Dancing with Strangers.

This important book by Inga Clendinnen has a subject that is hidden by the title Dancing with Strangers. The book is actually about the Aboriginal contact with the early explorers and settlers especially those who came on the First Fleet. The title comes from a strange characteristic of the Aboriginals who sometimes strangely danced with the newcomers. The intriguing tale for example of the sailors from de Freycinet's voyage who landed at Shark Bay in Western Australia and thought they were under threat of attack. One of their officer organised the sailors to dance in a circle and one old Aboriginal man joined them in dancing. Laughter followed thus abolishing any possible thought of aggression or attack. This is just one incident of many that the book contains

The work seems to be a very fair account taken from the first fleet writings of officers like Phillip, Tench, Collins and White in addition to ordinary sailors like Jacob Nagel. There are so many sources that it would many pages to list them all. One odd aspect of Clendinnen's account is that she does not use the word 'Aboriginal' or even the Aboriginal word 'Eora' hut calls them 'Australians'. They were certainly not 'Australians' at the time of the First Fleet because the name had not yet been invented. It seems to me like some attempt at a take over of the name to the exclusion of later non Aboriginals. who invented the name to describe their new land.

That quibble apart I found the story a fascinating one. Clendinnen does not idealise the Aboriginals or set ut to paint the newcomers in a bad light. Her comments are fair and based on the evidence available. I noticed one or two slight errors in the descriptions, She writes that the store-ship The Guardian was attempting a passage around Cape Horn when it struck an iceberg and had been force back to Capetown for repairs. In fact most histories do not mention Cape Horn merely referring to the southern ocean. The Guardian did strike an iceberg and was deserted by most ot the passengers and crew and the few remaining on board struggled with her back to Capetown but not for repairs. The Guardian never made it to Sydney with her supplies.

Clendennen has outlined the difficulty of relations between the first settlers and the Aboriginals in the matter of ownership. The newcomers certainly did not understand that the Aboriginals owned everything on the land not just the animals but even the trees and the rushes the newcomers cut for thatching their huts. The fish in the harbour was also theirs and they helped themselves to any fish the first settlers caught 'as if the owned them' as one writer commented. The new arrivals did not consider that these 'primitive savages' could have any sense of ownership. It never seemed to occur to them even though some of them had been convicted of poaching another man's property in England. Another interesting aspect of the work is her interpretation of the Aboriginal use of their spears for different kinds of wounding and killing and she gives an intelligent explanation for much of the reaction of Aboriginals in their early contact with Phillip and his men.

From Clendinnen's accounts of the reasons behind much of Baneelon's (Bennilong) actions one gains a quite different picture of that Aboriginal man. At the same time there is also a reassessment of Governor Phillip and his interaction with the Aboriginals. These fascinating accounts read like a detective story or of the presentation of evidence at a trial. Every piece of evidence available is clearly outlined and then an assessment is made and a verdict delivered. The whole account is compulsive reading.

I have not spoken about the chapters on sex, both Aboriginal and of the first settlers. I am not sure she has divined all the true relationships or lack of them but her descriptions from the available evidence make fascinating reading. There is for example Watkin Tench's relations with an Aboriginal girl Which seems to be quite innocent as distinct from the more positively erotic relations between William Dawes with his Aboriginal 'girl friend'. There is given an account of the birth of Bannilong's son. It seems he was determined to have this event happen in the Governor's House but Phillip did not agree and it was to take place in the Hospital. Bennilong's wife had other ideas and he baby was born in the bush where she was found by David Collins who wrote a description of the event. There are some wonderful descriptions of the actions of this dominant Aboriginal woman.

The book contains further accounts of such things as discipline in the colony as well as crime and punishment. She also writes accounts of exploration of the new land and of the officers finally going 'home'.

This is a completely new version of the story of the first settlement of Sydney covering those first few years under Governor Phillip before he returned to England. You will read it with a growing excitement with a vivid word colour that makes these past accounts read like a multicoloured film, to mix my metaphors.

V.C.

CLENDINNEN, Inga

Dancing with Strangers

Melbourne, Text Publishing, 2003. 324p. $45.00