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Pobasso, also spelt Probasso or Pobassoo, was the chief of a division of the
Makassan Makassar ( ), formerly Ujung Pandang ( ), is the capital of the Indonesian province of South Sulawesi. It is the largest city in the region of Eastern Indonesia and the country's fifth-largest urban center after Jakarta, Surabaya, Medan, and Ba ...
fleet of
perahu The ProA is the second-tier league of professional club basketball in Germany. The league comprises 16 teams. Officially the ProA is part of the '' 2. Basketball Bundesliga'', which consists of the two hierarchical leagues ''ProA'' and ''ProB'' ...
in the waters between northern
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...
and
Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...
in the late 1700s and early 1800s. The fleet harvested trepang, or sea cucumber, trading it to China. Pobasso was a key informant on the early Makassan relationships with Australia's Indigenous peoples prior to European settlement.


Contact with Flinders

On his 1803 voyage mapping the coastline of
Terra Australis (Latin for ) was a hypothetical continent first posited in antiquity and which appeared on maps between the 15th and 18th centuries. Its existence was not based on any survey or direct observation, but rather on the idea that continental l ...
, Captain Matthew Flinders came upon six perahu vessels on the 17 February at the English Company's Islands' Malay Road, north of
Arnhem Land Arnhem Land is a historical region of the Northern Territory of Australia. It is located in the north-eastern corner of the territory and is around from the territorial capital, Darwin, Northern Territory, Darwin. In 1623, Dutch East India Compa ...
. Thinking they were Chinese pirates he approached with caution. Pobasso, who Flinders described as a "short, elderly man" and five other chiefs came aboard Finders's ship the ''Investigator'' where he was extensively questioned by Flinders about the trepang trade. He was able to communicate through his cook, Abraham Williams, who acted as interpreter. Williams was of Javanese background, though generally described as a Malay by the British. It is most likely that Flinders took Williams on board in Cape Town, South Africa a port which Flinders visited on his way to Australia and where many Malays had been transported by the Dutch. Pobasso educated Finders about their fleet. He said its commander-in-chief was a man named 'Salloo' and was owned by the 'Rajah of Boni'. It boasted separate divisions totaling 60 perahu and 1000 crew. Each perahu was 25 tons with a crew of 20 to 25 men. He said that he had made at least six voyages to the Australian coast over 20 years and was the first to do so. They had no knowledge of any European settlement in Australia and upon Flinders telling him about
Port Jackson Port Jackson, commonly known as Sydney Harbour, is a natural harbour on the east coast of Australia, around which Sydney was built. It consists of the waters of Sydney Harbour, Middle Harbour, North Harbour and the Lane Cove and Parramatta ...
, Pobasso's son took notes about the settlement in "foreign characters, writing from left to right". He also claimed to never have seen another foreign ship in the waters of the northern Australian coastline. Pobasso's fleet had no charts nor were they able to make astronomical observations. They had no navigational tools other than a small
compass A compass is a device that shows the cardinal directions used for navigation and geographic orientation. It commonly consists of a magnetized needle or other element, such as a compass card or compass rose, which can pivot to align itself with No ...
. They carried a month's water supply in joints of bamboo as well as dried fish, coconuts, rice and poultry. Flinders noted that Pobasso carried two small brass guns, obtained from the Dutch. The other chiefs were also armed, each carrying "a short dagger or cress". Pobasso warned that his fleet "sometimes had skirmishes with the native inhabitants of the coast". He had formerly been speared in the knee, cautioning Flinders, ‘beware of the natives’. He was sketched by artist William Westall who was aboard the ''Investigator''. Pobasso delayed his journey by a day to spend time with Flinders, accepting gifts of iron tools and a letter written in English to show to any other ships he might meet on his travels. Flinders named an island after Pobasso, Pobassoo Island.


References in popular culture

A fictional representation of Pobasso features in Steven Marcuson's novel ''The Bunting Quest''. Pobasso is also a central character in the musical ''Pobasso and the Cucumbers'' by Chris James, primarily performed for high schools.


References

{{reflist, 30em Indonesian sailors 18th-century Indonesian people 19th-century Indonesian people People from Makassar History of Australia before 1788