Chapter 2: Australia and th indigenous Australians

Question 1

Theo indigenous inhabitants

Answer 1

When the British explorers and settlers arrived in Australia during the 18th century they found people already living there which were called the indigenous or first people of Australia, Aboriginal or Aborigines. The Aborigines were recognised as having been in Australia from the beginning

They lived in small communities with social and religious customs in common. Their technology, food and hunting practices varied according to the local environment

Question 2

British colonisation

Answer 2

Britain began to colonise Australia in 1788, large numbers of poor people in Britain were convicted of minor crimes and sentences toning terms in prison. There was therefore a large prison population. The British government decided to transport many of these convicts to Australia, where their labour could help to build the new colony

When the British colonised Australia, they encountered the Aboriginals who had been living for more than 50 decades. The British authorities failed to recognise aboriginals as human beings and subjected them to a range of policies that ultimately led to their destruction in large numbers

Question 3

The effect of British settlements on the aboriginal population

Answer 3

The aboriginals were chased off the land and away from resources on which they depended
Many of them were forced to live in reservations where they died of starvation
They were treated the same way as wild animals of the territory
Regular hunting parties took place during which the aboriginals were killed
80 percent of aboriginals were killed over the 150 years in wars and massacres or died from European diseases such as smallpox and influenza to which they had no immunity

Question 4

Why did Australian authorities justify their actions against the Aboriginals

Answer 4

because of the pseudo-scientific race theories that were common at the time. They believed that the Aboriginals were biologically inferior

Question 5

Who were the first immigrants to Australia

Answer 5

Britain

Question 6

What was discovered in Australia

Answer 6

Gold

Question 7

What was the White Australia Policy

Answer 7

A series of restrictive immigration laws that were passed over the next decade

Question 8

Children from Britain sent to Australia after WW2

Answer 8

Thousands of children from Britain orphanage and slums were sent to Australia to work in labour camps there. After the war, times were very hard in Britain. Orphanages and poor children were regarded as undesirable and so they were sent to do productive work in Australia. After 1945 10 000 children between the ages of three and 15 were sent out to new homes n Australia

Three children were sent to Australia at a time when Australians were terrified of being overwhelmed by Asians. These British children helped to increase the number of white immigrants in line with the White Australia policy

Question 9

Children from Britain sent to Australia after WW2

Answer 9

Thousands of children from Britain orphanage and slums were sent to Australia to work in labour camps there. After the war, times were very hard in Britain. Orphanages and poor children were regarded as undesirable and so they were sent to do productive work in Australia. After 1945 10 000 children between the ages of three and 15 were sent out to new homes n Australia

Three children were sent to Australia at a time when Australians were terrified of being overwhelmed by Asians. These British children helped to increase the number of white immigrants in line with the White Australian policy

Question 10

Who were the stolen generation

Answer 10

Children who were removed from their families

Question 11

Treatment of mixed race of children

Answer 11

• Children were removed from their families. The law allowed the gov to remove Aboriginal children from their parent without having to find out if they were in any way neglected or mistreated which had a negative social and psychological impact of being separated from their families and extended families
• Policemen or Aboriginal Protection Officer located and transferred babies and children of mixed descents from their mothers or families or communities and put them into institutions or they we have given to foster homes
• Children were frequently punished if caught speaking local indigenous languages
• Children’s names were changed
• Boys were trained as agricultural labourers and the girls as domestic servants
• Children were often not adequately clothed, fed and sheltered
• Some experienced sexual assault while in an institution, at work or with a foster or adoptive family