Kulan Massacre

I argue that the ideologies behind The Assimilation Policy were evident since the first white settlers had arrived in 1788. Since first contact, Aboriginal people’s values, customs, beliefs and traditional way of life began to erode. From the 1850s onwards, Aboriginal people were forced onto reserves, and then into towns and cities in the mid 20th century . Many people feared that the ‘Australian’ culture was being affected by immigrants. Since the early 1900s, there had been a ‘White Australia’ policy and assimilation was expected upon arrival. However, Aboriginal people did not immigrate, so their policy, dictated by the Australian States and Commonwealth Government was known as The Policy of Assimilation. Assimilation policies were supported by racist assumptions and represented by settler nationalist imperatives . In the 1950s, assimilation policies for Aboriginal people were supported by the

‘Today in the 21st century the Wurundjeri community is still alive and well. Their continuous connection to country is still strong and unbroken’ – An insert from video ‘Welcome to Country by Wurundjeri Elder Colin Hunter Jr at the confluence of the Yarra River and Merri

Australian Government tried to isolate “full-blood” Aboriginals and interbreed them with the white settlers so try and wipe out the aboriginal race and make Aboriginals live in and act like the new white settlers. Children were taken from their families to be placed into Christian missionaries to be brought up as Christians like the white people from England who settled here

In 1883, the colonial government granted Nathaniel Buchanan – Australian pioneer pastoralist, drover and explorer – 3000 square kilometres of the Gurindji tribe’s traditional land, (National Museum Australia, 2016). In 1884, cattle and bullocks were placed on the land, which disintegrated the environmental system that the Gurindji people had developed and sustained. “Basically, the land was stolen off them and if they wanted to stay on their land, and have that connection to country and that connection to spirit, they actually had to work for free for the person who stole it.” (Warwick Thornton, Aboriginal director).

Pennsylvania. Washington’s men murdered the gathering in what came to be recognized as The Battle of Jumonville Glen. France and England initially pursued the French and Indian War mainly for power of the area known as the Ohio River Valley. The Ohio River Valley was a property filled with fur-bearing animals and profuse resources. Both English and French colonists wanted to settle it to make fortunes in the fur trade. The Ohio River formed by the union of the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers at the time Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania ran through the valley. As French settlers arrived upon the area from Canada, and English settlers came from Virginia, territory clashes were unavoidable. Neither side was willing to negotiation, as each assumed they

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

As the English population began to increase, Aboriginal people were moved into missions in 1810, so the population could be manages and they were taught the European ways so they could be used as low paid labours, border lining slaves (Creative Spirits, 2002). When the Aboriginal people failed to move to Christianity and ‘civilised’ life, the Europeans thought it was due to the lack of intellectual ability because they didn’t understand the “complexity and holding power of the traditional culture and religion” to the Aboriginals (Psychology and Indigenous Australians, Foundations of Cultural Competence, 2009, pp. 77). The separation of Aboriginals from the community into missions was known as segregation. In the early 20th century, the Indigenous Australians all throughout the nation were exposed to the ‘protection legislation’ which in turn, denied them of their basic human rights as well as the freedom that was demanded by every other Australian. Aboriginals were increasingly moved of farms where they worked like slaves and put into government or church controlled reserves where they were expected to die out (Psychology and Indigenous Australians, Foundations of Cultural Competence, 2009, pp. 79). On the Australian census at this time, Aboriginals were still considered as

Before the European invasion in the 1700’s, Indigenous Australians lived in tribes all over the country, with an estimated population of 750,000 people (Australian Museum, 2013). By 1901, less than 100,000 remained. Their deeply rooted belief and spiritual system, known as the Dreaming, was a

On August the 16th, 1975, Gough Whitlam, the Prime Minister at the time, organised a ceremony so that he could give the land back to the Gurindji people. At the ceremony, Whitlam grabbed some soil from the ground and said “Vincent Lingiari, I solemnly hand to you these deeds as proof, in Australian law, that these lands belong to the Gurindji people and I put into your hands part of the earth itself as a sign that this land will be the possession of you and your children forever.” And although the land had been given back, the name was not open to change until 1986, 2 years before Lingiari’s death.

Aboriginal people struggled to uphold their traditional customs and rituals as they did not have the rights and access to their own land prior to and post federation in 1901. Healey ed. (2002), experienced editor and author states, when the British settlers arrived they overlooked the fact that Aboriginal people claimed and were sustaining the land of Australia. Britain had declared Terra Nullius despite their knowledge of the inhabitants of the land, the traditional owners. Throughout settlement, policies were put in place by the colonists to minimise land used for spiritual reasons by Aboriginal Australians (Korff, 2016). Hillman (2001), educator and author, infers that with this their culture was dramastically changed. Aboriginal people fought back for their rightful land, but their protests were insignificant

When the British arrived in 1788 roughly 500,000 Aboriginal people lived on the continent of Australia. Today only 270,000 remain. Governor Macquarie, tried to do what he described as “civilize” them, which meant

The process of colonisation by European powers, as might be expected, has had a radical effect on Aboriginal culture. The settlers viewed the natives as barbarians, seizing tribal land and, in many cases, following a policy of pacification by force. Many others died of disease, starvation, cultural dislocation and neglect. Today, there are fewer than 230,000 Aborigines in Australia, less than 2% of the population.

The Australian Indigenous community hold extremely significant corrections to the land of Australia, of which they refer to as ‘Country.’ Indigenous people acquire deep meaning from the land, sea and the countless resources derived from them. This special relationship has formed for many centuries. To them ‘Country’ is paramount for overall wellbeing; the strong, significant, spiritual bonds embody their entire existence. Knowledge is continually passed down to create an unbroken connection of past,

For over 200 years Aborigines have endured a long history of suffering due to the unpropitious effects of internationalism and western colonization; in Europeans attempt for cultural assimilation and taking their land to which has caused catastrophic consequences within individuals and the community as a whole by

On April 10, 2010, an unforeseen tragedy struck the Polish nation. Their current president at the time, Lech Kaczynski, died in a plane crash along with 95 other Polish officials. Up until this date, any country’s president has never died as a result of a plane crash. Ironically, the members on the plane were all traveling to the 70th anniversary of the Katyn Massacre which were a series of mass executions of Polish nationals in Katyn forest. This event caused much bewilderment within the country causing many Poles to claim that this incident was done purposely by the Russian government. Although evidence proves that the crash was an accident, due to its peculiar conditions and the human nature to come up with conspiracies, many Poles were