Kevin O'Brien's book Defending Middle Head: a Short History (2020) is a beautifully illustrated micro-history of an area of Sydney that still retains much evidence of its Black and White past. Eight chapters take the reader from the first contact between Blacks and Whites, through the British fear of the French and later the Russians, Governor Macquarie’s initiatives, development of gunnery facilities, two World Wars and after.
The defence of this prominent piece of Sydney is the book's key theme. First Australians' role in this is given prominence in Chapter 1.
Life for the Gai-mariagal people was catastrophically changed with the arrival of the British penal colony fleets ... In terms of defence capability, we know that the Gai-mariagal were well armed with spears, woomeras and shields. All the early British reports of sightings along the Middle Head coast describe small groups of men, armed and alert. They were observing the English sailors and keeping a watchful eye on them ...
The [British] diaries note that the Gai-mariagal men demonstrated that they would fight to protect their women and children. They were armed with weapons that demonstrated an understanding of both attack and defence. The fighting spears were long to provide good stability in flight. Made from hardwood saplings these spears were straightened over heat from fires to reduce friction when thrown. (pages 17-18, 24)
But there was more to Black and White contact than the wariness of the original inhabitants and the design of their spears.
Within only a few years, contact with the English colonisers proved to be fatal for the majority of Aboriginal people in the Sydney Harbour area. In April 1789 disaster struck. Many Aboriginal people died from the common cold and then, in even greater numbers, from the smallpox virus. It is not clear how the smallpox virus was introduced, but the effect was catastrophic - it has been estimated that 90% of the neighbouring clans died within a year of the first infection ...
The English colonisers, at least here at Middle Head, acted peacefully in these early contacts with the Gai-mariagal; albeit with the tactical plan of creating friendship in order to dispossess them of their country without a war. The Gai-mariagal defeat was, however, inevitable - from a strain of warfare for which they had no defence. They fell victim to what we now call biological warfare; not deliberate on the part of the English but removing all ability to resist the English. From the available records there were no Gai-mariagal people living on Middle Head by 1801. (pages 23-24)
By kind permission of the author, attached is a pdf of Chapter 1 of the book.
Kevin O'Brien is a retired Brigadier. His most recent book continues his studies of Australian micro-history: Long Tan: Memories, Myths and Reality. Defending Country's Peter Stanley says of the book: 'Brigadier O’Brien corrects more than fifty years of exaggerations, errors, misunderstandings and outright lies about what happened at Long Tan, and why. His revelations do not diminish the scale or intensity of the fight, but they do give us a clearer idea of the real story, and why it has been distorted for so long.'
Picture credits: Nicolas-Martin Petit (1777–1804), Aboriginal man and woman fishing with spear from canoe, with fire at centre, 1802; Auguste Delvaux (b. 1786) after Charles Alexandre Lesueur (1778-1846) Nouvelle-Hollande: Nouvelle Galles Du Sud, grottes, chasse et pêche des sauvages du Port-Jackson (Caves, hunting and fishing by the Port Jackson natives, New South Wales). Illustrations from chapter 1 of the book.
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