What sort of contact did the convicts have with the aborigines?

Answer 1

Most convicts had no contact with the Aborigines. The Aborigines stayed away from white settlement wherever possible, and convicts were kept too busy working. They may sometimes have had contact if they escaped, but often the Aborigines stayed away even from escapees.

There was one notable convict who had a great deal of contact with the aboriginal people. William Buckley arrived in Australia as a convict, and was a member of the first party of Europeans to attempt the first settlement at Sorrento, on the Mornington Peninsula, Victoria. On 27 December 1803, soon after his arrival, he escaped from custody.

Despite the friendliness of the local indigenous Wathaurong people, Buckley was worried they might turn hostile, and at first tried to survive on his own. However, he soon realised he was unable to fend for himself in the harsh bushland, and he sought out the Wathaurong again. On his way, he came upon a spear stuck in the grave of a recently deceased member of the tribe; the Aborigines, finding him with the spear, believed he was their tribal member returned from the dead, and greeted his appearance with feasting and a corroboree. Buckley spent the next 32 years living among the indigenous Wathaurong people, bridging the cultural gap between Europeans and Aborigines, and gaining many valuable bush skills.