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| Day 90 |
05 July 2000 |
| Selat Nerong |
| "Illumination" |
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Around midday we come alongside the wharf at Tual to load diesel
fuel and go through the final official formalities for departing
from Indonesia. Officialdom is very kind to us today and our
documents are signed and stamped as if processed by a well
oiled, if convoluted, machine. We are greeted like old friends
by the harbour-master and the imigrasi officers, and Mr Argus,
the commandant of the naval depot, comes on board in his
immaculate uniform just to admire the Duyfken and to wish us a
safe and pleasant voyage.
Jane spends the day stocking up on food. She scours the markets
for the freshest vegies and fruit that look like they might have
some stamina at sea. She also stocks up on toilet paper, not an
easy item to come by in Indonesia, where most people don't use
it, preferring to wash with water. But we are heading out on the
homeward leg of this strange and remarkable journey and here I
am talking about toilet paper.
At 1600 we are stored up, fuelled up and ready to go. A crowd
has gathered on the wharf to see the strange boat leave. Among
the crowd are our departing shipmates, Tom, Iwan, Marcus, Geoff
and Paul. We say good-bye over and over, shaking hands
endlessly. We pose for group photos and swap addresses. Jane
buys a last minute bottle of honey from an insistent vendor.
Some kids climb on board and the imigrasi officers shoo them off
again. Time to go.
We let go the lines and slip out into the harbour. Duyfken turns
towards the open sea, the foresail and mainsail drop from their
yards and fill with the gentle wind. The crowd on the jetty
waves and cheers as Duyfken gathers headway.
We are homeward bound. What a contrast to the Duyfken's original
voyage. Whereas we are sailing towards our home, at the same
point in the old Duyfken's voyage she was venturing further into
the unknown the further east she sailed.
Though we are heading for Australian waters we do have some
unknowns of our own. Can we make it to the Pennefather River by
the 9th of August against the trades without using the engines?
Can we make it by that date even if we do use the engines?
Should we accept the Royal Australian Navy's generous offer of
assistance in the Gulf of Carpenteria, or should we try to make
the passage unassisted?
The crew has a lively discussion over dinner about the last
point. Most want to feel the sense of achievement of finishing
the voyage entirely on our own resources, but a few are
sceptical, suggesting it might be a different story when we have
been sailing for four weeks and have not eaten a fresh vegie for
three. We resolve to wait a week or so before we decide.
With our thoughts leaping ahead so many weeks it is not
surprising that we start talking about our arrival in Cape York
Peninsula. A debate starts about reconciliation with respect to
the Aboriginal people of Cape York Peninsula. This voyage
affects them just as the original Duyfken's voyage did. How will
they receive us, and what should we do to express how we feel
about the occasion? How do we feel about it? Nicko points out
that when we arrive on Aboriginal land at the Pennefather River
we will be doing much the same thing as we have been doing here
in Indonesia: asking permission to come ashore, meeting people
on their own land, making friends and learning about different
cultures.
What if the local people see our landing as a celebration of
colonialism? That is certainly not how the crew of Duyfken see
it. Quite the opposite. Our landing is motivated by goodwill and
a desire to publicise a poorly recognised story in Australia's
history. We are not driven by the prospect of making ourselves
rich, as were the VOC, nor are we on a mission to appropriate
other people's land, as was the case with so many voyages of
exploration.
As I sit in the cabin listening to the crew debate these issues
by the dim light of the lamp I am struck by the power of this
ship. Here she is, a vision from the past sailing down Selat
Nerong in the Kai Islands of Indonesia. It is seven weeks since
our last newspaper and we are five weeks away from our next, yet
Duyfken is the venue for this little conference on contemporary
political issues. Whatever else she may be capable of in the
future, Duyfken has contributed to those issues already, just by
bringing people together under the one lamp where they feel they
must talk about them.
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Peter Manthorpe
Master
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