Other books (selected) by Jonathan King The Other Side of the Coin (1976) Stop Laughing, This is Serious! (1978) Waltzing Materialism: Attitudes that shaped Australia (1978) A Cartoon History of Australia (1980) Governor Phillip Gidley King (with John King, 1982) The First Fleet: Convict voyage that founded a nation (1982) The First Settlement: Convict village that founded a nation (1985) In the Beginning: The founding of Australia from the original documents (1986) Voyage into History (1987) Australia’s First Fleet: The original voyage and the re-enactment (1988) Battle for the Bicentenary (1989) The Man from Snowy River (1995) Australia’s First Century: A pictorial history of Australia (2000) Gallipoli Diaries: The Anzacs own story, day by day (2003) Gallipoli: Our last man standing (2004) Mary Bryant: Her life and escape from Botany Bay (2004) Gallipoli’s Untold Stories (2005) Historica (2006) Western Front Diaries: The Anzacs own story, battle by battle (2008) For Jane King (née Lewis), my wife, who worked long and hard on this book, as she did on all of my other books First published in 2009 Copyright © Jonathan King 2009 All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. The Australian Copyright Act 1968 (the Act) allows a maximum of one chapter or 10 per cent of this book, whichever is the greater, to be photocopied by any educational institution for its educational purposes provided that the educational institution (or body that administers it) has given a remuneration notice to Copyright Agency Limited (CAL) under the Act. Allen & Unwin 83 Alexander Street Crows Nest NSW 2065 Australia Phone: (61 2) 8425 0100 Fax: (61 2) 9906 2218 Email: [email protected] Web: www.allenandunwin.com Cataloguing-in-Publication details are available from the National Library of Australia www.librariesaustralia.nla.gov.au ISBN 978 1 74237 127 6 Internal design by Simon Paterson, Bookhouse Image restoration, retouching and pre-press by Bookhouse Set in 12/15 pt Garamond Premier Pro by Bookhouse, Sydney Printed in Australia by McPherson’s Printing Group 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Foreword I t is a bright idea to select the great moments in Australian history and breathe life into them. This book presents over sixty of those moments or turning points: Governor Arthur Phillip sailing into Sydney harbour in 1788, the first Aboriginal reaching Britain, the exploring of the Blue Mountains and the vast dry interior, and the excitement of finding rich gold in an Australian creek. Here is a labourer winning the Victoria Cross at Gallipoli, the first woman—a West Australian—winning a seat in parliament, and some tense moments of World War II. I know of no other Australian book with this approach, though Justice Michael Kirby recently urged Canberra to devote a whole museum to the ‘Defining Moments’ in our history. Jonathan King begins each episode with his version of the conversations and gestures that might have taken place between those who observed or created these moments. I must admit that I feel uneasy when I see, in history books, these conversations being plucked from the vanished airwaves. At the same time, many Australians now learn much of their history from films and television specials, and there the conversations are freely ‘made up’. Significantly, in the last fifty years no single history book has been so powerful a teacher as the film Gallipoli. Jonathan King has often tried to awaken Australians to their history, and believes that the awakening has far to go. His book sets out to reach ‘people who do not normally buy history books’. Many historians—even those who might choose a different set of moments—hope that his book succeeds. Geoffrey Blainey Melbourne v Contents Introduction ix Timeline xiv Prelude Sixty thousand years ago: Aboriginal arrival xxi 1606 First European lands in Australia, by mistake 1 1629 Batavia savagery kickstarts European history in Australia 5 1770 Captain Cook discovers east coast of New Holland 10 1783 A New Yorker ‘invents’ Australia 16 1788 Lieutenant King befriends Botany Bay Aborigines 21 1788 Captain Phillip founds a European settlement half a world from Europe 26 1791 Mary Bryant makes the greatest convict escape 32 1793 Bennelong becomes first Aborigine to meet the King 37 1804 Flinders puts Australia on the map 41 1805 John Macarthur ‘starts’ wool industry 46 1808 Rum Rebellion deposes Governor Bligh 51 1810 Lachlan Macquarie lays foundations for a great city 56 1813 Blaxland, Lawson and Wentworth cross Blue Mountains 60 1834 Buckley ‘Murrangurk’: Wild white man returns from dead 66 1851 Hargraves discovers gold and transforms colonies 71 1854 Peter Lalor leads Eureka rebellion demanding democracy 77 1856 Trade union leader James Stephens wins eight-hour day 83 1860 Burke and Wills cross continent for first time 87 1880 The last stand of Australia’s most famous bushranger 92 1889 Sir Henry Parkes inspires colonies to form a nation 96 1890 Man from Snowy River springs to life 102 1895 Banjo Paterson and Christina Macpherson create ‘Waltzing Matilda’ 107 1901 Barton ushers in new nation of Australia 112 1904 John Watson forms world’s first Labour Government 119 1912 Mawson survives Antarctic blizzard for Australia’s sake 124 1914 HMAS Sydney, round 1: Captain Glossop sinks Germany’s Emden 130 1915 Charles Bean lands with the Anzacs at Gallipoli 135 1915 Albert Jacka wins Australia’s first Gallipoli VC 141 1917 Sir John Forrest rides first transcontinental train 147 1917 Light Horse charge captures Beersheba 151 1918 General Monash wins turning-point battle of Hamel 157 1919 Smith brothers fly from England to Australia 163 1921 Women break new ground as Edith Cowan enters Parliament 168 1927 Dame Nellie Melba helps open nation’s new Parliament 172 1930 Melbourne Cup wonder horse Phar Lap wins Australian hearts 176 1932 Jack Lang and Captain de Groot open Sydney Harbour Bridge 181 1934 Bradman conquers world cricket 186 1934 ‘Smithy’ flies the world to conquer the skies 190 1941 HMAS Sydney, round 2: Germans sink Australian flagship 194 1941 Fearful Prime Minister switches allegiance from Britain to USA 201 1942 Watchman spots Japanese midget sub attacking Sydney Harbour 206 1942 Chocolate soldiers stop ‘Japs’ on Kokoda Track 211 1943 Enid Lyons becomes first woman elected to Federal Parliament 218 1945 Dr Florey wins Nobel Prize for saving soldiers’ lives 224 1945 Dancing Man celebrates Second World War victory 228 1954 Queen Elizabeth II conquers Australian hearts 231 1956 Golden Girl stars in first Olympics ‘Down Under’ 236 1965 Charlie Perkins’ Freedom Ride confronts racism 242 1971 Jack Mundey introduces world’s first green bans 248 1971 Boomerang thrower becomes first Aboriginal parliamentarian 254 1972 Aborigines achieve separate representation with Tent Embassy 259 1972 Whitlam leads Labor to power, breaking 23-year drought 265 1973 Queen opens Sydney’s Opera House without Utzon 270 1975 Governor-General sacks Prime Minister Whitlam 275 1983 Green pioneer Bob Brown helps save Franklin River 282 1983 John Bertrand wins America’s Cup in Australia II 288 1988 ‘First Fleet’ tall-ships thrill Australia 294 1993 Eddie Mabo wins land rights victory 301 2000 Cathy Freeman wins Olympic gold in Sydney 306 2002 Doctor saves lives after Bali bombings 311 2007 Julia Gillard becomes highest-placed woman in politics 316 2008 Prime Minister says ‘sorry’ to Aborigines 321 2008 HMAS Sydney found after sixty-six years 327 2009 Residents pioneer ‘go’ not ‘stay’ in nation’s worst bushfires 332 2009 Captain Bligh’s descendant becomes first elected female Premier 338 Acknowledgements 342 Picture credits 344 IntroduCtIon t his book highlights some of the great moments in Australian history—the key events that defined the nation. Each moment and its historical background is reported in the style, and at roughly the length, of a newspaper feature story. Since the choice of events is bound to leave some readers dissatisfied, it’s appropriate to explain the selection criteria. The main one was news value. All the events had to be headline- making—either ‘front-page news’ in its day or important enough in hindsight to have hit the front pages. They had to be of wide significance, affecting the whole nation rather than sectional interests. This approach generally favoured big-picture events over great achievements by individuals, though most stories are told from a single point of view. The story of Sydney’s founding by Captain Arthur Phillip, for example, tells us a great deal about the first British settlement from the European point of view; the account of Bennelong’s tragic life reflects the consequences of that settlement for indigenous Australians. The events also had to be turning points, altering the course or character of the nation. Edward Hargraves’s 1851 revelation that gold was to be found in New South Wales, for example, helped launch a gold rush that completed the transfor- This Aboriginal rock mation of the former penal colonies into thriving societies of free settlers. painting of the Lightning Many of the stories, particularly those that cover the best-known events, are Brothers, Yagjadbulu and told from the perspective of the people involved. We see James Cook taking Jabaringi, was traditionally possession of the continent’s east coast for Britain; Gregory Blaxland, William associated with the Lawson and William Wentworth crossing the Blue Mountains; the Australian arrival of rain—always Imperial Force landing at Gallipoli and establishing the Anzac legend; Prime celebrated when it finally Minister John Curtin transferring Australia’s allegiance from Britain to the United came after the long dry States in the face of a seemingly imminent Japanese invasion; and Eddie Mabo periods that characterised winning recognition of title to his ancestral lands in 1993. life in northern Australia. ix Great MoMents in australian History The events include significant firsts, such as Willem Jansz’s becoming the first European to land on Australian soil; Edith Cowan’s becoming the first woman elected to Parliament; and John Bertrand’s 1983 America’s Cup win, the first by a non-American challenger in 132 years. They also include colourful or dramatic events, such as the wreck of the Batavia in 1629 and William Buckley’s return to European settlement in 1834 after more than thirty years living with Aboriginal tribes. Among the individual stories with national impact are those of New South Wales colonial Premier Sir Henry Parkes, who inspired Federation; Aboriginal activist Charlie Perkins, who helped break down discrimination; and environmentalist Bob Brown, who began his distinguished career in the fight to save the Franklin River. Even with these guidelines, and the advice of many other historical scholars, deciding what to include and what to leave out was difficult. I have tried to achieve a balance between colonial and modern; between men and women; between Aboriginal and European; and between radical and conservative politics. The great moments were not all good moments by any means. Some were very bad, at least for those involved. The sinking in 1941 of HMAS Sydney with the loss of all hands was a terrible moment, and it left Australians wondering for the next sixty-six years what had happened. That mystery added to the significance of the wreck’s eventual discovery. The stories embrace exploration, war, politics, industrial relations, crime, sporting achievements, natural disasters and even a little poetry. They are presented in chronological order and written in a style that first-time readers of history should find accessible and enjoyable. Since this is a popular book rather than a scholarly treatise, there are no footnotes or references. Each story begins with a dramatised opening, in which the historical characters are imagined acting out or discussing the great moment as it unfolds. Wherever possible, these are individuals who were in a position to give an eyewitness account of the event in question, but the settings, action, and dialogue are fictionalised. In most cases, these dramatisations are based on contemporary accounts, journals, books, newspaper or magazine reports, or documentary films. I have also relied on imaginative empathy—on my feel for the subject matter. In some cases, the characters seemed to put words into their own mouths. After the opening dialogue, I explain why this was a great moment and provide the historical background. Each story ends with a postscript that notes interesting facts, unforeseen consequences or surprising twists. Explorers Robert x