12.4 Lesson 3: Life for Aboriginals in Britain's Australia (PDF)

15/10/2024, 01:35 12.4 Lesson 3: Life for Aboriginals in Britain's Australia [45 mins]: Life of an Aboriginal Australian in a British colony (I do) | UCT OHS 12.4 Lesson 3: Life for Aboriginals in Britain's Australia [45 mins] G11HIS1101-UCTOHS-2024-01-F / TE...

15/10/2024, 01:35 12.4 Lesson 3: Life for Aboriginals in Britain's Australia [45 mins]: Life of an Aboriginal Australian in a British colony (I do) | UCT OHS 12.4 Lesson 3: Life for Aboriginals in Britain's Australia [45 mins] G11HIS1101-UCTOHS-2024-01-F / TERM 2 MODULE 12: A case study on Australia - Background / 12.4 Lesson 3: Life for Aboriginals in Britain's 12.4 Lesson 3: Life for Aboriginals in Britain's Australia [45 mins]  Done: View 187 Learners have completed this Listen to this lesson Click on the three dots on the audio block to download. 0:00 / 11:26 2. Life of an Aboriginal Australian in a British colony Let's answer the question before we get started. Can you remember which option gave way to the idea of race?  The Theory of Evolution  Pseudoscience  The Abolitionist Movement  Apartheid  Check You have learnt about the decimation of the Aboriginal populations by disease, starvation, and murder by the British colonisers. For the first hundred years that Australia was colonised, the region was rife with conflict between the Aboriginal community and the British. In 1790, the first conflict broke out as the Aboriginal community fought back against the land grabbing that was occurring by the British. Guerrilla attacks against the settlers were frequent between 1790 to 1816. The attacks were focused around New South Wales and expanded to other colonies. The Aboriginals raided farms, and destroyed sheep and cattle in a mission to prevent the invaders from taking more land. Bushfires were frequently started and ultimately destroyed buildings and crops. It was only in the mid-1830s that the British authorities thought about land ownership by Aboriginal people. In 1835, two treaties were signed with one of the clans to ‘buy’ 600 000 acres of land between Melbourne and the Bellarine Peninsula. After this, however, the Governor of New South Wales issued a proclamation that made the treaties null and void because he claimed that the land had been empty when the British arrived. It was only in 1992 when the circumstances around land ownership changed for Aboriginals. You have learnt that the British colonisers saw Aboriginals as less than human and certainly an inferior race. They did not understand their culture and saw them as primitive and uncivilised. Remember that at the time, this was a common global belief system in race science which was based largely on eugenics. The established colonies in Australia were accepted and made legal by the global community because of the alleged inferiority of the indigenous Aboriginal people. This colonial mindset divided Australians into two groups along racial lines, white (the coloniser) and black (the indigenous Aboriginals). Racial theorists at the time believed that the Aboriginal people were so backward and https://campus.uctonlinehighschool.com/mod/book/view.php?id=144700&chapterid=124563 1/4 15/10/2024, 01:35 12.4 Lesson 3: Life for Aboriginals in Britain's Australia [45 mins]: Life of an Aboriginal Australian in a British colony (I do) | UCT OHS undeveloped that they would eventually die out. In 1876 the evolutionist, Henry Rusden wrote: 'the survival of the fittest means that might – wisely used – is right. And thus we invoke and remorselessly fulfil the inexorable law of natural selection (or demand and supply), when exterminating the inferior Australian … races …' (Source: Howard-Wagner, D. ‘Colonialism and the science of Race Difference’, University of Sydney, 2007, p.4, quoted from Hollinsworth, R. Race and Racism in Australia (2nd ed.), 1998, Social Science Press, Katoomba) 2.1 Scientific experiments Aboriginal people were frequently used in experiments by scientists from around the world. Their work was manipulated in such a way that these racial theories seemed to be supported by scientific evidence. During the second half of the 20th century, eugenics was at its height. In particular, New South Wales and Victoria had strong eugenics movements that lasted more than a few years. The Racial Improvement Society (later named the Racial Hygiene Association) was established. In 1960 the organisation was renamed the Family Planning Association which still exists today. The Eugenics Society of Victoria was established in the early 20th century but closed in 1962. Richard Berry was a professor of anatomy at the University of Melbourne where the organisation was based. Berry believed that Aboriginals were primitive beings far inferior to European peoples. In the 1920s he sought to prove this scientifically and measured Aboriginals' heads to show that a small head meant lesser intelligence. In line with Eugenics beliefs, Berry believed that white people were the most educated and the smartest. Berry proposed the establishment of a ‘lethal chamber’ to euthanise (humanely kill) what he thought were the most mental defectives. Figure 1 is a photograph taken in the early 1900s of Aboriginal men alongside white Europeans. Figure 1: Aboriginal men alongside white Europeans Berry was not alone in his views or scientific experiments. Scientists at the British Museum in London were interested in studying people they thought were a race on the brink of extinction. The Aboriginals were the basis of scientific experiments to identify if they were closer to apes or to humans. Hair and skin were a part of the collection of the Royal College of Surgeons in England. In 2002, they were returned to Australia to be buried. 2.2 The 'stolen generation' The best example of the oppression of Aborigines by white Australians is the forced removal of mixed-race children from their families. These children would be placed in foster homes or institutions forcibly so they could be assimilated into white society. Missionaries, Christian families, and state orphanages were the main places where the children were sent to. This produced a ‘stolen generation’ of thousands of indigenous children who were ‘re- educated’ culturally and in many instances physically and mentally abused by white Australians. More than 100 000 children were separated from their families as a result of this racial movement between 1910 and 1970. https://campus.uctonlinehighschool.com/mod/book/view.php?id=144700&chapterid=124563 2/4 15/10/2024, 01:35 12.4 Lesson 3: Life for Aboriginals in Britain's Australia [45 mins]: Life of an Aboriginal Australian in a British colony (I do) | UCT OHS The main goal of this movement was to separate the half-castes from any contact with the Aboriginal heritage and this would force them to turn their backs on their ‘savage’ ways and embrace white society. The half-castes were only allowed to marry and have children with white Australians so the dominant white genetic traits would overcome those of the inferior Aboriginal genetics. Most children were convinced that their real parents didn’t want them anymore or that their parents were dead when this was not the case. They were provided with an education, although this was only good enough for them to get a job in manual labour. In 1995 the government set up a Commission of Enquiry into what effects this assimilation process had on the children's lives. It stated that although the policy was in the best interests of the children, in most cases it damaged their lives and those of their families. Source A below is from one of the stolen-generation children Source A 'I’ve received a lot of hostility from other Aboriginal people. They’re my own relatives and they really hurt me because… they have a go at me and say that I don’t even know my own relatives, and that I should; that I’ve got nothing in common with them. The damage is all done and I can’t seem to get close to any of them.' 2.3 Australia Day and the Day of Mourning On 26 January 1938, many white Australians celebrated the 150th anniversary of the first arrival of the British fleet on Australian shores. The government saw this as an opportunity to show the world how advanced Australia had become in those years. Not surprisingly, this day was a day of mourning for the Aboriginal people. It was the anniversary of 150 years of mistreatment, degradation, the decimation of their people, and the loss of their land by white Australians. It was also a great violation of their human and cultural rights. In protest, they organised a march to present demands to the Australian Prime Minister who ignored them. It would be another 30 years before any laws changed in the country to uplift Aboriginal communities. ◄ 12.3 Lesson 2: British settlers in Australia [45 mins] Jump to... 12.5 Lesson 4: Racial decay [45 mins] ► Fees Handbook FAQs Contact Careers Terms & Conditions Rewards Store Terms & Conditions G11HIS1101-UCTOHS-2024-01-F https://campus.uctonlinehighschool.com/mod/book/view.php?id=144700&chapterid=124563 3/4 15/10/2024, 01:35 12.4 Lesson 3: Life for Aboriginals in Britain's Australia [45 mins]: Life of an Aboriginal Australian in a British colony (I do) | UCT OHS Policies You are logged in as Reitumetse Seetsi (Log out) https://campus.uctonlinehighschool.com/mod/book/view.php?id=144700&chapterid=124563 4/4