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The Aboriginal community
Study Notes prepared by Paul Brown
Bairnsdale Secondary College
The Aboriginal community has been a strong, resilient and beautiful society for around 60,000 years before White Settlement in 1788.The landing of the First Fleet at Sydney Cove forever changed the course of this ancient culture.
Australia was settled as a dumping ground for convicts who could no longer be sent to America and Africa. At the time of settlement there were between 300,000 to one million people living in approx. 300 tribes with distinct boundaries, laws, customs, economic and trading patterns, and a social and spiritual belief system steeped in time and evolution.
The indigenous peoples thought the white men were ghosts or spirits of the dead. This 'clash of civilisations' was only going to have one winner as the Anglo-Saxons British culture had a long history of domination and exploitation. The Aboriginal Culture had been physically cut off by sea for thousands years so had no exchange or pressures from other cultures.
Key Focus Questions
- How would the white settlers have perceived the Aborigines and vice versa.
- What would be some of the problems and issues that arose with contact.
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