SURVIVAL: A summer story
THE FIRE OF THE SUN was a video made in the summer of 2000. It is a story of survival, of place, of conflict, invasion and massacre in the lands of my ancestors (Norwich, East Anglia, Britain) and the lands to which my ancestors moved (the land of the Gadigal, Dharug and Darkinjung peoples on which the video was filmed).[1]
This is the story of the colonisation of Britain by the Romans and the beginnings of the colonisation of Australia by the British – 10 stories of conflict. 10 moments in time
It was not an easy journey for me. It was a time of ‘the dark night of the soul’ which in my spiritual heritage is a time of
facing uncomfortable truths, doubt and loss of direction.
From a ritual perspective it is a time of growth and the core moment in rites of passage before stepping through the portal into a newer understanding of the nature of life, into autonomy, agency, and responsibility for self and others.
Newsreader
26th January 1788 the British
First Fleet, under Governor Arthur Phillip and carrying my ancestors Elizabeth
Pulley and Anthony Rope, arrives in Warrane/Sydney Cove[2]
Newsreader
“The resistance to Roman rule in
Britain has resurfaced with Caratacus
from the west leading the rebel forces in a renewed attempt to rid the country
of its foreign invaders. The resistance
has been hindered by those tribes who have formed treaties with Rome. So far, eleven kings have submitted. One being Prasutagus,
King of the Iceni in East Anglia. Prasutagus holds land just north of Camulodunum the main Roman base. Throughout the rest of the country druids are
being forced out of their sanctuaries in an attempt to stop the growing
resistance.”
1788/89 Attacks and reprisals. Since their arrival anyone unarmed straying outside the camp boundaries is at risk of being a target - killed, wounded or missing. December, 1788 at the brickpits Warrane/Sydney Cove. Local Aboriginal people (possibly from the Gadigal, Bidjigal or Gweagal clans) assemble in force but are dispersed. It is suspected brickworkers are causing trouble. 6th May 1789. 16 armed labourers set out from the brickpits on a revenge mission to Kamay/Botany Bay and are ambushed by the local clans, one labourer is killed, the others are later punished by Governor Phillip. Phillip sends out a number of detachments of marines to capture and bring back the Aboriginal culprits. They are unsuccessful.
Newsreader
“Celtic opposition to Roman presence
is increasing. The Iceni in the east have now joined other tribes in using guerilla
tactics on the Roman occupation forces.
The Roman policy of freely giving land grants in Britain to its retired
soldiers and other citizens has exacerbated the situation.”
April/May
1789 from Sydney basin to Broken Bay – Smallpox thought to have been brought in by the British
decimates the Aboriginal population.
Newsreader
“The Roman offensive has moved to the druid refuge on the isle of Mona in the west. There are reports that druid men and women have gathered at the shore. They are unarmed but brandishing torches and calling on their gods and goddesses to curse the approaching Roman army. Unperturbed the Romans are crossing the channel and maintaining the offensive. The island is on fire. Many have been killed, homes and sanctuaries completely destroyed.”
December 1790 – Pemulwuy, a Bidjigal man from Botany Bay/Kamay, spears McEntire with a death spear (cannadiul), McEntire eventually dies. Although Governor Phillip has no idea of the whereabouts of Pemulwuy or his people he orders two unsuccessful search and destroy (punitive) missions with the aim of capturing or beheading six warriors and hanging two. McEntire is Phillip’s gamesman. The local Aboriginal people have expressed their dislike and distrust of him and even the British officers suspect he hunts more than what he is supposed to.
Newsreader
“News has just come to hand that Prasutagus, the Icenian King, has died causing mayhem in the east. Prasutagus had taken the unprecedented step of bequeathing his kingdom to his daughters as well as to Rome. This was in direct opposition to conditions laid out in the treaty. The reaction has been swift. Local Romans, including the recently arrived veterans as well as others in the garrison, have stormed the palace. Boudicca, the Queen, has been attacked and severely lashed. Her daughters have been raped. The rampage has continued throughout the territory. Romans are taking all land and goods by force. The native population has fled.”
From 1792 - Pemulwuy conducts guerrilla warfare on farms and settlers at Prospect (land of the Warmuli people of the Dharug nation), Toongabbie (land of the Tugagal clan of the Dharug nation), Georges River (land of the Bidjigal people), Parramatta/Burramatta (land of the Burramattagal people), Brickfield Hill and the Hawkesbury River/Dyarubbin (the land of the Dharug and Darkinjung people). In April 1794 Toongabbie constables drive local Aboriginal groups away killing two warriors, beheading one and taking the head back to Sydney/Warrane where it is preserved and taken to England.
Newsreader
“Boudicca
is fighting back. In retaliation for the
atrocities committed by the Romans on her person, family and nation, Boudicca has gathered her scattered
people and, with additional assistance from neighbouring tribes, is marching
towards the capital, Camulodunum. This unexpected move has caught the Romans
unprepared.”
March 1797 Pemulwuy leads a raid on the government farm at Toongabbie. Settlers form a punitive party and track him to the outskirts of Parramatta/Burramatta. He is wounded, receiving seven pieces of buckshot in his head and body. Extremely ill, he is taken to the hospital. Yet late in April he is sighted at Botany Bay/Kamay. Having 'perfectly recovered from his wounds', he has 'escaped from the hospital with an iron about his leg’.
Newsreader
“Spurred on by their successful raid
on Camulodunum, the forces led by Boudicca of the Iceni are pressing forward towards Londinium. The city is in
panic. The Roman forces have not yet
returned from their victory over the druids in the west and the city is
defenceless. Residents are being
evacuated as quickly as possible.”
1793 settlers begin to arrive and stay along
the Hawkesbury river/Dyarubbin. They
destroy yam beds (staple diet of local Aboriginal clans and cultivated by
women) to plant corn and maize, and cut down trees. Local Aboriginal people are driven away if
they try to get food. Land is divided up and given as
grants. In the ensuing conflicts Pemulwuy is suspected of being part of
the guerilla warfare in the area
1794-1799 - A five year frontier war around Dyarubbin/Hawkesbury, Marrengorra (Mulgrave Place)/Richmond and Wianamatta/South Creek begins. It escalates as government troops are sent out on punitive missions. By 1795 settlers are taking retribution into their own hands, abducting Aboriginal women and children, raping Aboriginal women as well as one known instance of the rape and torture of Pemulwuy’s sister and the torture and murder of a child. Planned payback (life-for-life) raids begin to be organised by local male and female Aboriginal warriors as well as the destruction of crops and farms, swiftly followed by punitive missions by detachments of soldiers. Warfare continues up and down the river until 1799.
Newsreader
“Reports have come in of the destruction of Londinium and the abuses inflicted on remaining citizens. The rebels seem to be out of control. There has been a frenzied massacre of men, women and children. Their mutilated bodies, have been hung, crucified, on trees. The city streets have turned into rivers of blood.”
1st May 1801 Governor King, who views Pemulwuy as ‘'a terrible pest to the colony” but a “brave and independent character” issues a government and general order that Aborigines near Parramatta/Burramatta, Georges River and Prospect could be shot on sight, and in November a proclamation outlaws Pemulwuy and offers a reward for his death or capture. Pemulwuy is shot dead about 1 June 1802 by Henry Hacking, a marksman who seems to have been used on a number of punitive raids. The party cuts off Pemulwuy’s head after which it is sent to Sir Joseph Banks in England for his collection. Pemulwuy’s head has not yet been found. Pemulwuy’s son, Tedbury continues to fight the settlers. He is taken prisoner in 1805 and shot and killed in 1810.
Newsreader
“The rebellion is dead. After their successful razing of Londinium and Verulamium, the rebel forces under Boudicca had continued towards the returning Roman army. The Roman army were now well prepared. The rebels, high on their previous successes walked blindly into the trap. In the ensuing battle their guerilla tactics were no match for the superior Roman military machine and they were convincingly defeated. Boudicca has fled.”
1804-1805 – war erupts again along the
Hawkesbury/Dyarubbin after Governor King grants more tracks of land up and down
the river to settlers. Aboriginal groups
begin regular raids on farms at harvest-time.
These are followed by reprisals of British troops. December 1804
three senior Aboriginal men approach Governor King to complain about being
denied access to their own country and staple food. King promises to keep some areas clear
further down the river. In spite of this
raids at harvest time continue and conflict escalates, and in April 1805 settlers begin to take things into
their own hands with escalation of violence on both sides until Governor King organises a reconciliation.
Newsreader
“News has arrived of the death of Boudicca. In the Summer of 60, Boudicca led the resistance army’s reign of terror through three major British towns. Although the resistance was defeated by the Roman army there is now talk of statues being erected at significant sites to remember this valiant woman and the cause she embodied.”
1814-1816
- Governor
Macquarie arrives, ignores previous agreements and begins to grant huge tracks
of land to prominent people and family around Hawkesbury/Dyarubbin. At harvest time war breaks out again and Gov.
Macquarie sets up organised punitive (massacre) missions with Magistrate
William Cox appointed military co-ordinator.
These missions include the Appin massacre in April 1816 where Aboriginal people are forced over Cataract Gorge and at
Mulgoa (Cox’s property) in July 1816
where five parties of soldiers are sent out in response to a shepherd being
speared on the property. By November
Macquarie proclaims hostilities have ceased, however payments suggest raids
continue over the following year. There
seems to have been official silence about details of these raids.
Attempting to reconcile the irreconcilable with Julian of Norwich[3]
“And at once I saw the red blood trickling down from under the garland, hot, fresh, and plentiful,...
And I still seemed to see with my actual eyes the continual bleeding of his head. Great drops of blood rolled down from the garland like beads, seemingly from the veins; and they came down a brownish red colour - for the blood was thick and as they spread out then became bright red, and when they reached his eyebrows they vanished....
After this I saw with my own eyes in the face of the crucifix hanging before me and at which I was ceaselessly gazing something of his passion. I saw insults and spittle and disfiguring and bruising and lingering pain more than I know how to describe...
After this I looked, and saw the body
which was bleeding copiously, apparently as the result of the flogging. The fair skin was broken and there were deep
weals in the tender flesh...
And...I saw his dear face, dry, bloodless, and pallid with death. It became more pale, deathly and lifeless. Then dead, it turned a blue colour, gradually changing to a browny blue as the flesh continued to die...
After this I saw the whole Godhead concentrated as it were in a single point, and thereby I learnt that he is in all things....
For I saw that God in fact does everything, however little that thing may be. Indeed, nothing happens by luck or chance, but all is through the foresight and wisdom of God.”
Remembering
…and of the warriors and families from many Aboriginal clans who died in the First Australian wars in defence of their Country. #alwayswasalwayswillbe Aboriginal land.[4]
“...deeds are done which appear so evil to us and people suffer such terrible evils that it does not seem as though any good will ever come of them; and we consider this, sorrowing and grieving over it so that we cannot find peace…”
(Julian of Norwich)
©
A. Maie, 2000
[1] In Dharwal tradition south of Sydney/Warrane summer is “signaled by the appearance of the blossoms of the wattle (Acacia implexa) and the birthing of Eastern grey kangaroos” and is the time to burn hot fires that “open hard seeds and pods and to germinate legumes” (A History of Aboriginal Illawarra Volume 1 Before Colonisation by Mike Donaldson, Les Bursill and Mary Jacobs, p. 17).
[2] Bibliography for the Australian story. In
[3] Julian of Norwich was a 14th-15th century mystic from Norfolk, East Anglia who in later years became a recluse at St. Julian’s Church, Norwich. Her Revelations of Divine Love is a Christian classic. It is an expression of Juliana’s difficulty reconciling a god of love with the reality of the world she perceived.
[4] This memorial acknowledges the Original Inhabitants who lived around Sackville on the Hawkesbury River. There is as yet no moment to those who died fighting for their Country along the whole river. In A History of Aboriginal Illawarra Volume 2 Donaldson et. al. extend the length and range of these wars and massacres to include the Dhurga and Dharawal peoples and Country. ('The Forty Year War', p.8 ff.)
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