Surgeon John White

Surgeon John White defies convention and adopts Nanberry, an Aboriginal boy, to raise as his son. Nanberry is clever and uses his unique gifts as an interpreter to bridge the two worlds he lives in. With his white brother, Andrew, he witnesses the struggles of the colonists to keep their unjustified on a hostile wilderness. And yet he is haunted by the memories of the Cadigal warriors who will one day come to claim him as one of their own.

(Blurb from the book)

How much does surgeon John White mean to Nanberry (Andrew)

Page 94

Nanberry ran down the cove below the headland. Even before the boat was pulled up onto the sand he splashed into the water and swam out, grasping the edges of the boat and hoisting himself up.’ Father White!’ he cried. ‘Father White’ ‘missed me, have you? Asked Father White. He reached over the rail and ruffled Nanberry hair. Maria kept it short so it curled around his head.

Nanberry held onto the boat till the rowers hauled it up onto the sand. Father White stepped out. He looked at Nanberry for a second, then held out his arms ‘I’m sorry they left you here, boy he said as he held Nanberry close ‘I Thought you would have liked to be out in the wild again for a few days. Be away from the township and the smells ‘No’ said Nanberry. ‘Stay with you. Always stay with you, Father white held him close again.

As you can see Nanberry loves surgeon white and missed him when he’s went. This is his new life and he wants it desspretlly he wants to fit in with surgeon’s culture.

Surgeon John White gives an image to everyone in the book a really nice man considered as a gentleman he keeps 800 prisoners healthy and looks after Nanberry 24/7. Which is a hard job for just one man?

Did Surgeon White treat Nanberry fairly white treats Nanberry generally not as a foster son but as a ‘pet’ not unlike the o’possum. It’s no accident that both are left behind when. White returns to England. What else could White have done to make Nanberrys future a brighter one how does Nanberry take control of his own destiny

But in the end if he wasn’t apart of the book Nanberrys future would be change and this book would be a boring book.

He’s a great man and wants to make a change in Nanberrys life

This is a photo of a kids dancing and sing to to songs of the aboriginal tribes

How Surgeon White treats Nanberry:

In this Book, Nanberry Black Brother White it showed the colonisation in 1788. The head Captain, Captain Phillips is mentioned but Surgeon White (the main Surgeon on board, coming to Australia) is mentioned a lot more. Surgeon White lives with Maria, his maid and adopts Nanberry after he has been cured from the smallpox. I agree that he treats Maria well; he treats her like a maid but still cares for her in his heart.

Surgeon White tends to be a very sophisticated and wealthy man. In the book it describes him as a man with knowledge about everything but mostly medical procedures. I believe that he is a disgraceful man that takes you in then leaves you stranded. He left Rachel after having a child with her, leaving her Australia and him leaving to the other side of the world to England. If I was Rachel, I would not be impressed.

However Nanberry is just an innocent young boy that has been taken over by Surgeon White. When Nanberry met Surgeon White (in the hospital, when he had the smallpox), I thought he was trying to help him and care for him but as I kept reading, Surgeon White made me think about his actions towards Nanberry. Especially when he tried to change Nanberry’s name to Andrew “My name is Nanberry Buckenau,” he said quietly. “Not this again! Your name is Andrew White.” How would you like it if you got forced to change your name, to a totally different name than before?

Even though Surgeon White toke Nanberry into his live, I still believe that he is a greedy, mean man, because of his actions towards Nanberry. He first tried changing his tradition of living as an aboriginal and then tried to change his own personal to a name that Nanberry didn’t like.

By Emily Gardner

Early Colonisation of Australia

In this Photo you can see the Aboriginals sitting in their area and the British people in the background interrupting their space. The British people came and invaded the Aboriginals place in Australia when they had no reason to, the aboriginals did nothing wrong and didn’t deserve it.
This relates to my text “How Surgeon White treats Nanberry” because Nanberry is an Aboriginal and Surgeon White tried to take over him and Australia.

Should The Women Have Been Put To Work as Slaves?

During the time of the colonisation, the women were treated completely differently to the men. They would be second guessed, sent to work and to look after the kids. The women were poorly treated from the time of the colonisation.

In the book, Nanberry Black Brother White there were many examples of unfair treatment towards women but one that really annoyed me was Maria. She was a 15 year old convict who got put as a slave because she stole some bread. Maria was a slave of Surgeon White; he made her wash dishes, clean after everyone’s mess and look after an o’possum. Maria didn’t deserve to be a slave especially at 15; most 15 year olds are out with their friends and having fun, not cleaning up after men’s mess. Maria fell in love with a boy Jack Johnson who was a  released convict. He treated her with more respect than Surgeon White. He gave her everything. Unfortunately he was tragically killed by the natives.

Another example of unfair treatment was Rachel. She was pregnant and her husband (surgeon White) moved back to England and left her to fend for herself and the baby. When Andrew (Rachel’s baby) turned 7 Surgeon White, made Rachel send him back to live with Surgeon White and Nanberry. I think Rachel should’ve kept Andrew to live with her because she raised, cared for and loved it. How would you feel if your only son who had lived with you for pretty much his whole life had to be send back to live with his dad in another country?

I think throughout this whole book there were many examples of unfair treatment towards the women but I only brought up a few that really angered me. Just because girls might not be a strong as men doesn’t mean they should be looked down upon.

I chose this picture because it shows a women being a slave to someone else

The treatment of an aboriginal boy named Nanberry looked after by colonist surgeon white is reflected in the book Nanberry: Black brother white. The relationship between the two is shown in this book and it portrays surgeon white as a good gentleman, but some people disagree with this and say that he is only looking out for himself; I will have to disagree with them. I will explain why that this man is a gentleman.

Near the start of the book, surgeon White adopts Nanberry and takes him in as his own son, even though Nanberry is sceptical at first, he accepts and happily lives with him, the surgeon gave him food, water, a great home and let him play in the outback. The surgeon treats Nanberry like his son and he lets Nanberry make his own decisions and choices.

The Surgeon also was a great person to Nanberry because he let him choose the life that he would live. It says in the book pg.? that he let Nanberry become a sailor even though he didn’t like the idea and he also let him run around in the in the bush whenever he wanted to be out of the house. Nanberry got a choice in what he wanted to do, which is what I call being a good parent.

Finally, another reason that Nanberry was treated well was because Surgeon white was a gentleman to all his peers and others. He treated every other man and women he met in the book with great respect and kindness, you think that someone that kind to others would treat someone he called his own son with bad manners and hatred; he treated other aboriginals with kindness so why wouldn’t he treat Nanberry better.

So in conclusion, Nanberry was treated very well by surgeon White, he was treated well because he gave Nanberry a home, food, shelter, let him choose his future and the surgeon is just a really nice guy. The surgeon was a very nice gentleman for his time.

By Tristen Bernardi

During the first years colonisation, in the land of unforgiving, Surgeon john white looked after and later adopted a young orphan aboriginal boy named Nanberry. They have similar problems; they have both been stripped of their land and family.

Surgeon White is a happily trained surgeon who has a great view on medicine and who cares for those (white or black) he treats. John White, the only surgeon of the First Fleet, and later the surgeon of the newfound colony. He is all-round a good man of strong convictions and a thirst for knowledge.  Surgeon white was very brave, he took on the responsibility to look after and care for the orphan native boy Nanberry. Surgeon John White defined convention and adopts Nanberry, the aboriginal boy, to raise him as his son. Not only did he adopt Nanberry he looked after and later married a young convict girl.

Many people think that John White striped Nanberry from his aboriginal identity, but I think wrong. For example on page 94

“Nanberry ran down the cove below the headland. Even before the boat was pulled up onto the sand he splashed into the water and swam out, grasping the edges of the boat and hoisting himself up.’ Father White!’ he cried. ‘Father White’ ‘missed me, have you? Asked Father White. He reached over the rail and ruffled Nanberry hair. Maria kept it short so itr curled around his head.

Nanberry held onto the boat till the rowers hauled it up onto the sand. Father White stepped out. He looked at Nanberry for a second, then held out his arms ‘I’m sorry they left you here, boy he said as he held Nanberry close ‘I Thought you would have liked to be out in the wild again for a few days. Be away from the township and the smells ‘No’ said Nanberry. ‘Stay with you. Always stay with you, Father white held him close again.” He later said Father I I’m white now.

To sum up this blog I believe Surgeon John white is a  great, generous and loving farther to Nanberry. I think it is wonderful what he did for the orphan Aboriginal, he gave him a new life and looked after him.

This image is about the Early Australian Colonisation it shows the British claiming the land. In the image you can see a general commanding the flag to be raised.

This image is important as it shows Australia and the early settlers. In a way it makes me feel a little bit angry by the fact that they just arrived and claimed the land.

In the background you can see the sail boat that they came in.  The area looks like has been cleared of tree.

Small pox is an illness that killed almost half of the indigenous people in Australia around the time of 1789 it was called the small pox epidemic

Small pox is a terrible illness caused by variola. It gets it name from the pus-filled blisters which form during the illness. The disease does not have anything to do with chicken pox.

Right now there are no cases of small pox the last case the world has received was in 1977

Small pox is very contagious and is spread through peoples spit, coughs, sneezes, and when face to face talking.

The diagnostic is a very bad rash with white blisters all over your skin that are filled with a very gooey disgusting fluid covered in a crusty shell. There are less deadly ways of having small pox such as illnesses like fever, headache, backache and feeling nauseous

At the moment there are no medications to treat this terrible disease (small pox) however scientists are doing research to try and develop a medicine for the disease however if someone does become infected with the small pox virus they should be vaccinated within the first few days of becoming infected to lessen the symptoms and the likeliness of death.

Remember, that it is very unlikely that you and your family or any person you know will ever come in contact with this terrible virus or the cause’s of it

Small pox does no longer occur naturally because there is a vaccine but before when there wasn’t a vaccine a lot of people havedied. Millions of people have died because of this stupid life threatening disease.

The photo below shows how this disease (small pox) looks when life threatning you can see the blisters filled with liquid and the nausea of this person in the photo

The English shouldn’t have taken up the Aboriginals land.

The Aboriginals have had this land to themselves for a long time and they have got their land taken off them. It is not fair for them because that was their land, they had it all to themselves and as nanberry says in the book, I miss having my land and playing in the river.

Firstly, nanberry explains in the book how unfair it was to have their land taken off them and why should it be them.  It is like the Aboriginals coming and taking the English’s land how would they feel. They need to take consideration and try to see how they would feel. If they never came the Aboriginals would feel safe and won’t be needing to kill or hunt any one down.

Surely nanberry feels proud to be English and feels safe and didn’t get killed from smallpox but if the English didn’t come then maybe his family wouldn’t be sick, his friends would still know who he was, and he could become a warrior with the proper ritual.

Once nanberry gets taken by the English no one can remember him because he has the white people’s clothes on and not his own. If the English never took him in they would know who he is and try to not hurt him for he is one of them. In the book he had a friend named balloonderry, but balloonderry saw him as a bad person because he was dressed in clothes the English had given him and saw that he wasn’t really like him, so balloonderry slapped his face and went off on him because he felt like he wasn’t one of them.

In conclusion I think the English shouldn’t have taken up their land as it wasn’t fair for the Aboriginals and not fair for nanberry especially.

This picture is of the Aboriginals fighting against the English to keep their land. The Aboriginals are the ones who have spears, are not hiding behind anything, and only have grass skirts on. The drawing on the floor is aboriginal writing; the first man in the picture is still writing on the sand and making it neater. The English are hiding behind the trees like a barrier. The spears and arrows that the aboriginal are using are made by them, but the weapons that the English use are made by a factory. In this picture they are in Australia, and are demonstrating how determined they were to stand their ground.

-by Tegan Minett

This is the part when Surgeon John White brings Nanberry and other people to the hospital. Surgeon White has got told that he has to go on a ship to go and rescue a group of Aboriginal’s. When Surgeon White is about to leave, he sees a young boy around about 8-9 years old. bring him back with him to his house. Surgeon White’s new adopted son is named Nanberry. Nanberry is from the Aboriginal group and he’s actually aboriginal.

When Surgeon white found Nanberry at the beach with his family he and his family had got diagnosed with smallpox. Nanberry’s family had died from smallpox. When surgeon white brought Nanberry home, he took him straight to the hospital in Sydney. He took him straight to the hospital because there were thousands of dead bodies at the Sydney cove that all suffered the smallpox. Surgeon White had to also go and take a old man to the hospital. They got to the hospital and it was all packed with Aboriginals, all suffering with Smallpox. In the hospital I badly feel sorry for these Aboriginals suffering the smallpox because they are all in deep pain. Surgeon White thought that he should bring everyone to the hospital that is suffering smallpox but only if they are alive.

Nanberry is lying on a bed that is made out of wood. Back then they didn’t have a mattress for a bed. When Nanberry layed on the bed he was lying on it without moving. Nanberry was in deep pain and he was in hospital for a long time. Nanberry got the hint from Arabanoo that everyone has died. Nanberry thought it was just his family that died but it was everyone that was on the Sydney cove.

When Nanberry had entered the hospital that put a cloth on his body to cover the smallpox, so he took it off and saw that they were forming into scabs. That was a meaning that Nanberry was going to live! Everyone was happy for him to see that he will live from this disease.

This is a view of what Smallpox looked like. As you can see in this photo that this person’s body is full of pimples and has all diseases or his/her face. His whole body looks absolutely disgusting and you would start to think that if you had this type of disease that how would you start to feel. When you look at this young boy, you see that he looks a bit afraid and scared because of this disease that he’s got. This person here looks exactly like Nanberry but this is what Nanberry would of looked like or if not most likely he’d look worse.

Surgeon White was disloyal by not appreciating people for who they were, but Surgeon White knew that if he was going to adopt Nanberry, he would’ve had to put in a lot of effort into taking care of Nanberry.  Although he did take him for selfish reasons.

However, due to the crisis Nanberry had gone through, losing his family, friends and practically everyone he knew, it would’ve been a pretty hard start for Nanberry in the long run. When Nanberry moved in with Surgeon White, he had to learn a lot of new things such as manners, change of clothes, responsibilities, people, friends and rules.

Therefore, after a while when Nanberry had finally got used to his new lifestyle, he knew how things would run living with the English Men, which lead him to new friends and how to speak English better. Surgeon White also gained him through this.

Although, Nanberry was and Aboriginal he did not let anyone put him down, bother him or miss treat him.

During the time, when Nanberry was still living with Surgeon White, Surgeon White had two maids called Maria and Rachel (which I consider very lucky because Nanberry wouldn’t have had to do any chores.)

I strongly believe it was positive choice for Surgeon White to adopt Nanberry, so that Nanberry was safe and it brought happiness to both.

BY PARIS FENECH

PICTURES: These 2 pictures seem most important to me because it describes Nanberry for who he is and his culture.

The flag, is a resemblance of the aboriginal flag and I have chosen this because Nanberry was an aboriginal. These days you can still see the aboriginal flag, more like near a council such as Hobson’s Bay etc.

The boy with the kangaroo, is a resemblance of what Nanberry had looked like as a little boy in his culture with an Australian animal, a kangaroo. Back in those days (before Nanberry was adopted by surgeon white) they did not have washing machines or a kitchen to make food etc, but to survive they would’ve had to hunt for food.

Nanberry was from a tribe, living with his mother, grandfather, two sisters and auntie. His auntie died from a disease called the ‘smallpox’. It was a very contagious illness that many people tried to fight, although no very many people survived it.

On the other hand, Surgeon White was un-loyal towards women and their rights as he gets a woman pregnant then leaves her to fend for herself. Seriously, how would you like it if someone got you pregnant and then left you? Although Surgeon White was kind to Maria and treated here relatively well.

I strongly agree that Nanberry should have been adopted by Surgeon White to live with him and his family. Although Surgeon White might be a little unkind to some, but relatively nice to others, he would have been the best option for Nanberry’s future. Pretty much all of Nanberry’s family had been affected by the out-of-control smallpox disease; there was only limited hope now for 8 year old Nanberry.

Nanberry left the tribe along with his friend Colbee, purely because it wasn’t right for others to stay in the same village as dead family members. There, Surgeon White adopted Nanberry, and kept him as his own. Surgeon White treated him with respect, loyalty and kindness.

If Nanberry hadn’t been adopted, and cared by the family of Surgeon White, Nanberry would have eventually been affected by the smallpox and died in a slow but intense death.  He would have been one of the extremely unlucky ones, dying at such a young age, of something you cannot control or even stop at that point in time. (With no medication, and very few doctors, etc.)

In closing I believe the right decision was made for Nanberry to be adopted by Surgeon White to lead him to a bright and successful future.

This picture is of Surgeon White during the first fleet. The picture is relevant to my piece of text because it explains what Surgeon White physically looks like, partly what he did in his life. (Obviously he was quite important, because he got what looks like an important picture taken.) I chose this picture because my text is mostly about Surgeon White, adopting Nanberry, and explaining what he went through with Nanberry. For example being in the family now, and meeting all new people. Nanberry would have been extremely happy, being adopted by someone apart from living in a village among dead family members and eventually dying of the smallpox disease.