Australia Case Study PDF

AUSTRALIA Map search 93 Early history of Australia o the indigenous inhabitants of Australia, the Aborigines, had lived in Australia for over 40 000 years before the first Europeans arrived. They were nomadic hunter gatherers and a culturally diverse group, with many different langu...

AUSTRALIA Map search 93 Early history of Australia o the indigenous inhabitants of Australia, the Aborigines, had lived in Australia for over 40 000 years before the first Europeans arrived. They were nomadic hunter gatherers and a culturally diverse group, with many different languages art search 93 o in the early 1800s, the British began to colonise Australia, using it as - a base for military purposes - a penal colony. The first area prisoners were sent later became the town Sydney. Most convicts were from the working class and had been convicted of minor crimes. Unlike prisoners in Britain, they were not jailed; instead they lived in villages and were used as labourers on govt projects like constructing roads, buildings and bridges. They also grew their own food, built their own houses and could even run businesses. In this way, the settlement paid for itself. Although they could return to Britain once they had completed their sentence, most stayed on in Australia. The last convicts arrived in 1868 Effects of British colonisation on the following British o the colony became prosperous as gold mining and agriculture were developed o 1901 colonists voted to unite as a federation → the country called Australia came into being, a group of states which ruled themselves but were overseen by a Federal Govt (similar to the USA) o the settlers brought with them the pseudo scientific ideas popular in Europe at the time Aborigines o about 80% were killed, being either hunted for sport or in conflicts with the settlers or from diseases like smallpox o as white settlements spread and prospered, the few remaining Aborigines were pushed off the land and forced to live in the desert like outback Formation of Aboriginal Reservations o as time went by, the British govt and humanitarians became increasingly concerned about the treatment of the Aborigines → they decided to allocate land for them to live on, known as stations, missions or reserves, which were strictly controlled by the govt’s Aborigines’ Protection Board. About 200 reservations were set up throughout Australia. As Aborigines were given no  rights to land, they could be forced to live on these reserves and to remain there against their will o the Aborigines who lived on the reserves were unable to live their traditional nomadic way of life as hunters and gatherers → some died of starvation and alcoholism was rife; others raided farmers livestock → there was conflict between the two groups o the laws regarding reserves were not strictly applied in some areas but those living outside the reservations suffered discrimination and prejudice o 1850s Gold Rush – when gold was discovered in Australia, large numbers of white farmers left the farms and went to seek their fortune → Aborigines became an important source of labour. They were treated like slaves as they were given basic necessities like food and clothing as payment o it was thought that the Aborigines would become extinct because - they were believed to have an inferior genetic makeup which it was felt would mean that they would be unable to compete in the modern world - there were very few of them left. Influence of pseudo-scientific racial theories ‘Racial suicide’ Some white Australians were concerned that their small, slow growing population was being threatened by - the remaining Aborigines - the rapidly expanding population of the increasingly powerful Asian countries to the north of Australia To prevent racial suicide, they felt it would be necessary to expand the European population as quickly as possible by doing the following: o encouraging European immigration → ‘White Australia’ policy: 1901 Immigration Act said that would-be immigrants had to pass a dictation test in any European language that the testing officer chose → non Europeans were unable to pass so were denied the right to live in Australia. As the Australian Prime Minister at the time said: “This country shall remain forever the home of the descendants of those who came to live in peace in order to establish an outpost of the British race’ o 1920 a Minister for Motherhood was appointed by the govt whose job was to boost the white population after the losses suffered during WW1 by encouraging white women to have more children. However, a plan to give white mothers money to reward them for having children was abandoned because eugenics’ supporters felt it might encourage those of ‘inferior’ stock to breed e.g alcoholics, mentally unstable. Instead many thought that ‘unfit’ members of society ought to be prevented from having children by being kept apart or even sterilised → they would eventually be eliminated from society  o adults from Britain were then encouraged to emigrate to Australia, not only to boost the white population but also to reduce unemployment and overcrowding in UK cities posters search 99 o during WW2, many non-white refugees entered Australia, fleeing from the conflict in Asia. Most of them left when the war ended but plans by the govt to deport some who had married Australians, mostly Japanese women, were resisted and they were allowed to stay o after WW2 over 10 000 orphaned children and those from destitute families in Britain were sent to Australia, sometimes without the permission of parents. Children were often separated from their families and were told that they were orphans, while the parents were told that their children were being sent to Australia so that they could have a better life. However, most were badly treated e.g. they were brought up in institutions or by farmers. The girls often became domestic workers and the boys were used as slave labour, often being physically or sexually abused and undernourished. A few went on to have a better life but most did not. This policy was supported by the British and Australian govts and has been described as ‘one of the most disgraceful episodes in post war politics’. ‘Racial decay’ In order to prevent racial decay, the policy was to keep Australia racially ‘pure’. This would be done by improving the racial stock through ‘scientifically’ controlled selected breeding of the fittest and preventing ‘inferior’ humans from having children. It was believed that pure Aborigines would die out as there were so few of them left but the problem was how to deal with the ‘half castes’ – children from a relationship between a white and an Aborigine, who were thought to have the worst characteristics of both races ↓ Policy of assimilation – the Stolen Generation In 1915, AO Neville and Dr Cecil Cook were appointed to oversee the policy of assimilation which was carried out by doing the following o thousands of mixed race or ‘half caste’ children were forcibly removed from their families (stolen) and cut off from all contact with them and their Aborigine culture so that they would turn their backs on their previous ‘savage ways’ and embrace a ‘white’ way of life o they were put into foster homes or institutions and in many cases they suffered physical and emotional abuse by their foster families or the missionaries into whose care they were entrusted  o most of them were trained as domestic servants or became labourers o in order to breed out Aboriginal blood they would be allowed to marry and have children only with whites - this is called miscegenation ‘History Wars’ There is a lot of controversy regarding the interpretation of the Australian govt’s policies a. Was it genocide? Genocide is the deliberate killing of a certain group and it is true that most of the Aborigines were wiped out but the controversy arises over whether this was deliberate policy b. Was this policy the same as the eugenics policy used by the Nazis on the Jews? There is controversy over this question because o miscegenation contradicts the idea of Scientific Darwinism and eugenics which believed in breeding ‘the best with the best’; assimilation bred ‘inferior’ with ‘superior’ o Neville and Cook believed not in eugenics but that that the policy of assimilation through mixed marriages would increase the ‘white’ population and also prevent conflict by ensuring equal citizenship for all o they also hoped that the Aboriginal inheritance might overcome problems facing whites in the tropics like skin cancer. Conclusion o the policies regarding the Aborigines followed by the Australians nearly resulted in their biological and cultural extinction. Today very few remain and they still live on the edges of society o 1995 the Australian govt set up a Commission of Enquiry into the effects of their policy of forcible separating Aborigine children from their parents search 102 o Lost Innocents Fund was set up to pay for the children sent from Britain to go back there and try to find their families o 2008 the Australian Prime Minister apologised to those affected by the policies carried out by previous govts.