Arthur Phillip
First Governor of New South Wales
Who was ARTHUR PHILLIP?
TASK 1: Understanding Governor Arthur Phillip's instructions for establishing a British colony in New South Wales.
Learning Intention: To make sense of historical documents relating to the colonisation of New South Wales.
On 25 April 1787, Lord Sydney delivered King George III's instructions to Arthur Phillip. They outlined what Arthur Phillip was required to do when he arrived in New South Wales and confirmed Phillip as the Captain-General of the First Fleet and the Governor of the new colony.
FAQ: Where do I write my answers? On the Colony Solutions sheet in your Google Library Classroom.
Step 1: View the text of the original instructions here:
https://www.foundingdocs.gov.au/resources/transcripts/nsw2_doc_1787.pdf
Read the following excerpt from pages 9 and 10 of the document (pages 15 and 16 of the original text):
You are to endeavour by every possible means to open an Intercourse with the Natives and to conciliate their affections, enjoining all Our Subjects to live in amity and kindness with them. And if any of Our Subjects shall wantonly destroy them, or give them any unnecessary Interruption in the exercise of their several occupations, it is our Will and Pleasure that you do cause such offenders to be brought to punishment according to the degree of the Offence. You will endeavour to procure an account of the Numbers inhabiting the Neighbourhood of the intended settlement and report your opinion to one of our Secretaries of State in what manner Our Intercourse with these people may be turned to the advantage of this country.
Step 2: The above document is written in an older style of language. Use an online or printed dictionary to find the meaning of the following words. Write your definitions in the Colony Solutions sheet in your Google Library Classroom.
Endeavour
Conciliate
Affections
Enjoining
Amity
Wantonly
Procure
Inhabiting
Step 3: Using the definitions, summarise Phillip's orders in your own words (20-30 words). Write the summary in the Colony Solutions sheet in your Google Library Classroom.
Step 4: Read a modernised version of the text here:
You must try in whatever way possible to start conversations and interactions with the Indigenous people and to make peace with them, making sure that all the people from the First Fleet are friendly towards them. If any of the people from the First Fleet tries to hurt or kill them, or tries to stop them living their lives or disrupts their way of life, those people must be punished. You must try to count the number of Indigenous people who are living near the settlement, and report back to England how relations with the Indigenous people might be helpful to the colony.
Step 5: Now that you have read the modernised text, summarise the above paragraph in your own words (20 to 30 words). Write the summary in the Colony Solutions sheet in your Google Library Classroom.
Arthur Phillip and slavery
TASK 2: Arthur Phillip and slavery
Learning intention: To
understand what slavery is, and to find out when it was made illegal (abolished)
in different parts of the world.
In this task you will be learning about slavery, what it is, where it was practised and when it was abolished (made illegal) in different places around the world. You will visit different websites and videos. At the end of this task you will complete a quiz to test what you have learned.
You will not write anything on your Colony Solutions sheet for this task.
Step 1: Watch this short video which explains slavery.
Step 2: Visit www.worldbookonline.com (Enter the username
wview and the password wview).
Click on the icon called Kids. Then type the word slavery in the Search box.
Read the short article about slavery. You will need some of the information on this page to answer the Slavery quiz in your Google Library Classroom.
Do not complete the quiz until you have finished all the steps of this task so you have enough information to answer the questions.
Step 3: In Britain, the government first made it illegal to trade slaves, that is, to sell slaves from one country to another. Read this article to find out what year that was made illegal.
https://www.rmg.co.uk/explore/how-did-slave-trade-end-britain
Step 4: After slave trading was made illegal, slavery was also abolished (made illegal). Read this article to find out what year the British Government passed the Slavery Abolition Act.
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Slavery-Abolition-Act
Step 5: Go to the website below. Scroll to the bottom of the text and find what Arthur Phillip said about slavery.
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/australia-day
Step 6: Read the paragraph below. It was published in The Australian newspaper on 24 March 2007:
In September 1786, Arthur Phillip drew up a detailed memorandum of his plans for the proposed new colony. In one paragraph he wrote: "The laws of this country (England) will of course be introduced in New South Wales, and there is one that I would wish to take place from the moment his majesty's forces take possession of the country: that there can be no slavery in a free land, and consequently no slaves".
Step 7: Click on the link below from the ABC called Five surprising things about Arthur Phillip, the first governor of New South Wales. Read what is says at number 3.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-06-30/arthur-phillip-five-surprising-things/6580852
In case you couldn't find it, number 3 says:
He (Arthur Phillip) famously wrote, when preparing for the expedition of the First Fleet, that 'there shall be no slavery in a free land'.
That was the first law for what later became called Australia, a country that only he believed would ever become a nation.
So Australia had abolished slavery in Governor Phillip's first law 20 years before Britain and of course long before the rest of the world, that was how ahead of his time Phillip was.
Geoffrey Robertson QC
Step 8: The paragraph below was published in the Sydney Morning Herald on 25 June 2015:
"That whole notion that this was a dumping ground for the wretched and unwanted of Britain, that is somewhat turned on its head from the outset by him saying, long before he set sail, this was not going to be a slave society. He'd seen slavery in South America and Africa and, as the historians told me, was appalled by it".
Scott Bevan
If you want to read the whole article, click the link below:
Step 9: Go to your Google Library Classroom and click on the Slavery quiz. Answer all the questions in the quiz, using the information you have learned throughout this task.
When you have finished the quiz, you have finished this task.