In 1770, Captain James Cook landed on Australian soil, in what is now a part of Cronulla beach. An unremarkable brown slab sits on a rock to mark the spot of Anglo descent on Aboriginal land. The first words he heard were, "Go away, go away." He mistook it for the enthusiastic welcome of the two natives on shore, as they waved their hands.
I got the low down on most of Cronulla, being driven around by a friend who talked about the politics in Australia, the response of a post, post-modern generation to Christianity, beach clothes, sea turtles, whale watching and the infamous riots in 2005.
She told me about the first Christian priest to arrive on Captain James Cook's vessel. Imagine being on a ship for 8 months with convicts, heading to an unfamiliar land. The guy's a legend. Not much is written about him. Wonder what his Sunday sermons were like. None of the fluffy seven steps to personal success, nor the repent or die stuff of the previous century.
Grit was required to stay on this land, where the natives' response to foreigners was simply, "Go away, go away."
