Definitions

Question 1

Terra Nullius

Answer 1

Meaning “nobody’s land”, was used to by the British to justify their claim to occupy and take over Australia.

Question 2

Federation

Answer 2

The process by which the six separate British self-governing colonies of Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia, and Western Australia agreed to unite and form the Commonwealth of Australia.

Question 3

The White Australia Policy

Answer 3

Was the Immigration Restriction Act of 1901, that was legislation enacted by the Commonwealth of Australia that effectively stopped all non-European immigration into the country.

Question 4

Blackbirding

Answer 4

The practice of kidnapping Pacific Islanders and using them as forced labour, in particular on sugar and cotton plantations in Australia.

Question 5

Social Darwinism

Answer 5

The theory that human races are subject to the same laws of natural selection, allowing some races (i.e. the British) to consider themselves ‘superior’ to the races of the nations they colonised (i.e. Indigenous Australians).