Women in Early Colonial Australia: The first 100 years

Throughout this course, we learned that women’s studies originated as a concern at the time that “women and men noticed the absence, misrepresentation, and trivialization of women [in addition to] the ways women were systematically excluded from many positions of power and authority” (Shaw, Lee 1). In the past, men had more privileges than women. Women have battled for centuries against certain patterns of inadequacy that all women experience. Every culture and customs has divergent female

There has been a lack of interest in female convicts as a subject of historical discussion. The history of female convicts has traditionally been incorporated into the framework of male convicts with grave reference to the male convict experience. The convict women who were transported to Australia on ships Elizabeth 5th and Henry Wellesley in 1836 faced extreme difficulty in achieving freedom and reputability. It is the view of many historians that “women were incorporated into a pattern initially designed to accommodate men”. This essay will investigate the origins and characteristics of a sample of 10 female convicts arriving to Sydney in1836. The essay aims to establish an alternative impression of the female convicts that were deemed damned whores, skill-less and prostitutes. In agreement with the 4 of the 5 studied historians, I hold the view that the women were the victims of a “repressive patriarchal society” and the appellation of female convicts as ‘damned whores’ is totally inadequate. I believe they were not members of a professional criminal class; they were humans with basic human needs, doing anything they could to survive.

Women have always had the short end of the stick, whether it was with voting, home life, or working. They were never shown the respect that they deserved or earned. They worked hard and were never repaid for their work. In the early colonial period, women were treated differently based off their wealth and religion, and after men started making laws, they gained nothing. Women went from having an unspecified class status in the early colonial period to second class status by the early republic era because men wrote the laws.

Due to Australian women taking on the jobs of men, women were thus made more independent and were liberated as well. This impact is demonstrated through “source b” where the women in the illustration are shown to be participating and contributing to important sectors within the war. This source portrays women importance in the war through the placement of the women in the middle of the war zone with bombs surrounding and planes fighting, whilst other girls take wounded soldiers from the battlefield and also it demonstrates that women would not be taken lightly through the harsh complaint from the commander when she says “ And you call yourself a soldier! Why, the seam of your stocking is crooked”. Women in world war 2 worked hard and well however their jobs in the war were meant to be temporary not for life. When the war ended however, some women found themselves liking the workforce and as a result women became more independent and liberated. Through analysis of source b we gather that through the jobs given to women in the army, women ended up enjoying these jobs and some carried out these jobs after the war ended. Thus these women became more independent and

I did not believe that the word “I” was a good start for my first week’s assignment. However, after several attempts, I realized it was my best way to begin to share my impressions of how colonial women lived before and after the reading assignment.

The Social Work professional would benefit from completing SCS130 because they would gain insight into the impact of British colonialism on Indigenous Australians and how the laws of control and protection forced them to become dependent, this, enables an understanding in terms of the present situation of disadvantage. Hollinsworth (2008) maintains that the historical impact of colonisation by Europeans on Indigenous Australians, is the basis for contemporary racism in Australia (pp. 35,67,77,79-80,83-84,97). This is supported by, The Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody (1991) report, which, highlights the impact of European settlement on the dispossession and institutional racism of Indigenous peoples. This racist ideology is based on the belief of superiority of the dominant group, in Australia this was enforced by racist legislation (Hollinsworth 2008, p. 47,77,79-80,97). Australia does have a racist history and as a consequence, these racist ideologies still exist today. This has resulted in Indigenous Australians experiencing racism through the oppressive effects of marginalisation in political, economic and social structures (Hollinsworth 2008, p.9,14,20,38,83-84,100). Therefore, it is imperative to the Social Work profession to complete a course such as SCS130 to enable comprehension of the present disadvantage experienced by Indigenous Australians in the context of the impact of European settlement.

In earlier days, women in Australia had no power or privileges in order to improve their living conditions and the patriarchal society wilfully considered them as a second-class citizen. During the early 20th Century, the first wave of feminism, a progressive women movement emerged which led to the evolution of the rights of women in Australia, aimed to stamp out all the gender inequalities that were prevalent at the times. Edith Cowan, a social worker, and a committed leader of the feminist movement who had campaigned and worked tirelessly for the welfare of women as well as children’s rights. Moreover, she shattered the societal stereotypic views on women’s roles and has made massive social changes, which enhanced not only women’s dignity and responsibility but also gained rights to make them both professionally and socially active. This essay intends to explain cowans early life, her achievements as well as the challenges she fought in order to raise women’s social status, which flagged her to be one of the most influential ladies in the Australian women’s history.

Asking the question "was European colonisation positive or negative?" Isn't straight forward. One thing that must be decided is who's perspective should be used? The only fair way to judge this without bias is to use all perspectives equally and set the base line of judgment with factual evidence and basic Principles of equality. The two primary perspectives are categories of the European settlers and the indigenous Australians. The reason these two should be emphasised as categories and not one perspective is they are comprised of thousands of people and each person will have a slightly varied view. Although the focus will be be on the separate nations and "categories" viewpoints with variation will be explored especially those that are drastically varied compared to the rest of the category.

Some of the women were treated like possessions or prisoners by their husbands. They were locked

When the European arrived in Australia, it was not what they expected they discovered a culture that was completely different to themselves. Anthropologist have discovered that the social structure of the Aboriginal culture was very unique to what it was expected to be (Williams and Jolly 1992:9). The European were surprised by the role that women play in Aboriginal culture sometime seeing the women being treated unfairly and sometime being able to control their own fate (Williams and Jolly 1992:9). It evident that Aboriginal women hold a unique position in their society, therefore they have a balance of power operating between the male and female. Women and male have different roles in Aboriginal society depending on the dreaming. Aboriginal

In January of 1788, the First Fleet landed on the shores of Botany Bay, New South Wales carrying British convicts to settle the ground. Upon arrival, they declared terra nullius2, which disregarded the occupation of the Aboriginals for over 40,000 years. Although the Aboriginals gave some resistance to the invasion of the white convicts through hostile attacks, the prisoners maintained the view that the Aboriginals held no claim over the land3. In 1838, The Sydney Herald stated:

Women in the 1800s were stereotyped and confined to specific roles in society, however it all changed. The 1800s in Victorian England, created an environment, which encouraged stereotypes, aimed at women in which they were required to stay at home and be ‘The Angels of the House.’ Women were not only constricted to very narrow gender roles where they are expected to be mothers, pure, naïve and dependant on their husbands. Jobs such as teaching and nursing were seen as women jobs only and these were the only jobs women should do. However, the Industrial Revolution helped open a new era for women in society and this allowed women to feel the need to stand up for their rights and challenge the stereotypes of the society. Lucy Westenra is a typical young, beautiful girl whose main aim is to marry and do what is accepted in society as a wife. She is seen as a marginal figure whose

In early 1800s society, there was an “Unequal power relation between male and female”. Men were traditionally seen as being the dominant, physically stronger and socially more powerful in terms of status: “traditional masculinity is a strength, rationality, stoicism and self-reliance”. Women’s position in society and within their homes was portrayed as subservient, obedient to their fathers, brothers and male relatives and their husbands throughout their lives.

Colonisation in Australia is followed by 5 steps, according to Professor Virgillio Enriquez. Step 1, includes the denial of culture within the indigenous society. This first step to this process of colonisation, also gives perspectives on the way colonisers display ignorance upon different cultures. This initial step also includes the gradual withdrawal of cultural practices, as indigenous people may develop close relationships with the colonised strangers and eventually adapt to their culture. Due to the advanced culture of the colonisers, some may become converted and eventually turn against their original culture. With the denial of indigenous culture, step 2 of colonisation was invoked, with the destruction of anything representing their

Colonialism is defined as the practice of domination, which involves control of one person to another (Plato.stanford.edu, 2018). This usually involves the settlement of citizens from colonial power in the colony. Indigenous Australians have been marginalised by settler colonial Australians, results of this has impacted the way Indigenous Australians are viewed and treated in contemporary society. Indigenous people have struggled to regain their rights such as reclaiming their identities that were misappropriate by the presence of colonials (Maddison, 2013).