1. Australian Aborigines In the 20 th Century

2. 60,000 years ago

3. Population  Pre-contact population Australia: Upwards of 300,000  Victoria: 50,000  New South Whales: 40,000

4. Social Structure  Victoria 10 different language groups 30 different dialects/sub-language groups Each dialect group consisted of 6 -7 tribes

6. Kulin Federation  Group of dialect group banded together Woiworung Bunurang Wathaurung Djadjawurung Taungurong

8. Kulin Federation  Group of dialect group banded together Woiworung Bunurang Wathaurung Djadjawurung Taungurong  Banded together to: Trade Marry Exchange rituals

9. Language  Different from tribe to tribe – why you will see things spelt differently  Place names still used today

10. MurrumbeenaNeerim Rd HillLand of the Frog  

11. Neerim Rd, Murrumbeena The Hill in the Land of the Frogs 

12. Canberra = Meeting Place Jerilderie = Reedy Place Mildura = Sore Eyes Wagga Wagga = Many Crows Bong Bong = Mosquitoes Buzzing Beerburrum = Sound of the Wings of King Parrot Cooloolabin = Place of Koalas

13. Society  Semi-nomadic hunter gatherers Women: gathered nuts, berries, grubs etc. Men: hunted - fish and eel, ducks and birds Kangaroos and emus when in enough numbers

16. Religion and Beliefs  Land, people and all living things as living in unity You take from nature, you give back to nature Symbiotic relationship  They did not see the land as theirs They were protectors of the land No concept of ownership of land

17. The Dreaming  A period of creation stories  No written language to pass on stories Tooth avulsion Scarification  Marked passage through life

18. Burial Rights  Simple burial  Cremation  Bones buried after body exposed to elements  Placed in Hollow Trees  Avoid the names of the dead

19. Marngrook  Possum skin and kangaroo sinew ball  William Thomas – “there is a general excitement who shall catch it. It is sent up with great force…. they will play this game for hours and fine experience it is for adults and youths”

21. First Contact – Victoria  In Victoria: felt their presence before they even knew they were there  Smallpox epidemics in 1789 and 1829 Killed half the population

22. First Contact – New South Whales  No reason to fear them in the beginning Aided them Provided for them  Didn’t realise until too late what was going on

23. Defense  Started to fight back Guerilla warfare on outlying isolated settlements

24. 1834  30,000 European settlers in Victoria  Now outnumbered the Aborigines

25. Different Response  Some tried to incorporate Europeans into their culture Treated them as they would another tribe  Also meant that they were punished the same as their own people If you hit a man with a spear, you have the right to spear him back If you kill a man, your family has the right to kill them

26. Faithful Massacre, Benalla, 1838  White men camping on aboriginal hunting grounds  When asked to move off they resisted  Aborigines lashed out killing 8 settlers  Reprisals led to over 100 aborigines being killed

28. New Life  Population massively decreased  Hunting grounds now used for grazing, no longer accessible  Aborigines had to adapt to survive Began working on the farms Guided settlers through the bush Black Trackers  1840’s less than 2000 aborigines in Victoria

29. Tasmanian Aborigines Where are they now?

30. Differences  Tasmania cut of from Australia 15,000 years ago Population: 5,000 -6,000 Much the same as mainland Aborigines with a few differences

31. Same Problems  Gave flour poisoned with arsenic  Abducted children to use as forced labour (slaves)

32. 1828 – Governor Arthur  Declared Martial Law Permission to arrest/kill any indigenous person found in settled districts  The Black Line Every able-bodied man formed a line across the state pushing them all out of the area

33. George Augustus Robertson  Collected what remained of the Tasmanian Aborigines and moved them to Flinders Island 135 survivors Many died of disease

35. 1847  47 survivors of Flinders Island were moved to Oyster Cove Deaths continued  Truganini – believed to be the last Tasmanian Aborigine died in 1876

36. Bass Strait Islands  Communities of Tasmanians that escaped the settlers set up communities on the other Bass Strait Islands  Not the end after all?