Impact on the Indigenous people of Australia Making a Nation Impact on the Indigenous people of Australia

Before Settlement/Invasion It is believed that at least 750 000 Aboriginal people were living in Australia at the time of Captain Cook's arrival. These people were divided into around 600 different tribes and had hundreds of different languages.

This is a map of Aboriginal languages from before British settlement This is a map of Aboriginal languages from before British settlement. How many Aboriginal languages do you think are on this map?

At First The Aborigines welcomed the Europeans. There is evidence they even danced with them (a very important part of Aboriginal culture). They showed them the good fishing spots and shared their catches with the Europeans.

But then… Dispossession – Aboriginal people were pushed out of their lands. Land grants from the government began to encroach more and more on Indigenous sacred sites, hunting grounds and food supplies. Because they believed the Indigenous people were nomadic that they would be fine with the move. The Indigenous peoples, however, always returned to the land after it had been given time to replenish itself.

Disease – The biggest killer of Aborigines! The common cold and tuberculosis were introduced and wiped out large numbers of Aborigines. Syphilis and other sexually transmitted disease also caused many deaths and infertility in many women. Smallpox is thought to have wiped out 50% of the total Aboriginal population.

Conflict – between Aborigines and Europeans and local tribes as well. Traditional hunting areas and food sources were disturbed by European expansion. Traditional gathering areas were cleared for agricultural development. Fences appeared and access to waterholes and sacred sites became almost impossible.

Tribal warfare There was warfare between Aboriginal groups as they all worked to keep their tribes alive with less and less resources and land. But they had more and more death resulting in breakdowns of generations and loss of culture and learning from the elders.

Missions Officially missions were set up to look after the Aborigines but they actually caused a lot of damage. The first mission, in 1815, was set up to ‘civilise’ the Aborigines. In other words make them think and live like Europeans. To stamp out the Indigenous Australian culture.

Collaboration While there was conflict there was also times when Europeans and Aborigines worked together. Many Aborigines became trackers, police or translators for Europeans.