Captain Cook, the First Fleet & Australia Day: Relevant Facts-by Michael Roberts

Earlson Forbes in Sydney in Email Memo to Michael Roberts, 9 February 2024** as a Comment on this TPS Item viz https://thuppahis.com/2024/02/08/anzac-day-outdoes-australia-day-in-the–scales-of-dinky-die-australian-nationalism/ ……….. Note that the highlights in black are those by Earlson, while the other coloured segments are those of Editor Roberts.

Whilst the author of this email has made many interesting observations, I think clarification is due on some aspects of the contents. The email in question states. ‘The first fleet arrived in Botany Bay on 18^th January. The 26^th was chosen as Australia Day for a very different and important reason. The 26^th of January 1949 is the day Australians received their independence from British Rule’.

The comment regarding the arrival of Captain James Cook is correct. James Cook did not bring the First Fleet to Australia. Many years before the First Fleet arrived in Australia Captain Cook was on a voyage to the mid Pacific. Cook’s voyage took him to Hawaii where there was a fierce encounter with the Hawaiians and Cook was killed in the skirmish on 14 February 1779.

However, 26^th January has a greater significance. The First Fleet which was comprised of 11 ships and its

human cargo (which is estimated to be 2000 convicts on board), arrived in Australian waters on 18^th January 1788. One ship entered Botany Bay but found it to be sadly wanting in many respects. The Fleet then moved North in search of a better location and entered Sydney Cove on 26^th January 1788. Here, Commander of the First Fleet Arthur Phillip found conditions good and raised the Flag to signify occupation or settlement, depending on one’s subjective point of view.

As a matter of interest may I observe that there was confrontation with the aboriginal occupants of the area and at one point Governor Arthur Phillip, was speared in the shoulder by an aboriginal. Despite this, to his credit Arthur Phillip did not wage an all-out war of attrition on the local inhabitants but stuck to his brief of setting up a Colony of convict settlers. On reaching Sydney Arthur Phillip was estimated to have about 750 convict settlers to deploy as many had perished on the voyage from England to Sydney.

The second observation made in the email under consideration, refers to, ‘The 26^th of Juauary 1949 is the day Australians received their independence from British Rule’.

This statement could be misleading. The Australian Colonies attained Nation Status on January 1^st, 1901. On that date the six Australian Colonies came together to establish the independent Nation of the Commonwealth of Australia. In fact, in its first year the Commonwealth Parliament passed two significant bits of legislation regarding entry to Australia. These 2 Acts were the Immigration Restriction Act 1901 and The Pacific Island Labourers Act 1901. These two Acts were the cornerstones of the so-called White Australia Policy. (see below)

Although an Independent Nation from 1901, there was no clear policy about the issue of Australian Passports. In the first two decades post 1901, Australia issued ‘travel documents’ but used the authority of Britain and its King (The Crown). In the early years after Australian independence the King of England was king of Australia (as it is to this day) and the Commonwealth of Australia depended on England for foreign relations as well as for defence matters. On the question of issuing Australian Passports there was tinkering at the edges of this issue in 1925, 1930 and 1936, but no clear policy emerger until the passing of the Nationality and Citizenship Act 1948. This Act as finally adopted, opened citizenship to all persons born in Australia, Naturalised or Registered as a citizen.

The Nationality and Citizenship Act was proclaimed as law on 26^th January 1949. The 26^th of January was chosen as the date of proclamation of the Act as this date was already celebrated as Australia Day. In Parliament Immigration Minister Arthur Caldwell said, ‘When The Nationality and Citizenship Bill becomes law it will be proclaimed on Australia Day 26/01/1949.

On the reference in the email to British Subjects the following information may be relevant.

The question of who a British Subject is, is a complicated one. The idea originates from the concept that all persons within the boundaries of the British Empire owe allegiance to the British King and in return are assured of his protection. At the time, an individual could be a citizen of any one of the countries within the Empire and be a British Subject. For those who wished to travel (of which there were only a small number up to the 1930s), it was a great advantage to travel under the Seal of the British Crown. With the end of the Second World War and the impending dissolution of the British Empire a conference was held in 1947 to devise a scheme under which both citizenship and British Subject status could be combined. And so, for some years after this an individual could be a citizen of independent Ceylon, India, Union of South Africa, Australia or some other British Commonwealth Nation and also be a British Subject. Some of the Irish objected to being categorised as British Subjects and opted out of British Subject status. Finally, this convoluted concept was abandoned in the 1970s.

I trust you find the above of interest in clarifying some of the history behind Australia Day.

I have written several Articles for the Ceylon Society of Australia, based in Sydney and they have been published in the Society’s Journal titled, ‘The Ceylankan’. Unfortunately, the Ceylankan is not a digital publication (although this may change in the future). Michael Roberts has kindly included two of my Articles on the topic of migration and entry to Australia on his Thupphai Blog. If interested search on his Blog for:-

1 The White Australia Policy, Ceylonese Burghers and Alice Nona.

2 From Ceylon to Australia: Migrant Journeys,1860 to 2010

FYI = I have attached a copy of an approved Citizenship application that takes us back to 1958. It is of a person not known to me.

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SOME PERTINENT REFERENCES

A NOTE from Michael Roberts, 9 February 2024

Earlson Forbes was my contemporary at Peradeniya University campus though at the opposite end of the univeristy sprawl and quite a distance away from not my ‘home’ at Ramanathan Hall. It is a measure of the educaton we received in Sri Lanka that the late Professor Eric Richards of the Dept of History at Flinders University marvelled at the quality of Earlson’s essay on Alice Nona and indicated that it should be placed in an academic journal.

Readers here should perhaps visit that article and read the Comments therein: there is one by another scholar James Jupp that endorses the assessment essayed by my dear friend Eric.

Arise ‘Sir Earlson’ !

.…. Aaaaaaaaaaaaaagh: But now NOTE this Challenge from Rob George, a friend and an author living in Adelaide, 9 February 2024

That’s a new story and it’s highly dubious. Here’s the National Library’s explanation which relates to the same picture:

This picture, published as a supplement to The Sydney Mail on 26 January 1938, is from an 1937 oil painting by John Allcot. The New South Wales Government organised a festival for 26 January 1938 to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the arrival of the First Fleet. The festival included re-enactments of the arrival of Captain Arthur Phillip (the Commander of the First Fleet and the first Governor of New South Wales) at Port Jackson and of the flag-raising ceremony in Sydney Cove.

Prior to 1935, 26 January was known as First Landing Day or Foundation Day in Australian states and territories, but from 1935 onwards all jurisdictions used the name Australia Day to mark the date. Australia Day was not consistently celebrated as a public holiday across Australia until 1994.

I can’t remember the details just now, but Australia was an independent nation from 1901 so I don’t know where the date 1949 comes from. During WW2 our government acted with independence from the UK; witness the withrawal from the Middle East.