In August 1790 a whale got trapped at Manly on the harbour side and beached itself. The Eora gathered there, with several clans present, and gorged themselves on whale meat and blubber. An English party had set out to go hunting in the northern area of the harbour and came across Bennelong and Colby at the site of the whale butchering. Bennelong kept asking for Arthur Phillip and gave the party a large chunk of whale meat to give to Phillip.

When Phillip received the whale meat from Bennelong, he saw it as a chance to improve the relationship with the Eora. So he headed out to Manly in his boat with armed marines - just in case. Keneally writes:

On landing, Phillip found the natives "still busily employed around the whale." He advanced alone, with just one unarmed seaman for support, and called for Bennelong, who was mysteriously slow in approaching.

Eventually Bennelong and Colby came forward, asking about their acquaintances in Sydney. Colby even showed off how he had removed the leg iron which had been used to tether him in Sydney. Phillip had also brought wine with him, and they toasted the King while sipping the wine.

Bennelong ... introduced the governor to a number of people on the beach including a "stout, corpulative native", Willemering. One the ground was a very fine barbed spear "of uncommon size." The governor asked if he could have it. But Bennelong picked it up and took it away and dropped it near a place where Willemering stood rather separate from the rest. Bennelong brought back another gift for the governor, a throwing stick.

Willemering was from the Broken Bay area and a Caradhy or wise man. He was one of the givers of justice, a 'ritual punishment man', in the Eoran legal system. Willemering was there to take the blood debt, or extract justice from Phillip, for all the times the English had broken the Eoran law.

This included creating a permanent settlement without asking, stealing fish and animals from the Eoran territory, stealing Eoran weapons, camp equipment, tools and canoes, and the shooting of Eora. Plus other things such which Keneally records such as smallpox and genital diseases. Keneally writes there was no malice in what was about to happen, it was a rational part of the Eoran legal system, and Willemering, as a caradhy, was doing justice as Eoran law demanded.

Thinking Willemering was nervous, Phillip gamely advanced toward him, as if begging the spear. Captain Collins and Lieutenant Waterhouse followed close by. Phillip removed his own single weapon, a dirk in his belt, and threw it on the ground. Willemering reacted by lifting the spear upright from the grass with his toes and fitting it in one movement into his throwing stick, and "in an instant darted it at the governor". In the last moment before the spear was thrown, Phillip thought it was more dangerous to retreat than advance and cried out to the man, "Werre, Werre!".

Given the force with which the spear was projected, Phillip would later describe the shock of the wound to Tench as similar to a violent blow. The barb went into the governor's right shoulder, just above the collar bone, and ran downwards through his body, coming out his back. Willemering looked at his handiwork long enough to ensure the spear had penetrated, and then dashed into the woods, with miles to travel to his home ground in the Pittwater-Broken Bay region.

The Eoran scattered from the beach, and the English tried to get back to the boat as quickly as they could. Phillip had a twelve foot spear in his shoulder, so he had some problems, and Waterhouse managed to snap the spear off at the wound so Phillip could get back to the boat. By this time more spears were being thrown as part of the ritual.

Phillip recovered as Willemering didn't intend the spearing to be fatal. If the Eoran wanted someone dead they would not spear them in the collarbone; and to ensure death they would crush up shell and stone into the tip of the spear, held in place by eucalypt gum, so that when the spear was removed, the shell/stone would cause organ failure. When Pemulwey wanted McEntire dead, this was how it was performed.

Apparently Phillip saw this spearing as a 'cultural manifestation', while others thought Willemering acted out of fear of being kidnapped like Bennelong and Colby had prior. Keneally argues that this was a change in Eoran policy, and the spearing acted as an introduction for the English into the Eoran legal system. The blood debt that was extracted from Phillip, as leader of the English clan, meant that the whole relationship between English and Eora started at a legal debt of zero from that point on. Previous to the spearing the Eoran had hoped in vain the English would die out or leave. As more ships came , and dumped more convicts and marine, this became a false hope.

Keneally also argues that this established a chain of responsibility between the Eora and Phillip, with Phillip being answerable for the conduct of the English. Bennelong complained to Tench that there were still many outstanding stolen items, and Phillip ordered a search of the Sydney settlement for these items. What was found was returned to the Eora.

One outstanding thing to note is that the property systems in both the Eoran and English view were similar at that time. Both Eoran and English recognized property and trespass crimes. Additionally, honesty in property was seen as a positive in their societies. Something which Keneally records Tench commenting on.

The Eoran and English legal systems were obviously different, which the spearing of Phillip shows. Willemering's action was perfectly rational to the Eora. It seems unfathomable to the English or a modern Australian, though Phillip managed to accurately perceive what it was. However, in terms of property, there were more similarities than differences, despite the violent variations in punishment.

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More Reading on Thomas keneally

• Thomas Keneally
• Arthur Phillip
• Willemering
• Arthur Phillip's Sydney
• Legal Morality
• Arthur Phillip's Spearing
• Roman and Gaelic Legal Systems
• Private Property and the Eoran Legal System