Unit 3- Britain- Australia

Question 1

What are the 3 main features of the Australia section?

Answer 1

1) Original British thinking- Botany Bay outdoor prison–> imperial colony
2) British attitudes and policies towards the Aboriginals (bad treatment)
3) Attitudes of the natives towards the British
4) New South Wales and Van Diemen’s land

Question 2

How to answer a source question

Answer 2

Source 1 is very valuable for revealing………………………………….. (first part of the question)
and the nature and purpose of the source reveal a considerable amount about…….. (2nd part of the question)

Question 3

Original British thinking- Botany Bay outdoor prison–> imperial colony
No longer able to transport any to America due to the War of Independence

Answer 3

Joseph Banks was one of the few people who had been to Australia as he was a member of the expedition that Captain Cook had commanded 17 years before- one of the few possible witnesses that the government could ask for advice when considering transportation and settlement- views of Botany Bay were positive
Soil was very fertile and good climate- key to long survival in the colony- determined the colony to be self-sufficient and possible trade benefits
Britain was spending a fortune fighting the American War of Independence and its trade was severely disrupted by the war (exports feel by 18% between 1775 and 1778)

Small number of Aboriginal people- did not farm the land but lived in harmony with nature, but to British people like Banks this meant that they had no obvious claim to the land
Captain Cook- claim declared it as Terra Nulis
The Aboriginal people might serve their time and be freed

Question 4

British attitudes and policies towards the Aboriginals (bad treatment
Attitudes of the natives towards the British New South Wales and Van Diemen’s land
Their fate is one of the worst chapters in all the history of the British Empire

Answer 4

The Eora of New South Wales which had 2,500 in the area
Some friendly meetings took place between the two groups- complete mutual incomprehension- tensions quickly developed-
Philip issued instructions that the convict shouldn’t steal from the Aboriginal population- this was largely ignored- and they retailed by stealing the convicts shovel, spades

Stealing turned into violence- 1788- 2 convicts murdered butchered by local Aboriginal people
Smallpox epidemic possibly by transportation of the virus by the First Fleet wiped out 50% or more of the Aboriginal people- no resistance to the disease

Aboriginal genocide in Van Diemen’s Land
Black War- violent conflict fought between the Aboriginal people and the settlers of Tasmania 1820- cleared to make way for farms to produce wool- original were hunted, starved and imprisoned until population was wiped out by a class of convicts
Contrast to New South Wale were everything was controlled
Governor Arthur declared martial law against the A people forcing them to be in ‘settled districts m’ near Tasmania