The Effects of European Immigration on Australian Aboriginal Culture

The Gweagal people were lean but well-fed, they used fire to help catch animals and encourage plant growth. Aboriginal people were often naked, they made animal skin coats during the winter to keep warm by wearing them over their shoulders.

The aboriginal Australians have survived thousands of years on what they call a hunter gather diet. The diet consists of emu, lizards, moths, kangaroo and snakes as well as berries, roots and honey which are referred as ‘bush tucker’. Seafood also had a big part in aboriginal culture, which most of the sea life was caught with spears and hooks made from branches, rocks etc. When the British settlers came in 1770 they unfortunately didn’t like or understand the aboriginal diet. So in response to this they decided to make a more familiar European diet. Sheep, cattle and other familiar European animals were introduced throughout Australia and familiar crops were planted as well. Flour was used to make bread and damper (thicker bread which was

Archaeologists believe that aboriginals first came to Australia about 45, 000 years ago and were the only population of humans in Australia until the British invasion. There are about 500 different aboriginal groups each with their own language and territory and usually made up of several separate clans. The aboriginals of Australia are marginalised in today society. This marginalisation began right back during the British invasion where they were evicted from their own country, the stolen generation occurred and their health care, education, employment and housing was severely limited. Aboriginals generally live in poor conditions and choose unhealthy lifestyle choices

To begin with, a clarification must be made. Although for the purposes of this assessment I will be using the term Indigenous Australians, it is not the most appropriate term to be using, as the technical definition of indigenous is ‘originating or occurring naturally in a particular place; native’ (‘Indigenous’, 1987). The more correct term would be Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander.

Prior to European invasion and settlement, Aboriginal Australians enjoyed a non-sedentary lifestyle that concentrated upon maintaining and sustaining their country, relationships and ecosystems. Anderson et al (2006) state that ‘Precontact health care systems’ were focused upon the inter-relationships of land, people, the living and non-living entities and creator beings. If the land was not cared for, it got sick, and so would all other beings related to the land, including the people (Anderson et al, 2006). Tenure of management was dictated by law, passed down through the Dreaming and Ancestors, and was practiced to ensure balance and to maintain health. The balance ensured a variable access to nutritional diets high in protein and

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.

In traditional Aboriginal society inter-personal relationships are governed by a Complex system of rules, known as the classificatory system of kinship. The kinship system

Family Structure Before invasion of land in 1788, Aboriginals had the ideal lifestyle with roles set for each individual and families would commute together with responsibilities shared between families and the community, such as child rearing, hunting, cooking and teaching knowledge. When these roles would fail to carry out the families and community would suffer. Problems today stem from generations of cruel and unjust treatment leading to lack of trust to white society. Land was taken,

Family: Before 1788, Aboriginal culture was vastly different than European culture. There was a difference in family, home, travel, trade, art and education. Aboriginal families lived in large groups, sharing food, resources and responsibilities. Some of these responsibilities included taking care of children, making weapons and constructing shelter. All Aboriginal children treated most adults as their own parents whether they being biological or not. Many people were also seen as aunts, uncles and cousins. The organization of Aboriginal family meant that they all got along.

The indigenous Australians have occupied in Australia for about 50,000 years and become the oldest traditional groups in the world. These indigenous people are distinguished as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island people. According to Australian Indigenous (2015), the population of indigenous people was more than 600,000 in 2011 or approximately three percent of the total Australian population. Based on the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data, the highest population occurred in New South Wales and Queensland had the second largest population, which was estimated at more than quarter of the total indigenous population in 2014 (see Table 1).

These natives formed approximately 500 tribes, each associated with its own language and stretch of territory. Although the sizes of the tribes varied, they had much in common. The Aborigines were not natural cultivators of the land - fertile land was obviously scarce - and Australia (before the European colonisation) had no animals suitable for

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

Western Australia Aboriginal communities in Western Australia are basically the communities for indigenous Australians within their ancestral country. The communities comprise the families with the continuous links to country that extend before the European settlement of Australia. For the Aboriginal Peoples in Western Australia, basically before the invasion of their lands, they live in a nomadic partnership with nature harmoniously. Australian Aboriginal people are actually a diverse group of people where they live vastly different lifestyles according to the places where they stayed.

The Aboriginal Australians were hunter, gatherers relying heavily on the land and water for food. Dependant on where they settled each group developed skills relevant to where they lived.

Country is the bloodline for Aboriginal people, it's what connects us to each other and the land. Aboriginal people are the oldest continuing culture to date however since colonisation 60,000 plus years of history and knowledge has been lost due to the attempted assimilation of Aboriginal people. Only in recent years have anthologists, archaeologists and academics been able to piece together piece by piece of the lost history. Pre to colonisation Aboriginal people have been coined as ‘hunters-gatherers’ yet recent research has proven that Aboriginal people were in fact the world’s first famers (Gerritsen 36). They had extensive knowledge about flora and fauna and the land (Reynolds 45). Although, Aboriginal farming and land management is significantly different to modern day farming, the techniques they used were advanced opposed to other cultures at the time. The techniques used were sustainable in both agriculture and aquaculture and led to a successful economy. The reason why this was omitted from history was because under British law colonisers were only permitted to ‘morally and legally’ occupy the land (Pascoe). Many settlers have recorded in their journals the farming by Aboriginal people (Reynolds 117). In the past ten years there has been archaeological evidence found to suggest that Aboriginal people were also the first bread makers. The research is led by Bruce Pascoe who whilst doing research for his own knowledge he accidently came across evidence that some