Aboriginals In Australia In The 19th Century

The convicts did not follow this conduct and most believed that the Australian natives were ‘barely human’ (MacDougall .A.K 2004). The population ratio of British settlers in Australia to the natives, drastically altered over the century in the result of rapid colonisation and the conflicts which the Commonwealth of Australia Official Year Books explicitly depicts. The British settlers came in masses bringing a new society and culture to the land. The indigenous people were not familiar with an individual possession society and believed that the stock on the land was to be hunted and used as a food source. This is epitomised in a letter sent to the editor of The Sydney Monitor and Commercial Advertiser by Daniel Eaton in 1838, stating that ‘five horses [were] killed, and four others were wounded… a hundred head of cattle killed and the flocks and herds were driven away in all directions by the blacks’ (Convict Creations, 2013). Newspapers from the time showed that the British reacted to the natives by killing them off the land and believed that the ‘Natives should be slaughtered…[because] they are baboons, blood thirsty dogs and black animals’ (Stewart D,1986). The British were not interested in negotiating with the natives of the land and believed their culture was inhuman wasting the land. Governor Gawler stated in a newspaper article, ‘Black men- we wish to make you happy, but you cannot be

The discourse of whiteness began at Colonisation when Indigenous Peoples were dehumanised. To legitimise the colonisation Moreton Robinson (2004) and Phillips (2005) state the traditional owners of the land needed to be ‘othered’, thus lacking innately human characteristics and, therefore, of unequal civil status. Othering of Indigenous Peoples enabled Australia to be defined as ‘Terra Nullius’, and according to McGrath (1995) and Crowley (1980), the myth of Terra Nullius is central to the discourse of whiteness and the white epistemology of Australia. The invasion and subsequent Colonisation

There were many different ways in which Aboriginal people resisted the non-indigenous settlement of Australia. In 1770, James Cook first landed in Botany Bay, which was the home of the Eora People, and claimed the East Coast for Britain.

Their native land was taken from them, and this led to an increase in Aboriginal activism. Protest groups like the Aborigines' Progressive Association and the Freedom Rides were formed. It wasn’t until 1962 that the commonwealth electoral act that began in 1918 was amended so that all Indigenous Australian could vote, and only in 1965 were Aboriginals finally granted the entitlement to full wages. (Skwirk, 2007). This impacted them in many ways us they were denied equal right for so long. ‘I want a Little Fair Play if you will be so kind enough to see on my Behalf’ (http://www.abc.net.au/civics/democracy/struggle.htm, 2001). This was from one of the many letters by John Kickett to parliament in his fight for aboriginal rights.

The term terra nullius means “nobody's land” and was what the British colonists declared Australian territory was when they landed on the shores in 1788 (Hollinsworth 2006). Colonists saw upon arrival that Australia was inhabited by Indigenous people, however because of lack of cultivation and societal systems like Europeans had established, they concluded that the land was now ‘owned’ by them and hence no treaty or conquest was required before they could ‘lawfully’ reside on the land.

-White settlement affected the Indigenous people in a number of ways”{They} made them (the Aboriginals) outcasts on their own land*” by calling it terra nullius under the English Law, despite knowing the existence of the Aboriginals. Terra nullius is a latin term that means “land that belongs to no one.”They believed it belonged to no one because the Aboriginals didn’t use the land in the same way as the British. The Aboriginals believed that Mother Nature would provide them with what they needed, so they didn’t need to hunt and mark the land. The British completely ignored the deep spiritual connections the Aboriginals had with the land. They cut down trees, put up fences and built towns. They believed they had to own the land. But the Aboriginals were outraged when saw the settlers building farms where they had originally been hunting and gathering at, this was because there wasn’t enough food for them. They killed many white settlers in revenge and a clash of cultures began. Pemulwuy was an Aboriginal warrior that lead raids against the British. He also speared John McIntyre, Governor Phillip's gamekeeper, in December 1790. When the Indigenous people resisted the British, it lead to many conflicts which eventually left a irreversible damage to the lives of Indigenous people.

The first fleet arrived at Botany Bay on the 18th of January 1788 which was later declared as an official prison. The Captain of the fleet, Captain Phillips however found out that the harbour was in lack of fresh water therefore was unsuitable for conviction. The fleet then redirected to Port Jackson which then marked the official first European landing on Sydney Harbour.

Under the ‘terra nullius’ law, the Aboriginals lost their land, which is now known as dispossession. To justify this dispossession, the English followed the set of beliefs that are now identified as social Darwinism. “Social Darwinism, with its powerful racially based doctrines, ranked Indigenous Australians as inferior to Europeans and provided a rationale for dispossession by drawing on the ‘laws’ of natural selection to justify the ‘inevitable’ extinction of Indigenous Australians in the face of the arrival of the ‘superior’ white race” (Psychology and Indigenous Australians, Foundations of Cultural Competence, 2009, pp. 75). By having their land taken away from them, the Aboriginals lost part of their spiritual connection and their sense of belonging and identity because Aboriginal culture is based heavily on the spirits of the land. These connections that bonded the Aboriginals to the land were never understood by the English settlers, who only saw the land as possible income (Psychology and Indigenous Australians, Foundations of Cultural Competence, 2009.). They also lost a lot of their sacred areas, spiritual areas and meeting places because they were on the land that the white people had divided and fenced of the land that these areas were on and if an Aboriginal was trying to

Consequently, the indigenous Australians were considered a primitive race, with no obvious system of local law, and Australia was deemed uninhabited land under the doctrine of Terra Nullius - thereby, allowing Britain to claim sovereignty over it

Australia in the early 1900s has developed a reputation as a ‘working man’s paradise’ for its greater opportunity to success and an egalitarian society. However not all workers proved this to be true. In order to determine this statement, Issues to be discussed include firstly the hours of work for different genders, secondly the working conditions and finally the dispute for the right to fair treatment to women and Aboriginal natives throughout the 19th century.

Terra Nullius was once apparent in Australian society, but has now been nullified with the turn of the century. With the political changes in our society, and the apology to Indigenous Australians, society is now witnessing an increase in aboriginals gaining a voice in today’s society. Described by Pat Dodson (2006) as a seminal moment in Australia’s history, Rudd’s apology was expressed in the true spirit of reconciliation opening a new chapter in the history of Australia. Considerable debate has arisen within society as to whether aboriginals have a right to land that is of cultural significance and whether current land owners will be able to keep their land.

Aboriginals believe that they own the land only inasmuch as the land owns them. "The sacred myths were like a title to land, a charter to ownership...even less sacred stories contained this message...as a local, territorial centredness, a territorial focus." (Saxby, 1979, p.146). Aboriginal myths connected the people to the land, and the land to the people. This was a view that was alien to the European colonisers of Australia, who did not understand the Aboriginals ' connection to the land, and the vital importance it had for all tribes.

Human rights are the rights of humans, regardless of nationality, gender, race, or religion. We should all have this in common as we are all part of humanity. However, Indigenous people did not always have these rights (Ag.gov.au, 2015). Aside from basic human rights, Indigenous people also have their own rights specific to their culture. Before 1967, Indigenous people had different rights in different states and the Australian federal government did not have any jurisdiction over Aboriginal affairs until Australia’s constitution was amended for this purpose in 1967 (Moadoph.gov.au, 2015). Between 1900 and the present time, there have been significant changes to the rights of Indigenous Australians. The effects of the European Settlement on the Indigenous people of Australia have been devastating. When white people began arriving in Australia, the Aboriginal people believed them to be ghosts of ancestor spirits. However, once they realised the settlers were invading their land, the Aborigines became, understandably, hostile (Slater & Parish, 1999, pp.8-11). In 1788, the total Indigenous population was believed to be between 750,000 and one million. By 1888, the Indigenous population was reduced to around 80,000 Australia wide (Korff, 2014). The three main reasons for this dramatic decline were the introduction of new diseases, violent conflicts with the colonisers, and settlers acquiring Indigenous land (Digital, 2015). In 1848, the Board of National Education stated that it

Colonialism in Australia places a detrimental threat to the health of Indigenous Australians. Inherent in colonialism were scientific racisms, institutional racism and structural violence. These factors continues to persist in the fabric of Australian society today and limits the life chances of Indigenous Australians. This essay illuminates colonialism as a major contributor to the social marginalisation and low socioeconomic status experienced by indigenous Australian. An analysis of Aboriginal infant mortality rate, a health indicator highlights the difference between biomedical and sociological approach and the embedded negative impact of social marginalisation and low socioeconomic status on the health of Indigenous Australians. The

Ironically, the civilised people who brought the ‘improvements’ could not cope to live in peace with the natives, where countless Aboriginal lives vanished under the ‘superior’ governance of the new settlers. Regardless which part of the continent including Tasmania, the history has shown many unfair