Colonisation of Australia: Impact on Indigenous People

This assignment examines the historical context of Australian colonisation, focusing on the effects on Indigenous people. It discusses the invasion, dispossession, cultural differences, new diseases, conflicts, destruction of property, and the overall impact on the Indigenous population.

Running Head: Colonisation of Australia
COLONISATION OF AUSTRALIA
Institution
Name
Date

Colonisation of Australia
Annotated Mind Map of Colonisation Process
EDUCATION
UNSKILLED
INVASION
DISPOSSESION
POVERTY
STARVATION
CONFLICTSCULTURAL ASPECTS
LOSS OF LIVES
NEW DISEASES
DESTRUCTION OF
PROPERTY
DIFFERENT
CULTURALVALUES
DIFFERENT
LEARNING STYLE
COLONISATION
INDIGENOUS AUSTRALIA
SKILLED
MORE EMPLOYABLE
LESS EMPLOYABLE

Colonisation of Australia
Introduction
Unlike most countries whose history is clearly written down, most Australians have a sketchy
understanding of their indigenous traditions of their county’s first people. The Aboriginals
people occupied Australia before the Europeans arrived. The British were the first people to
arrive in Australia as they were searching for new colonies after losing America during the
American Revolution. The first British fleet of ships docked into Botany Bay on the 18th
January 1788 but later shifted to Sydney Harbour on 26th January. It is believed that the main
reason why the British sought out Australia was to decongest their homeland prisons and to
settle some of her pardoned citizens. As with other colonies, Britain started by invading the
Aboriginals in evicting them from their lands, infecting them with diseases that their
immunity could not fight leading to deaths and force some of them into slavery.
INVASION
After arriving in Sydney, Australia in 1788, the British did the same thing they did with the
American Indians. They forced the Aborigines from the fertile lands. In the process, many
indigenous people were killed as they tried to resist and to protect their lands. Many tribes of
the Aborigines died out completely because of starvation. The food that they used to get
freely from their land was no longer available. The freedom to roam freely in their land was
curtailed ( Oxley & Stewart, 2017). Those who survived were forced into slavery, women,
and children subjected to harsh working conditions doing everything as some women were
imprisoned and used as sex slaves. The Aborigines were subjected to poverty and very hard-
working conditions (Gammage, 2011).

Colonisation of Australia
Cultural Aspects
The Aborigines had their own cultural believes long before the British colonized them. The
arrival of the British posed a great threat to their culture. The British had a different
perception of knowledge, which was different from that of the British. The British believed
that their culture was more superior to that of the original occupants of Australia. They also
had divergent views on how they viewed knowledge. (Behrendt, 2012) They completely
wiped out the original education system of the aborigines and replaced it with their system of
education. They that a person possessing their education was skilled and hence suitable to be
employed in their farms. The Europeans marginalized the aborigines to the extent that up to
date history tends to ignore their contribution and impact to the Australian culture and
customs. Over 90% of the aborigines died because of starvation, diseases and death sentences
( Oxley & Stewart, 2017).
Health and Diseases
Upon arrival, the British introduced deadly diseases that were not in Australia originally. The
wave of epidemic diseases like smallpox, influenza, and measles spread out rapidly and
annihilated many Indigenous communities, of which half of them were killed by smallpox
(together, 2012). Women and girls who were imprisoned as sex slaves also contracted deadly
sexual transmitted diseases which killed many of them and some infecting their spouses.
According to Edward Wilson and Argus 17th March 1856, they wrote’’ … we have infected
them with diseases which have rotted the bones of their adults and made such few children as
are born amongst them a sorrow and a torture from the very instant of their birth…’’. Most of
the indigenous occupants of Australia died and most communities became extinct from the

Colonisation of Australia
face of the earth. As most adults died of diseases, children died of malnutrition and hunger, as
they had no one to take care of them (Hill, 2006).
Conflicts
The expansion of British settlements leads to opening of new colonies in Tasmania resulted
to constant conflicts between the local aborigines and the colonial masters. The outcome of
these conflicts was mass killings and massive destruction of property belonging to the
aborigines. Competition for land and other natural resources that were available at that time
accelerated the conflicts between the British and aborigines. The main reason for the
competition was to create more land for the settlers who were moving out of Britain to
Australia. Historical documents show that massacres of Indigenous people often took the
form of mass shootings or driving groups of people off cliffs. This was in a bid to reduce the
numbers of the aborigines so that Britain could exploit Australia without any interference
(AIATSIS, 2009).
Conclusion
Australia was a key asset to Britain has she needed a place that would accommodate her
citizens that were initially living in the USA after the American Revolution. In addition, in a
bid to settle her prisoners, Australia proved to be a good alternative. The Aborigines
problems began the moment the first ship docked in Sydney. Foreign diseases, constant
conflicts, mass killings, and foreign culture quickly came in killing many of them.

Colonisation of Australia
References
Oxley, D., & Stewart, H. M. (2017). Digital panopticon. Retrieved from
https://www.digitalpanopticon.org/Convicts_and_the_Colonisation_of_Australia,_1788-1868
AIATSIS. (2009). Retrieved from Aboriginal studies Press: https://aiatsis.gov.au/explore/articles/first-
encounters-and-frontier-conflict
Behrendt, P. (2012). Indigenous Australia for Dummies. Wiley Publishing Australia Pty ltd.
Gammage, B. (2011). The Biggest Estate on Earth.
Hill, E. F. (2006). Imperialism in Australia. Retrieved from Encyclopedia of Anti-Revisionism On-
Line: https://www.marxists.org/history/erol/australia/hill-ssi/chapter4.htm
together, A. (2012). Australians together. Retrieved from Colonisation:
https://www.australianstogether.org.au/discover/australian-history/colonisation/