Fanny Balbuk lived on her life from the year 1840-1907 with pride. She was a strong and courageous woman of the Noongar people and is never afraid to be herself. Born in the early years of the settlement of the British, Balbuk has never turned away from her cultural beliefs during the colonisation. Though everything around her was slowly getting wrong, she still continued life as an Aboriginal. She still continued gathering eggs and caught turtles and crayfish. She also continued her ritual acts, even though knowing the British’s discouragement and rage.…
Essay Topic: European settlement in Australia provided the catalyst for the near destruction of Indigenous society…
In 1788, nearly 1000 Europeans arrived to Australia. From this year, conflicts between Aboriginals and Europeans continued until 1860. Before colonization, indigenous people were struck down by diseases introduced by Europeans. Indigenous people had no immunity to new diseases, so the common cold, sexually transmitted disease and smallpox resulted in a rapid decline of their population. In 1856, the British government authorized the appointment of a “Protector of Aborigines” to settle problems such as people’s illness, language and occupation. In 1860, the Victorian government established the Aborigines Protection Board. In 1910, Australia government forcibly took more than 100 000 Aboriginal children from their families and placed in church or state based institutions. (Jupp,J 2001, p.9).…
The myriad of myths attributed to Indigenous Australians were generated by the invasion of the Australian Continent by British Colonialists in 1770. The Europeans brought with them long held supremacist ideologies that were based on the belief of Eurocentrism and ethnocentrism or white supremacy (Hollingsworth 2006:68). Consequently, myths developed about the inevitability of a dying race based on the ‘biological and cultural inferiority’ of the Indigenous Australians (Hollingsworth 2006, p.35,). Furthermore,…
The Aboriginals customs and life style were being broken down as the natural resources that the natives relied on were being diminished by the Europeans. Cutting down of trees, fishing holes being taken over and the hunt for Kangaroos for meat were all needed by the natives to survive. Without these resources the many Aboriginals took up Governor Phillips offer and moved into town with the whites, sleeping and eating in the settlers’ houses.(3)…
'A Righteous Day' written by Mudrooroo Nyroongah on 26TH January (Australia Day), in 1988, is a poem set in the first person voice that has been composed in response to the depressing day of the Bicentenary of European Settlement. As the "righteous" day is reflected by the persona, this contrasts with the 'White' Australians celebrating a "successful" colonisation in high-spirited ways, because to the Aborigines it is a day of mourning as they view it as Invasion day. The poem underlines the fact that despite the hardships Aborigines have experienced as a result of White Colonisation, it would be ideal if they shifted from prisoners of society to proactive citizens of Australia who will stand tall with pride and win their internal battles in the face of adversity.…
The form in which Oodgeroo Noonuccal writes her poem impacts the text by distinctly separating the conflicting views. The poem is composed of three stanzas, all quatrains the first relates to how she understands her son’s worries. The second is of the negative side of white people’s treatment, and finally the third completely conflicts with the second quatrain by showing the positive optimistic view she has, “…lives of black and white entwine”.…
the aboriginals faced many hardships and issues from the effect of colonisation. these are displayed through a number of different texts and films such as 'rabbit proof fence' by phillip noyce, 'the rabbits' by john marsden and shaun tan and oodgeroo noonuccal's poems 'white Australia' and 'then and now'. issues include loss and destruction of the environment, stolen generation and…
From the time that Europeans landed in Australia ‘Pastoralists were pushing into Indigenous territory, robbing Aboriginal people of the land they had lived on and nurtured for thousands of years. ‘But Aboriginal communities did not just stand by as the land which they had formed rich bonds with, both spiritually and physically, was taken from their hands. Through a mixture of fear and hatred of the Aboriginals, European settlers engaged in many brutal clashes with them to attempt to seize their land. The Myall Creek massacre and the genocide that occurred in Van Diemens land are two prominent examples of the vicious and inhumane treatment of Aboriginals and the story of Pemulwuy is a reminder of the courage shown that was shown in adversity by many Aboriginal people.…
It is argued that colonization had a major impact on health conditions of Indigenous Australians. From early settlement, deaths from white man’s measles and common flu gave way to more recent diabetes and renal diseases. Prior to the colonization, Indigenous people were physically healthy with hunting and collecting lifestyle. Interaction with white settlement deprived them of traditional food sources and mission society created a food currency of flour, sugar and tea. This was an unhealthy diet. For example, consuming a large amount of tea can lead to mal-absorption of iron (Taylor &Gruien, 2010). Another more recent example of black-white interaction was the psychologically damaging policy of the ‘Stolen Generations’ adoption policy, in which the children were taken out of their families and forcibly assimilated into a different culture, creating loss of cultural identity, behavioral disturbances and long-term health problems. Especially, Aboriginal mothers were damaged who still show signs of emotional pain and suppression (Taylor &Gruien, 2010).…
“I wanted to go to school but my parents told me, 'No they might take you away for good.' And they ran away in the bush.…
This chapter indicates how an Aboriginal Approach incorporates historical facts about the social and psychological effects of colonization. Chapter 11 focuses on 2 important aspects. One is the importance of the Medicine Wheel which models and guides the Aboriginal Approach as one of its teachings and the second is the journey toward Minopimatasiwin (the good life) which is a goal that is pursued by all and is the highest level of goals of the helping process made by client and social worker.…
The European invasion of Australia in 1780 impacted upon the lives of all the Aboriginal people that lived in and around the invaded areas. When Captain Cook landed in Australia, he declared it as Terra Nullius, and this alone gives a significant insight as to the mentality of the British and their willingness to acknowledge the Aboriginal people and the importance that the land played in their daily lives. As the invaders brought with them their laws, ideals, diseases, livestock and people, the need for land increased and settlers began to venture outwards from the main settlements, the frontier broadened and the Aboriginal population began to shrink. The encroachment upon the land meant that many Aboriginal people were now being forced to come into closer contact with the Europeans. In doing this, the frontier affected the Aboriginal people in ways that ensured that their lives would never be the same and that European ideals affected their lives not only on the frontier but for generations too follow. The invasion of the Australian frontier affected areas in Aboriginal lives such as dispossession, disease, large-scale violence, which led to resistance.…
The Aborigines Act of 1905 supposed to be an act that raised provision for the better protection and care of the Aboriginal inhabitants of Western Australia; however in reality the real purpose of the act was not to make the general wellbeing of the Aborigines better, it was to control every movement they made and have power over every aspect of their lives. The following essay discusses several of the clauses in the text that prove its intention most deceiving, and what the act truly accomplished.…
Aboriginals have always had a strong link between them and the land with the belief of the Dreamtime and the art, symbols, rituals and totems that came with it. After the white settlement, the way in which aboriginals lived their everyday life took a dramatic turn. It had affected their culture for many generations with a disconnection with the land to them.…