daily part of the life of all Aboriginal people who were

touched by colonial expansion in NSW.

To accommodate the first wave of new arrivals, Phillip again expanded the settlements at Parramatta and created a series of farms at Prospect Hill, about four miles west of Parramatta and at the Ponds two miles north-east of Parramatta. The Aboriginal residents strongly objected to the expansion. In late 1791, they made their opinion clear when the largest gathering ever seen attacked a settlement of thirteen convict farmers at Prospect Hill, burnt a house and almost murdered its occupant. However, Aboriginal people were still a minor threat compared to the convict bushrangers who constantly plundered farms (Tench 1979:252). Phillip, against his official orders, decided to leave no bushland in which Aboriginal people could conceal themselves between Sydney and Parramatta (Phillip 1968:356). It was this final destruction of their environment coupled with the enducements to live in Sydney that forced the Aboriginal people of the district to make the town their base.

In late 1791, a fourth fleet of convict transports arrived in the colony. From a linguistic point of view this fleet was significant in that it brought the first contingent

of convicts directly from Ireland, per the transport Queen. The Irish who spoke

English did so in one or more dialects of Irish English. They were also the first group to contain people whose native language was not English. In Ireland at the time, Irish was still the mother tongue for most of the population (Troy 1991).

The expansion of the colony decreased its manageability and changed its social character. The authorities attempted to keep control of the population but, according to some officers, the task was made more difficult through the increase in the

availability of alcohol. The town was beginning to fill with strangers (officers and seamen from the transports) and spirituous liquors finding their way among the convicts, it was ordered that none should be landed until a permit had been granted by the judge-advocate' (Collins, vol. 1, 1975:146). The expanded social context subjected Aboriginal people to a much wider experience of the foreigners than they had to that period encountered. The colony contained many more free people, particularly itinerant sailors, who were not subject to the same rigorous controls as were the convicts.

After the arrival of the Fourth Fleet authorites expressed the fear that the large number of sailors in the colony would disturb the lifestyle that they had carefully cultivated. However, Phillip instituted firm controls and there was surprisingly little trouble.

It was not to be doubted but that the tranquillity and regularity of our little town would in some degree be interrupted by the great influx of disorderly seamen who were at times let loose from the transports. Much less cause of complaint on this score, however, arose than was expected. The port orders, which were calculated to preserve the peace of the place, were from time to time enforced... (Collins, vol. 1, 1975:153)

The convict transports engaged in whaling and trading activities on their return voyages. Thereby, the colony became a trade port and its function expanded admitting of an itinerant seafaring population. The increasingly cosmopolitan atmosphere of Sydney presented the Aboriginal population with a linguistically diverse milieu in which to interact. Sailors were accustomed to crossing linguistic boundaries, both at sea where crews were often a culturally diverse band and in their ports of call. Merchant sailors added their sea jargon to the linguistic mix in Sydney.

On 13 December 1791, most of the marines left the colony to return to England (Collins, vol.l, 1975:159). The few who remained did so to supplement the NSW Corps until the rest of that detachment arrived. The marines and convicts of the First Fleet had laid the cultural and linguistic foundations for the colony. However, from that point forward the majority of free people in the colony were military rather than naval. Marine officers remained in charge of the colony until February 1792. They were relieved by a large detachment of the NSW Corps whose officers eventually assumed full administrative duties (Collins, vol. 1, 1975:168). The arrival of the NSW Corps heralded the beginning a military influence on the early development of Australian lingusitic and cultural forms.

In late December 1792, Phillip announced his decision to return to England and end his governorship. He gave as his reason failing health and a hope that he might regain his strength in England. On 10 December 1792, he sailed with his detachment of marines on the Atlantic. Collins eulogised on Phillip's governorship praising his 'zeal and perserverance that alone could have enabled him to surmount the natural and artificial obstacles which the country and its inhabitants had thrown in his way' (Collins, vol. 1, 1975:208).

By the time Phillip quit NSW he had fulfilled his orders with regard to the Aboriginal people at least in so far as he had reconciled a proportion of the

population to the settlement and had established a regular communication between the two cultures. On a personal level he had established a firm friendship with Bennelong, and through that friendship had acted as a major catalyst in the development of contact culture and contact language. Phillip's friendship with Bennelong had made such an impression on the man that he accompanied Phillip when he sailed for England. With them was another Aboriginal man who had also become very fond of Phillip. They were the first Aboriginal people to visit Europe and participate in the society from which the colonists derived.

With the governor there embarked, voluntarily and cheerfully, two natives of this country, Bennillon and Yem-mer-ra-wan-nie, two men who were much attached to his person; and who withstood at the moment of their departure the united distress of their wives, and the dismal lamentations of their friends, to accompany him to England, a place that they well knew was at a great distance from them. (Collins, vol. 1, 1975:211)

2.2.14 The development of the colonists' knowledge about Aboriginal languages63