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Poniedziałek, 02. Czerwiec 2008 15:51 |
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Radiocarbon dating has provided evidence that the Sydney region has been populated by indigenous Australians for at least 30,000 years.[7] At the time of the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788, 4000 - 8000 Aboriginal people lived in the region. The British called them "Eora"[8], because being asked where they came from, these people would answer: “Eora”, meaning in their language: ‘here’, or ‘from this place’. There were three language groups in the Sydney region; these were further refined into dialects spoken by smaller clans. The principal languages were Darug (the Cadigal, original inhabitants of the City of Sydney, spoke a coastal dialect of Darug), Dharawal and Guringai. Each clan had a territory; the location of that territory determined the resources available. Although urbanization has destroyed most evidence of these settlements (such as shell middens), Sydney and its environs are well known for numerous rock drawings and carvings because of the nature of the rock, Hawkesbury sandstone.[9] European interest in colonising Australia arose with the landing of British sea captain Lieutenant James Cook in Botany Bay in 1770. Under instruction from the British government, a convict settlement was founded by Arthur Phillip, who arrived at Botany Bay with a fleet of 11 ships on January 20, 1788. This site was soon found to be unsuitable for habitation, owing to poor soil and a lack of reliable fresh water. Phillip founded the colony at Sydney Cove on Port Jackson on 26 January 1788. He named it after the British Home Secretary, Thomas Townshend, Lord Sydney, in recognition of Sydney's role in issuing the charter authorising Phillip to establish a colony.[citation needed] In April 1789 a disease, thought to be smallpox, decimated the indigenous population of Sydney; a conservative estimate says that 500 to 1000 Aboriginal people died in the area between Broken and Botany Bays.[8]There was violent resistance to British settlement, notably by the warrior Pemulwuy in the area around Botany Bay, and conflicts were common in the area surrounding the Hawkesbury River. By 1820 there were only a few hundred Aborigines and Governor Macquarie had begun initiatives to 'civilize, Christianize and educate' the Aborigines by removing them from their clans.[8]
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