Discussion on the impact to

indigenous peoples lives

 European law overruling Indigenous culture
According the European law at the time (in the 1700s), Australia was deemed empty or
without inhabitants because of a lack of defined territories and because the Indigenous
peoples did not appear to work the land.
This then meant that they could colonize Australia without the need to negotiate with organized
local inhabitants.

Is this a fair assessment of Australias first

people? What
do you know about Indigenous cultural
groups and the
way the chose to live that would suggest the
Europeans
were wrong?
Colonizing Australia

England sent the First Fleet (carried convicts from their

overcrowded prisons) to colonize Australia and it arrived on the
18th of January 1788.
It carried 290 marines, women and children; 717 convicts; and
supplies of pork and rum, equipment and livestock
The Indigenous groups did not know what to do, they
shook their weapons and shouted at the ships. The
captain of the first ship (Captain Phillip) did not want
conflict and went ashore to try and resolve the
situation before it escalated. He went on to the north
side of the shore to the Kameygal people.
Both sides were fascinated by their different traditions
(weapons, clothing) and it seemed that they were able to put
aside their differences. However, when the convicts came
ashore and started clearing trees, they were not happy.
Why do you think the group was not happy? What rules and
customs do they have with the land that might make them feel
upset and worried about the situation?
Colonizing Australia continued
The land at Botany Bay was not suitable for
farming and, so the first fleet packed up back aboard the ships.
Instead they sailed up to Port Jackson and
created a colony there as there was a freshwater creek near by.

The Indigenous people came out and watched the Europeans come to
shore thinking that they would only stay a short while
as Cook had. They watched as they raised a cloth on a pole (the
flag) and saluted it.
As convicts began chopping down trees again in this
new place, the local Indigenous group became
worried that they were not leaving soon and they ceased contact
with the Europeans returning to their own camps.

What was this saluting a cloth (flag) event?

Again they retreated when trees were cut down, what do you think
the Indigenous people are thinking when this happens as they must be
linking the action with something in their own traditions.
 Conflict between the Europeans and the Eora
The British really did think they were helping the savage people who inhabited
Australia but found it hard in the beginning to survive in Australia on limited
rations. They noticed the good health and nourishment of the Eora people but
did nothing to change their lifestyle to match that of Australias first inhabitants.

In 1788, Phillip became frustrated and was ordered to

establish communication with the Indigenous people. On
the last day of 1788 the Europeans noticed a group of Cameraygal men on the
shore and made friendly gestures at them. When close enough they grabbed
two of the men but one fought free and escaped.

Why were the Indigenous people called savages?

Conflict between the Europeans and the Eora
continued
The man they kept hold of was called Arabanoo, and although
his tribe tried to fight to get him back by throwing spears the
Europeans managed to secure him and took him back to
Phillip. The intention was to teach him the English language to
bridge the communication between the cultures but they kept
him locked up in chains.

Arabanoo eventually resigned to the fact that he was with the

Europeans and was bathed, given haircuts, clothes and invited
to the Governors house (Phillip). Little headway was made
between bridging the communication.
In May 1789, he got smallpox and died.

What do you think it did to Arabanoo and the other Indigenous

people who saw him, to be locked up in chains in a cage like at
the zoo?
More kidnapping
In November, 1789 Bennelong and Colbee
were kidnapped and taken to the Governors
house. Colbee escaped but Bennelong stayed
and adapted to European ways of living
without the difficulty faced by Arabanoo.
Bennelong did escape 6 months later but
found it difficult to go back to living his
traditional life and returned to Phillip.

Why did Bennelong find this difficult?

How do you think his people and the people
in the other two tribes approached
Bennelong?
Peace did not last long
In 1790, when resistance fighter Pemulwuy speared a
frontier man for killing blacks, Phillip retaliated by
ordering his staff to kill ten natives and capture two
in order to scare the locals into conforming. Fifty
soldiers and two surgeons headed into the bush where
their inept bush skills gave early warning of their
presence, and not a single Aboriginal person was
captured.

Pemulwuy: was a courageous resistance fighter who

led a guerrilla war against the British settlement at
Sydney Cove from 1788 through to 1802
Indigenous tribes working together
Aboriginal people soon became drawn to Sydney from areas as far
afield as the Five Islands area near Port Kembla. They came partly to
aid their brothers and sisters in their fight against invaders and to
protect their rights to land and partly because of the attractions of
the settlement. Arranged marriages also brought Aboriginal people
from other areas to Sydney. The cultural connections between people
of different language groups has been maintained but it is not often
experienced publicly and remains hidden or invisible within the
dominant culture of the Sydney area
 A change
Governor Arthur Phillip left the colony in 1792, and was followed by
Governor John Hunter.

The impact of colonization led to a change in the health and well-

being of Aboriginal people in much the same way as to any group
who have been forcibly removed from their land and traditional
lifestyle. These impacts remain evident in urban Koori society and
culture today.
 Bibliography
Essay: First Contact Written by Anita Heiss, can be accessed at
http://www.sydneybarani.com.au/sites/first-contact/

Captain Cook Timeline

http://www.captaincook.org.uk/timeline.php

Strangers In the Land by Joseph Harding (in the classroom on the window)

The Australian History Collection by Geoff Hocking

Australia and illustrated history by A.K. Macdougall