Identification And Evaluation Of Sources

The history wars of Australia is an area of great controversial debate. Throughout the course of Australian history, the public has been mainly subjected to one perspective that focused on the glorifying moments of European settlement and its progress such as its involvement in world wars and the transition of the nation into a globalised continent. As a result, there is a rigid dichotomy between the perceptions of white Australians and the indigenous population on subjects such as the colonisation or invasion of Australia. History told from the perspective of Aboriginal people greatly contrasts what is written in the history books and also what is exposed or encouraged towards the public. It focuses on the dispossession of indigenous people, the massacres and the attempted eradication of culture. This view of Australian history has been labeled as 'black armband history', which was first used during an interview by a historian, Geoffrey Blainey.

Describe and explain Australian Indigenous people’s historical and contemporary connections to land and sea and the resources derived from them. How have settler discourses associated with colonization affected these connections to country?

In 1788 when the European settlers “colonised” Australia, the Australian land was known as “terra nullius” which means “land belonging to no-one”. This decision set the stage for the problems and

Importantly for Australia has been the take over of land by the British under the doctrine of

On the 26th of January 1788, Australia was settled by the British who came in the First Fleet. The First Fleet was made up of 11 ships, holding 1,350 convicts, soldiers and settlers. Australia became the new penal colony as prisons were overflowing in Britain due to America’s Independence and refusal to take more convicts. Recently, there has been much debate over whether this colonisation of Australia was an invasion or settlement. An invasion is an unwelcome intrusion into another’s domain. Whereas a settlement is the process of establishing a settlement or settlements. Clearly, when considering these definitions, it can be seen that the colonisation of Australia was intended to be a peaceful settlement, but soon turned

The rapid inflation of the industrial revolution in Britain lead to the expansion of British interests to the White settlement of Australia. Workers in the cities didn 't get paid much for their services and committed crimes to get resources, jails started to overflow and the USA wouldn 't take any more convicts once they declared independence. The British empire needed a steady supply of naval materials such as flax and timber as the British empire depended on their naval empire for goods and protection. Brittish trade in the Pacific was very minimal and with a colony in Australia, they would have direct access to the pacific and Asian market. Protection of the Brittish empire in Asia was minimal and Brittish enemies surrounded India, with a port in Australia safe travel could be initiated and in the event of war, protection was close. Britains need for expansion due to the industrial revolution lead to the colonisation on Australia.

The Aboriginies were documented as ‘the miserablest people in the world’ by William Dampier in 1688 (Brasch, 2007). The Indigenous people were perceived as an inferior cultural group prior to Australian settlement. This seed of hostility and arrogance was planted within the

Aboriginal Studies and Torres Strait Islander Studies include histories, cultures, values, beliefs, languages, lifestyles and roles of Aboriginal societies or Torres Strait Islander societies before and after invasion. This study of Torres Strait Islander people and Aboriginal people presents an accurate history of Australia.

Following the creation of a desirable Australia was the writing of a specific historical narrative by

“The Australian legend" by Russel Ward was first published in 1958 helps examine the predominantly

and S. Harben. ' Nartj Katitj Bidi Ngulluckiny Koorl? Which Knowledge Path Will We Travel?' , Studies in Western Australian History, vol. 26, 2010, pp. 75-95.

Noel Pearson’s speech ‘an Australian history for us all’ discusses his approach to trying to solve some of the most systemic problems facing Australian Aboriginals today. The speakers are successful in understanding the ideas and values of the speech. Through the uses of various language techniques and context, Pearson’s speech details the struggles of the relationship between the first European settlers and Aboriginal Australians.

The article from Koori Mail refers to the British coming to “control and govern the Australian Continent”. Whilst Yahoo news describes the change of language as “rewriting history”. These statements covertly suggest that British had and continue to have superior rights to the land due to their ‘whiteness’. Terminology used in teaching Australian history such as settled, supports that the Europeans were peacefully welcomed onto the land. An assumption many Australians may believe is that Captain James Cook was the first to discover terra nullius due to the facts taught at school. While Australia had been habituated long before his arrival, the Aboriginals were still seen as nomadic and seemed to move randomly without claiming any particular territory. Cultural inaccuracies still occur surrounding the Indigenous Culture such as the terms tribe, chief and primitive to describe Indigenous. As seen by the statements made by the ‘Shock Jocks”, the journalists are not always a scholarly source therefore may not have accurate information and strive to create conflict in relation to sensitive

In the beginning of the 19th century, almost all New Zealanders were considered to be Maoris. The Maoris made up nearly the whole country, with a population between 100-120,000, while the European population was down in the hundreds. In 1818, the Musket Wars resulted in the loss of over a fifth of the Maori population, at least 20,000 dead and thousands more captured (“Overview of NZ”). The Musket War was a war that began when the Europeans introduced their advanced technology and muskets into New Zealand. The Musket Wars were a series of inter-tribal wars caused by tribes all trading to obtain muskets. At the end of the wars, in 1830, a new conflict for the Maori population took rise when “warfare gave way to economic rivalry” (“The Musket Wars”). From 1830 on, Europeans would come to New Zealand in waves of hundreds and thousands of people, threatening the Maoris’ once complete control over the land. This brewing economic rivalry was what paved the way for the Treaty of Waitangi, New Zealand’s founding document. This treaty was interpreted differently by the English and Maoris, something the British had purposely done. The British plan to deceive the natives resulted in both land and governmental conflicts. Land disputes caused by the treaty’s misinterpretations between the Maori people and the settlers sparked the New Zealand Wars in 1861-1870. At the end of these wars, new laws were passed that nearly abolished Maori rights. In 1896, New Zealand was no longer a Maori

In his article, Poata-Smith (2004) acknowledges that the Crown alongside the New Zealand Government, although not responsible for the actions of its predecessors, has taken steps to accept its obligations to the Treaty of Waitangi and to the Maori people and to recognise breaches of the treaty principles that it has made (p.59). The New Zealand Government, in its attempt to settle past treaty grievances surrounding wrongful confiscation of land has divided Maori society in two: a division between the Maori working class and the smaller Maori elite. Through neo-liberal reforms to the Treaty of Waitangi settlement process, highly represented