The Flinders Ranges, a chain of mountains a few hundred kilometres long, had first been observed by white people in 1802. Captain Matthew Flinders, his crew and scientists had sailed up what is now Spencer’s Gulf in search of a strait between New Holland and New South Wales. The narrowing of Spencer’s Gulf in view of the ranges that should later bear the captain’s name had smashed their hopes for such a strait, but Flinders’ exploration of the Australian coastline between 1801 and 1803 is one of the most distinct achievements in the history of explorations. His charts were so accurate that some of them were still in use during the Second World War. His precise observations of compass-needle, sun, clock and stars not only discovered compass-laws previously unknown, but allowed him to note precise locations on newly discovered stretches of coast, as well as to correct existing charts where he found them to be wrong. He was the first to distinguish on the map stretches covered by day from those covered by night, thus giving a warning about possible dangers that had escaped their attention in the dark. His crew had to deal with a sailing ship slow to manoeuvre, making soundings by hand, close to treacherous costs, his botanist Robert Brown recorded 4.200 species of plants (more than 1/3 of Australia’s 12.666 species listed in 1950 by J.N. Andas). Flinders’ balanced shopping list ensured a scurvey-free trip, at least until they were finally and unfortunately affected by the bad supply-situation in Sydney. The exploration of Spencer’s Gulf took place in March 1802 and on Tuesday, 9th March of that year, while anchoring off today’s Whyalla (Point Lowly), Flinders describes the range that was later named after him:
“… the eastern land there approached within seven or eight miles and extended northward, past it, in a chain of rugged mountains, at the further end of which was a remarkable peak … Our prospect of a channel or strait, cutting off some considerable portion of Terra Australia, was lost, for it now appeared that the ship was entering a gulph; …
Flinders, M., “A Voyage to Terra Australis”, Vol. I, p. 156
The “remarkable peak” that he denotes was to be explored in the course of the following two days by the botanist Robert Brown and then to be named after Brown. While Flinders set off by boat to investigate the very end of the gulf, Robert Brown lead the first white people on a bush walk into the Flinders Ranges. Two days later, Flinders has this to enter into his journal:
“The ascent to Mount Brown had proved to be very difficult, besides having to walk fifteen miles on a winding course, before reaching the foot; by perseverance however, they gained the top at five in the evening, but were reduced to passing a night without water; nor was any found until they had descended some distance the following day. The view from the top of Mount Brown was very extensive, its elevation being not less than three thousand feet; but neither rivers nor lakes could be perceived, nor anything of the sea to the southern eastward. In almost every direction the eye traversed over an uninterruptedly flat, woody country; the sole exception being the ridge of mountains extending north and south, and the water of the gulph to the south westward. Mr. Brown found the stone of this ridge of craggy mountains to be argillaceous … It is reddish, smooth, loose-grained, and rather heavy. Bushes and small trees grow in the hollows of the rising hills; and between their feet and the mangrove swamps near the water, there was some tolerably good, though shallow soil. …
We had seen fires upon the eastern shore opposite Point Lowly… and wherever I had landed there were traces of natives. Mr. Brown found them even to a considerable height up the side of the mountain … but we had not the good fortune to meet any of the people. ”
Flinders, M., “A Voyage to Terra Australis”, Vol. I, p. 159
Nearly 200 years after those lines had been written, there were no more traces of natives. Down below, there were strong statements of immigrants, their children and grandchildren, geometrical fields and high-powered technology. The former hunting grounds of the ‘Nukunu’ and ‘Ngadjeri’ had become the recreational ‘Mount Remarkable National Park’ and the ‘Willowie Forest Reserve’. Furthermore, the first building of today’s Melrose, a police hut, had not been erected with the intention to have “the good fortune to meet with any of the people.”
“out where the river broke
the bloodwood and the desert oak
Holden wrecks and boiling diesels
steam in forty five degrees
the time has come
to say fair’s fair
to pay the rent
to pay our share
the time has come
a fact is a fact
it belongs to them
let’s give it back”
Midnight Oil, LP – Diesel and Dust, track – Beds are Burning
Overlooking the farmland to the east of the mountain, ‘Midnight Oil’s track “Beds are Burning” crept into my thoughts, but, who am I to judge. Being the occasional visitor, someone who pops up now and then to enjoy the vast, open country, the scenery, the unique flora and fauna, someone who occasionally drops in for a couple of days or weeks, a few beers or coffees to renew old friendships, and thus obtaining only glimpses, bits and pieces of the whole picture, I cannot judge. I may have personal opinions, which include my disagreeing with people who treat other people badly or arrogantly or who don’t even attempt to understand, but that is as far as I can go, without becoming arrogant myself. Thus, I am very tempted to agree with the following lines of a well-known contemporary Australian journalist who is “constantly drawn back to the friendship, warmth and diamond light.. .’, of his homeland, Australia:
” … our country deserves not old bromides and stereotypes, but the respect of critical appraisal and access to the widest range of views on its progress thus far … A nation founded on the bloodshed and suffering of others eventually must make its peace with that one historical truth. Otherwise the best of what has been achieved is undermined and, … ‘something is missing’.”
Pilger,J., “A Secret Country”, pp 2-4
Being German, having grown up in post-war Germany, a country whose not so distant history caused bloodshed and suffering on a scale Australia hopefully will never have to witness, having spent two years in Israel,l straight after leaving school and its history-classes, I can see a lot of sense in Pilger’s words. I am forever torn between admiration for Australia’s indigenous people who utilised their resources extremely skilfully in order to live in a rather difficult environment on one hand, and fascination by the determination, endurance and hard work of white explorers and settlers on the other. Both groups have continuously put all their effort, skill and will into “making a living”.
Aborigines, although perceived as primitive, had an understanding of their environment which far surpassed our contemporary one. The members of each tribe had a good knowledge of a few languages, some had a precise geographical knowledge way beyond their tribal boundaries, their hunting skills were outstanding, to mention but a few qualities. Yet they did not develop tools and machinery in our sense. The white man, although perceived as intelligent, had initially little or no understanding of the new place he had travelled to. At first, he even failed to grow vegetables and grain at his new “home” but preferred to ship such items halfway around the world in order not to go hungry. And reluctant he was, too, in trying to come to terms with his new environment, where trees shed their bark but kept their leaves, where many animals were hopping around instead of walking properly, where swans were black, rainfall erratic and where people could hunt by throwing a weapon which then returned to the thrower’s hands. Thanks to their ‘intelligence’, the new arrivals carried boats overland across mountains for, according to their logic, their had to be an inland lake. They ploughed soil in semi-arid regions, convinced that rain would follow the plough and they discarded their own studies on areas of save farming and – went broke!
Nevertheless, their machinery, their tools, their determined will and hard work ensured their survival. Against many odds, they gradually improved their position and made their life comfortable. Descending from Mt. Remarkable, approaching the edges of the shared hunting grounds of the ‘Nukunu’ and ‘Ngadjeri’, l decided that tomorrow I would travel along one of white men’s old tracks, which had been used during the last century by countless numbers of bullock teams, carrying hard-gained wool and wheat to the harbour of Port Germein. An arduous journey 100 years ago, now an hour’s drive, or half a day’s cycle.
