Expanding the Colony: Convict Impacts on Aboriginal Country
Chapter 3
As the NSW colony expanded beyond the town of Sydney, conflict between colonists and Aboriginal people became more frequent. Many incidents were not formally documented. One such incident is shown in the gallery ‘Expanding the Colony: Convict Impacts on Aboriginal Country’. It occurred in 1824 in Bathurst, where violence erupted after a group of people harvested potatoes grown by convict farmer Antonio Roderigo. Several Wiradyuri people were murdered by local colonists. These events escalated to what we now refer to as .
Collaborating with Wiradyuri and Dharug communities
The museum curators thought it was important to include stories that demonstrate the impact of the convicts and the convict system on First Nations people. They worked with many Aboriginal people, organisations and communities to include Aboriginal perspectives, narratives and voices in the museum experience. This work facilitates ‘’ about our shared history and an understanding of the complexities of cultural relationships. These stories are important in helping us to appreciate the continuing impact of the past on Aboriginal communities today. The stories shared in ‘Expanding the Colony: Convict Impacts on Aboriginal Country’ were chosen by members of the Wiradyuri and Dharug communities. The process of designing this gallery in collaboration with community sought to create a space for Aboriginal people to decide and define how their stories are told. Working with the Wiradyuri and Dharug communities to guide the storytelling enabled curators to ensure the history was told in a culturally appropriate way.
Watch the first two and a half minutes of the video below in which Peter White, Head of First Nations Cultural Engagement at Museums of History NSW, shares how he feels conflicted about the way he learnt convict history at school.
Whose perspective is being shared in the Expanding the Colony: Convict Impacts on Aboriginal Country gallery?
- Governor Lachlan Macquarie
- First Nations people
- Convicts sent to Australia by boat
- Immigrant women
- Asylum women
- You
Why do you think community consultation is so important in developing an exhibition that explores First Nations people’s experiences?
Look at how the models are presented in the gallery. Why do you think they are housed in large black structures? What do you think the exhibition designers wanted to convey?
Read more about the significance of representing First Nations perspectives of the past in Peter White’s article ‘To speak the unspoken’ (below).
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First Nations
To speak the unspoken
For Aboriginal people, the Hyde Park Barracks and the convict system it oversaw represent a very different ‘founding narrative’, one that needs to be told in Aboriginal voices
![Pencil drawing of Bathurst 1818, Plans of Government Buildings at Bathurst, Main series of letters received [Colonial Secretary], 1788–1826.](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/zl9du87e/staging/ec5b53147e75bdc6536c142340cae04b71adc992-3203x1998.jpg?fit=max&auto=format)
Convict farmer Antonio Roderigo and a ‘dastardly massacre’
A dispute over potatoes farmed by convict-settler Antonio Roderigo was one of many hostile events between colonists and Wiradyuri people that led to the Bathurst War of 1824
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Hyde Park Barracks site study
The Hyde Park Barracks is an important historical site. It has been recognised by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site because of its significance to the convict History of Australia
