The European invasion of Australia in 1780 impacted upon the lives of all the Aboriginal people that lived in and around the invaded areas. When Captain Cook landed in Australia, he declared it as Terra Nullius, and this alone gives a significant insight as to the mentality of the British and their willingness to acknowledge the Aboriginal people and the importance that the land played in their daily lives. Historians, for the most part, accepted this assumption, assuming or arguing that the expansion of the Australian frontier was an inexorable process that saw a higher type of race or society assert its dominance over the vanishing race. (Crotty & Eklund, 2003, p. 329) As the invaders brought with them their laws, ideals, diseases, livestock and people, the need for land increased and settlers began to venture outwards from the main settlements, the frontier broadened and the Aboriginal population began to shrink. The encroachment upon the land meant that many Aboriginal people were now being forced to come into closer contact with the Europeans. In doing this, the frontier affected the Aboriginal people in ways that ensured that their lives would never be the same and that European ideals affected their lives not only on the frontier but for generations too follow.
The invasion of the Australian frontier affected areas in Aboriginal lives such as dispossession, disease, large-scale violence, which led to resistance. This essay will attempt to discuss and define each of the above mentioned aspects with reference to ongoing debates over the nature of the frontier by some well know Australian historical writers. This essay will then discuss some of the affects that the above-mentioned factors had on the lives of Aboriginal people during the Frontier era in Australias history. The area of land ownership and dispossession is a controversial issue due to the fact that Captain Cook and those that were to follow did not acknowledge the Aboriginal inhabitants as being the custodial owners of the continent. This fact was due to the ideals that the Europeans held as to what humans should live in; they did not see any European style dwellings or villages, they could not see any visible boundaries. Therefore the Europeans declared that The Aboriginal inhabitants held no ownership of the continent and thus declared it Terra Nullius. The Europeans could did not understand that the Aboriginal people led an itinerate lifestyle, and that their connection to the land was necessary for their well-being, spirituality and survival. Dispossession occurred because the Aboriginal people did not realise that the Europeans were going to stay, they thought that the Europeans would leave after a short stay.(Reynolds, 1995, p. 65.) The debate over landownership appears to be one concerning the use of two words, and those words are own and land.
The Essay on The First Frontier Life In Colonial America
The First Frontier: Life in Colonial America John C. Miller Lanham: University Press of America, 1966. In his historical novel The First Frontier: Life in Colonial America John C. Miller tells of the taming of a harsh frontier. He tackles such topics as Puritans versus Quakers, southern plantation versus cities, and everyday life in the colonial period. Most people do not realize how similar ...
If this was all that it took to determine whose land Australia was, then it was an inappropriate way of determining such an event. There are historians who have argued this point for many years and who today still continue with it. Such historians are Reynolds who states that when Aborigines talk about land, they most commonly refer to it by the term country. Therefore it can be said that although Aboriginal did not use the European word land, they did have a word for it. Some historians are of the opinion that because Aboriginal people did not posses the word land in their language, that they did not own it. Another person is Windschuttle, this can be seen in his statement The Aborigines did not even have a word for it. They did not have it in any of their phrases, sentences and or songs.
Nor did they have words for own, posses or property or any other derivatives. (Windschuttle, 2001) So again we are looking at the notion of Terra Nullius and what it truly meant. Windschuttle bases his opinion on the fact that Aboriginal people did not posses the word land in their language; therefore they did not own it. Reynolds attempts to discredit this statement by saying that Aboriginals did have the concept of country in their language. Again it is clear that these writers focus their debates on smaller issues, which are mostly irrelevant. The debate should not be based on language that has been misinterpreted by ignorance, but rather on archaeological evidence and the effects suffered by Aboriginal people and their descendants due to the illegal claiming of the continent and the results, which have occurred because of this.
The Essay on The Coniston Massacre Aboriginal People
On the 29 th o April, 1977 Captain Cook, commander of a British fleet, landed on the eastern shore of Australia, in an attempt to claim the land under the name of Britain. The land was to be claimed by Britain as a land where the British government could send convicts; in an attempt to ease the struggle in the over flowing prisons. Upon Cooks arrival, he was ordered to follow three rules of ...
If the Aboriginal people did not own the land, then how did dispossession affect their lives and those of following generation so comprehensively? Dispossession was a known factor of the frontier and perhaps is one of the most complex factors, which have affected all aspects of Aboriginal life. The traditional owners had their lands taken from them by force or were forced to move because of the lack traditional resources such as shelter and food. Many Aboriginals became dependant on missions or ended up as urban fringe dwellers existing on whatever resources they could obtain. (Reynolds, 1995, p.66-67.) Aboriginals became heavily reliant on Europeans for food; some Europeans used this dependency as a source to eradicate Aboriginal people. Some white men first took a quantity of flour, mixed with it a white arsenic powder, and offered it to the Aborigines as a token of friendship. Europeans that had taken the land and fenced off their newly acquired properties would contain the food required by Aboriginals, therefore the Aboriginals, not understanding the concept of fences would cross these and take what they required to continue their survival. This caused the Europeans to fire upon the Aboriginals and extreme violence would often follow.(Grassby & Hill, 1988, p.180.) The dispossession of Aboriginals from their lands has had a long and lasting effect.
Given the spiritual ties that Aboriginal people have to their lands, the resulting dislocation took from them their cultures, languages and belief systems as well as their economic welfare and independence. By removing Aboriginal people from their lands, the Europeans took away many Aboriginals capabilities for self-support and economic independence. Dispossession has deprived many Aboriginal people of their culture, language, kinship and traditional lands. Having their traditional lands taken placed many Aboriginal people on the fringes of European societies or onto government run reserves, where many became dependant of government handouts. Many Aboriginals became angry at what the Europeans had done to their people and land. Frustration, dependence and anger at oppression became the fate of a previously self-sufficient people. Although introduced diseases had a devastating effect on the Aboriginal population of the frontier, the role of violence in the dispossession of Aboriginal people in colonial Australia must not be underestimated. Violence and violent crimes against Aboriginal people is a subject matter that is found throughout the entire history of colonial Australia; although sometimes it may be under-represented.
The Homework on Aboriginal and European Relationship
The relationship between Aboriginals and Europeans For millenias before the first Vikings landed on North America, the Aboriginals of North America were already a civilized and relatively peaceful group of people. They believed that everything, from the trees to the lakes, was bestowed onto them by the great spirit, who wanted them to preserve the natural environment for years to come. From the ...
Violence of some degree towards Aboriginal people was perpetrated in almost every area of the frontier, where European settlement occurred. Henry Reynolds states that at least 20 000 Aboriginal people died as a direct result of the violence which was perpetrated against them by Europeans. (Reynolds, 1995,p. 122.) In the early days of settlement governors themselves conducted violent expeditions against the Aboriginal people. Governor Hunter authorised and led several punitive expeditions against the Darug people.. Governor King banned all Aboriginal people from Parramatta until Pemulwuy was turned in. Governor Macquarie issued proclamations making it illegal for Aboriginals to come be within a radius of one mile of settlers homes. (Australian Museum, 2004) With the expansion of the frontier came the need to acquire more lands for the sole purpose of European settlement.
This expansion and blatant disregard for Aboriginal people caused many to resist and thus the resistance movement began. This resistance grew at such a rate that many Europeans became afraid and called on the government of the era to ensure their safety. With the expansion of the frontier, Europeans also began to spread out and move away further from these, government protected areas. Once in these areas, when the Europeans felt threatened by the Aboriginal people they took the protection of their lands into thei ….
The Term Paper on The Continuant Domination Of The Aboriginal People
The Continuant Domination of the Aboriginal People In any Canadian history class we learnt about how the Europeans settled in Canada to build a new life. Furthermore, as kids we have always learnt that Christopher Columbus had discovered Canada as an empty piece of land, with no habitats whatsoever. (Flashback Canada, 1994) These statements are false. Native Canadians had already been living in ...
