Hidden in Plain View: The Aboriginal People of Coastal Sydney

by Paul Irish

Contrary to what you may think, local Aboriginal people did not lose their culture and die out within decades of Governor Phillip’s arrival in Sydney in 1788.

Aboriginal people are prominent in accounts of early colonial Sydney, yet we seem to skip a century as they disappear from the historical record, re-emerging early in the twentieth century. What happened to Sydney’s indigenous people between the devastating impact of white settlement and increased government intervention a century later?

Hidden in Plain View shows that Aboriginal people did not disappear. They may have been ignored in colonial narratives but maintained a strong bond with the coast and its resources and tried to live on their own terms.

This original and important book tells this powerful story through individuals, and brings a poorly understood period of Sydney’s shared history back into view. Its readers will never look at Sydney in the same way.

Paul Irish has breathed new life into people written out of history. – Stan Grant

This landmark book will open your eyes to the enduring Aboriginal history of Sydney, a story which was there all along, a story that changes everything. – Grace Karskens

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Australia

240 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2017

Reviews

[Michael Lever · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a difficult book to rate. On the one hand, it is a potentially paradigm shifting work that is written in a style I admire. The narrative approach and total absence of academic jargon will likely see this work become a textbook for high schools and upwards. It is the first book, to my knowledge, that fills the silent gap in Aboriginal history of Sydney. A gap that starts after the ethnographies and histories of the early 19th century, and continues until Aboriginal people suddenly reappear in Redfern in the 1970's. This alone gives the work huge weight, in its specifics, and also as a powerful reminder that presence is not quantified by numbers. That if we cannot see Aboriginal people in the past, it is likely that we need to look differently at available records - and to include new types of sources.

Yet, on the other hand I am disappointed by the authors frequent tendency to impute motivations and intent to Aboriginal actors in the past. The available material simply does not seem sufficient to establish what the intents and underlying motivations of Aboriginal people were in the ways they positioned themselves relative to colonialists. Or at least the author doesn't provide sufficient evidence to be convincing in stating (likely desirable) attitudes of historical Aboriginal people.
In this, the book disappoints me as a historical work.
As an aside, I feel this work in itself is a demonstration of historical and political process. It demonstrates the effects of the truly shambolic NSW Aboriginal Heritage legislation on our wider knowledge. For this work, written by a Whitefulla, documents for Sydney the sorts of detail and understanding that Aboriginal people themselves have been producing in Victoria for close to 30 years.
All the more reason to see this work as an important stepping stone forward, even if one that wobbles at times.

[Ali · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this short but significant history, Irish traces through the (European) historical record the activities of Eora nations' people in the Sydney Coastal region from the 1790s through to the early 20th century. He weaves a tale of survival and adaption in the face of land theft, discrimination and violence. But having said that, the story is far from simplistic: he points to patronage relationships between Indigenous people and powerful colonists; and the use of both Colonial law and retaliatory violence to secure different footholds at different times. Starting is the realisation that in Sydney Town itself (unlike the Hawkesbury and other frontier war locations), Aboriginal people and colonists mixed freely and with all the social complexities inherent in society - all while the relentless expansion of the colony stole greater tracts of Country, food and resources from it's people.
Irish doesn't downplay the impact of the Smallpox outbreak in the first year after the British arrived, but he outlines a story of cultural regrouping and reshaping, followed by increased engagement with the Sydney Cove invaders. It was not, Irish argues, until the mission and assimilation movements that the idea that the Eora were gone became accepted. While the idea of the 'dying race' is embedded in Australian writing from the 1790s, this morbid romanticism - born of ideas of cultural superiority and a justification of British expansion backed by violence - was at odds with the daily experience of military, convicts and settlers alike.
Irish seeks - with limited success - to mine the record to bring alive the Aboriginal protagonists. he covers the experiences of those who found places to bring families together, to reconstruct kinship and clan relations, and to eke a living in changing ways. While he speculates as to motives, he resists the urge to reconstruct an emotional world. The book is the more respectful for it, even if at times it can feel like a litany of dates and genealogies.
Irish's work is a powerful endorsement of the Redfern Block and La Perouse community's historical and contemporary role - his history places both of these communities firmly as gatherings of Sydney basin Indigenous peoples. Peoples who never left Sydney, nor ceded their rights over Country. This is important revisionist history: especially because Irish has not made any startling discoveries, rather, he has simply rejected an imposed narrative, and looked back at the evidence. That is exactly the kind of history we need, if we are all to understand not only how we got here, but where we are.

[Ellen · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a powerful book highlighting important history which has been ignored. It demonstrates the importance of telling the histories of a wide range of people, and challenging assumptions. This book is making me look at Sydney differently, and this is exciting and long overdue. This is a book to reread.

[Kim · Rating 4 out of 5]

A remarkable history of Aboriginal coastal peoples around Sydney Harbour. Listed for the NSW Premier Awards. All Sydney-siders should read it and like Dark Emu, it should be on all Highschools curriculum. Only 167 pages if you exclude the copious footnotes.

[Kerri_M · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this as an e-book, I think I would have enjoyed it more as hard copy - in order to see the maps and illustrations, footnotes etc much more easily. My recommendation - go hard copy

[Cheryl Parker · Rating 5 out of 5]

excellent should be required reading for high school students

[Julianne Quaine · Rating 4 out of 5]

A history of Aboriginal people of coastal Sydney from 1788 to 1930 - a very personal account of many individuals and their lives and how they responded to presence of Europeans and survived colonialism to still be present in Sydney til today. A history demonstrating both human resilience and sadness and an important read for those interested in Aboriginal Australia

[Sue Law · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting book tracing the Aboriginal people of the Sydney coastal group through colonial records, demonstrating the sophisticated ways in which they interacted with the new colonial society while keeping their cultural practices going. Demonstrates the fallacy of the 1950s belief that aborigines of the Sydney region "died out" by 1850.

[Kerry · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very accessible and interesting book about Aboriginal people in Sydney and their relationship with the European settlers (primarily up to about 1930). The book makes clear how much interaction there was between Indigenous and Europeans residents, which is often overlooked in depictions of colonial history.

[Rachel · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Cathy Lister · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent updated research

This has proved to be both fascinating and useful for my research as I write my own book set in early Sydney.