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Detail of 'Sydney from the western side of the Cove' showing Aboriginal people and Europeans c1803

By
George William Evans (attributed)
From the collections of the
State Library of New South Wales
[a1528462 / XV1/1803/1 (detail)]
(Mitchell Library)

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Appears in
Governor Phillip and the Eora
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Aboriginal
Natural features
Sydney Cove Tank Stream
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First Government House

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Evans, George William (attributed)

State Library of New South Wales

Governor Phillip and the Eora

What was Governor Arthur Phillip's relationship with the Eora, and other Aboriginal people of the Sydney region? Phillip's policies, actions and responses have tended to be seen as a proxy for the Europeans in Australia as whole, just as his friend, the Wangal warrior Woolarawarre Bennelong’s allegedly tragic life has for so long personified the fate of Aboriginal people since 1788. To fully imagine those early years, we must see them through the twin lenses of British and Eora perspective and experience to glimpse what was happening, and why. This allows a nuanced and complex view, and the banishment once and for all the notion that there can be only one 'right' story.

Aboriginal

Sydney Cove

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Small bay on the southern shore of Port Jackson, which became the site for the European settlement in Sydney.

Tank Stream

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The fresh water course which supplied the fledgling colony, emptying into Sydney Cove. It was named for three storage tanks which were constructed in the sandstone beside the stream during a drought in 1790. By 1828 the stream had been polluted to such an extent that it could no longer be used as a source of water and was diverted into a sewer, and by the 1870s it had been completely covered. The Tank Stream still flows in a covered storm water drain.

First Government House

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Residence for the first nine Governors of NSW, which was the first major building in the colony. The first permanent building in the colony, it had two storeys built of bricks and stone comprising six rooms, two cellars and a rear staircase. In front of the house was a garden where many imported plant species were grown and the first orchard planted. The Museum of Sydney, on the corner of Bridge and Phillip Streets, was built on its site.