Introduction

• Timeline:

  • 1770 - Captain James Cook landed on Botany Bay, put in place Terra Nullius (No Man’s Land), meaning the British could take possession of Australia because the Indigenous people were not using the land productively. 
  • 1788 - Governor Arthur Phillip was ordered to establish good relations with the Indigenous people. E.g., “…natives should not be offended or molested on any account…” 
  • January 26th 1788 - First European settlement established at Sydney Cove. In an estimated 3 years the majority of the Eora people living in Sydney contracted smallpox 
• Aboriginal people and the land:

  • Through "The Dreaming" Aboriginal people are related to the land. Hence there was a spiritual link.
  • For Aboriginal people land is something which cannot be bought or sold, it is a source of his or her identity.
  • Land also provided the group with its sources of food through hunting and gathering.
• British settlers and the land:

  • Britain took possession of Australia and believed that they had the right to use and dispose of the land as they saw fit.
  • Land was seen as being made productive through clearing, cultivation (farming) and settlement
  • Purchase of the land gave the owners sole rights and those who did not acknowledge this were trespassers.
• Myall Creek Massacre - 1838:

  • In 1838, Aborigines killed two European settlers in New South Wales. Twelve local stockmen, two of whom were ex-convicts, decided to avenge the murder.
  • They rode to the nearest Aboriginal camp, near Myall Creek, and tied up 28 of the people.
  • The stockmen brutally beat the Aboriginal people to death while they were still tied together and their bodies were burnt.
  • Seven of the attackers were later tried for murder and hanged. 
• The ‘Black Wars’ Tasmania:

  • The 'Black Wars of Tasmania' refers to armed conflict between Aborigines and European settlers that occurred from the mid 1820s to early 1830s.
• The ‘Black Wars’ Tasmania - causes:

  • Increasing numbers of European settlers encroaching on Aboriginal lands during the 1820s
  • This led to Aboriginals raiding settler properties in an attempt to drive them from their land
  • In retaliation, settlers carried out massacres of Aboriginal tribal groups
• The ‘Black Wars’ Tasmania - outcome:

  • By the end of these conflicts only around 200 Tasmanian Aboriginals remained.
  • These were rounded up and were persuaded to accept resettlement on Flinders Island in Bass Strait.
• Differing legal systems:

  • In the pre-contact period the Aboriginal people had a system of laws that related to kinship.
  • The laws were made by tribal elders and the aim was to establish good relations within and between tribal groups.
  • With the arrival of and settlement by Europeans the Aboriginal people fell under British Law.
  • A series of policies were created aimed at protection and assimilation
• Protectionism - C. 1869 - 1937:

  • 1869 - Colony of Victoria passed the Aboriginal Protection Act
  • This law was supposedly aimed at 'protecting' Aborigines, because the government claimed they were a 'dying race'.

  = Government policy that segregated Aboriginal people from Australian society and became the means of controlling their lives.
• Protectionism - C. 1869 - 1937:

  • Established almost complete control over the lives of Aborigines. System of segregation, kept 'whites' and Aborigines separate, effectively removing Aborigines from 'white' society
  • Dictated where Aborigines could live, the work they could do and who they could marry
  • Forced them to live on specified government controlled 'Aboriginal reserves' or church controlled 'missions'
  • Expected to adopt European ways of life, not allowed to speak their traditional languages or practice their culture.
  • Denied indigenous people the same rights as European Australians
• Assimilation - 1937 - 1967: 

  • In 1886 Victoria passed the Half-Caste Act that forced Aborigines of 'mixed descent' (partly European) to leave Aboriginal reserves and missions and be assimilated into' white' society. 
  • Led to the break up of families and began the removal of children that would lead to the Stolen Generations.
  • 1937 - All state governments and federal government agree to introduce assimilation 

  = Federal government policy that expected Aboriginal people to conform to the attitudes, customs and beliefs of the white majority.