It was truly exciting for my Professor Ataur as I uncovered the facts about Australia’s history. I would talk to him nearly every day on Skype. He often messaged me with questions, I couldn’t have dreamt of. “ Can you find the diary of A?” ,” Did you check dates that X said ?…. and what was Y doing on that day?” Coming up with answers to these questions was how we learn’t.
It was so good to have this support and Ataur’s interrogative mind. It led me to make better analysis of events and how people felt about their situation at the time. Professor Abdur treated me with care and respect. He always gave me encouragement. Ataur pushed me to think, where others would not have had the patience for me. One example, is where Ataur was messaging me as I was analysing a hand written invoice, I found for art supplies from 1778. He pushed me to find a diary record from that date, from a pile of old books in a Canberra library storeroom. Had I not found these two records and their relationship, I would not have known that the art supplies were purchased to create a plan for a new outpost in Australia. I could see in a diary record how excited the purchaser was about being given free will by the Kings decree. She was to involve indigenous people in this design process. I would often lie awake at night in amazement of what I had learned that day and what I might still unearth. Daily, I undertook a forensic analysis of documents and studied the characters that wrote them. It was how I imagined detectives perform, on a big case.
My story starts, with the first visit to Australia by British people.
Captain Cook was an apprentice to Captain John Walker, a Quaker who remained his close family friend. The first Quaker on Australian soil was Sydney Parkinson, an artist employed by the botanist Joseph Banks, sailing with James Cook. They landed briefly in 1770. It was Sydney’s detailed work, comprising of over 1000 paintings, showing King George that the South Seas, had very interesting lands and people. It also prepared the Quakers and their friends of the enlightenment period, that a special opportunity existed to meet and befriend the 1st nations people of this country. I first read about this in the quietness of the Mitchell Library in Sydney. I trembled as I held the actual pages of these learnered people’s diaies from the 1st British fleet to Australia. As an Afghani student, I had worked hard to understand the intricacy of the english language, but here, decifering 17th century handwriting on brittle, often broken pages, was quite difficult. These old pages gave off a smell I have never smelt before, musty, inky giving me the deep feeling of history in the making. Searching through old diary pages, browned with age, gave me goose bumps. It felt like I was there with the crew. Sydney’s pictures were beautiful in the depiction of indigenous culture. I could see a hint of the way out of our barbaric past.
As I read more, I learn’t about a fierce storm that occured in 1788. The storm resulted in a tradgedy for the first fleet and its crew. Official first fleet records taught in schools and university up to this stage were quite sketchy. After learning about this tradgedy I could see how it assisted in our atitutude towards the environment and civilisation. The 21st century, may have been very different in a negative way. This misfortune of the first fleet seemed to lead to a turning point in human development.
The ships had been loaded in England with convicts, marines, officers and a handful of knowledgeable enthusiasts. The eight enthusiasts were a mix of naturalists, historians, scientists, physicians and mystics. The four men and four women included a respected physician Erasmus, Peter a poet/philosopher, Judith a learned psychologist, Mathew a geologist, David an architect, Dorothy a naturalist, Elizabeth a botanist and a zoologist Vera. Each of these people had written detailed accounts of their journey. No one had ever analysed these accounts before or pieced them together. My PHD was about discovering brand new knowledge from this information. For instants David’s journals were full of creative diagrams. The later diagrams showed Aboriginal building ideas with unique ways of linking branches. He included landforms in his design with an obvious understanding of water flows, and weather patterns. David’s handwriting was neat like those written on architectural plans. I found it mostly easy to read. Judith on the other hand wrote with a highly cursive style from the 1700’s. Beautiful writing but harder for me to understand. The two actually wrote about each other at times and when I corelated each other’s journals, it was easy for me to see their care for each others ideas and their comradery. In one instance Judith was writing about loading ships supplies, here she had obviously understood David’s needs. She mentioned, how she had ordered more art supplies, as one of her companions would even draw whist having dinner.
In reading these personal records, I was reminded of my own personal conflicts. I had a dim view of relationships, which was formed by my parents disfunctional marriage. Despite this and for no particular reason, I had a burning desire to learn how cooperation in relationships, can multiply fruitfull outcomes. I envied other peoples ability to empathise with others, where my history seemed to limit my ability with this skill. I know females are generally better at empathy, but stangely, my brother Jalup helps me to make a conection regarding other peoples feelings, during my calls.
Negative feelings hinder my performance on any particular day. I feel all sorts of sorrow for myself and become homesick for the hills of Kabul. Sometimes I just take a few days off, walk in the forest or explore the coast. I then return to the Mitchel library reading intimate details about the troubles facing those on the first fleet. The Mitchell library is a beautiful building and I imagine that David the enlighted architect had something to do with its design. This would spark me up again to push for more knowledge.
You will learn more about these special people, as you read my story. They were permitted to make the journey to Australia by their unique relationship with King George 111. George 111 held philosophy nights, where all sorts of people would attend to discuss the future. He was mostly interested in communities and how people could live harmoniously. Peter an enthusiast on the first fleet had kept a journal of these meetings. On the four pages that I found at the bottom of a dusty box, I pieced together minutes of one such meeting. In these minutes, I could see how a discussion raged about the care of ecosystems, versus the removal of the environment to build grand cities. A consensus seemed to be formed that both could be achieved with careful planning. It was clear the King had wished to instigate a balance, with new scientific thinking in the development of a new civilisation, in the Great South Land. Establishing new civilisations is what colonialists traditionally thought were the benefits of exploration at this time. King George did not want a repeat of what happened in the Americas in terms of invasion.
The enthusiasts were thought to be a strange bunch at the time. The ship’s crew didn’t think much of them, but had their orders to bring them along. In fact it was clear from Judith’s writing that the crew would have preferred they perished with scurvy on the trip. Judith wrote of one occasion when they were served rotten meat in a very salty stew. Judith noticed the ships crew were not eating that stew and she became suspicious. David had a small spoonful and immediately felt ill. Not much was said, but they went hungry that night.
The enthusiasts had heard from their friend Sir Joseph Banks, about the strange fauna and flora in the Great South Lands. They had been told a lot about the Aboriginal people he saw whilst he was there. Sydney’s drawings from this time also led rise to an expectation that there was a lot of knowledge already available to support a good lifestyle on shore. The enthusiasts took their role very seriously and considered the establishment of a new civilisation very differently to the crew. It was obvious from the records of the meetings with King George, they wanted to befriend the local people and seek their approval to visit their lands. They had seen invasion and wars in their time and had to live with the pain of this experience. This created a burning desire in them, they knew they were on a very special assignment to create a new world.