Name: Tobias Wooldridge
Class: 9DK
Subject: Humanities
Topic: Aboriginal and White contact
Subtopic: When you look at the available evidence, the Australian aborigines were never going to get on with the White settlers.
Some of the Australian Aboriginals did get along with the British Settlers, although this was most likely out of necessity after the British settlers took their once bountiful hunting grounds. These particular Aboriginals became dependant upon British settlements, becoming the first fringe-dwelling Aboriginal Australians. However, while some of the Aboriginals did get along with the British settlers, the majority of Aboriginal people did not, and resisted against the British.
18 years before the colonization of Australia, the British parliament declared that Australia was Terra Nullius, which means No Mans Land. This would be a major problem for the Aboriginal Australians, because it meant that they would initially have few, if any, rights under British Law, which would later be forced upon them. This certainly would not help the relationships between the two peoples.
One of the worst things that happened which affected the relationship between the Europeans and the Aboriginals was the diseases that the Europeans brought with them; in specific smallpox. Unlike the Europeans, the Aboriginals did not have a resistance to the smallpox and in some areas; it killed up to half of the local Aboriginal people.
The Aboriginal people were initially not hostile towards the European colonists, but as the colonies grew the amount of hostility between the two peoples increased. The Aboriginal people began to attack the European settlements using hit-and-run attacks. One of the main leaders of these attacks was Pemulwhy, who led many of the Darug people against the colonists in area surrounding Sydney. His attacks lasted 12 years From 1790 to 1802. He was outlawed in 1801 before being killed in 1802. This did nothing to help the relationship between the Europeans and the Aboriginals, causing in even more tension and hostility between the two peoples, eventually resulting in the imposition of Martial Law.
Martial law means, Temporary rule by military authorities, imposed on a civilian population especially in time of war or when civil authority has broken down (The American Heritage Dictionaries). In the case of the Aboriginals though, they were the civilians, and this meant that many Aboriginal Australians were sentenced to death, even if they had broken an irregular law.
Furthermore, the European settlers began to organize vigilante groups to teach the blacks a lesson (J.C. Hamilton), after cases where one of them had been killed by the Aboriginals. These vigilante groups were the cause of many attacks towards the Aboriginals and the police were unable to act upon this because evidence was nearly impossible to get, as Aboriginals were unable to be witnesses in court because they were not Christian and couldnt be sworn in (Robert Darlington).
Many large massacres were committed by these vigilante groups, including the Myall Creek massacre and the Warrigal Creek massacre. The Myall Creek massacre took place in June 1838, when eleven armed stockmen slaughtered approximately 20 aboriginal people for the petty reason To punish them for frightening cattle (Robert Darlington). The Warrigal Creek massacre is a less well-known event, but approximately 60 Aboriginal people (Three times that of Myall Creek) were killed by a small party of Europeans. Their reason for this though, was to avenge the death of Ronald Macalister, who was killed by aboriginal people (Robert Darlington). These massacres were brutal displays of how many Europeans thought the Aboriginals to be savage brutes.
Yet whilst many Europeans thought the Aboriginal people to be savage brutes, some people thought them to be more of a Noble Savage, in particular George Robinson. He expressed compassion to the Aboriginal people, unlike many others. Who is to avenge their wrongs? The Aboriginal children have witnessed the massacre of their parents and their relations carried away into captivity by these merciless invaders (George Augustus Robinson) He believed them to be the victims of the Europeans, and he travelled among the surviving Aboriginal people of Tasmania. Robinson believed that they would be wiped out unless they agreed to be moved to an island off the Tasmanian coast, and he convinced them to agree to this plan. (Robert Darlington). He successfully saved the lives of 203 Aboriginal people, although many of them died of illness before 1847 and by 1869, Truganini was the last remaining Tasmanian Aboriginal.
As stated above; Most Aboriginal Australians did not get along with the Europeans, but there were some who did get along. The ones who did not get along with the Europeans did not because of the laws and diseases brought upon the Aboriginals, the murder of countless Aboriginals and the indiscreet massacres of numerous Aboriginals. One thing led to another, and the Aboriginal people led guerrilla attacks against the Europeans in retaliation. The Aboriginals who did get along with the Europeans did so though necessity, as their food supplies had dried up. Some also did so to obtain peace with the Europeans, or as a show of goodwill.