Dimensions
190 x 254 x 19mm
A Sydney Aborigine Meets the Great South Pacific Explorers, 1799 - 1830
King of the Broken Bay Aborigines who settled in Sydney, Bungaree was witty, intelligent, something of a diplomat. He accompanied Flinders and Philip Parker King on their voyages of exploration. For many years he was a Sydney character, dressed in cast-off European military clothes, often mentioned in contemporary accounts of the colony and often painted or sketched.
In Keith Smith's story we have the excitement of seeing an Aboriginal taking on a range of attributes and emerging as a recognisable human being rather than a simplistic, familiar portrait. This book contributes not only to the understanding of the Aborigine who was most often discussed and depicted in the first fifty years but also to our knowledge of those fields of endeavour to which he contributed.
Light is thrown on the work of several major marine explorers and their relationships with coastal Aborigines; on the personalities and attitudes of a swag of marine visitors from many countries, enabling us for example to discern changes from the time of Bellingshausen to that of d'Urville.
Smith is at his best in dealing with pictorial representations of Aborigines and highly contemporary sources but also perceptive in using modern commentaries, including that of Dutton's 'White on Black', quoting the illuminating remark, "He mocked the white men by mocking himself".
