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Makassan contact with Australia

Makassar people from the region of Sulawesi in Indonesia began visiting the coast of northern Australia sometime around the middle of the 18th century, first in the Kimberley region, and some decades later in Arnhem Land.[1][2][3] They were men who collected and processed trepang (also known as sea cucumber), a marine invertebrate prized for its culinary value generally and for its supposed medicinal properties in Chinese markets. The term Makassan (or Macassan) is generally used to apply to all the trepangers who came to Australia.

Map of locations mentioned in this article:
A type of Makassan perahu, the patorani

Fishing and processing of trepang

 
A sea cucumber. This example is from the Mediterranean

The creature and the food product are commonly known in English as sea cucumber, bêche-de-mer in French, gamat in Malay, while Makassarese has 12 terms covering 16 different species.[4][5] One of the Makassar terms, for trepang, taripaŋ, entered the Aboriginal languages of the Cobourg Peninsula, as tharriba in Marrku, as jarripang in Mawng or otherwise as darriba.[6]

Trepang live on the sea floor and are exposed at low tide. Fishing was traditionally done by hand, spearing, diving or dredging. The catch was placed in boiling water before being dried and smoked, to preserve the trepang for the journey back to Makassar and other South East Asian markets. Trepang is still valued by Chinese communities for its jelly-like texture, its flavour-enhancing properties, and as a stimulant and aphrodisiac.[7] Matthew Flinders made a contemporary record of how trepang was processed when he met Pobasso, a chief of a Makassan fleet in February 1803.[8]

Voyage to Marege' and Kayu Jawa

Trepanging fleets began to visit the northern coasts of Australia from Makassar in southern Sulawesi, Indonesia, from at least 1720 and possibly earlier. Campbell Macknight's classic study of the Makassan trepang industry accepts the start of the industry as about 1720, with the earliest recorded trepang voyage made in 1751.[9] But Regina Ganter of Griffith University notes that a Sulawesi historian suggests a commencement date for the industry of about 1640.[10] Ganter also notes that for some anthropologists, the extensive influence of the trepang industry on the Yolngu people suggests a longer period of contact. Arnhem Land Aboriginal rock art, recorded by archaeologists in 2008, appears to provide further evidence of Makassan contact in the mid-1600s.[citation needed] Based on radiocarbon dating for apparent prau (boat) designs in Aboriginal rock art, some scholars have proposed contact from as early as the 1500s.[11]

 
Model of Makassan perahu, Islamic Museum of Australia

At the height of the trepang industry, the Makassan ranged thousands of kilometres along Australia's northern coasts, arriving with the north-west monsoon each December. Makassan perahu or praus could carry a crew of thirty members, and Macknight estimated the total number of trepangers arriving each year as about one thousand.[12] The Makassan crews established themselves at various semi-permanent locations on the coast, to boil and dry the trepang before the return voyage home, four months later, to sell their cargo to Chinese merchants.[13] Marege' was the Makassan name for Arnhem land (meaning "Wild Country"), from the Cobourg Peninsula to Groote Eylandt in the Gulf of Carpentaria. Kayu Jawa was the name for the fishing grounds in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, from Napier Broome Bay to Cape Leveque. Other important fishing areas included West Papua, Sumbawa, Timor, and Selayar.[7]

Matthew Flinders, in his circumnavigation of Australia in 1803, met a Makassan trepang fleet near present-day Nhulunbuy. He communicated at length with a Makassan captain, Pobasso, through his cook, who was also a Malay, and learned of the extent of the trade from this encounter.[8] Ganter writes that there were at most "1,000 Macassans" compared to the almost "7,000 British nestled into Sydney Cove and Newcastle".[14] French explorer Nicholas Baudin also encountered twenty-six large perahu off the northern coast of Western Australia in the same year.[15]

The British settlements of Fort Dundas and Fort Wellington were established as a result of Phillip Parker King's contact with Makassan trepangers in 1821.[14]

Using Daeng Rangka, the last Makassan trepanger to visit Australia, lived well into the twentieth century, and the history of his voyages are well documented. He first made the voyage to northern Australia as a young man. He suffered dismasting and several shipwrecks, and had generally positive but occasionally conflicting relationships with Indigenous Australians. He was the first trepanger to pay the South Australian government (at the time the jurisdiction that administered the Northern Territory) for a trepanging licence in 1883, an impost that made the trade less viable.[16] The trade continued to dwindle toward the end of the 19th century, due to the imposition of customs duties and licence fees and probably compounded by overfishing.[7] Rangka commanded the last Makassar perahu, which left Arnhem Land in 1907.

Physical evidence of Makassan contact

 
Makassan stone arrangement near Yirrkala, Northern Territory. Photo by Ray Norris

There is significant evidence of contact with Makassan fishers in examples of Indigenous Australian rock art and bark painting of northern Australia, with the Makassan perahu a prominent feature.[17][18]

Northern Territory

Archaeological remains of Makassar processing plants from the 18th and 19th centuries are still at Port Essington, Anuru Bay, and Groote Eylandt, along with stands of the tamarind trees introduced by the Makassan. Macknight and others note that excavations and development in these areas have revealed pieces of metal, broken pottery and glass, coins, fish-hooks and broken clay pipes related to this trade.[19] Macknight notes that much of the ceramic material found suggests a nineteenth-century date.[a]

In January 2012, a swivel gun found two years before at Dundee Beach near Darwin was widely reported by web news sources and the Australian press to be of Portuguese origin.[21] However initial analysis by the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory in 2012 indicated that it is of Southeast Asian origin,[22] likely from Makassar. There is nothing in its chemical composition, style, or form that matches Portuguese breech-loading swivel guns.[23] The museum holds seven guns of South East Asian manufacture in its collections.[24] Another swivel gun of South East Asian manufacture, found in Darwin in 1908, is held by the South Australian Museum, and is also possibly of Makassan origin.[25]

The Wurrwurrwuy stone arrangements at Yirrkala, which are listed as heritage monuments, depict aspects of Makassan trepanging, including details of the vessels' internal structures.[26]

Western Australia

In 1916, two bronze cannons were found on a small island in Napier Broome Bay, on the northern coast of Western Australia. Scientists at the Western Australian Museum in Fremantle have made a detailed analysis and have determined that these weapons are swivel guns and almost certainly of late 18th century Makassan, rather than European, origin.[27] Flinders' account confirms that the Makassans he met were personally armed and their perahus carried small cannons.[8]

In 2021 archaeological excavations are taking place on the island of Niiwalarra (Sir Graham Moore Island), off the Kimberley coast, for the first time since Ian Crawford did his research in the 1960s. The archaeologists are being assisted by some of the traditional owners of the island, the Kwini people. Evidence of pottery and other artefacts from the new excavations are being complemented by the oral histories of the Kwini people, yielding evidence of Makassan fishers and traders on the island. A number of hearths are a record of where the trepang was cooked on the beach in large iron pots, with activity especially picking up around 1800.[28]

Indonesia

In 2023, photographs were discovered which were taken in Makassar in the 1870s, featuring Indigenous Australian people.[29] Indigenous elders identified them as Yolngu people from Arnhem land, and both Indonesians and Australians expressed interest in whether their descendants were currently living in Indonesia.

Effect on Indigenous people of Australia

 
A female figure outlined in beeswax over painting of a white Makassan prau

The Makassar contact with Aboriginal people had a significant effect on the latter's culture, and likely there were also cross-cultural influences. Ganter writes "the cultural imprint on the Yolngu people of this contact is everywhere: in their language, in their art, in their stories, in their cuisine".[14] According to anthropologist John Bradley from Monash University, the contact between the two groups was a success: "They traded together. It was fair – there was no racial judgement, no race policy".[11] Even into the early 21st century, the shared history between the two peoples is still celebrated by Aboriginal communities in northern Australia as a period of mutual trust and respect.[11]

However, anthropologist Ian McIntosh has speculated that the initial effects of contact with the Makassan fishermen resulted in "turmoil"[30] with the extent of Islamic influence being noteworthy.[31] In another paper McIntosh says, "strife, poverty and domination ... is a previously unrecorded legacy of contact between Aborigines and Indonesians".[32] He also claims that the Makassan appear to have been welcomed initially; however, relations deteriorated when, "aborigines began to feel they were being exploited ... leading to violence on both sides".[33][clarification needed]

Trade

Studies by anthropologists have found traditions that indicate the Makassans negotiated with local people on the Australian continent for the right to fish certain waters. The exchange also involved the trade of cloth, tobacco, metal axes and knives, rice, and gin. The Yolngu of Arnhem Land also traded turtle-shell, pearls and cypress pine, and some were employed as trepangers.[34] While there is ample evidence of peaceful contact, some contact was hostile. Using Daeng Rangka described at least one violent confrontation with Aborigines,[16] while Flinders recorded being advised by the Makassan to "beware of the natives".[8]

Some of the rock art and bark paintings appear to confirm that some Aboriginal workers willingly accompanied the Makassans back to their homeland of South Sulawesi across the Arafura Sea. Women were also occasional items of exchange according to Denise Russell, but their views and experiences have not been recorded.[35] After visiting Groote Eylandt in the early 1930s, anthropologist Donald Thomson speculated that the traditional seclusion of women from strange men and their use of portable bark screens in this region "may have been a result of contact with Macassans".[36]

Health

Smallpox may have been introduced to northern Australia in the 1820s via Makassan contact.[37] This remains unproven as First Fleet smallpox was already recorded as spreading across Australia from Sydney Cove.[38] The prevalence of the hereditary Machado–Joseph disease in the Groote Eylandt community has been attributed to outside contact. Recent genetic studies showed that the Groote Eylandt families with MJD shared a Y-DNA haplogroup with some families of Taiwanese, Indian, and Japanese ancestry.[39]

Economic

Some Yolngu communities of Arnhem Land appear to have transitioned their economies from being largely land-based to largely sea-based, following the introduction of Makassar technologies such as dug-out canoes, which were highly prized. These seaworthy boats, unlike the traditional Yolngu bark canoes, allowed the people to fish the ocean for dugongs and sea turtles.[40] Macknight notes that both the dug-out canoe and shovel-nosed spear found in Arnhem Land were based on Macassarese prototypes.[37]

Language

A Makassan pidgin became a lingua franca along the north coast, not just between Makassan and Aboriginal people, but also as a language of trade among different Aboriginal groups, who were brought into greater contact with each other by the seafaring Makassar culture. Words from the Makassarese language (related to Javanese and Malay) can still be found in Aboriginal language varieties of the north coast. Examples include rupiah (money), jama (work), and balanda (white person). The latter was adopted into the Makassar language via the Malay term orang belanda (referring to Dutch person).[41]

Religion

Drawing on the work of Ian Mcintosh (2000), Regina Ganter and Peta Stephenson suggest that aspects of Islam were creatively adapted by the Yolngu. Muslim references still survive in certain ceremonies and Dreaming stories in the early 21st century.[42][43] Stephenson speculates that the Makassans may have been the first visitors to bring Islam to Australia.[44][better source needed]

According to anthropologist John Bradley from Monash University, "If you go to north-east Arnhem Land there is [a trace of Islam] in song, it is there in painting, it is there in dance, it is there in funeral rituals. It is patently obvious that there are borrowed items. With linguistic analysis as well, you're hearing hymns to Allah, or at least certain prayers to Allah".[b]

Current situation

Though prevented from fishing across Arnhem Land, other Indonesian fishermen have continued to fish up and down the west coast, in what are now Australian waters. This continues a practice of several hundred years, before such territories were declared – and some use traditional boats their grandparents owned. The current Australian government considers such fishing illegal by its rules. Since the 1970s, if the fishermen are caught by authorities, their boats are burned and the fishermen are deported to Indonesia. Most Indonesian fishing in Australian waters now occurs around what Australia termed "Ashmore Reef" (known in Indonesia as Pulau Pasir) and the nearby islands.[45]

See also

Notes

  1. ^ At the same time he has warned against accepting radiocarbon dates from trepang processing fireplaces. These apparently give an anomalous date of 800 years before present.[20]
  2. ^ "... a figure called Walitha'walitha, which is worshipped by a clan of the Yolngu people on Elcho Island, off the northern coast of Arnhem Land. The name derives from the Arabic phrase 'Allah ta'ala', meaning 'God, the exalted'. Walitha'walitha is closely associated with funeral rituals, which can include other Islamic elements like facing west during prayers – roughly the direction of Mecca – and ritual prostration reminiscent of the Muslim sujood. 'I think it would be hugely oversimplifying to suggest that this figure is Allah as the "one true God",' says Howard Morphy, an anthropologist at Australian National University. It's more the case of the Yolngu people adopting an Allah-like figure into their cosmology, he suggests."[11]

References

Citations

  1. ^ Macknight 2011, p. 134.
  2. ^ Russell 2004.
  3. ^ T. Vigilante; et al. (2013). "Biodiversity values on selected Kimberley Islands, Australia" (PDF). Western Australian Museum. Retrieved 2 August 2021.
  4. ^ Choo 2004, p. 57.
  5. ^ Tuwo 2004, p. 52.
  6. ^ Evans 2016, p. 39.
  7. ^ a b c Máñez & Ferse 2010.
  8. ^ a b c d Flinders 1814, pp. 229–232.
  9. ^ Macknight 1976b.
  10. ^ Ganter 2008, pp. 1–14.
  11. ^ a b c d Rogers 2014.
  12. ^ Macknight 1976b, p. 29.
  13. ^ Stephenson 2010, pp. 22–66.
  14. ^ a b c Ganter, R. (2005) "Turn the Map upside down," in Griffith Review, Edition 9, 2005. "Up North: Myths, Threats and Enchantment." Griffith University.
  15. ^ Russell 2004, pp. 6–7.
  16. ^ a b Macknight 1976a.
  17. ^ Taçon et al. 2010.
  18. ^ Woodford, J. (20 September 2008). "The Rock Art That Redraws Our History". The Sydney Morning Herald. from the original on 20 September 2008. Retrieved 6 April 2012.
  19. ^ Macknight 1976b, pp. 78–81.
  20. ^ Macknight 1986, p. 70.
  21. ^ See for example, . Australian Geographic. 10 January 2012. Archived from the original on 12 January 2012. Retrieved 16 September 2013.
  22. ^ La Canna, X. (31 March 2012). "Cannon probably not 500 years old after all". The Telegraph. Retrieved 6 April 2012.
  23. ^ Clark, Paul (2013). Dundee Beach Swivel Gun: Provenance Report (PDF). Northern Territory Government Department of Arts and Museums.
  24. ^ Davie, D. (June 2009). . Quarterly Newsletter of the Arms Collectors Association of the Northern Territory. Vol. V, no. 2. Archived from the original on 17 March 2012. Retrieved 6 April 2012.
  25. ^ Jateff, E. (March 2011). (PDF). Australasian Institute for Maritime Archaeology Newsletter. Vol. 30, no. 1. Archived from the original (PDF) on 20 March 2012. Retrieved 6 April 2012.
  26. ^ "Wurrwurrwuy (Place ID 106088)". Australian Heritage Database. Australian Government. Retrieved 13 October 2018.
  27. ^ Green, J. N. (2006). (PDF) (Report). Fremantle, Western Australia: Department of Maritime Archaeology, Western Australian Maritime Museum. No.215. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 6 April 2012.
  28. ^ Parke, Erin (18 July 2021). "New study reveals history of Aboriginal trade with foreign visitors before British settlement". ABC News. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 2 August 2021.
  29. ^ "Proof of mystery colony of Aboriginal Australians and Indonesians found in an Italian library". ABC News. 10 February 2023. Retrieved 11 February 2023.
  30. ^ McIntosh 1996j, pp. 65–67.
  31. ^ McIntosh 1996j, p. 76.
  32. ^ McIntosh 1996, p. 138.
  33. ^ McIntosh 1997, pp. 81–82.
  34. ^ May, S.K., McKinnon, J.F., Raupp, J.T.(2009) The International Journal of Nautical Archaeology. "Boats on Bark: an Analysis of Groote Eylandt Aboriginal Bark-Paintings featuring Macassan Praus from the 1948 Arnhem Land Expedition, Northern Territory, Australia." Retrieved on 6 April 2012
  35. ^ Russell 2004, p. 15.
  36. ^ Donald Thomson, Compiled and edited by Nicolas Peterson (2003): Donald Thomson in Arnhem Land. p. 110. Miegunyah Press, Melbourne University Publishing, Ltd. ISBN 978-0-522-85205-9
  37. ^ a b Macknight 1986.
  38. ^ Warren, Christopher (2014). "Smallpox at Sydney Cove – who, when, why?". Journal of Australian Studies. 38 (1): 68–86. doi:10.1080/14443058.2013.849750. S2CID 143644513.
  39. ^ Martins, Sandra & Bing-Wen Soong (2012). "Mutational Origin of Machado-Joseph Disease in the Australian Aboriginal Communities of Groote Eylandt and Yirrkala". Archives of Neurology. 69 (6): 746–751. doi:10.1001/archneurol.2011.2504. PMID 22351852.
  40. ^ Ganter 2008.
  41. ^ Walker, Alan & Zorc, R. David (1981). "Austronesian Loanwords in Yolngu-Matha of Northeast Arnhem Land". Aboriginal History. 5: 109–134.
  42. ^ Ganter 2008, p. 2.
  43. ^ Stephenson 2010, pp. 31–34.
  44. ^ Stephenson, P. (2004). . Politics and Culture (published 10 August 2010). 2004 (4). Archived from the original on 21 July 2011. Retrieved 6 April 2012.
  45. ^ Stacey, N. (2007). Boats to Burn, Bajo Fishing Activity in the Australian Fishing Zone. Canberra: ANU E-Press, Australian National University. doi:10.22459/BB.06.2007. ISBN 978-1-920942-95-3. Retrieved 6 April 2012.
  46. ^ Berndt 2004, p. 55.

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  • Berndt, Ronald M. (2004) [First published 1952]. Djanggawul: An Aboriginal Religious Cult of North-Eastern Arnhem Land. Routledge & Kegan Paul. ISBN 978-1-136-53864-3.
  • Choo, Poh-Sze (2004). "Fisheries, trade and utilization of sea cucumbers in Malaysia" (PDF). In Lovatelli, Alessandro; Conand, Chantal; Purcell, Steven; Uthicke, Sven; Hamel, Jean-François; Mercier, Annie (eds.). Advances in sea cucumber aquaculture and management. Fao Fisheries Technical Paper. FAO. pp. 57–68.
  • Evans, Nicholas (2016). "As intimate as it gets? Paradigm borrowing in Marrku and its implications for the emergence of mixed languages". In Meakins, Felicity; O'Shannessy, Carmel (eds.). Loss and Renewal: Australian Languages Since Colonisation. Walter de Gruyter. pp. 29–56. ISBN 978-1-614-51879-2.
  • Flinders, Matthew (1814). A voyage to terra Australis..in the years 1801-1803. London: Bulmer. p. 230.
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  • Macknight, Charles Campbell (1976a). Using Daeng Rangka (1845–1927). Australian Dictionary of Biography. Vol. 6. Melbourne University Press.
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  • Macknight, Charles Campbell (April 1986). "Macassans and the Aboriginal past". Archaeology in Oceania. 21 (1): 69–75. doi:10.1002/j.1834-4453.1986.tb00126.x. JSTOR 40386713.
  • Macknight, Charles Campbell (2011). "The view from Marege': Australian knowledge of Makassar and the impact of the trepangindustry across two centuries". Aboriginal History. 35: 121–143. doi:10.22459/AH.35.2011.06. JSTOR 24046930.
  • Máñez, Kathleen Schwerdtner; Ferse, Sebastian C. A. (29 June 2010). "The History of Makassan Trepang Fishing and Trade". PLOS ONE. 5 (6): e11346. Bibcode:2010PLoSO...511346S. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0011346. PMC 2894049. PMID 20613871.
  • McIntosh, Ian (1996). (PDF). Australian Folklore. 11: 131–138. Archived from the original (PDF) on 11 June 2011.
  • McIntosh, Ian (June 1996j). . Journal of Religious History. 20 (1): 53–77. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9809.1996.tb00692.x. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 26 March 2015.
  • McIntosh, Ian (1997). "The Birrinydji Legacy: Aborigines, Macassans and mining in north-east Arnhem Land". Aboriginal History (published June 1999). 21: 70–89. doi:10.22459/AH.21.2011.
  • Mulvaney, D. J. (1969). The Prehistory of Australia. London: Thames and Hudson.
  • Rogers, Janak (24 June 2014). "When Islam came to Australia". BBC News. Retrieved 25 June 2014.
  • Russell, Denise (22 March 2004). (PDF). Australian Aboriginal Studies. Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies. 2004 (1): 3–17. ISSN 0729-4352. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 March 2019. Retrieved 21 April 2019.
  • Stephenson, P. (2010). Islam Dreaming: Indigenous Muslims in Australia. Sydney: University of New South Wales Press. ISBN 978-1-74223-247-8.
  • Taçon, Paul S.C.; May, Sally K.; Fallon, Stewart J.; Travers, Meg; Wesley, Daryl; Lamilami, Ronald (December 2010). . Australian Archaeology. 71 (71): 1–10. doi:10.1080/03122417.2010.11689379. hdl:10072/36684. ISSN 0312-2417. S2CID 54182146. Archived from the original on 24 April 2016. Retrieved 28 March 2016.
  • Tuwo, Ambo (2004). "Status of sea cucumber fisheries and farming in Indonesia" (PDF). In Lovatelli, Alessandro; Conand, Chantal; Purcell, Steven; Uthicke, Sven; Hamel, Jean-François; Mercier, Annie (eds.). Advances in sea cucumber aquaculture and management. Fao Fisheries Technical Paper. FAO. pp. 49–55.

makassan, contact, with, australia, makassar, people, from, region, sulawesi, indonesia, began, visiting, coast, northern, australia, sometime, around, middle, 18th, century, first, kimberley, region, some, decades, later, arnhem, land, they, were, collected, . Makassar people from the region of Sulawesi in Indonesia began visiting the coast of northern Australia sometime around the middle of the 18th century first in the Kimberley region and some decades later in Arnhem Land 1 2 3 They were men who collected and processed trepang also known as sea cucumber a marine invertebrate prized for its culinary value generally and for its supposed medicinal properties in Chinese markets The term Makassan or Macassan is generally used to apply to all the trepangers who came to Australia Map of locations mentioned in this article Largest red dot MakassarOther red dots left to right Rote Timor and AruThree yellow dots KimberleySingle yellow dot Arnhem Land A type of Makassan perahu the patorani Contents 1 Fishing and processing of trepang 2 Voyage to Marege and Kayu Jawa 3 Physical evidence of Makassan contact 3 1 Northern Territory 3 2 Western Australia 3 3 Indonesia 4 Effect on Indigenous people of Australia 4 1 Trade 4 2 Health 4 3 Economic 4 4 Language 4 5 Religion 5 Current situation 6 See also 7 Notes 8 References 8 1 Citations 8 2 SourcesFishing and processing of trepang EditMain articles Sea cucumber and Sea cucumber as food A sea cucumber This example is from the Mediterranean The creature and the food product are commonly known in English as sea cucumber beche de mer in French gamat in Malay while Makassarese has 12 terms covering 16 different species 4 5 One of the Makassar terms for trepang taripaŋ entered the Aboriginal languages of the Cobourg Peninsula as tharriba in Marrku as jarripang in Mawng or otherwise as darriba 6 Trepang live on the sea floor and are exposed at low tide Fishing was traditionally done by hand spearing diving or dredging The catch was placed in boiling water before being dried and smoked to preserve the trepang for the journey back to Makassar and other South East Asian markets Trepang is still valued by Chinese communities for its jelly like texture its flavour enhancing properties and as a stimulant and aphrodisiac 7 Matthew Flinders made a contemporary record of how trepang was processed when he met Pobasso a chief of a Makassan fleet in February 1803 8 Voyage to Marege and Kayu Jawa EditTrepanging fleets began to visit the northern coasts of Australia from Makassar in southern Sulawesi Indonesia from at least 1720 and possibly earlier Campbell Macknight s classic study of the Makassan trepang industry accepts the start of the industry as about 1720 with the earliest recorded trepang voyage made in 1751 9 But Regina Ganter of Griffith University notes that a Sulawesi historian suggests a commencement date for the industry of about 1640 10 Ganter also notes that for some anthropologists the extensive influence of the trepang industry on the Yolngu people suggests a longer period of contact Arnhem Land Aboriginal rock art recorded by archaeologists in 2008 appears to provide further evidence of Makassan contact in the mid 1600s citation needed Based on radiocarbon dating for apparent prau boat designs in Aboriginal rock art some scholars have proposed contact from as early as the 1500s 11 Model of Makassan perahu Islamic Museum of Australia At the height of the trepang industry the Makassan ranged thousands of kilometres along Australia s northern coasts arriving with the north west monsoon each December Makassan perahu or praus could carry a crew of thirty members and Macknight estimated the total number of trepangers arriving each year as about one thousand 12 The Makassan crews established themselves at various semi permanent locations on the coast to boil and dry the trepang before the return voyage home four months later to sell their cargo to Chinese merchants 13 Marege was the Makassan name for Arnhem land meaning Wild Country from the Cobourg Peninsula to Groote Eylandt in the Gulf of Carpentaria Kayu Jawa was the name for the fishing grounds in the Kimberley region of Western Australia from Napier Broome Bay to Cape Leveque Other important fishing areas included West Papua Sumbawa Timor and Selayar 7 Matthew Flinders in his circumnavigation of Australia in 1803 met a Makassan trepang fleet near present day Nhulunbuy He communicated at length with a Makassan captain Pobasso through his cook who was also a Malay and learned of the extent of the trade from this encounter 8 Ganter writes that there were at most 1 000 Macassans compared to the almost 7 000 British nestled into Sydney Cove and Newcastle 14 French explorer Nicholas Baudin also encountered twenty six large perahu off the northern coast of Western Australia in the same year 15 The British settlements of Fort Dundas and Fort Wellington were established as a result of Phillip Parker King s contact with Makassan trepangers in 1821 14 Using Daeng Rangka the last Makassan trepanger to visit Australia lived well into the twentieth century and the history of his voyages are well documented He first made the voyage to northern Australia as a young man He suffered dismasting and several shipwrecks and had generally positive but occasionally conflicting relationships with Indigenous Australians He was the first trepanger to pay the South Australian government at the time the jurisdiction that administered the Northern Territory for a trepanging licence in 1883 an impost that made the trade less viable 16 The trade continued to dwindle toward the end of the 19th century due to the imposition of customs duties and licence fees and probably compounded by overfishing 7 Rangka commanded the last Makassar perahu which left Arnhem Land in 1907 Physical evidence of Makassan contact Edit Makassan stone arrangement near Yirrkala Northern Territory Photo by Ray Norris There is significant evidence of contact with Makassan fishers in examples of Indigenous Australian rock art and bark painting of northern Australia with the Makassan perahu a prominent feature 17 18 Northern Territory Edit Archaeological remains of Makassar processing plants from the 18th and 19th centuries are still at Port Essington Anuru Bay and Groote Eylandt along with stands of the tamarind trees introduced by the Makassan Macknight and others note that excavations and development in these areas have revealed pieces of metal broken pottery and glass coins fish hooks and broken clay pipes related to this trade 19 Macknight notes that much of the ceramic material found suggests a nineteenth century date a In January 2012 a swivel gun found two years before at Dundee Beach near Darwin was widely reported by web news sources and the Australian press to be of Portuguese origin 21 However initial analysis by the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory in 2012 indicated that it is of Southeast Asian origin 22 likely from Makassar There is nothing in its chemical composition style or form that matches Portuguese breech loading swivel guns 23 The museum holds seven guns of South East Asian manufacture in its collections 24 Another swivel gun of South East Asian manufacture found in Darwin in 1908 is held by the South Australian Museum and is also possibly of Makassan origin 25 The Wurrwurrwuy stone arrangements at Yirrkala which are listed as heritage monuments depict aspects of Makassan trepanging including details of the vessels internal structures 26 Western Australia Edit In 1916 two bronze cannons were found on a small island in Napier Broome Bay on the northern coast of Western Australia Scientists at the Western Australian Museum in Fremantle have made a detailed analysis and have determined that these weapons are swivel guns and almost certainly of late 18th century Makassan rather than European origin 27 Flinders account confirms that the Makassans he met were personally armed and their perahus carried small cannons 8 In 2021 archaeological excavations are taking place on the island of Niiwalarra Sir Graham Moore Island off the Kimberley coast for the first time since Ian Crawford did his research in the 1960s The archaeologists are being assisted by some of the traditional owners of the island the Kwini people Evidence of pottery and other artefacts from the new excavations are being complemented by the oral histories of the Kwini people yielding evidence of Makassan fishers and traders on the island A number of hearths are a record of where the trepang was cooked on the beach in large iron pots with activity especially picking up around 1800 28 Indonesia Edit In 2023 photographs were discovered which were taken in Makassar in the 1870s featuring Indigenous Australian people 29 Indigenous elders identified them as Yolngu people from Arnhem land and both Indonesians and Australians expressed interest in whether their descendants were currently living in Indonesia Effect on Indigenous people of Australia Edit A female figure outlined in beeswax over painting of a white Makassan prau The Makassar contact with Aboriginal people had a significant effect on the latter s culture and likely there were also cross cultural influences Ganter writes the cultural imprint on the Yolngu people of this contact is everywhere in their language in their art in their stories in their cuisine 14 According to anthropologist John Bradley from Monash University the contact between the two groups was a success They traded together It was fair there was no racial judgement no race policy 11 Even into the early 21st century the shared history between the two peoples is still celebrated by Aboriginal communities in northern Australia as a period of mutual trust and respect 11 However anthropologist Ian McIntosh has speculated that the initial effects of contact with the Makassan fishermen resulted in turmoil 30 with the extent of Islamic influence being noteworthy 31 In another paper McIntosh says strife poverty and domination is a previously unrecorded legacy of contact between Aborigines and Indonesians 32 He also claims that the Makassan appear to have been welcomed initially however relations deteriorated when aborigines began to feel they were being exploited leading to violence on both sides 33 clarification needed Trade Edit Studies by anthropologists have found traditions that indicate the Makassans negotiated with local people on the Australian continent for the right to fish certain waters The exchange also involved the trade of cloth tobacco metal axes and knives rice and gin The Yolngu of Arnhem Land also traded turtle shell pearls and cypress pine and some were employed as trepangers 34 While there is ample evidence of peaceful contact some contact was hostile Using Daeng Rangka described at least one violent confrontation with Aborigines 16 while Flinders recorded being advised by the Makassan to beware of the natives 8 Some of the rock art and bark paintings appear to confirm that some Aboriginal workers willingly accompanied the Makassans back to their homeland of South Sulawesi across the Arafura Sea Women were also occasional items of exchange according to Denise Russell but their views and experiences have not been recorded 35 After visiting Groote Eylandt in the early 1930s anthropologist Donald Thomson speculated that the traditional seclusion of women from strange men and their use of portable bark screens in this region may have been a result of contact with Macassans 36 Health Edit Smallpox may have been introduced to northern Australia in the 1820s via Makassan contact 37 This remains unproven as First Fleet smallpox was already recorded as spreading across Australia from Sydney Cove 38 The prevalence of the hereditary Machado Joseph disease in the Groote Eylandt community has been attributed to outside contact Recent genetic studies showed that the Groote Eylandt families with MJD shared a Y DNA haplogroup with some families of Taiwanese Indian and Japanese ancestry 39 Economic Edit Some Yolngu communities of Arnhem Land appear to have transitioned their economies from being largely land based to largely sea based following the introduction of Makassar technologies such as dug out canoes which were highly prized These seaworthy boats unlike the traditional Yolngu bark canoes allowed the people to fish the ocean for dugongs and sea turtles 40 Macknight notes that both the dug out canoe and shovel nosed spear found in Arnhem Land were based on Macassarese prototypes 37 Language Edit A Makassan pidgin became a lingua franca along the north coast not just between Makassan and Aboriginal people but also as a language of trade among different Aboriginal groups who were brought into greater contact with each other by the seafaring Makassar culture Words from the Makassarese language related to Javanese and Malay can still be found in Aboriginal language varieties of the north coast Examples include rupiah money jama work and balanda white person The latter was adopted into the Makassar language via the Malay term orang belanda referring to Dutch person 41 Religion Edit Drawing on the work of Ian Mcintosh 2000 Regina Ganter and Peta Stephenson suggest that aspects of Islam were creatively adapted by the Yolngu Muslim references still survive in certain ceremonies and Dreaming stories in the early 21st century 42 43 Stephenson speculates that the Makassans may have been the first visitors to bring Islam to Australia 44 better source needed According to anthropologist John Bradley from Monash University If you go to north east Arnhem Land there is a trace of Islam in song it is there in painting it is there in dance it is there in funeral rituals It is patently obvious that there are borrowed items With linguistic analysis as well you re hearing hymns to Allah or at least certain prayers to Allah b Current situation EditThough prevented from fishing across Arnhem Land other Indonesian fishermen have continued to fish up and down the west coast in what are now Australian waters This continues a practice of several hundred years before such territories were declared and some use traditional boats their grandparents owned The current Australian government considers such fishing illegal by its rules Since the 1970s if the fishermen are caught by authorities their boats are burned and the fishermen are deported to Indonesia Most Indonesian fishing in Australian waters now occurs around what Australia termed Ashmore Reef known in Indonesia as Pulau Pasir and the nearby islands 45 See also EditTrepanging Patorani and padewakang two types of perahu used for trepanging by Makassan History of Australia before 1901 Yolngu Theory of Portuguese discovery of Australia Baijini a legendary people interpreted by some researchers as pre Makassan visitors to Arnhem Land 46 Marchinbar Island location of a deposit of early coins in Australia Javanese contact with AustraliaNotes Edit At the same time he has warned against accepting radiocarbon dates from trepang processing fireplaces These apparently give an anomalous date of 800 years before present 20 a figure called Walitha walitha which is worshipped by a clan of the Yolngu people on Elcho Island off the northern coast of Arnhem Land The name derives from the Arabic phrase Allah ta ala meaning God the exalted Walitha walitha is closely associated with funeral rituals which can include other Islamic elements like facing west during prayers roughly the direction of Mecca and ritual prostration reminiscent of the Muslim sujood I think it would be hugely oversimplifying to suggest that this figure is Allah as the one true God says Howard Morphy an anthropologist at Australian National University It s more the case of the Yolngu people adopting an Allah like figure into their cosmology he suggests 11 References EditCitations Edit Macknight 2011 p 134 Russell 2004 T Vigilante et al 2013 Biodiversity values on selected Kimberley Islands Australia PDF Western Australian Museum Retrieved 2 August 2021 Choo 2004 p 57 Tuwo 2004 p 52 Evans 2016 p 39 a b c Manez amp Ferse 2010 a b c d Flinders 1814 pp 229 232 Macknight 1976b Ganter 2008 pp 1 14 a b c d Rogers 2014 Macknight 1976b p 29 Stephenson 2010 pp 22 66 a b c Ganter R 2005 Turn the Map upside down in Griffith Review Edition 9 2005 Up North Myths Threats and Enchantment Griffith University Russell 2004 pp 6 7 a b Macknight 1976a Tacon et al 2010 Woodford J 20 September 2008 The Rock Art That Redraws Our History The Sydney Morning Herald Archived from the original on 20 September 2008 Retrieved 6 April 2012 Macknight 1976b pp 78 81 Macknight 1986 p 70 See for example Darwin boy s find could rewrite history Australian Geographic 10 January 2012 Archived from the original on 12 January 2012 Retrieved 16 September 2013 La Canna X 31 March 2012 Cannon probably not 500 years old after all The Telegraph Retrieved 6 April 2012 Clark Paul 2013 Dundee Beach Swivel Gun Provenance Report PDF Northern Territory Government Department of Arts and Museums Davie D June 2009 Malay Cannons Quarterly Newsletter of the Arms Collectors Association of the Northern Territory Vol V no 2 Archived from the original on 17 March 2012 Retrieved 6 April 2012 Jateff E March 2011 An oddity in South Australia An Indonesian imitation swivel gun PDF Australasian Institute for Maritime Archaeology Newsletter Vol 30 no 1 Archived from the original PDF on 20 March 2012 Retrieved 6 April 2012 Wurrwurrwuy Place ID 106088 Australian Heritage Database Australian Government Retrieved 13 October 2018 Green J N 2006 The Carronade Island Guns and South East Asian Gun Founding PDF Report Fremantle Western Australia Department of Maritime Archaeology Western Australian Maritime Museum No 215 Archived from the original PDF on 3 December 2013 Retrieved 6 April 2012 Parke Erin 18 July 2021 New study reveals history of Aboriginal trade with foreign visitors before British settlement ABC News Australian Broadcasting Corporation Retrieved 2 August 2021 Proof of mystery colony of Aboriginal Australians and Indonesians found in an Italian library ABC News 10 February 2023 Retrieved 11 February 2023 McIntosh 1996j pp 65 67 McIntosh 1996j p 76 McIntosh 1996 p 138 McIntosh 1997 pp 81 82 May S K McKinnon J F Raupp J T 2009 The International Journal of Nautical Archaeology Boats on Bark an Analysis of Groote Eylandt Aboriginal Bark Paintings featuring Macassan Praus from the 1948 Arnhem Land Expedition Northern Territory Australia Retrieved on 6 April 2012 Russell 2004 p 15 Donald Thomson Compiled and edited by Nicolas Peterson 2003 Donald Thomson in Arnhem Land p 110 Miegunyah Press Melbourne University Publishing Ltd ISBN 978 0 522 85205 9 a b Macknight 1986 Warren Christopher 2014 Smallpox at Sydney Cove who when why Journal of Australian Studies 38 1 68 86 doi 10 1080 14443058 2013 849750 S2CID 143644513 Martins Sandra amp Bing Wen Soong 2012 Mutational Origin of Machado Joseph Disease in the Australian Aboriginal Communities of Groote Eylandt and Yirrkala Archives of Neurology 69 6 746 751 doi 10 1001 archneurol 2011 2504 PMID 22351852 Ganter 2008 Walker Alan amp Zorc R David 1981 Austronesian Loanwords in Yolngu Matha of Northeast Arnhem Land Aboriginal History 5 109 134 Ganter 2008 p 2 Stephenson 2010 pp 31 34 Stephenson P 2004 Islam in Indigenous Australia Historic Relic or Contemporary Reality Politics and Culture published 10 August 2010 2004 4 Archived from the original on 21 July 2011 Retrieved 6 April 2012 Stacey N 2007 Boats to Burn Bajo Fishing Activity in the Australian Fishing Zone Canberra ANU E Press Australian National University doi 10 22459 BB 06 2007 ISBN 978 1 920942 95 3 Retrieved 6 April 2012 Berndt 2004 p 55 Sources Edit Berndt Ronald M Berndt Catherine 1947 Discovery of Pottery in North Eastern Arnhem Land The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland 77 2 133 138 doi 10 2307 2844477 JSTOR 2844477 Berndt Ronald M 2004 First published 1952 Djanggawul An Aboriginal Religious Cult of North Eastern Arnhem Land Routledge amp Kegan Paul ISBN 978 1 136 53864 3 Choo Poh Sze 2004 Fisheries trade and utilization of sea cucumbers in Malaysia PDF In Lovatelli Alessandro Conand Chantal Purcell Steven Uthicke Sven Hamel Jean Francois Mercier Annie eds Advances in sea cucumber aquaculture and management Fao Fisheries Technical Paper FAO pp 57 68 Evans Nicholas 2016 As intimate as it gets Paradigm borrowing in Marrku and its implications for the emergence of mixed languages In Meakins Felicity O Shannessy Carmel eds Loss and Renewal Australian Languages Since Colonisation Walter de Gruyter pp 29 56 ISBN 978 1 614 51879 2 Flinders Matthew 1814 A voyage to terra Australis in the years 1801 1803 London Bulmer p 230 Ganter Regina 2008 Muslim Australians the deep histories of contact PDF Journal of Australian Studies 32 4 1 14 doi 10 1080 14443050802471384 S2CID 145583395 Archived from the original PDF on 15 April 2012 Macknight Charles Campbell 1976a Using Daeng Rangka 1845 1927 Australian Dictionary of Biography Vol 6 Melbourne University Press Macknight Charles Campbell 1976b The Voyage to Marege Macassan trepangers in northern Australia Melbourne University Press ISBN 978 0 522 84088 9 Macknight Charles Campbell April 1986 Macassans and the Aboriginal past Archaeology in Oceania 21 1 69 75 doi 10 1002 j 1834 4453 1986 tb00126 x JSTOR 40386713 Macknight Charles Campbell 2011 The view from Marege Australian knowledge of Makassar and the impact of the trepangindustry across two centuries Aboriginal History 35 121 143 doi 10 22459 AH 35 2011 06 JSTOR 24046930 Manez Kathleen Schwerdtner Ferse Sebastian C A 29 June 2010 The History of Makassan Trepang Fishing and Trade PLOS ONE 5 6 e11346 Bibcode 2010PLoSO 511346S doi 10 1371 journal pone 0011346 PMC 2894049 PMID 20613871 McIntosh Ian 1996 Allah and the Spirit of the Dead The hidden legacy of pre colonial Indonesian Aboriginal contact in north east Arnhem Land PDF Australian Folklore 11 131 138 Archived from the original PDF on 11 June 2011 McIntosh Ian June 1996j Islam and Australia s Aborigines A Perspective from North East Arnhem Land Journal of Religious History 20 1 53 77 doi 10 1111 j 1467 9809 1996 tb00692 x Archived from the original on 2 April 2015 Retrieved 26 March 2015 McIntosh Ian 1997 The Birrinydji Legacy Aborigines Macassans and mining in north east Arnhem Land Aboriginal History published June 1999 21 70 89 doi 10 22459 AH 21 2011 Mulvaney D J 1969 The Prehistory of Australia London Thames and Hudson Rogers Janak 24 June 2014 When Islam came to Australia BBC News Retrieved 25 June 2014 Russell Denise 22 March 2004 Aboriginal Makassan interactions in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries in northern Australia and contemporary sea rights claims PDF Australian Aboriginal Studies Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies 2004 1 3 17 ISSN 0729 4352 Archived from the original PDF on 6 March 2019 Retrieved 21 April 2019 Stephenson P 2010 Islam Dreaming Indigenous Muslims in Australia Sydney University of New South Wales Press ISBN 978 1 74223 247 8 Tacon Paul S C May Sally K Fallon Stewart J Travers Meg Wesley Daryl Lamilami Ronald December 2010 A Minimum Age for Early Depictions of Southeast Asian Praus in Rock Art of Arnhem Land Northern Territory Australian Archaeology 71 71 1 10 doi 10 1080 03122417 2010 11689379 hdl 10072 36684 ISSN 0312 2417 S2CID 54182146 Archived from the original on 24 April 2016 Retrieved 28 March 2016 Tuwo Ambo 2004 Status of sea cucumber fisheries and farming in Indonesia PDF In Lovatelli Alessandro Conand Chantal Purcell Steven Uthicke Sven Hamel Jean Francois Mercier Annie eds Advances in sea cucumber aquaculture and management Fao Fisheries Technical Paper FAO pp 49 55 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Makassan contact with Australia amp oldid 1139265644, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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