1. Aborigines

2. Who are they?

3. Aborigines “First Australians”
Aborigine: Latin meaning “from the beginning”

4. When did they come?

5. When? Debated!
20,000-60,000 years ago
Maybe up to 100,000 years ago

6. Where did they come from?

8. How did they come?

9. Disagreement…
Land bridge
Island Hoppers

10. Aboriginal Clans Clan – language group who owned a section of land
100 people
One or two extended families (bands)
Bands hunted and gathered together
Met with other clans
Totem poles – sign of spiritual link to the land

11. Aboriginal Dreamtime
Stories and customs relating and explaining creation
Example: Wayambeh

12. This image from the archives of LIFE magazine first appeared on December 12, 1955 Australian Aborigines Filled with the Spirit of the Kangaroo, Dancing to Honor the Sacred Marsupial  

13. “The Walkabout”

14. A “walkabout” is…
A spiritual journey in which the Aborigines practice the traditional ways of their ancestors
A term coined by Europeans

21. An end to Aboriginal Culture

22. Europeans and Sovereignty
Saw no permanent settlements
Viewed Aborigines as “savages”

23. William Dampier English explorer – 1688
Wrote that the Aborigines were, “the miserablest people in the world.”

24. James Cook English explorer – 1770
“…in reality they are far more happier than we Europeans…In short they seemed to set no value upon anything we gave them, nor would they part with anything of their own for one article we could offer them.”

25. Laws and Ordinances

26. The Nanya tribe (lower Darling river, NSW), soon after their capture in 1894

27. Aboriginal Protection Act - 1869
Passed to “protect” the Aborigines
Segregation law
Restricted housing, employment, property rights, and social and daily life

28. The Half-Caste Act of 1886 Extension of Aborigines Protection Act
Removed Aboriginals of mixed descent from Aboriginal stations
Adult half-castes forced to assimilate
Children “indentured”

29. Aboriginal Ordinance of 1918
First Commonwealth law for governing Indigenous people
Government control over Aboriginal lives
Continued removal of half-castes
Aboriginal stations became work stations
“Lost Generation” or “Stolen Generation”

30. Aboriginal Land Rights Act of 1976
1st time Aborigines could legally claim rights to land based on traditional occupation
Restricted
20 year limit (1997)
Problem: lack of evidence

31. “City” Aborigines Substandard housing Low levels of education
Poor health
Low levels of employment
Considerable poverty

32. How do “European” Australians feel about the “horrible injustice” of the Aborigines?
Embarrassed
Resentful

33. Mark Twain once wrote after visiting Australia:
“The Whites always mean well when they take human fish out of the ocean and try to make them dry and warm and happy and comfortable in a chicken coop.”