- 2 days ago
Category
📚
LearningTranscript
00:00This is the Pacific Highway, Cairns, North Queensland.
00:21What do you reckon?
00:22I'm sort of wondering what the hand gesture is.
00:26It looks kind of fascist.
00:28Really?
00:29I'm a little bit worried about this from your point of view, Sam.
00:33I mean, I love you and I respect you, but he's one of yours.
00:40There's an old board game here which is probably as old as me.
00:44That old?
00:45Yeah, that's right.
00:48Australia in the 1960s thought nothing of a board game
00:52based on the notion that the country was discovered by James Cook.
00:57Still, nothing ventured, nothing gained, and my mate Ernie Dingo and I are having a crack at it.
01:05I have trouble trying to understand that Captain Cook discovered Australia.
01:10Yes.
01:11It wasn't lost.
01:13Cook's charting of Australia's East Coast in 1770 set off a chain of events that led directly to the modern Pacific country we know now.
01:26But I want to re-examine that first contact and hear stories untold of a rich indigenous culture as perplexed by the arrival of white men as the white men were flummoxed by this strange land.
01:43Ernie Dingo, you are Captain Cook and you've discovered Australia.
01:49But tell you what, don't tell anybody that.
01:51They'll be talking about this for the next 200 years.
01:53Ah!
01:54Ah!
01:55Ah!
01:56Ah!
01:57Ah!
01:58Ah!
01:59Ah!
02:00Ah!
02:01Ah!
02:02Ah!
02:03Ah!
02:04Ah!
02:05Ah!
02:06Ah!
02:07Ah!
02:08Ah!
02:09Ah!
02:10Ah!
02:11Ah!
02:12Ah!
02:13Ah!
02:14Ah!
02:15Ah!
02:16Ah!
02:17Ah!
02:18Ah!
02:19Ah!
02:20Ah!
02:21James Cook's first voyage in the Pacific had brought him and his crew into contact with fellow seafarers, the Polynesians.
02:33In Tahiti and New Zealand, they'd immerse themselves in their ways, traded with them, enjoyed their hospitality, though not without incident and on occasion violent.
02:43In New Zealand, contact was aided by a Polynesian interpreter, Tupiah, and Cook no doubt hoped to use his skills throughout the Pacific.
02:54But as he sailed west from New Zealand, Cook was in fact leaving Polynesia behind him.
03:04No Europeans knew what lay ahead.
03:07The Dutch had mapped all but this coast of the continent they called New Holland.
03:13William Dampier, the English pirate, had called it uncharitably, home to the miserablest people in the world.
03:23Cook would make up his own mind.
03:30On the 19th of April, land was spied.
03:33Point Hicks.
03:36Cook turned north, began shouting and naming things.
03:43Over there in the murky haze is Cape Howe, which Cook named after Admiral Earl Howe, who was the treasurer for the Royal Navy.
03:53It was always a good idea to name things after your superiors and Cook was not above sucking up to his betters.
03:59The coordinates that he gave for the Cape are almost precisely those surveyed today.
04:08As they attacked along the coast, they spied smoke.
04:12Cook thought they were campfires.
04:14Parkinson, the artist, thought perhaps they might be smoke signals.
04:18Whatever the reason, it was clear New Holland's east coast was inhabited.
04:26For ten days, Cook searched in vain for places to land.
04:30And then, finally, a fine, wide bay.
04:46This is Botany Bay, and Sydney Airport is just across there.
04:51That's where I first landed in Australia.
04:53A matter of absolutely no historical importance at all.
04:58However, Cook landed just here.
05:03And there's a bloody great obelisk there to mark the very spot.
05:07Except, it probably isn't a spot.
05:09It was about half a kilometre down the beach.
05:11No matter.
05:12That's just the sort of erection you need to mark the birth of a nation.
05:16It was erected in 1870 to mark the centenary of Cook's arrival here
05:29by the Australian Patriotic Association.
05:32Somewhat ironic title, given that it was primarily concerned
05:36with reminding Australians about their British origins.
05:39With Tupiah by his side, Cook rode towards Shaw,
05:47attempting for his contact,
05:50only to be met with rocks and spears.
05:56This commissioned painting by E.P. Fox
05:59reimagines the scene.
06:03It was painted in 1902, just a year after Federation,
06:06and its function is to mark the birth of a nation.
06:11It's rather like Washington crossing the Delaware.
06:15It's inspirational and heroic,
06:17and there's Cook front and centre.
06:19He steps upon a new land, hand is outstretched,
06:23beseeching his men not to fire upon these two Aboriginal blokes
06:27marginalised on the edge of the frame.
06:31The problem here is it's largely fictional.
06:34Cook himself was actually armed,
06:37and he fired twice upon those men.
06:43I want to start on the day that Cook arrives here.
06:46What it was, Sam, was a UFO,
06:49an unidentified floating object.
06:50So you can see, while looking at this ship, Sam,
06:59that we would have got an ideal view of Cook's Vessel
07:02as it came in here as well.
07:04Look how close we are to it.
07:06Yeah.
07:08Diary notes say,
07:09They called to us very loud in a harsh-sounding language
07:13of which neither us or Tupaya understood a word,
07:16shaking their lances and menacing.
07:20Yalla, yalla.
07:21Yalla, what away?
07:21So what did that mean?
07:25Go, go, go away.
07:26Just go away, yeah.
07:29I mean, I knew that just by the way you said it.
07:35From this side of the beach,
07:37what do these strange people look like?
07:39What do you make of them?
07:41Some people thought they were ghosts.
07:43It was believed in the camps that when a black man dies,
07:47he goes over to the other side and comes back white.
07:51So these are ancestors coming back, I think.
07:53Ancestors coming back.
07:54So when you see white people on this vessel
07:56that just pass right here, it's kind of scary.
08:00They thought they were ghosts.
08:02But as the sailors were going up the mast,
08:05we also thought they were gormorers.
08:07So a gormor is a possum.
08:09So they must have been...
08:10Actually, that's quite a good visual thing, isn't it?
08:15They've got that agility of possums
08:17going up on the mast and so on, yeah.
08:20But as the vessel was sailing up the east coast here,
08:25they noticed lots of fires along the way.
08:28We believe strongly that it was us
08:30also sending messages to one another.
08:32The way we send messages is that we use different kinds of leaves
08:36to produce different colours.
08:37So the Aboriginal people here
08:39knew that that vessel was on the way
08:42well before it got even halfway here.
08:46Cook lands with his landing party
08:48and there's two Aboriginal men with spears.
08:52Now, Cook describes this particular one as a pike.
08:56And as you can see, this one has a single head on it.
09:01Rod is actually the manufacturer of it.
09:03You made this?
09:04Yeah, I made this here
09:05and that's for spearing large-scale fish.
09:10And two of these are thrown, I think, but they miss.
09:14Yeah, that was deliberate.
09:16Like, our people were so skilful with the spear
09:18that if they really wanted to, you know,
09:21hit them with the spear, they would off.
09:23So it was just like warning shots.
09:25We don't want to hurt you?
09:27Just go away.
09:27Go away, yeah.
09:32Musket fire was used.
09:35They just retreated into the bush.
09:36Over the next few days,
09:47they would continue to see people every day,
09:49but usually at a distance.
09:51And whenever the Europeans approached,
09:53they'd be waved away
09:54or the Aboriginal people would just evaporate,
09:57disappear into the bush.
09:59There's such a contrast to the rest of the Pacific
10:01where they were always challenged on the beach.
10:03People would swarm aboard.
10:04There was so much curiosity.
10:06Not here.
10:07Eventually, some people did start to return
10:10and they fished in canoes
10:11out here around the Endeavour.
10:14The curious thing is
10:15that they studiously ignored the English.
10:17It was as if they didn't exist at all.
10:20And Tupaya captures this brilliantly in this painting.
10:24This chap is concentrating very hard on spearing a fish.
10:28These two, possibly women,
10:30are fishing over the side.
10:32And the one at the back
10:33is sneaking a little look
10:35at the people on the Endeavour
10:37just for a moment.
10:41The Englishmen must have been stumped.
10:44They offered nails and beads,
10:45prized in other parts of the Pacific,
10:47but ignored here.
10:50The Aboriginal people
10:51had no need for any of it.
10:53They clearly didn't care
10:55for their alien visitors.
10:57Cook lamented,
10:57all they seemed to want from us was to be gone.
11:06So Cook and his naturalist, Joseph Banks,
11:10turned their attention instead to the countryside.
11:13But no-one was really prepared
11:16for how different things were here.
11:18Everything had evolved differently.
11:21Plants, animals, trees.
11:22And the naturalists on board were completely entranced.
11:26But the one animal that really engaged them
11:29was, of course,
11:30the kangaroo.
11:33Parkinson made what was obviously a very quick sketch
11:36of a kangaroo,
11:38and that was later elaborated upon
11:40by the great George Stubbs.
11:43Cook himself had a fair crack
11:45at describing these strange creatures.
11:48He writes in his journal,
11:50It was of a mouse colour.
11:52I should have taken it for a wild dog,
11:54but for its walking or running
11:56in which it jumped like a hare or a deer,
11:59it bears no sort of resemblance
12:01to any European animal I ever saw.
12:05This animal was so different,
12:09they couldn't even come up with a name for it,
12:12sticking with the local name,
12:13gungaroo,
12:15misherder's kangaroo.
12:22To the English,
12:23Australia was a scientific goldmine.
12:26Banks and his assistant, Solander,
12:28filled envelopes with plant species
12:30ready to be shipped back to the Royal Society.
12:35The specimens that we can show you now
12:37are some of the actual collections
12:39that were made by Banks and Solander
12:40on that voyage,
12:41and here at the National Herbarium of New South Wales,
12:43there are, I think, about 820.
12:49The technology that Banks and Solander used
12:51is really the same as what we still use today.
12:56Yes, we have GPS units and things like that,
12:58and we drive around in cars,
13:00but the way we press and dry plants
13:02is essentially the same.
13:03Banks and Solander,
13:05they used sheets of paper,
13:06they used pages of Milton's Paradise Lost.
13:09We used newspapers and sheets of cardboard.
13:13In a broader sense,
13:14what did these discoveries lead to?
13:17I think in many ways
13:18they changed the course of science
13:20and in some ways the course of history,
13:21certainly of the Southern Hemisphere.
13:23This was a very successful scientific expedition.
13:26Prior to this voyage,
13:28it was usually just the ship's doctor,
13:30the ship's surgeon,
13:31that did the natural history.
13:32And so subsequently,
13:34many British expeditionary voyagers
13:35had a team of naturalists and scientists on them.
13:38This is really what the Enlightenment's all about,
13:40as it were.
13:41And this is really famous, obviously,
13:45because it's not just a great specimen,
13:48but it's the actual plant
13:49that was named after Banks
13:51and has become so.
13:52Yes, it's certainly of the collection
13:54of Banks and Solander specimens here.
13:55This is the iconic specimen.
14:00But it is remarkable
14:01that this is soft vegetation.
14:05It's 200 years old.
14:06If I'd thrown that onto my compost,
14:09it would have dissolved in a week.
14:12Is it too late for something,
14:14you know, to be named after me?
14:16Oh, there's always a possibility for that.
14:18It may not be as spectacular as a Banksia.
14:21I'd like a big tree,
14:23you know, the Arbus Neelie.
14:26Yeah.
14:27Could you arrange this?
14:28Oh, we can see what we can do, absolutely.
14:30Yeah, thank you very much.
14:31After a week in Botany Bay,
14:42the Endeavour resumed its journey north,
14:44as will I,
14:45for thousands of kilometres.
14:49It is one long, spectacular coastline.
14:56The cook couldn't have known
14:57he was actually sailing
14:58by many different nations of people,
15:00each living in a region
15:02of their country
15:03for tens of thousands of years.
15:10Dallumbara people
15:11described his passage
15:12as a mysterious white-winged object
15:15passing along the ocean
15:16like a gigantic pelican.
15:19I'm now about 1,200 kilometres north of Botany Bay.
15:33Cook had been slowly charting his way up the coast here,
15:36anxious to replenish his supplies
15:38and looking for somewhere to land.
15:40Of course, what he knew
15:42was that he was being observed from the coast.
15:45What he couldn't know
15:46was that he was being recorded.
15:50That's right, recorded.
15:52And those recordings still remain to this day.
15:55Captain James Cook, navigator and explorer,
16:05never had the opportunity
16:06to walk the beaches of Fraser Island.
16:09But he did sail close by,
16:12as contrary to Admiralty orders,
16:14he was attempting to chart,
16:16for the first time,
16:17the east coast of the continent
16:19dubbed New Holland.
16:21So far, its people have largely shunned him.
16:26But they were recording
16:27his every move in song.
16:31Their words have been passed down
16:33through generations
16:34and now translated into English.
16:39This is sort of amazing, really,
16:41because Cook sails past here.
16:45He calls this bluff Indian head.
16:49Indian being a catchable phrase
16:50for anyone who wasn't European.
16:52And a few feathers in their head.
16:54Yeah.
16:55And, uh...
16:56Your people see him on his craft
16:59and he sees you from his craft.
17:02Yeah.
17:02And this song survives.
17:04And this song records that meeting.
17:07Yeah.
17:09Strangers are travelling with a cloud.
17:12Ariram.
17:13Ariram, there's no English word for it.
17:16It's like exclamation, like surprise.
17:18Wow.
17:19Wow, yeah.
17:20It has fire inside.
17:23Must be a bad water spirit.
17:24It's stupid.
17:26Maybe it's going directly
17:28to that serpent place.
17:31This is the truth I bring.
17:33Coming up and going back
17:35like a sand crab.
17:36Now, that's a really interesting line.
17:38We can take that to mean
17:39that the ship is actually tacking
17:41like a crab walks along the beach.
17:43That's exactly it.
17:44Fantastic.
17:45The sea carries this ship here.
17:49Why?
17:52Yeah.
17:52That's the question they're asking.
17:54I think the special thing about this song
17:57is that it records his movements going past.
18:00But if you read Cook's journal,
18:03it corresponds with this song.
18:05Right.
18:06And I think that's the thing about it really
18:09is that it's something that is proven on both sides
18:12that it definitely happened.
18:13Yes.
18:13There's an irony here.
18:22Cook, the great cartographer with his charts,
18:24and just a few hundred metres away,
18:27other mapmakers.
18:28The Indigenous people had their own maps,
18:31but instead of charts,
18:33they sang and danced to convey information.
18:39Quickly tell me, Gemma, about songlines,
18:43which is quite a difficult thing
18:44for the European mind to grasp.
18:47It's like a big web
18:48that sits over the whole of Australia,
18:51and they all interconnect.
18:54Everything interconnects all the way out.
18:55In the old days,
19:00when we walked the dreaming trails,
19:02you'd have to sing the songs
19:04of all the land that you went past,
19:06of that tree, that rock, that ridge,
19:09that lake, that creek.
19:11You sing the songs of that
19:12as you go through that country.
19:15When I'd come to the border of my country
19:17or maybe to the end of my section of the song,
19:19in my clan land,
19:21it would then just be picked up
19:23and taken on by the next people,
19:24and then they would carry it.
19:29Songlines are the creation ancestors,
19:31all the feats and the deeds
19:33and the heroic things they did
19:35and the fights they had.
19:38It's all a picture in the land.
19:41It's all there.
19:42So we don't need a map
19:43and we don't even need to use the stars
19:45to guide ourselves through country.
19:50In another time,
19:52with a different past,
19:54perhaps this headland
19:55could have become
19:55a place to celebrate
19:57shared history of two great cultures.
19:59But it unfortunately tells
20:02a much bleaker story.
20:05Long after Cook,
20:06in the 1800s,
20:07growing tensions with colonists
20:09led to shocking events
20:11that have modern Australians
20:13shaking their heads
20:13in shame and disbelief.
20:15So this is a major massacre site
20:19for Batchelor people.
20:22There were massacres,
20:24in fact,
20:25all across Fraser Island.
20:27That's right.
20:28But this was the worst massacre
20:29of all here.
20:30They drove my people
20:31off this headland.
20:34It was hundreds of people,
20:36apparently.
20:36It was women and children
20:40and old people.
20:41the ones that were supposed
20:44to be protected.
20:53And I think most indigenous people
20:55have that painful past
20:57no matter where they come from
20:58in the world.
21:01And it was,
21:02it was a change in history.
21:05It was that change
21:06for us as a people.
21:08and that's what
21:10that song's about.
21:11It was that,
21:12that omen,
21:14that foretelling
21:15of what was coming.
21:32Without our knowing it,
21:33I think this seems
21:34to have become
21:35as much as anything
21:36about impact.
21:38Cook started
21:40so many things
21:41in the Pacific.
21:42But can we blame Cook
21:43for what followed?
21:46For everything that happened?
21:49I don't know.
21:55I have to be honest,
21:56I'm finding a lot
21:58of this journey
21:58quite difficult.
21:59but for one thing,
22:03the more I learned,
22:04the more I realized
22:05how little I know.
22:07I mean,
22:07I had some idea
22:08of how Aboriginal people
22:10got around
22:10this vast continent.
22:12They followed song lines,
22:13but I wasn't quite sure
22:14exactly what they meant.
22:17The idea
22:18that this entire continent
22:20was already charted
22:22in song
22:22for at least
22:2460,000 years,
22:25it's a lot
22:27to take on board.
22:29And more than that,
22:30the people
22:31that followed them,
22:32the drovers,
22:33the telegraph engineers,
22:35the road makers,
22:36they were more often
22:37than not following
22:38those very same song lines.
22:41And in fact,
22:42I might be driving
22:43on a song line
22:44right now.
22:45As he continued
22:57to head north,
22:58past Fraser Island,
23:00Cook may have been
23:01puzzled to spy
23:01more Batchelor people,
23:03not running and hiding,
23:05but attempting
23:05to communicate.
23:08They waved
23:09at each other.
23:10Cook thought
23:10they were being
23:11amicable.
23:13The Batchelor people
23:14were in fact
23:14waving,
23:15don't go that way,
23:17it's dangerous.
23:19But Cook sailed on.
23:22He was entering
23:23what is a paradise today,
23:25but in a lumbering
23:26tub of a boat,
23:27totally at the whims
23:28of fluky breezes
23:29and funneling directly
23:31into the Great Barrier Reef.
23:35You're negotiating
23:36this maze of reefs
23:37and you've got no idea
23:39what's coming up.
23:42To press forward
23:43into the Great Barrier Reef
23:44at night with our charts,
23:45it's sort of like
23:46Russian Roulette.
23:47If you don't know
23:48there's a reef coming up,
23:49suddenly you're in amongst it.
23:52And then at 11pm
23:53on the 11th of June,
23:55they slammed directly
23:59into a reef.
24:00At 11pm on June the 11th,
24:081770,
24:09HMS Endeavour
24:10hit the Great Barrier Reef
24:11hard.
24:14The tide and waves
24:15angrily grinding
24:16its timbers
24:17into the coral
24:18and rock.
24:21For 24 hours,
24:22they were stuck
24:22high and dry
24:23on the reef.
24:23You cannot imagine
24:24anything more terrifying.
24:26All men were on the pumps.
24:27Hardly anyone could swim.
24:29They were 12km from land
24:30and there were not
24:31enough boats
24:32to save all souls.
24:35Cook ordered the ship
24:36to be lightened,
24:37throw anything overboard
24:38that could possibly
24:39lighten its load
24:40and get it to float free
24:42on the high tide.
24:43Eight cannon went overboard.
24:45With so much damage
24:46to the Endeavour,
24:47the crew fully expected
24:48that once they got free
24:49of the reef,
24:50they would sink
24:51straight to the bottom
24:52of the ocean.
24:56So the damage
24:57was right up here
24:58on the bluff bow.
25:00Well, that's a massive hole,
25:01isn't it?
25:01It is.
25:02And so you can see
25:03the ship would have
25:04gone down pretty quickly
25:05with that extent of damage.
25:07Yeah.
25:08They've obviously
25:08got to get it off the reef
25:09as quick as they possibly can
25:11because the reef
25:11is just grinding
25:12the ship to pieces.
25:16The rising tide
25:17finally lifts
25:18the lighten Endeavour
25:19and its exhausted men
25:20off the reef
25:21but now she's sinking.
25:25In a beautiful indicator
25:27of Cook's leadership,
25:29one of the junior officers
25:30comes up with the idea
25:31of flothering
25:33and Cook takes up
25:34that recommendation.
25:36They just grabbed
25:36the next sail
25:37and pulled it down
25:38over that hole.
25:39I think they put
25:40some sheep shipping
25:41because they had
25:42animals on board
25:43so they were taking
25:44anything that could
25:44make it sticky.
25:45Absolutely.
25:46They hauled a sail down
25:47over the hole.
25:49Managed to get a line
25:50that ran under the ship
25:52and up the other side
25:54it wouldn't have
25:55sealed up the hole
25:56completely.
25:57It really just would
25:57have slowed the water
25:58down.
25:59Every day is a matter
26:00of life and death
26:01on the Endeavour.
26:02Totally.
26:07With the men
26:07taking turns
26:08on the pumps
26:0924-7
26:10it takes a full week
26:11for the stricken ship
26:12to limp into a safe
26:13harbour.
26:14Wollombau-Wiri
26:17later renamed
26:18Endeavour River
26:19and Cooktown.
26:24The 300 or so tons
26:26of ship
26:26beached for repairs.
26:33They say that
26:34every great commander
26:36or general
26:36needs two things
26:38genius
26:39and great good luck.
26:40and the first thing
26:42they discovered
26:42when the Endeavour
26:43was beached here
26:44was that the very
26:45coral head
26:46that had actually
26:47made a hole
26:48in the hull
26:48of the Endeavour
26:49was still stuck
26:51in that hole.
26:52And without this
26:53freakish good fortune
26:54it's highly likely
26:55that the fathering
26:56bandage
26:57wouldn't have worked
26:58at all
26:58and they would have
26:59perished out there
26:59on the reef.
27:00The second stroke
27:05of extraordinarily
27:06good luck
27:07was that
27:07where they landed
27:08was traditionally
27:09a safe place
27:10a neutral space.
27:12Anywhere else
27:13that they might have
27:13landed up or down
27:14the coast
27:15they would have
27:16been sitting ducks
27:17because it was
27:19forbidden
27:19to spill blood
27:21on this sacred place.
27:25Cook Beaches
27:26at Cooktown
27:26where your mother lives
27:27that was the only place
27:29that the ship
27:29actually landed
27:30and they smoked out
27:31all the cockroaches
27:33and the rats.
27:33Yeah they just thought
27:33this is a really good
27:34time to get rid
27:35of all the bedbugs
27:36so they smoked the boat
27:37and then basically
27:38infested that all
27:39area with cockroaches
27:41and rats.
27:46And he was also
27:46really lucky
27:47that he landed
27:48in a neutral space.
27:49Which is the irony
27:49you know we had
27:50embassies
27:51we had actual
27:51places of safety
27:53where if you had
27:54griefs with other
27:55tribes
27:57this is a place
27:59where you could
27:59actually sit down
28:00with them
28:00and actually
28:01have a good talk
28:02about it
28:03without actually
28:03spearing anybody
28:04or killing anybody
28:05you weren't allowed
28:05to kill anybody
28:06on that place
28:08and actually
28:08a lot of these
28:08places are beaches
28:09where they're so
28:10sacred
28:11that multiple tribes
28:13can get together
28:14trade
28:15you know what I mean
28:18share
28:18but actually
28:19have really big
28:21arguments
28:22about problems
28:23that other tribes
28:24have created
28:25or you know what I mean
28:25without violence.
28:29it's instructive
28:31that 250 years ago
28:32the indigenous nations
28:34of Australia
28:35had a very structured
28:36way of dealing
28:37with conflict
28:38but in the time
28:40since
28:40this way of settling
28:41grievances
28:42has largely been silenced
28:44like so much
28:45so people like my friend
28:50Warwick Thornton
28:51are doing their bit
28:52to reclaim that voice
28:54to be like a barrier
28:56between you two
28:57but you're going to come
28:57around the horse
28:58and chase him out
28:58are you angry?
29:01um no
29:02no
29:04I like to get
29:05emotional about it
29:08but
29:08um
29:10you know
29:11having this conversation
29:12is making me happy
29:13so
29:15it upsets me
29:16no
29:17you know what I mean
29:18we're talking about it
29:20yeah
29:20that's exciting
29:22I get the feeling
29:23there's such a push
29:24from indigenous people
29:26in the arts
29:26people like yourself
29:28yeah yeah
29:28and obviously
29:29the bit that interests me
29:30the most is in film
29:31don't you think
29:32that sort of consciousness
29:33generally among
29:35Australian people
29:35is beginning to lift
29:37or
29:38or do you think
29:38we're still
29:39just scratching the surface
29:40no
29:40I reckon
29:41there's way too many
29:42beautiful human beings
29:43out there
29:43who are really interested
29:44in a different version
29:45of Australia's history
29:47and they're getting it
29:48through art
29:48you try to run
29:50and I will shoot you
29:52in the back
29:52you understand
29:54we've got a lot to say
29:57about our version
29:58of history
29:58which is quite different
30:00to actually
30:00what's been written
30:01in textbooks
30:02history books
30:03that are in schools
30:04or in libraries
30:05the different point of view
30:08can help shape
30:10generations of people
30:12that have been
30:12abused and belittled
30:14to be empowered
30:15by making a movie
30:17it's clear
30:21Australia has
30:22a shared history
30:23of indigenous
30:24and non-indigenous
30:26viewpoints
30:26but they're seldom
30:28told together
30:29so here in North Queensland
30:31they're telling the story
30:33from both sides
30:34of the beach
30:35so I'll bet
30:40we're in the
30:41Cooktown Reenactment
30:43Association
30:44the Cooktown Reenactment
30:45Association
30:45which is as much
30:47about telling the story
30:48of that time
30:49and every year
30:50you reenact
30:51we certainly do
30:52so this is
30:58Cook's uniform
30:59it certainly is
31:01now when we started
31:03this series
31:03I said I didn't want
31:05any reenactments
31:07or you know
31:08people writing logs
31:10with feather pens
31:11and things like that
31:12okay
31:13but I think I might
31:13just put this on
31:14for a moment
31:15well I think
31:15you ought to
31:17because that's
31:17what we do
31:18you know
31:18we have
31:19Captain Cook
31:20with the feather pen
31:21and writing
31:22in his journals
31:23okay
31:23so I'll make
31:24an exception today
31:25yep okay
31:26what do you think
31:27does it suit me
31:29yes I think
31:30it does
31:30yeah
31:31with a frilly
31:32shirt underneath
31:33and some white
31:35tights
31:35can I carry it off
31:36am I good enough
31:38an actor for this
31:39well
31:40come on
31:41that's a little bit
31:42of a delay
31:43our current
31:46Captain Cook
31:47his name is Rick
31:48yeah
31:49and he does
31:49a fantastic
31:50Captain Cook
31:51oh okay
31:51in that case
31:52yeah and he has
31:53the English accent
31:55down to a T
31:56okay
31:56yes
31:57all right
31:57that's
31:58well that's me
31:59out of a job
31:59their reenactments
32:04without yours truly
32:05tell the story
32:06it took a full
32:08three weeks
32:08before four local
32:10men sidled up
32:11to the ship
32:11you can see
32:12they weren't
32:13overly impressed
32:13with the offered
32:14trinkets
32:14but they were
32:15delighted
32:16with the fish
32:17a month later
32:19the endeavor
32:20appeared
32:21the crew
32:22had gathered
32:22provisions
32:23readying for
32:24departure
32:24relations had
32:26been generally
32:26good
32:27until one
32:28fateful event
32:30tell me
32:32what's happening
32:33here
32:34this is the
32:35endeavor
32:36it's already
32:37packed
32:37ready to go
32:38back home
32:39everything's been
32:39loaded on board
32:40you see
32:41a lot of turtles
32:42this is the first
32:44time
32:44our people
32:46had been
32:46on the ship
32:47when they
32:48sight the turtles
32:49on board
32:50they are not
32:51happy at all
32:52the turtles
32:54were taken
32:54off a reef
32:55that was
32:56a place
32:57of
32:57kurpi
32:58what we call
32:59kurpi
32:59it was a
33:00sacred place
33:01in essence
33:02unwittingly
33:03cook and his
33:04man had
33:05absolutely
33:05broken the
33:06law
33:07they certainly
33:08did
33:08an ancient
33:09ancient law
33:10an ancient
33:10law
33:11so it's no wonder
33:11the people are
33:12furious
33:12they are
33:13was blood
33:15about to be
33:15spilt
33:16on sacred
33:17land
33:17having nearly
33:21lost his
33:22ship on
33:22australia's
33:23great barrier
33:24reef
33:24james cook
33:25has beached
33:26the endeavor
33:26for repairs
33:27but committed
33:28a terrible
33:29breach of
33:30local law
33:31over hunting
33:32turtles
33:32he's incited
33:34the local
33:34gugoyumata warriors
33:36to a fury
33:37seven of them
33:40came on board
33:41they went on
33:42board unarmed
33:43they demanded
33:45two turtles
33:46and they showed
33:47it by grabbing
33:48two turtles
33:49and trying to
33:50haul it down
33:50the gangplank
33:51cook would have
33:52nothing of it
33:53so they were
33:54stopped from
33:55doing that
33:55they were so
33:56angry
33:57one of our mob
33:59grabbed a fire
34:00stick from the
34:01fireplace
34:02he put the
34:03whole settlement
34:04area on fire
34:05the journals
34:08tell us that
34:09they followed
34:10our men
34:11a mile up
34:12from the
34:13settlement area
34:14in this place
34:16of peace
34:17this conflict
34:17was escalating
34:18rapidly
34:19until something
34:21remarkable
34:22happened
34:22out of the
34:25scrub
34:25came
34:25this
34:26older gentleman
34:27he's referred
34:29to as a little
34:29old man
34:30in the journals
34:31but we know
34:32that he is a
34:32wine board
34:33wada elder
34:34because he has
34:35the authority
34:36to speak
34:37for this
34:38country
34:38he carries
34:40with him
34:40a spear
34:41that has
34:42a tip
34:42broken
34:43he talks
34:44to cook
34:45cook
34:46could not
34:46understand
34:46what he was
34:47saying
34:47but just
34:48by his
34:49gesture
34:49he knew
34:50that this
34:51little old
34:51man
34:52was making
34:52an attempt
34:54to resolve
34:55this
34:55this conflict
34:57between the
34:58two
34:59so it
35:00works
35:00it works
35:01it's peace
35:02yes
35:03it's peace
35:04cook
35:04calls
35:05this
35:05a
35:06reconciliation
35:07he says
35:07this
35:08reconciled
35:09everything
35:09and what a
35:11point to the
35:12future
35:12yes it is
35:13when we talk
35:14about
35:15reconciliation
35:16today
35:17you know
35:17they set
35:18an example
35:18in 1770
35:19absolutely
35:20of what
35:20can be
35:21done
35:21yeah
35:22right
35:25it's a very
35:27touching story
35:28it is
35:28yes
35:29very touching
35:30I can
35:32say
35:33I got
35:33cuddled
35:34by
35:34Sam
35:34Neil
35:35cook
35:39chose to
35:39ignore
35:40a key
35:40lesson
35:41of
35:41indigenous
35:41law
35:42quite frankly
35:43still relevant
35:44today
35:44only take
35:46what you
35:47need
35:47this group
35:50have a green
35:50sea turtle
35:51and are learning
35:52about sustainable
35:53living
35:54qa57556
35:57I've never eaten turtle
35:59have you
36:00yeah
36:01good
36:02aboriginal people
36:07are legally entitled
36:09to their customary food
36:10yep
36:11right there
36:12okay
36:15and luckily for this
36:19fellow
36:19today's lesson
36:21is rehabilitation
36:22and release methods
36:24for rescued turtles
36:25of course
36:38cook
36:38banks
36:39and co
36:39could only
36:39scratch the surface
36:40when it comes to learning
36:41about new holland
36:43the land around cooktown
36:45showed the evidence
36:46of great bushfires
36:47the englishman
36:49could never imagine
36:50they were deliberately lit
36:51what could be more terrifying
36:57than fire
36:58in the australian bush
36:59but what i'm actually looking at here
37:01is knowledge
37:03knowledge
37:04that was accumulated
37:05over thousands
37:06and thousands of years
37:07bruce
37:11the most terrifying sight
37:13for me in the world
37:13is a bushfire
37:14what are we looking at here
37:15why are they lighting fires
37:17at all
37:17they're looking after the country
37:19they don't burn
37:22you get weed species
37:24growing up
37:24and that's what these lads
37:26are doing
37:26they're burning the country
37:28to get rid of the weeds
37:29to leave the country
37:30nice and open
37:31for the animals
37:32and for themselves
37:33it's an age-old practice
37:35as the first explorers
37:38often said
37:38look like a gentleman's park
37:40an english gentleman's park
37:42so they were preparing the ground
37:45with an agricultural purpose in mind
37:47cook couldn't possibly have seen that
37:50could he
37:50well he must have known
37:52that something was happening
37:54because he was taking
37:56captain cook's spinach
37:58or warrigal greens
37:59he was taking it off the roofs
38:01of the aboriginal houses
38:02he wanted it to
38:05cure the scurvy
38:07of his sailors
38:08so it must have occurred
38:10surely
38:10that these people
38:12are growing food
38:13why did he never
38:17talk about it
38:18because he was there
38:20to possess
38:20so the aboriginal thing
38:23ownership of the land
38:25is kind of
38:25it's a different idea
38:27isn't it
38:27we believe that
38:28the land owns us
38:30we punished greed
38:31whereas in european law
38:33we actually reward greed
38:36so what we're doing here
38:39is in effect
38:40caring for country
38:42yeah
38:42it's a love
38:44I think all australians
38:46black and white
38:46can benefit
38:47from this knowledge
38:49if we don't learn about
38:50the country we're doomed
38:57cook marched up this hill
39:02on the 19th of june 1770
39:04and plotted his way out
39:06through the reefs
39:06in a few short weeks
39:08he'd seen and communicated
39:10with people here
39:11who fished
39:12hunted
39:13grew crops
39:14lit fires
39:14built dwellings
39:16and so on
39:16but botanist
39:18joseph banks
39:19must have been looking
39:20the other way
39:21for banks was to champion
39:25the idea of a penal colony
39:27in what was to be known
39:28as new south wales
39:30arguing later
39:31that the people they met
39:32were nomadic
39:33and had no connection
39:35to the land
39:36despite clear evidence
39:38otherwise
39:38it allowed future generations
39:41to adopt
39:42the latin term
39:43terra nullius
39:44nobody's land
39:46ponder that for a second
39:48the history of a whole country
39:51determined
39:51on the obfuscations
39:53of one man
39:54cook leaves cooktown
40:00and despite the danger
40:02he deliberately chose
40:03to hug the coastline
40:04charting among the reefs
40:06intent on proving
40:07new holland
40:08was separate
40:09to new guinea
40:09further north
40:10no doubt passing
40:12multiple tribes
40:13as he went
40:14far from being
40:19terra nullius
40:20we now know
40:21that australia
40:22was not only
40:23entirely populated
40:24but it consisted
40:26of at least
40:26400 different languages
40:28400 separate nations
40:30and there were borders
40:31everywhere
40:32borders
40:32that could only be crossed
40:33by observing
40:34the strictest
40:35of protocols
40:36cook wasn't to know this
40:38but every time
40:39he landed here
40:40he broke
40:40all kinds of law
40:42and protocol
40:43today of course
40:45for many reasons
40:47borders seem to be
40:48more important
40:49than ever
40:50and this vessel
40:51I'm on
40:51belongs to the
40:53Australian border force
40:54well Sam
40:59we've got an extremely
41:00large maritime domain
41:01that takes up
41:02approximately one tenth
41:03of the earth's surface
41:04within that
41:08there's a number
41:09of maritime threats
41:10that we keep an eye out for
41:13maritime threats
41:15range from
41:16illegal exploitation
41:17of natural resources
41:18or fish poaching
41:19of Australian stocks
41:21you've got
41:22illegal movement
41:23of goods
41:24across the border
41:25and then there's
41:26illegal maritime arrivals
41:28illegal arrivals
41:29we're talking about
41:30boat people
41:30correct
41:31if we were to see
41:34some boat people
41:34well
41:35wait a minute
41:36it looks like
41:38the Endeavour
41:38and I can see
41:40a lot of blokes
41:42in naval uniforms
41:43and they're holding
41:44a Union Jack
41:45and they obviously
41:46clearly intend to
41:48second Australia
41:49what are we going to do
41:51you're in charge
41:52come on
41:52that would depend
41:54on what they said
41:54they wanted to do
41:55we might need
41:56some extra help
41:57out here
41:57if that was the case
41:58they've got cannons
41:59on board
41:59that's right
42:00we are
42:02surrounded by
42:03all this fantastic
42:04technology
42:04we know exactly
42:05where we are
42:06but Cook
42:07is sailing through
42:08these waters
42:08and has absolutely
42:10no idea
42:11where he's going
42:12that's a monumental
42:13feat
42:13where you've got
42:14reef
42:14and shoals
42:15and shallows
42:16and constant
42:16changing the depths
42:17it's a staggering
42:19thought that a ship
42:20half this size
42:21could go right
42:22around the world
42:22and carry a hundred
42:23crew supplies
42:25it's quite a thing
42:26isn't it
42:27it's amazing
42:27I've always liked
42:31the sort of being
42:31Captain Neil
42:33so I pulled rank
42:34I'm going to take it
42:3710 degrees
42:37to start with
42:39correct
42:39could I suggest
42:39just to make it
42:4020 degrees
42:4020 degrees
42:41we've got a sailboat
42:42out there
42:42we don't want to hit him
42:43no I obviously
42:43don't want to hit that
42:44are you all with me
42:46crew
42:47yeah we're with you
42:48I'd prefer if you
42:49said aye aye sir
42:50aye aye sir
42:51oh that's better
42:52yeah
42:52okay here we go
42:54here's following
42:56your command
42:56rudder's going
42:57to 20 degrees
42:58yep
42:59now bowers following
43:01okay
43:01we're at 100 now
43:08see I would have
43:11needed two sturdy
43:12men to take the
43:13endeavour around
43:1420 degrees
43:15wouldn't I
43:15that's a 250
43:16years of advancement
43:17will do for us
43:18yeah but I can do
43:19this with two fingers
43:20it's very satisfying
43:22Cook rounded the
43:29northernmost point
43:30of the continent
43:30and saw the oceans
43:32opening out to the
43:33west
43:33realising it achieved
43:35his mission to
43:36complete the map
43:37of New Holland
43:37he then
43:39as so often
43:40raised
43:41the Union Jack
43:42well the Dutch
43:46had mapped the west
43:47coast
43:47the French were
43:48sniffing around the
43:49Pacific so all in all
43:51first in best dressed
43:53that's how empires are
43:54formed
43:55sometimes by force of
43:57arms and sometimes by
43:59simply raising a flag
44:00Cook knew exactly what he
44:03was doing
44:03he was taking possession of
44:05the east coast of
44:06Australia for King
44:07George the third and
44:09Britannia
44:09this is perhaps Cook's
44:13most complex moment
44:14still debated to this day
44:15as evident in the way
44:17indigenous Australian
44:18artists now portray the
44:20man
44:20what I wonder is
44:27since setting foot in
44:28Botany Bay and observing
44:29this land doing his job
44:31and making his maps
44:32would Cook have been
44:33party to Banks's later
44:35proposals for colonization
44:38and the notion of
44:39terra nullius
44:40and while they sailed
44:47away
44:47Cook's thoughts
44:49turned to the people
44:50he left behind
44:51the indigenous people
44:52the very same people
44:54who were now burning
44:55country
44:55to cleanse the land
44:57of his presence
44:58and this is what he
45:00wrote
45:00from what I've said
45:03of the natives of
45:04New Holland
45:04they may appear to be
45:06some of the most
45:07wretched people on
45:08earth
45:08but in reality
45:09they are far more
45:11happier than we
45:12Europeans
45:13being wholly unacquainted
45:15not only with the
45:16superfluous
45:17but the necessary
45:18conveniences
45:19so much sought after
45:21in Europe
45:22they live in a
45:24tranquility
45:24which is not
45:25disturbed
45:26by the inequality
45:27of condition
45:28the earth and sea
45:30of their own accord
45:31furnishes them
45:32with all the things
45:33necessary for life
45:34this in my opinion
45:37argues that they think
45:39themselves provided
45:40with all the necessaries
45:41of life
45:42and that they have
45:43no superfluities
45:45this I think is
45:48very insightful
45:49and I think it speaks
45:51very well of Cook
45:52just as he speaks well
45:53of the people themselves
45:54and to hell
45:56with Dampier
45:56and his description
45:57of them as being
45:58the miserablest
45:59I don't know how you
46:01exactly measure happiness
46:02but I think Cook's
46:04description of them
46:05as being the happiest
46:06people on earth
46:07is probably rather more
46:09accurate than Dampier's
46:10the miserablest
46:12I mean that's not even
46:13a word
46:14Cook returned home
46:21to England
46:22one imagines
46:23expecting to be hailed
46:24a great explorer
46:25and hero
46:26he'd redrawn
46:28the map of the world
46:29charting Tahiti
46:30the entirety of New Zealand
46:32and joined the dots
46:33together to
46:34almost complete
46:35the map
46:35of Australia
46:36but the reality
46:39of England's
46:39class system
46:40sunk in
46:41no matter
46:42Cook's rank
46:42on English soil
46:44the high-born
46:44Joseph Banks
46:45outranked
46:46and outbragged
46:48any of Cook's
46:49accomplishments
46:50but Cook
46:52had only just begun
46:53his day will come
46:55when he returns
46:56to the Pacific
46:57not once
46:58but twice
46:59venturing further
47:00than any explorer
47:02before him
47:03as far south
47:04as the Antarctic
47:05and as far north
47:06as the Arctic
47:07he will prove himself
47:09the master
47:10navigator
47:11and mariner
47:12the end
47:14of the Pacific
47:15and the
47:17other
47:18as the
47:19what else
47:20could you
47:22do?
Be the first to comment