Transcript

Welcome, this is Kamay Botany Bay National Park, and I’m standing at the creek historians believe is the place where the Endeavour’s crew filled their water barrels in 1770. It’s a freshwater creek, but now it only flows after rain. It was the main water source for the Gweagal people living here.

Imagine the crewmen filling their wooden barrels, rolling them down the beach, hoisting them onto the rowboat and taking them back to the Endeavour which was anchored just off shore. The whole process must have taken days - you need a lot of water for 100 men while they’re sailing at sea.

Some of the crewmen were working in the bushland, collecting and chopping firewood from fallen logs and trees. Others were cutting long grasses to feed the animals that were kept on board the ship.

I wonder what the Crewmen thought of the plants, the land and the people of Kamay?

End of transcript.