Chapter 4: First Contact in Australia
A Meeting of Worlds
When the First Fleet arrived at Warrane (Sydney Cove) in January 1788, it was not the first time Aboriginal people had seen Europeans. Dutch navigators had sailed along the western and northern coasts in the 1600s, and James Cook charted the east coast in 1770. But the arrival of eleven British ships carrying over a thousand people – convicts, marines, officers, and families – was different. It was permanent.
Two worlds met. On one side stood peoples with tens of thousands of years of continuous culture, languages, and custodianship of Country. On the other stood an empire carrying the machinery of colonisation: law, guns, disease, and a worldview that dismissed Indigenous sovereignty as invisible.
First Reactions
Accounts from early officers record Aboriginal people watching with curiosity, caution, and sometimes open hostility. For example, in 1788, Governor Arthur Phillip wrote of attempts to establish friendly contact, including gift exchanges. Yet there were also confrontations: spears thrown when convicts cut down trees or took food without permission.
Aboriginal observers were quick to notice the strangeness of British behaviour – cutting down trees unnecessarily, fencing land, ignoring protocols of reciprocity.
These were not the “first meetings of primitive and advanced,” as old history books suggested. They were meetings of two sovereign peoples, each with their own law and culture.
The Violence of “Settlement”
Despite the image of the First Fleet planting crops and raising tents, settlement was immediately disruptive and violent:
- Land use conflict: The British cleared forests and seized fishing grounds, disrupting food sources.
- Resource theft: Convicts and soldiers took wood, water, and food without permission.
- Violence: When Aboriginal people defended their Country, the British responded with gunfire.
One of the earliest recorded killings occurred in 1788 when marines shot and wounded Aboriginal men near Botany Bay after what the colonists described as “misunderstandings.” Such “misunderstandings” became a pattern – often meaning Aboriginal people resisting theft or intrusion, and being punished with bullets.
Disease as a Weapon – Intentional or Not
Smallpox epidemics swept through Aboriginal communities soon after 1788. Within a year, observers recorded devastating mortality around Sydney.
Theories differ: Some historians argue smallpox arrived accidentally with the First Fleet, through contaminated supplies. Others suggest it may have been released deliberately, as smallpox scabs were carried by officers and used in inoculation.
Impact: Regardless of origin, the effect was catastrophic. Communities with no immunity were decimated. Oral histories tell of entire clans wiped out, leaving Country vulnerable to seizure.
For many Aboriginal nations, the epidemic was the first act of war – one that arrived silently but killed more effectively than musket fire.
Early Acts of Resistance
Aboriginal peoples did not passively accept invasion. From the beginning, resistance was recorded:
- Warriors destroyed crops and livestock.
- Fishing equipment and food stores were reclaimed.
- Settlers were speared or driven off.
Leaders such as Pemulwuy (Eora) and later Windradyne (Wiradjuri) led organised campaigns of resistance, described by colonists as “outrages” but better understood as warfare.
These acts of resistance are often omitted from schoolbook versions of history, but they are foundational: the frontier was contested, not peacefully “settled.”
Misunderstanding or Willful Denial?
Colonial journals often describe conflict as “tragic misunderstandings.” This framing ignores a central fact: Aboriginal peoples were sovereign, and they defended their lands under their own laws. To dismiss their defence as misunderstanding was convenient – it allowed the British to continue the lie of terra nullius while branding resistance as criminality.
From First Contact to Frontier Wars
The pattern was set in the first years:
- Seize land.
- Take resources.
- Respond to resistance with violence.
- Explain deaths as accidents or misunderstandings.
- Expand further.
What began in Sydney Cove would repeat across the continent for the next century: dispossession, resistance, reprisal. The so-called “settlement” was in fact invasion, followed by protracted war.
Why This Matters Today
The story of first contact is often sanitised. We are told of flags planted, sheep unloaded, and convicts struggling to survive. But the reality is that colonisation began with violence, theft, and disease. It was resisted from the start, and it disrupted lives from the start.
Acknowledging this matters because it shifts the narrative. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples were never passive victims. They were sovereign defenders of their Country. What happened in 1788 was not a meeting of civilisation and wilderness – it was the opening act of a long, unfinished struggle over land and justice.
Where This Leads
The first contact years opened the door to the Frontier Wars – a century of conflict, massacres, and reprisals across the continent. The next chapter will examine that violence: the systematic attempts to suppress resistance, and the policies of extermination that scar Australia’s history.
Continued tomorrow…
Link to Part 3:
From Ignorance to Understanding: Facing the Truth of Colonisation (Part 1)
Link to Part 5:
From Ignorance to Understanding: Facing the Truth of Colonisation (Part 5)
Dear reader, we need your support
Independent sites such as The AIMN provide a platform for public interest journalists. From its humble beginning in January 2013, The AIMN has grown into one of the most trusted and popular independent media organisations.
One of the reasons we have succeeded has been due to the support we receive from our readers through their financial contributions.
With increasing costs to maintain The AIMN, we need this continued support.
Your donation – large or small – to help with the running costs of this site will be greatly appreciated.
You can donate through PayPal or credit card via the button below, or donate via bank transfer: BSB: 062500; A/c no: 10495969
Be the first to comment