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IKC101 Assessment 2
IKC101 Assessment 2
Name:
Student Number:
Subject Code & Title: IKC101 - Indigenous Australian Cultures, Histories
and Contemporary Realities
Assignment Title: Essay
Value: 50%
Submission Date: 2nd January 2017
Length required: 1500
words
Actual length: 2550
Statement of Authenticity: I declare that the work within this assignment is
my own, that it has not been submitted previously and that I acknowledge
the ideas of other authors throughout.
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IKC101 Assessment 2
In what ways have Indigenous Australian peoples resisted the non-Indigenous occupation of
Australia and the policies imposed upon them?
The Colonial Frontier
When the first fleet led by Arthur Phillip arrived in New Holland in 1788. The original intention
according to Phillips orders where to make a colony in New England. The concept of Terra Nullius
was used here when the land was clearly occupied by natives. Terra Nullius is a Latin term used to
describe an unpopulated or un-owned land. As Aboriginal people (at that time) had no concept or
understanding of land ownership it was argued by the British, that there was no ownership of the land.
From Phillips diary and account of his actions Phillip was sympathetic to the plight of the “Indians” as
Aboriginal People were general called at the time. Phillip was a man that went out of his way to
befriend the local Aboriginal clans but there was such a culture clash that eventually animosity
developed on both sides. Phillips was an educated man and his attitude to Aboriginal people likely
came from an era when the work of Rousseau and the perception of the Noble savage had been
published in France. Rousseau put forward a point of view in which human beings in the state of
nature are amoral creatures, neither virtuous nor vicious.
"He was a man who genuinely wanted to reach out to the Aboriginal people, but he was also a man
trapped of his times. (Bevan, S. 2015)
Not only where there hardships due to displacement of Aboriginal people from Aboriginal land but
death and destruction of knowledge and culture due to contact with European disease.
Every boat that went down the harbour found them lying dead on the beaches and in the caverns of
the rocks… They were generally found with the remains of a small fire on each side of them and some
water left within their reach.
Lieutenant Fowell, 1789
Soon after the European settlement due to the introduction of infectious disease ie smallpox,
tuberculosis, measles and influenza had a devastating effect on Aboriginal people.” It was not
possible to prevent or cure tuberculosis, and it was the main reason, apart from smallpox, why
Aboriginals were thought to be a ‘Dying Race’, an image that persisted into the twentieth century”
(Campbell, 1998 p. preface).
The number of Aboriginal people affected by the introduction of disease was enormous and the effect
on culture, knowledge and relationships must have been overwhelming for the original inhabitants.
It has been estimated that in 1788 the Aboriginal population of Australia was between 300 000 and as
great as 1 250 000 – but that numbers was reduced to one-tenth within sixty years (“Aboriginal
Population Statistics,” 2009)
Resistance
1790 September, Pemulwuy spears Phillip's gamekeeper, John McEntire, and Phillip orders the first
punitive expedition. Pemulwuy and his son Tedbury led Aboriginal resistance in the Sydney area in a
guerrilla campaign lasting several years. (Australian Museum, 2016).
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IKC101 Assessment 2
Whether these attacks where result of some previous indiscretion by John McIntire it is not fully
clear. But at the time, there was speculation that the gamekeeper was not well liked by the local
population Aboriginal because he had killed totem animals and on his deathbed he admitted to
shooting at Aboriginal people and wounding them.
This punitive action saw Phillip order to capture or killing of six men of the Botany Bay Bidjigal tribe
in order to set an example and attempt to strike fear into Aboriginal people. The group did not capture
Pemulwuy as no trace of the group could be found but another Aboriginal man Bangai from the
Cadigal Port Jackson group was killed after a group was seen stealing potatoes. This action seems to
have been made out of frustration at their inability to find any Bidjigal natives.
Tensions heightened as Aboriginal attacks escalated on the settlers. From 1792 Pemulwuy led raids on
settlers at Prospect, Toongabbie, Georges River, Parramatta, Brickfield Hill and the Hawkesbury
River. He and his son Tedbury led resistance group until his capture and eventual death in 1796.
Tedbury carried on raiding outstation killing quite a number of settlers but there is little evidence that
this was a concerted effort against white settlement and that the attacks were punishment for crime or
indiscretions committed by the whites.
At the time white people arrived in the area , Windradyne was the leader of the easterly groupings of
the Wiradjuri tribe. The Aborigines watched and followed the early white explorers. They were
curious at first as they thought that the white people were ghosts or supernatural beings. (Coe, 2006)
In 1813 As Europeans moved westward over the mountain, the initial contacts with the Wiradjuri
were peaceful, though this did not take long to move to violence. The first generation of Europeans
attitude to Aboriginal people had soured and when conflict and resistance started the retribution was
swift and harsh. There was little understanding or compassion for Aboriginal people by the new
settlers.
As Read states in his book the A hundred year war
The Wiradjuri’s first meeting with the whites was as friendly as any which the whites had yet
initiated, yet it ended in massacre (Read, P 1988 p. 5)
Read argues that originally the attacks by Aboriginal people where to punish individuals for crimes
committed under Aboriginal law. Settlers saw things from a differing perspective and put
considerable pressure on the British administration to protect them from what they saw as
indiscriminate killings of white settlers.
This time period shows a change in policy towards Aboriginal people and this policy change can be
seen in the following
By the time the Wiradjuri began their own attacks upon life and property in the early 1820s, the
Governor did not reflect upon their diminishing food resources: he declared Martial Law. (Read, P
1988) This change in policy from what Governor Phillip had hoped
In 1787, before Phillip had begun his governorship, he had hoped to create an Aboriginal
Settlement near Sydney in which everything which could 'tend to civilise them' would be provided. ”.
(Read, P 1988 p. 5)
There was a common line of thought that even though there were some individuals who did seem to
resists the onslaught of the settlers, this was not an all-out war at this stage. Some settlers had good
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IKC101 Assessment 2
relations with Aboriginal people such as the Suttor’s of Brucedale Station. As can be seen from the
following excerpt.
Windradyne and his party had called on Brucedale Station at the foot of nearby Mount Wiagdon,
which was known for its good relations with Aborigines. Windradyne left it unharmed. ”. (Read, P
1988 p. 10)
This shows that the mistrust and retaliation was not directed at all white settlers but often the ones
who had made some sort of provocative act or did not have good relations with Aboriginal people.
“The Declaration of Martial law against the Wiradjuri in 1823 established the largest Official
Military force ever to set out against the blacks and placate the settlers”. (Read, P 1988 p 5)
This declaration of Martial Law saw a group of 75 soldiers on horseback, and according to local
Bathurst region tradition, killed hundreds of Wiradjuri men either by trapping ambush or in battle.
This martial law led settlers to believe that they could kill Aboriginal people without retribution.
Protection
Attempts by well-meaning missionaries at converting Aboriginal children and adults by missionaries
seldom had any lasting effect often the congregation where drawn in with promises of food and
tobacco. The attempts to draw Aboriginal youths away from culture was disheartening to early
missionaries who were given land and supplies in an attempt to make the Aborigines to become like
whites.
An example of this can be seen in Reads work
The government, still willing to be convinced that Aborigines could learn to become like whites by
instruction and persuasion, agreed. Governor Bourke made over the buildings and 7 000 acres to the
Society, and in 1830 the first Christian missionaries to work among the Wiradjuri arrived at the Bell
River a few kilometres from the present town of Wellington (Read, P 1988 p. 10)
Aboriginal protection boards where setup in 1860 onwards depending on the states jurisdiction 1860
in Victoria, 1880 in New South Wales. These board and subsequent laws aimed to protect Aboriginal
people from extinction, in 1788 the estimated NSW population was 48000 by1901 only 7 434 (15%)
of that population was left. This era coincided with the theory of Social Darwinism. Darwin ranked
human races on a scale from "savage" to "civilized" and stated that the "savage" races would almost
inevitably die out as the "civilized" races moved forward. He compared this process to the
competition that occurred among stronger and weaker species in nature. This theory was taken up by
evangelist’s and policy makers as a scientific reasoning to the plight and situation or Aboriginal
people.
The protection of children in some state children were removed because they were of mixed blood i.e.
the term half cast quadroon or octoroon. This was seen by some as protection the Aboriginal race and
by some other as protection of the white race. The policy of the NSW Government at the time stated
that……
quadroons and octoroons will be merged in the white population, and the camps will merely contain
the full-blooded aborigines and their descendants ... By this means, considerable savings will be
effected in the expenditure of the Aborigines Protection Board ... There is hope ... in years to come,
the expenditure in respect of Aborigines will reach vanishing point (quoted by NSW Government
submission on page 28).( bring them home 2012)
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IKC101 Assessment 2
Segregation
In many areas of NSW and Australia, Aboriginal people were segregated from the non-Aboriginal
population. An example of this as late as 1949 the NSW Dept of Education policy
It is the policy of the department to encourage the assimilation of Aboriginal children as members of
the Australian community by permitting their attendance at public schools. Nevertheless, if the
principal of the school is of the opinion that there is circumstances in the home conditions of the
Aboriginal children, whose enrolment is sought, which justify refusal or deferral of enrolment, or if he
is aware of substantial opposition to such enrolments exists, he should inform the district inspector of
schools and await the Departmental decision on the matter. – NSW Department of Education
regulation (AECG History. 2015)
This policy was tested in 1936 in Corindi North of Coffs Harbour in Gumbayngirr country when a
European parent asked for Aboriginal students be removed “The white parents confessed their
request was not based on health or moral grounds but that it ‘just didn’t seem right that the two racial
groups mix freely’.” (Thomas, 2015, p. 11) The teacher did not support the parent as this would
have seen the school close. This occurred in a number of schools around the State, including North
Lismore Public school and Collarenebri Public school and Batemans Bays Public School to name a
few. Other schools became segregated into Aboriginal and Non- Aboriginals such as Baryulgil Public
School (Source Cadzow A 2007 )
Stolen Generation
In NSW the Aboriginal protection board was setup in 1883 and controlled all aspect of life for
Aboriginal people. This board was part of the Police Department and was chaired by the
Commissioner of Police. This act was written so broadly that it gave police the power to remove
Aboriginal children for any reason.
At the time of introduction many of these laws where set up in an effort to protect and enlighten
Aboriginal people . Though lobbying, the act was modified to allow the separation of children from
their parent without court approval. This allows police or other official the ability to remove children
at any time for any perceived offence.
The Board's concerns were addressed by the Aborigines Protection Amending Act 1915 which gave it
total power to separate children from their families without having to establish in court that they were
neglected(Bringing them home 2012)
No court hearings were necessary; the manager of an Aboriginal station, or a policeman on a reserve
or in a town might simply order them removed. The racial intention was obvious enough for all
prepared to see, and some managers cut a long story short when they came to that part of the
committal notice, `Reason for Board taking control of the child'. They simply wrote, `For being
Aboriginal' (Read 1981 p. 6).
The change in the Act where not universally supported as can be seen by the following parliamentary
comments.
Some Parliamentarians of the day such as the Hon P McGarry strongly opposed the 1915 amending
Act. According to McGarry it allowed the Board `to steal the child away from its parents'. This `act of
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IKC101 Assessment 2
cruelty' was a scheme to take the children `prisoners' and `to gain absolute control of the child and use
him as a slave without paying wages'. Another Member of Parliament assessed the amending Act as
tantamount to the `reintroduction of slavery in NSW' (Parliamentary Debates 1914-15 pages 1951,
1953, 1957).
Many children were taken away from their family and as a consequence there was a great fear of
police and the welfare board. Many children were taken away due to allegation of neglect some with
good reason, some not.
In the 1920s and the 1930s there was political resistance by Aboriginal people to the operation of the
Board. In New South Wales The Australian Aborigines Progressive Association (AAPA) was formed
In 1925 and immediately called for an end to the forcible removal of Aboriginal children from their
families. In 1928 the Association wrote,
... girls of tender age and years are torn away from their parents ... and put to service in an
environment as near to slavery as it is possible to find (Markus 1990 p 177)
This was in reference to Aboriginal girls being sometimes forcibly removed to one of a number of
training facilities for teenage girls. Aboriginal children were sent to Cootamundra, Bomaderry and
Kinchela; some went to Mittagong or Boystown. Ostensibly this was for training as domestic service
for the girl and as labourers for the girls. Resistance to the Welfare Boardwas undertaken though the
hiding of children
Over the years policy changed and in 1969 the Aboriginal Welfare board was abolished but since the
inception in 1904 thousands of Aboriginal children had been taken away from their families. This
policy took Aboriginal people from differing language groups and put them together. It took people
from their families, traditional land and culture. These policies, though coming to from perspective of
minimising harm to Aboriginal people where enforced at times by authorities without compassion for
the plight of the people it was meant to protect.
It is difficult to reflect on the policy and there repercussion, in hindsight as with all eras and past
attitudes it seems obvious that the treatment of different sections of our society. Aboriginal people
have resisted the invasion they have resisted the Protection Acts, they have resisted segregation and
the stolen generation. What happened in 1788 was a coming together of two very different views of
the world and remarkably the two societies tried to work together and attempted to understand each
other (to a point). The Aboriginal People at first contact had no idea of the implications of what stood
ahead of them and the danger and changes that it entailed. What really matters now is the righting of
wrongs and a bringing of our multicultural society together.
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Bibliography:
2017. (2006). A brief Aboriginal history. Retrieved January 1, 2017, from
http://www.Aboriginalheritage.org/history/history/
Aboriginal Population Statistics. (2009). Retrieved December 31, 2016, from Learnline Charles
Darwin University,
http://learnline.cdu.edu.au/tourism/uluru/downloads/Aboriginal%20population%20statistics.p
df
AECG History. (2015). Retrieved January 2, 2017, from https://www.aecg.nsw.edu.au/about/history/
Australia - aborigines and European settlers. (2012, February ). Retrieved January 1, 2017, from
http://www.janesoceania.com/australia_Aboriginal_whitesettlers/index1.htm
Bevan, S. (2015, July 1). Governor, soldier, spy: Uncovering the history of Arthur Phillip. Retrieved
December 31, 2016, from http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-06-30/arthur-phillip-uncoveringlife-man-built-modern-australia/6581794
(Bringing them home 2012). Report of the national inquiry into the separation of aboriginal and
Torres strait islander children from their families terms of reference. (2006). . Retrieved from
https://www.humanrights.gov.au/sites/default/files/content/pdf/social_justice/bringing_them_
home_report.pdf
Cadzow, A. (2009). A NSW aboriginal education Timeline 1788-2007. Retrieved from https://abed.bostes.nsw.edu.au/files/timeline1788-2007.pdf
Campbell, J. (1998). Invisible invaders: Smallpox and other diseases in Aboriginal Australia ; 1780 1880. Australia: Melbourne University Publishing.
Coe, H. (2006). The Calare electorate sits in the eastern portion of Wiradjuri country. Retrieved from
http://www.peterandren.com/pdf/other/The%20Wiradjuri%20in%20Bathurst.pdf
Markus, A. (1990). Governing savages: Commonwealth and aborigines, 1911-39. Australia: Allen &
Unwin Pty.
Wiliam, & Australia, S. Governor Phillip, the arrival of the British, Aboriginal colonisation and
contact, history year 9, ACT. Retrieved January 1, 2017, from http://www.skwirk.com/p-c_s14_u-179_t-524_c-1954/governor-phillip/act/governor-phillip/Aboriginal-colonisation-andcontact/the-arrival-of-the-british
Citations, Quotes & Annotations
(2009). Retrieved December 31, 2016, from
http://learnline.cdu.edu.au/tourism/uluru/downloads/Aboriginal%20population%20statistics.p
df
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IKC101 Assessment 2
A brief Aboriginal history. Retrieved January 1, 2017, from
http://www.Aboriginalheritage.org/history/history/(2006).
Australia - aborigines and European settlers. (2012, February ). Retrieved January 1, 2017, from
http://www.janesoceania.com/australia_Aboriginal_whitesettlers/index1.htm
(“Australia - aborigines and European settlers,” 2012)
Bevan, S. (2015, July 1). Governor, soldier, spy: Uncovering the history of Arthur Phillip. Retrieved
December 31, 2016, from http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-06-30/arthur-phillip-uncoveringlife-man-built-modern-australia/6581794
Campbell, J. (1998). Invisible invaders: Smallpox and other diseases in Aboriginal Australia ; 1780 1880. Australia: Melbourne University Publishing.
".” It was not possible to prevent or cure tuberculosis, and it was the main reason, apart from
smallpox, why Aboriginals were thought to be a ‘Dying Race’, an image that persisted into
the twentieth century”" (Campbell, 1998)
Note: Preface
Coe, H. (2006). The Calare electorate sits in the eastern portion of Wiradjuri country. Retrieved from
http://www.peterandren.com/pdf/other/The%20Wiradjuri%20in%20Bathurst.pdf