DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT OF AUSTRALIA.

Northland Age, Volume VIII, Issue 26, 16 February 1912, Page 2

DISCOVERY AND SETTLEMENT OF AUSTRALIA.

gg, A paper delivered to the Stake HHt . 1 equest of the Historical Society of ■p. Victoria, by Mr. B Cooke, There was a time, only a few hundred years ago, wheu the nations of the earth knew nothing of the great Continent of Australia It probably mL first became known in the 16th centtiry, say between the years 1500 and «■ I*so, and it is almost impossible to JT ifkme the European navfgator to * *whom we should give the honour of H ‘ • being the first discoverer. In 1486 - " Bartholomew Dias, (Deeash), a Portugcec, the first among Europeans, r «iied along the Cupe of i ood Hope. Tn 1492 Columbus discovered the West Indies, and in 1498 V asco da * Gama, reached India by way of the i*' Cape of Good Hone. Their example P - was quickly followed. Sailors be- % camp more vthi resome, and many * ne” lands wera visited by Europeans. Bet-.een the years 1500 and 1600 what was shown on the maps as Great |j Java v:a» also marked on some as tfie “t'nknown South Continent," jxtending round the South Pole and Wr . acrorts the South Pacific Ocean to Tinea del Fuego. Nearly all these maps are wntten in the Portugese l; * tankage, thus we may reasona! ly suppose that the Portugese were the first exploring navigators to touch Australian shore>. Tn 1606 a Dutch schooner called the “D" fh-n,” (Duyfen), waR sent to * explore the West Coast of New Guinea. She sailed south along the West Coast of Cape York Peninsula; as the “Duyfheo” crossed what is now called the Torres Htraits, the eaptain noticed awav on the east of him, several points of land. These he believed to be joined together. a nd 'to form a portion of New Guinea, whereas they were islands, the principal of which is now called Thursday Island. Tn the same year, ICO6, a Spaniard named Torres sailed through the same straits, which are now nam<»ri after him, and saw land, . without knowing that it was part of Wm* the great Southern Continent. The . first who actually records serins the new continent was Dirk Hart eg,, a Putchmnn. He wa« on a voyage from Holland to the East T nV'f?, and when sailtng on the Indian Ocean was driven out of his course to the West Coast of Australia. Here he landed, and nailed a tin plate on a poet with an inscription njTnn it. This plate was found by a fellow countryman eighty years af tenvnrds. The trade between! Europe and India now being a very large one, t-shins trading between these countries often- getting out of their course by \ adv<>r ß e winds, (steamships then being unknown,) visited the North West const of Australia. Thus we find tho Portugese, Dutch, Spanish, >- ml Fj ejjf-h, all knew something of this vast but failed to fully discover its vab'e or extent. ; *nd it was not until April 1770 that direct advantage was taken of all the early discoveries. In 1767 V tain Cook, a master seaman in ;he Poyal was entrusted with ommand of a small ship, the “Fn!'‘a,onr.” Tn August 1768 the “F.n'cdvotir” left Plymouth, Fnrland, ith a full crew, also a number of entifir gentlemen, intending to horou; hly explore the new country, „ ‘ hen n med by the Dutch New Hoi ~> nd. Calling at New Zealand he 'e a careful survey of the coast, ca\ which he was engaged for over six mo fhs. On the 31st of March, 1770, he left new Zealand, steering due west, and on the morning of the 19th of April the welcome news of “land ahoy" wa* sounded by the man at the wheel. This pr ■’d to be the southernmost part of Australia, and was named by Captain Cook "‘Point Hicks " after the seaman who first , aaw it, and now known as Cape j Hver.ard, being a little west of Ram- j bead, and nearly opposite Gabo Island. Keeping his course for several days, he saw what he thoubht a good landing place, and on the Bth April, the day we now celebrate, Cook | anchored his little vessel in a large bay, which is now ao well known as j Botany Bay* so named by him because of its luxuriant growth and beautiful shrubs. The first to land was a midshipman named Isaac Smith. When the captain went ashore he took the boy with him, i . and said, “/vow, my boy, you go first,” and the lad jumped a c hore. ‘' his was a very noticeable feature in Cook’s life. He was not always thinking of self first. You will see, ! when reading the history of his life and travels, that he made it a point | to give names of rivers and places to those who were the most vigilant arcing his crew who first saw the object of their search, and whether it |p was a common seaman or officer, the honour was given to the one who had won it. This gave confidence and satisfaction among his men, and was very helpdil to him in his great Cbok, on at Botany Bay noticed a number of nafrves, clt except two ran away. TbeM* two braves stood firm and showed by their action their determination not to allow the white man lo land, hut the time had come when they must give way to the bite, race, and to-dny the natives of _Vew South Wales and Victoria are almost a people of the past. For nearly ten years after Sydney was founded the general idea was that Van Diemens Land was part of the continent of Australia. On board of one of His Majesty’s ships was a surgeon nam< d Bass, who desired to prove whether this was so or not. Governor Hitter found him a whale- ... * % 'ill! . * *

boat with crew and provisions, and be left Sydney in December 1797. He had before him a great expanse of ocean to him quite unknown, and after bufietting with many diiiiculties he succeeded in following the coast as far ae Wilson’s Promontory. Rough seas and winds prevented him from going any further west. In the afternoon of the 3rd of January, 1798, land wae again seen, possibly one of the Glennies, small islands off the const of Avstralia near Wilson’s Promontory. On approaching them, to his surprise he saw the smoke of a camp fire of seven white men, who had been deserted by their mates and left to their fate upon this inhospitable shore. For five weeks they hud lived upon seals and wild fowl, and were generally in a bad way. Ba«s, intending going further west, promised that he would call for them on his return. He pushed on to the west shore of Wilson’s Promontory but f nd the sea too rough to land. Goin further west, he entered into a comfortable little harbour which he named Western port.. On his return omney he made for the island wh 're the men were, and put five of th m on the mainland. Two he took.vith him, his boat not being able to take them all ; one, an old man, and the other an invalid. To those that he put on the mainland he gave a gun, also half of his ammunition, some hooks, and a line; but the five men were never seen or heard of afterwards. He sailed close along the Ninety Mile Bcarti. where he landed, possibly at Lakes Entrance or Sydenham Inlet, the only safe place al ng that coast a boat could land in rough weather. I know this -art of the coast well, having walked from the Lakes Entrance across Lake and the Snowy Ri r or on to Rams Head. As he landed he noticed a large number of black swan and thousands of wild ducks, and to-day these places are mnrh sought after by sportsmen as the game is still plentiful. When, af* r twelve weeks’ absence from Port Jackson, Bass returned, all hands safe, with a record that has hardly been surpassed by any seaman >n the world, having accomplished the task of sailing in an cmen boat 600 miles in seas quite unknown to him before.. Still our beautiful bay, Port Philip, remained undiscovered. The English Government in the reign of King George 111. were determined to fully explore the new continent. To this end it entrusted Captain Grant with command of a small brig of 60 tons, fully equiuped, called the Lady Nelson, and in every way suited for the purpose. In March of 1860 he left England on a voyage to Sydney, Australia. He called at Cape Town, Africa. Week after week passed among stormy seas when the little vessel slowly made her way across the Indian Ocean. The sailors were getting tired of being so long on their voyage. One of the sailors caught sight of a dragon fly and at once this gave them new hope, for they well knew they must be near land. The captain told them that they would soon look upon an unexplored part of New Holland. The first hill seen was named Mount Gam-* bier, a nd the other Mount Sthank. Still going east, he saw land which he named Portland,, after the Duke of Portland. Passing further east he met a small island which he called Julia Percy. Then the boid outline which he named Cape Otway after one of his friends. Then Cape Pattan, where he tried to land, tAit missed the now well known Blanket, Apollo and Loutit Bays, where he could have landed with safety. Returning to the ship he still kept on Jjis eastward co ir-:e, and thus again missed discovering Port Philip bay. He passed Wilson’s Promontory, and a small group of islands which he named the Glennies, and again made another unsuccessful attempt to land. He kept his course east and north on to Sydney. Port phillip Bay., named after Captain Phillip, was discovered by Murray in January, I*Bo2, who, having sailed Captain Grant’s old ship the Lady Nelson safely through the Rip, anchored off the spot we now know as Port: ea. This brings us in touch with soil' thing *hat may be of more interest to our young friends. Port Phillip, a wide expanse of water surrounded by a beautiful country everywhere the eye could scan. Now we must look for others than seamen to explore and work the newly found land. News soon reached Tasmania, England, and the old world. Men came with their flocks from Tasmania and landed first at Portland, and afterwards at the Yarra Yarra river not far from where Queen’s Bridge now stands. An exploring party conducted by Hume and Hovell, in the year 1824 and 1825, led to the permanent settlement ten years later of Port Phillip district. Hume and Hovell were thorough bushmen of the mother colony of New South Wales, men of determined will and enterprise, who made up their minds to see for themselves what the south of the con tinent was like. The Surveyor Gon- ■ ral of New South Wales had described the whole of the land southward as quite worthless for any human beings to live upon. However, they forded the Murray near the present site of Albury, crossed the Dividing Range near Kilmore, on over the beautiful plains to the Werrihee River, made a halt and pitched th ir tent.B, sending back reports which were published in New South Wales and Tasmania* Great interest was taken in the new district of Port Phillip. John Batman, the founder of Melbourne, arrived with J. Gillibrend, in June, 1835. After a short stay he saw the rich pasture and beaut if l, land lying between Northcote HilF

and on towards tiny sea, ta lug in the present sites of Melbourne and Geelong, being some 600,000 acres. He made a treaty with a native chief called Jika Jika for the gur--chase of the lot,, giving a few pairs of blankets and small 'trifles such as tomahawks and beads, got his title signed sealed and delivered, but the Government of New South Walesfr very properly disallowed his claim. At afiout the. same time John Ffiwkner and others arrived with their flocks of sheep and cattle on the Yarra near the present site of Melbourne. Thus we have some of the records of the early* discovery of Australia and the settlement of Victoria. In 1851 the gold was discovered, and teds of thousands flocked to the new land. . Some of the best men of Engl. n ’, Scotland, and •Ireland, .men of all classes, barristers, doctors, tradesmen, farmers, and others, made their way to Victoria, and by their pluck, determination, and enterprise, overcame all the difficulties they had to contend with in the new country ; they did their r>art nobly and well, and to them, as to discoverers and explorers we must give credit for mating Victoria what it is to-day. Melbourne became a city of great wealth and commerce, and to-day with her suburbs is considered by travellers to be one of the first -cities of the world for her age, and a climate unsurpassed in any portion of the globe. In closing I would like to give some personal remarks of early Brunswick, telling you something of the doings of the Jika Jika tribe of blacks, who lived on the Merri Merri Creek, between the Yarra and Kilmore. The blacks in Victoria numbered something like 6,000 when Batman first came. Now there are only a few hundreds left, and these are fast passing away. I remember them having their corrobborrie near a small lagoon in Prince’s Park, in, I think, about the year 1855. They all gather and light their small camp fires, and after painting their bodies with coloured clays, dance to the song of the women who beat boomerangs, waddies, and sticks together, making up a weird and uncanny sound and sight. When influenced with drink given by white men they sometimes killed each other. To make a fire they used two pieces of wood which they rubbed together between their hands. In some instances it gave them a great deal of trouble to light. Women took lighted sticks and carried them from camp to camp. They could all swim ; a child that could just walk could swim well. If you notice some of the red gum trees on the bank of the River Murray you can still see where they stripped off the bark to make their canoes. These they pushed along with sticks, and although they were unsafe to Europeans, the blacks crossed rivers and lagoons in them in safety. The jubras carried their piccaninnies in a net made of native grass slung over their shoulders. They sewed together opossum and other skins for a covering at night, and although rtey had a lot of hardships to put. up with in their ild state, they were, I think, happy. They lived on oiwwmjm,, kangaroos,, native bears, wombats, porcupine, on; eaters, and a-so most of the smaller animal tribe which they partially coo’"d, dug in small yams, also a kind of native bread. This they rubbed on a svjno into a fine Hour, and also gra&s'w. ps, Put they principally lived on l!i h food. I have seen them many limes in different parts of the colony. You would be surprised with what precision they can thro . their boomerangs and spears. In some instances they have been known to ; .'ace a spear between their toes, and drag it along so that you could not see it, and when they wished to throw, in an instant it was in their hands, and hurled by a' woomera with such force that it would run through the body of a kangaroo and almost pin him to the ground. The boomerang was also used by them in killing tlieir game, and when thrown into a flock of due * would often bring down two and three at a time. I remember my father taring me as a boy along the tr ick that led up the hill from the host Office, Melbourne. Going through a hush towards Brunswick, an coming to a point where the ; a ah Sands Hotel now stands, talc-; ing another track to the east to the . Merri Greek on towards our home, a 1 small four roomed bluestone cottage 1 for which my father paid 25/ a week rent. Brunswick in the early fifties was principally taken up by merchants and professional men as a place of residence, and many beautiful homes were erected on the banks of the Merri Creek. Some still re- j main, notably, Mrs. Sumner’s, Hon. David Moore’s, and Mr. Rose’s. Others have been removed or pulled j down. In 1851, or about ihat time, ; at Phillipstown, Brunswick, bricks were first made, and stone quarries also opened up. The heavy traffic cut up the roads very badly ; in some instances they became almost impassable. I have seen the Sydney Road from the Sarah Sands towards Melbourne just like a ploughed' field, teams stuck up to the axle, waggons with sometimes 14 horses tugging to get some of the other loads out of the bog. This condition of things drove most of the wealthy classes out of our district. However, we have survived all this, and to'day are able to hold our own in numbers with any of the suburbs of Melbourne and promise to be a great manufacturing oity. Possibly some of yon 1 boys are thinking you wish that you had been here a man in those early times, so that you could have bought some of the corner blocks in the rCity rf Melbourne. T think the boys and*girls of this time will in fifty

years hence bo able to look back with the same wonder at the progress of., this State, as we older colonists do at the present, and that in the near future Victoria will contain a population herself equal to the present population „of the whole Commonwealth of Australia. The early discoverers, explorers, and pioneers, have left you a noble gift. It is the place of your birth, guard it jealously, use it well, make good laws, honour God ‘and the King, and thus make this Australia one of the first nations under the sun. I desire to say tha't for my leading dates and historical facts I am indebted to the Education Department of Victoria, and the Victorian Historical magazines.