ABSTRACT
This chapter considers cross-cultural exchange between Aboriginal people and Europeans at Port Jackson during the first forty years of British settlement in Australia. Port Jackson, in the country of the Eora Aboriginal people, was the location chosen for the 1788 penal colony named New South Wales whose administrative centre was the town called Sydney (Figure 9.1). The First Fleet of convict transports and store ships under the command of Captain Arthur Phillip made landfall in January 1788. One of his major tasks as Governor was mediating relationships with the local indigenous peoples. Exchange was fundamental to this and the objects changing hands took on many roles and meanings for both parties involved.
