Why Did Forced Separation from the Land Have Such a Devastating Impact on Australian Aboriginal Culture?
Essay Question: Why did forced separation from the land have such a devastating impact on Australian Aboriginal culture?
For an estimated sixty thousand years Indigenous people lived, surviving off the land, in what is now known as Australia. On January 26th 1788 the first British to settle Australia arrived at the location that is presently called Port Jackson near Sydney. This arrival marked the beginning of a new era in Aboriginal history that saw over the next two hundred years the forcible separation of indigenous people from their traditional homelands. It caused widespread devastation to their culture. This essay will examine why forced separation from traditional lands had such a devastating impact on Australian Aboriginal culture. Firstly, I briefly examine the history of British settlement and the land policies implemented. I will then establish that land for Australian Aboriginals was the base upon which their cultural practices rested. It follows that by not being able to access their land, they effectively were rendered unable to continue these traditions. The devastation this caused was compounded by the fact that Aboriginal societies were oral societies, meaning once knowledge was lost it was lost forever. It is for these reasons forced separation from the land had such a devastating impact on Aboriginal culture.
The British brought a very different view of land ownership to Australia when the arrived in 1788. Over the last two hundred years in England new land reforms had began which “put the property rights of an owner above that of the liberty, even the life, of another person.”[1] This meant that when settling colonies British forces had the lawful right to deny access to land they claimed as their own. In the case of Australia the British saw Aboriginals as savages without government or law. Captain Cook reflected this view when saying they were “like wild beasts.”[2] Being accustomed to growing crops and raising
For an estimated sixty thousand years Indigenous people lived, surviving off the land, in what is now known as Australia. On January 26th 1788 the first British to settle Australia arrived at the location that is presently called Port Jackson near Sydney. This arrival marked the beginning of a new era in Aboriginal history that saw over the next two hundred years the forcible separation of indigenous people from their traditional homelands. It caused widespread devastation to their culture. This essay will examine why forced separation from traditional lands had such a devastating impact on Australian Aboriginal culture. Firstly, I briefly examine the history of British settlement and the land policies implemented. I will then establish that land for Australian Aboriginals was the base upon which their cultural practices rested. It follows that by not being able to access their land, they effectively were rendered unable to continue these traditions. The devastation this caused was compounded by the fact that Aboriginal societies were oral societies, meaning once knowledge was lost it was lost forever. It is for these reasons forced separation from the land had such a devastating impact on Aboriginal culture.
The British brought a very different view of land ownership to Australia when the arrived in 1788. Over the last two hundred years in England new land reforms had began which “put the property rights of an owner above that of the liberty, even the life, of another person.”[1] This meant that when settling colonies British forces had the lawful right to deny access to land they claimed as their own. In the case of Australia the British saw Aboriginals as savages without government or law. Captain Cook reflected this view when saying they were “like wild beasts.”[2] Being accustomed to growing crops and raising
Bibliography: Captain James Cook, Sources of Australian History, London: Oxford University Press, 1957 Prof Sandra Harben, Recording Traditional Knowledge: Our Country…Our Stories…Our People…, Perth: Murdoch University Richard Broome, Aboriginal Australians: A History Since 1788, 4th Edition, Crows Nest, Australia: Allen & Unwin, 2010 Ronald Murray, The World of the First Australias, 5th Edition, Sydney: Aboriginal Studies Press, 1999 Woodley ----------------------- [1] Richard Broome, Aboriginal Australians: A History Since 1788, 4th Edition, Crows Nest, Australia: Allen & Unwin, 2010, p19 [2] Captain James Cook, Sources of Australian History, London: Oxford University Press, 1957, p 39 [3] Richard Broome, Aboriginal Australians: A History Since 1788, 4th Edition, Crows Nest, Australia: Allen & Unwin, 2010, p19 [4] Prof. Larissa Behrendt, Indigenous Australia For Dummies, 1st Edition, Milton: Wiley Publishing, 2012, p91 [5] Sandra Harben, Recording Traditional Knowledge: Our Country…Our Stories…Our People…, Perth: Murdoch University, p44 [6] Richard Broome, Aboriginal Australians: A History Since 1788, 4th Edition, Crows Nest, Australia: Allen & Unwin, 2010, p10 [7] Sandra Harben, Recording Traditional Knowledge: Our Country…Our Stories…Our People…, Perth: Murdoch University, pp22-32 [8] Richard Broome, Aboriginal Australians: A History Since 1788, 4th Edition, Crows Nest, Australia: Allen & Unwin, 2010, p10 [9] Sandra Harben, Recording Traditional Knowledge: Our Country…Our Stories…Our People…, Perth: Murdoch University, p70 [10] Richard Broome, Aboriginal Australians: A History Since 1788, 4th Edition, Crows Nest, Australia: Allen & Unwin, 2010, p10 [11] Prof [12] Ronald Murray, The World of the First Australias, 5th Edition, Sydney: Aboriginal Studies Press, 1999, p506 [13] Woodley [14] Prof. Larissa Behrendt, Indigenous Australia For Dummies, 1st Edition, Milton: Wiley Publishing, 2012, p36 [15] Richard Broome, Aboriginal Australians: A History Since 1788, 4th Edition, Crows Nest, Australia: Allen & Unwin, 2010, p10