Dancing with Strangers: Europeans and Australians at First Contact

Inga Clendinnen

Cambridge University Press, Jun 6, 2005 - History - 324 pages

In January 1788, the First Fleet arrived in New South Wales, Australia and a thousand British men and women encountered the people who would be their new neighbors. Dancing with Strangers tells the story of what happened between the first British settlers of Australia and these Aborigines. Inga Clendinnen interprets the earliest written sources, and the reports, letters and journals of the first British settlers in Australia. She reconstructs the difficult path to friendship and conciliation pursued by Arthur Phillip and the local leader 'Bennelong' (Baneelon) that was ultimately destroyed by the assertion of profound cultural differences. A Prize-winning archaeologist, anthropologist and historian of ancient Mexican cultures, Inga Clendinnen has spent most of her teaching career at La Trobe University in Bundoora, Australia. Ambivalent Conquests: Maya and Spaniard in Yucatan (Cambridge, 1989) and Aztecs: An Interpretation (Cambridge, 1995) are two of her best-known scholarly works; Tiger's Eye: A Memoir, (Scribner, 2001) describes her battle against liver cancer. Reading the Holocaust (Cambridge, 2002) explores World War II genocide from various perspectives.

What people are saying

LibraryThing Review

User Review  - seabear - LibraryThing

What happened when British settlers landed in the country of a people they knew nothing about? What did those people think? What did they do? The story of Sydney's very first few years. Honest, probing, challenging. What history should be.

LibraryThing Review

User Review  - joe1402 - LibraryThing

The story of the contact between indigenous Australians and the British in what became Sydney between 1788 and 1795. Clendinnen shows that the first Governor, Arthur Phillip and Bennelong wanted much ...

Contents

• DANCING WITH STRANGERS: 6
• MEETING THE INFORMANTS: 12
• GOVERNOR ARTHUR PHILLIP: 19
• CAPTAIN JOHN HUNTER COMMANDER OF HMS SIRIUS: 37
• SURGEONGENERAL JOHN WHITE: 44
• JUDGEADVOCATE DAVID COLLINS: 51
• WATKIN TENCH CAPTAINLIEUTENANT OF MARINES: 57
• JANUARY 1788SPRING 1790 SETTLING IN: 67
• 17881789 WHAT THE AUSTRALIANS SAW: 83
• ARABANOO: 94
• ENTER BANEELON: 102
• SEPTEMBER 1790 SPEARING THE GOVERNOR: 110
• OCTOBERNOVEMBER 1790 COMING IN: 133
• OCTOBERNOVEMBER 1790 HOUSE GUESTS: 140
• BRITISH SEXUAL POLITICS: 152
• AUSTRALIAN SEXUAL POLITICS: 159
• NOVEMBER 1790 BOAT TRIP TO ROSE HILL: 168
• 18 DECEMBER 1790 HEADHUNT: 172
• ON DISCIPLINE: 182
• 20 JANUARYFEBRUARY 1791 POTATO THIEVES: 191
• 21 APRIL 1791 EXPEDITION: 200
• BOLADEREE: 209
• BARANGAROO: 219
• NOVEMBERDECEMBER 1791 TENCH GOES HOME: 230
• DECEMBER 1792 PHILLIP GOES HOME: 238
• DECEMBER 1793 AND AFTER COLLINS GOES HOME: 243
• COLLINS RECONSIDERS: 253
• 17951813 BANEEL ON RETURNED: 264
• 1830 BUNGAREE: 273
• 183940 ENTER MRS CHARLES MEREDITH: 280
• EPILOGUE: 285
• NOTES ON SOURCES: 290
• ILLUSTRATIONS: 315
• BIBLIOGRAPHY: 316
• INDEX: 322

About the author

Inga Clendinnen is Emeritus Scholar in History at La Trobe University. She is also the author of Aztecs (Cambridge, 1991), Reading the Holocaust (Cambridge, 1999), and Ambivalent Conquests: Maya and Spaniard in the Yucatan, 1517-1570 (2nd edition 2003, Cambridge).

Bibliographic information

• Title: Dancing with Strangers: Europeans and Australians at First Contact
• Author: Inga Clendinnen
• Edition: illustrated
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2005
• ISBN: 0521616816, 9780521616812
• Length: 324 pages
• Subjects: History / Australia & New Zealand; History / Europe / Great Britain / General; History / Modern / General; History / Social History