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or you can get all of History Daily plus other fantastic history podcasts at IntoHistory.com. It's 1834 in Portland Bay in southeastern Australia.

An elderly member of a Gundig Mara clan hacks at the belly of a whale, his feet sinking

into the sand as he works his knife through the

tough blubber. Other clan members work on the carcass alongside him. The atmosphere on the beach

is celebratory but intense. The whale washed up here a few days ago, and the meat their harvesting

will feed the clan for weeks as long as they can claim it before the white men arrive.

It's been 46 years since the first British settlers came to Australia.

Their arrival had a seismic impact on the continent's indigenous peoples.

The diseases they brought killed around half of the Eora clan living near Sydney,

while many others died in conflicts with the newcomers.

Recently, white settlers have begun to expand south into Gundaj Mara land, too.

They built a whaling station and claimed the seas as their own,

despite the fact that the Gundaj Mara have been here for centuries.

The old man looks up as a group of whalers hustles across the sand,

their faces pink with sweat.

The clansmen jerk their knives out of the whale flesh and hold them tight, ready for a fight.

But the white men aren't interested in hand-to-hand combat.

Instead, they stop a short distance away and unsling their rifles from their backs.

The old man ducks behind the carcass, pressing his body against the wet sand as the whalers open fire.

...