Wild rivers a cage for Aborigines ''With the natives we are hand
in glove. They throng the camp every day, and sometimes by their
clamour and importunity for bread and meat (of which they now
all eat greedily) are become very troublesome. God knows, we
have little enough for ourselves! . . . The convicts continue to
behave pretty well; three only have been hanged since the
arrival of the last fleet.'' Watkin Tench 1788 This quote comes
from one of the most important books ever written about
Australia, the journal by a young Royal Marines officer, Watkin
Tench, a member of the First Fleet. Tench recorded, with vivid
and sympathetic detail, the first contact between the indigenous
population and European settlers. He did not condescend towards
the native population. His account caused a sensation. It was a
bestseller when published in 1789, but fell into obscurity for
more than 200 years until his work was revived and republished
in 1996, under the title 1788, thanks to Tim Flannery. The book
should be mandator