The Other Side Of The Coin Summary

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

A protest labelled ‘Day of Mourning’ was held by Aboriginal Australians on 26 January 1938, the one-hundred-and-fiftieth anniversary of British colonisation of Australia. The National Museum of Australia states, “It was the first national gathering of Indigenous people protesting against the prejudice and discrimination that was a daily part of their lives, and marked the beginning of the modern Aboriginal political movement.” This protest was undertaken due to circumstances which have taken away the rights and freedoms of Aborigines. In this case, the British claimed that the land was terra nullius as the Aboriginal Australians did not seem to have any concept of law or ownership of the

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.

Buchan and Heath argue that the term terra nullius was used to create a false construct of Australia and it’s Aboriginal people. Terra Nullius resulted in Britain justifying illegal colonisation of Aboriginal land and denigrating Aboriginal Australians by ignoring their sovereignty despite failing to either conquer or form treaties with Aboriginal Australia people.

Significant cultural differences between the Indigenous Australians and the free settlers caused immediate impacts upon the Indigenous Australians, causing disputes and even death. The free settlers didn’t understand that the Aboriginal people had strong connections to the land and this resulted in many Indigenous people becoming dispossessed from the land and free settlers using the land for their own uses. Because of

Before the arrival of the first fleet the Aboriginal people were free however, after the invasion the Aboriginal people were controlled by the Europeans, as displayed in

-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.

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

Australia day a day that marks a horrific anniversary for Indigenous Australian’s it is commonly known as Invasion day. Invasion day is the day that everything changed no longer were the indigenous people to live in peaceful family groups. Their peace and harmony was to be destroyed by European ideals. Invasion day or Survival day marked the beginning of years of struggle and loss for the indigenous people a battle that they still fight today. Colonization was a cultural wrecking ball when it came to the Australian indigenous and it began on Invasion

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

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

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

Case by case indigenous Australians begin to gain access to the land that was taken from them.