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Captain Cook sailed into Botany Bay in April 1770, aboard the barque “The Endeavour”. He had set out from England two years previously with instructions to observe the transit of the planet Venus at Tahiti. He was instructed to then sail west to find the ‘Great South Land’ and make friends with the natives. He was explicitly ordered not to take possession of any territory except with the consent of the inhabitants.
When the first landing boat set ashore in Botany Bay, two Aboriginals appeared with spears. They were
fired at several times by the British, before they ran off into the bush. One had been hit.
Later the Endeavour landed on the North Queensland coast at what s now known as Encounter Bay. The landing party was attacked by Aboriginals and the camp almost burned. As Cook and his crew had sailed northwards along the coast, they had observed Aboriginals and their fires.
Cook recorded that he had not observed any ‘fixed habitations’ (settlements) or ‘one inch of cultivated ground’ (farmland). He therefore concluded that Australia was a waste land, unoccupied and belonging to no-one. So began the doctrine of Terra Nullius in relation to Australia.
Cook did not land again except off the tip of Cape York in the very far north, at the uninhabited Possession Island. There, Cook planted the Union Jack and claimed the East Coast of Australia in the name of the King.
The British Government, although having instructed Cook not to take possession of any territory except with the consent of the inhabitants, accepted Cook’s claim on behalf of the British Crown. They regarded it to be legally and peacefully occupied by England and therefore the Aboriginals did not exist. There was never any recognition that the land belonged to the Aboriginals. Cook did have other options though he may not have thought so at the time.
Eight years later, the first fleet of convicts arrived from England, to establish a penal colony at Botany Bay.
Adapted from: Parbury, N. (1986). Survival: a history of Aboriginal Life in New South Wales. Sydney: Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs (NSW) p. 44
This material has been produced by UNITEC Institute of Technology
under contract to the Ministry of Education.
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