Embedded Files
Learning intention – We are learning about the significance of an historical event.
Success criteria – We can recount key activities that occurred during the Endeavour’s stay at Kamay Botany Bay. We can infer impacts of the Endeavour's stay on the local Aboriginal people.
What did the Endeavour crew do during the eight days?
What did the Endeavour crew do during the eight days?
Artist's impression of the Endeavour crew collecting waterArtist - Jo-Anne Breneger | Kamay Botany Bay National Park
Collecting supplies
Collecting supplies
The HMB Endeavour sailed into Kamay Botany Bay on the morning of 29 April 1770 and stayed for eight days. It sailed out at daylight on 7 May 1770.
The ship had been at sea for four weeks after leaving New Zealand. It needed to restock water, wood for fuel and grasses for fodder for the livestock. Fresh plant foods for the crew to eat to prevent illness were also needed.
To do
To do
Examine the painting and view the video Collecting water and wood from Kamay.
Imagine the sights, sounds and bustle of activity by the crew on the shore.
Consider the impacts on the Gweagal, the Aboriginal people living on the southern shore of Kamay Botany Bay.
Extension
Extension
Read a detailed description of each day's activities at Endeavour: Eight days in Kamay.
Activity 1 – perspectives
Activity 1 – perspectives
Imagine being one of the Endeavour crew men collecting water. What would you see, hear, feel and be thinking?
Also imagine being a Gweagal man watching the Endeavour crew. What would you be feeling and thinking as you watch ?
Activity sheet
Activity sheet
In role as each person, write your observations in the Perspectives activity sheet.
What do we know about the Aboriginal people of Kamay?
What do we know about the Aboriginal people of Kamay?
Artist's impression of the Gweagal on the shore of Kamay Botany BayArtist - Jo-Anne Breneger | Kamay Botany Bay National Park
Living and watching
Living and watching
Aboriginal cultural knowledge and 1770 journal entries give us an idea of the activities of the Gweagal during the Endeavour's eight days at Kamay.
Descriptions in the journals include:
'Hutts, not far from the Watering place'
'walking along the beach'
'6 small fires near the shore'
'muscles roasting' (mussels – shellfish)
'17 canoes ... fishing'.
Whilst the Gweagal made approaches to the Endeavour crew in the first few days, by the fifth day they seemed to ignore the strangers and got on with their daily lives.
To do
To do
View the video The Gweagal – eight days.
Examine the painting.
Read the journal extracts.
Imagine a scene at Kamay in 1770.
Consider the impacts on the Gweagal having the Endeavour crew on their Country.
Activity 2 – artist's impression
Activity 2 – artist's impression
Scroll through the image gallery.
Read the journal extracts.
Imagine a scene of the Gweagal's daily life at Kamay in 1770.
Activity sheet
Activity sheet
Use the Artist's impression activity sheet to sketch a scene looking out to sea. Include the shore, sea, the Gweagal's huts and canoes.
State the sources you used for the sketch. List them using the table on the activity sheet.
What did Joseph Banks and his staff do at Kamay?
What did Joseph Banks and his staff do at Kamay?
Collecting botanical specimens
Collecting botanical specimens
Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander
Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander
Joseph Banks and his staff of eight spent their time at Botany Bay observing and collecting plant, animal and shell specimens. At least 132 plant specimens were collected and taken back to England.
Banks’ staff included naturalists Daniel Solander and Herman Spöring, and natural history artist Sydney Parkinson.
Sydney Parkinson
Sydney Parkinson
Sydney Parkinson sketched and painted botanical illustrations. He also sketched landscapes.
Hairpin banksia, Banksia ericifoliaWatercolour by John Frederick Miller from a drawing by Sydney Parkinson of a specimen collected from Botany Bay, 1770Natural History Museum, London | © The Trustees of the Natural History Museum, London. Licensed under the Open Government Licence
Banksia ericfolia, botanical specimen collected at Botany Bay in 1770Royal Botanic Gardens, Sydney in Dictionary of Sydney | © State of New South Wales and Office of Environment and Heritage | CC BY 4.0
Significance
Significance
The plants collected were new to the western world. They were classified using the Linnaean System and helped further develop biological science.
To do
To do
View the video Collecting botanical specimens at Kamay.
Examine the banksia illustrations from drawings by Parkinson in 1770.
Observe the banksia specimen collected from Kamay in 1770.
Foraging with kids: sketching a roseYouTube | Lizzie Harper (1:32min)
Activity 3 – plant sketch
Activity 3 – plant sketch
View the video Foraging with kids: sketching a rose.
Go outside and draw a plant. Focus on accuracy.
In your drawing, recording the exact size and shapes. Include the leaves, stem, flower and seed pod if you can.
In role as a 1770s botanist returned to England, verbally describe your plant and show its key features. Video record your description.
Old man banksia, Banksia serrataWatercolour by John Frederick Miller from a drawing by Sydney Parkinson of a specimen collected from Botany Bay, 1770Natural History Museum, London | © The Trustees of the Natural History Museum, London. Licensed under the Open Government Licence
Coast banksia, Banksia integrifoliaWatercolour by Charles White from a drawing by Sydney Parkinson of a specimen collected from Botany Bay, 1770Natural History Museum, London | © The Trustees of the Natural History Museum, London. Licensed under the Open Government Licence
Extension
Extension
Listen to Brett Summerall, the chief botanist of the Royal Botanic Garden, Sydney, explain the activities of Joseph Banks and Daniel Solander - 8 days botanising in The Shire 250 years ago (9:46min)
View the botanical illustrations of plants collected at Botany Bay at the British Natural History Museum.
What were the impacts of the Endeavour at Kamay?
What were the impacts of the Endeavour at Kamay?
Banks' journal 28 April 1770
Banks' journal 28 April 1770
(Morning of 29 April)
'We however thought it no improper measure to take away with us all the lances which we could find about the houses, amounting in number to forty or fifty. They were of various lenghs, from 15 to 6 feet in length...'
National Library of Australia
Cook's journal 30 April 1770
Cook's journal 30 April 1770
'...I went over to a Cove on the south north side of the bay where in 3 or 4 hauls with the Saine [net] we caught about 300 pounds weight of fish which I caused to be equally divided among the Ships Company'
National Library of Australia
Impacts
Impacts
Short-term
Short-term
The Endeavour crew were focussed on restocking. Potential impacts may have included:
damaging the creek banks when filling water barrels
reducing the fish in the bay when the crew used large nets for fishing
affecting the ability to hunt when Cook and his officers took 40-50 spears as souvenirs.
To do
To do
View the video Eight days – impacts.
Read the extracts from Banks' and Cook's journals.
Consider the effects of having so many spears taken and so many fish caught.
Long-term
Long-term
The reports from the Endeavour's stay at Kamay Botany Bay eventually led to the establishment of a British colony at Sydney Cove in 1788.
This forever changed Australia's history and the lives of Australia's Aboriginal people.
Activity 4 – cause and effect
Activity 4 – cause and effect
Reflect on the Endeavour crew's actions and activities at Kamay Botany Bay.
Infer the immediate and short-term effects of these actions on the Gweagal, living at Kamay.
Activity sheet
Activity sheet
State the crew's activities and their effects on the Cause and effect activity sheet.
Extension
Extension
Create a diorama, sketch or role play of the scene at Kamay on 30 April, the second day.
Record a guided video tour through the scene, or video of the role play, outlining the actions and activities of the crew and their effects on the Gweagal.
Other interesting links
Other interesting links
Endeavour: Eight days in Kamay – The eight days | NSW Department of Education
Botany of Kamay – Describing plants | NSW Department of Education
Knowing plants – Kamay Botany Bay | National Museum of Australia
Eight days in Kamay – Botanical sketches | State Library of NSW
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