The European maritime explorers who first visited the bays and beaches of Australia brought with them diverse assumptions about the inhabitants of the country, most of them based on sketchy or non-existent knowledge, contemporary theories like the idea of the noble savage, and an automatic belief in the superiority of European civilisation. Mutual misunderstanding was almost universal, whether it resulted in violence or apparently friendly transactions.Written for a general audience, The First Wave brings together a variety of contributions from thought-provoking writers, including both original research and creative work. Our contributors explore the dynamics of these early encounters, from Indigenous cosmological perspectives and European history of ideas, from representations in art and literature to the role of animals, food and fire in mediating first contact encounters, and Indigenous agency in exploration and shipwrecks.The First Wave includes poetry by Yankunytjatjara Aboriginal poet Ali Cobby Eckermann, fiction by Miles Franklin award-winning Noongar author Kim Scott and Danielle Clode, and an account of the arrival of Christian missionaries in the Torres Strait Islands by Torres Strait political leader George Mye.

Introduction / Gillian Dooley and Danielle Clode -- Part one. Seeing through the whale's eye : indigenous perspectives -- Kaleidoscope / Ali Cobby Eckermann -- "Waving" the green bough : Narungga encounters with Europeans in the pre-settlement era, 1802-1846 / Skye Krichauff -- Understanding maritime explorers and others as ngamadjidj / Ian D. Clarke, Fred Cahir and Wendy Wright -- Spirit brother / Danielle Clode -- 'That deadman dance' (extract) / Kim Scott -- Part two. The view from Europe -- Australantis / Ali Cobby Eckermann -- Bounteous Botany Bay : the influence of Quirósque utopianism on the exploration of Australia / Daniel Hempel -- Sense or sensibility? Encountering a "savage" land in the Romantic era / Valerie Munt -- Part three. Appropriations and misunderstandings -- Landing party / Molly Murn -- The legacy of Yolŋu-Makassan contact : before the first wave / Aaron Corn with Brian Djaṉgirrawuy Garawirrtja -- Incessant : dingoes and waves of contact on K'gari / Rowena Lennox -- Encountering fire from the coast : European explorers and Aboriginal fire in Victoria / Sarah McMaster -- Exchange on the maritime frontier of southern Australia / Fred Cahir, Ian D. Clark and Wendy Wright -- Part four. Explorers and expeditioners -- Footprint / Ali Cobby Eckermann -- Joseph Banks and his "grand tour" / Patrick Kaye -- Matthew Flinders and the limits of empathy : first encounters with indigenous Australians / Gillian Dooley -- Exploring connections : Bungaree and connections in the colonial Hunter Valley / Mark Dunn -- Unofficial explorers : from Aurukun to Kendall River in 1927 / Peter Sutton -- Part five. Imaginative revisiting -- Cook reconsidered : re-envisaging James Cook's 1770 voyage and its impact / Lisa Chandler -- Michael Cook's 'Broken dreams' : a poetics of resilience / Melinda Graefe -- Will Martin / Catherine McKinnon -- Part six. In their own words -- terra firma / Molly Murn -- "Allans first day of light - July one 1871" : with an introduction and glossary by Anna Shnukal, with Nick Piper / Eidi Wakaisu -- Erub history "from the other side" : reflections on Eidi Wakaisu's "Allans first day of light" / Anna Shnukal -- Shifting the gaze : Barbara Crawford Thompson and Oswald Brierly's exploratory accounts of Muralag and the Torres Strait / Susan Davis & Gary Crew -- Accidental explorers : Pamphlett, Finnegan and Parson / Gary Crew and Peter Moore -- Exile : Kalungku, "Emma", and the sealers of the southern coast / Chester Schultz.