History assignment 4: Site visit and analysis (include personal reflection)

Question: What were the most important messages about Australian Indigenous history
presented at the site you visited and how did the material you studied in HIST106 this
semester help you understand these key ideas?

Australian history is not a narrative that can be told from a single perspective. Most
Australians will know some of Australia's history, covering the first fleet landing, the
conquering of the native people, and colonisation of the country. However, there is more than
one way of telling history, and not everyone believes there is one way that is the best way to
tell it. Throughout this semester of HIST106 I have developed a greater understanding of
Australias history, and feel that I now have a more rounded knowledge about the events of
the past. This is largely due to having now learnt the conventional narrative and the counternarrative of Australian history; and this has also been achieved through a trip to the Koorie
Heritage Trust Website. With this source, I have developed a greater understanding of
Australias colonisation, and the events that transpired during that time, including the
Aboriginal peoples cultural and spiritual practises prior to the British settlement; the conflict
that begun upon the English settlers arrival and the massacres and violence that followed; the
humanitarian actions and set-up of missions and reserves; the stolen generation; and the
recent developments and events including Kevin Rudds apology, all of which will be
explored in greater detail in this essay.
The Koorie Heritage Trust details Aboriginal peoples complex spiritual and cultural
practises. Aboriginal people had established their own way of life and their own cultural
practises to live off the land prior to the coming of the English settlers. The discovery of a
ritual cremation of a woman whose body was prepared with Ochre 26,000 years ago at Lake
Mungo provides evidence supporting that Indigenous Australians had these strong spiritual
beliefs and practises (Koorie heritage trust). Other cultural practises of the Aboriginal people
revolved around their spiritual and cultural connection with the land. The indigenous
Australians hunted, fished, and gathered nuts and plants in order to survive. The Koorie
Heritage Trust explored in great detail, the traditional Aboriginal peoples practises and
typical day-to-day activities of women, men and children prior to British colonisation. The
men and women had different roles in hunting animals; however they all shared whatever
was caught. Everyone had a role in the communities, including the children, who, with the
help of the women, would gather nuts and plants (foraging), weave baskets, and collect other
important materials.
The aboriginal people had a strong connection to the land. But they did not believe in
possession of the land; they did not own the land as the settlers claimed to. Instead, they lived
off the land. The aboriginal peoples culture is illustrated by Bob Randall, who stated that
Aboriginal people just lived on the land, as people of the land, and that the land owned
the Aboriginal people (Bob Randall, 2009). This is different to the perspective of the English
settlers, who saw the land as a possession which they used as they saw fit, to suit their needs,
such they felled trees, cleared the ground of undergrowth and pitched shelters taking over

the cove transforming it with straight lines of tents and putting up fences for their stock
animals (Broome, 2010, p.16).
The Koorie Heritage Trust also detailed how the Aboriginal people managed the land.
Traditional land management included setting fires to sections of the bush to maintain their
hunting grounds; this was a controlled fire that returned ash to the soil to encourage new
shoots. There was a variety of grasses, herbs, shrubs and trees the plains provided for an
abundance of creatures, all of which the Aboriginal people used as subtle guides to determine
the movement of clans. According to Roslyn (2000):
Being hunter-gatherers, the Aboriginal people were dependant on
environment changes for their survival. They noted particular correlations
between the movements and patterns of stars and changes in the weather.
(p.6)
Factors such as temperature, rainfall, vegetation, and the species that were born and
vanishing, were signs the Koorie people interpreted, and they changed their practises and
tools accordingly (Koorie Heritage Trust). All of these environments in which clans lived,
and the resources they had access to, formed their cultural practises (Koorie Heritage Trust).
However, these cultural practises changed when the English arrived. With their buildings; and
animals like cattle, sheep and horses, they transformed the land, forcing the Aboriginal people
to adapt. They had to change their way of life, and their culture that had been so successful
for thousands of years prior to English settlement in order to survive in this new world. The
English settlers brought disease, epidemics, violence, and exploited the Aboriginal women
(lecture week 4). All of this led to the Aboriginal peoples retaliation and the massacres of
Aboriginal people by English settlers.
After learning from the Koorie heritage site and from what I have learned throughout
HIST106 this semester have granted me a greater appreciation for the Aboriginal people, their
strength and persistence throughout their hardships. They never gave up and continued to
hold onto their culture and spirituality.
The invasion of English settlers, and the conflict between them and the native
Aboriginal people, lead to numerous massacres of Aboriginal people at the hands of the
European settlers who had claimed the land upon their arrival. These conflicts were one of
the main focuses of the Koorie Heritage Trust site. The beginning of the interactions between
the aboriginals and the English settlers was difficult, with communication barriers as there
was no common language. Broome (2010) asserts that cultural encounters are by nature
marked by misunderstandings and that language barrier obscured meaning, even gestures
such as winks, handshakes and hand twitches can convey something different to their
intention (p. 17). Straight away the Aboriginal people were judged by the English settlers,
perceived to be, as Governor Phillip referred to them, Savage natives (lecture week 4).
Governor Phillips instructed his men to show kindness and amity to the Native indigenous
people, but then gave contradictory instructions which were to allow no one to stand in the
way of British occupation and to punish those who did (lecture week 4). The initial mutual
curiosity, coupled with the miscommunication, soon lead to a deterioration of relationships
between the aboriginal people and the English settlers, and then to violence (lecture week 4).
The Koorie Heritage Trust site called the settlement an invasion of man and beast. The

original owners of the land, the Eora, were stunned and angry upon their first sighting and
experience with the British (Broome, 2010, p.16). These invaders were the ones who
behaved like savages; landing without permission, cutting down trees, clearing the ground,
putting up shelters, and behaving in a manner that was disrespectful and barbaric to the
Aboriginal people (Broome, 2010, p.16).
Colonisation continued, and the Aboriginal people became subject to the laws that
were imposed on them, without consideration for the Aboriginal peoples law or cultural,
spiritual, legal, family and community life (lecture notes week 2, p.28). Many policies and
practices enabled institutional racism, i.e. manifest in the laws, norms & regulations that
maintain dominance of one group over another (Eckerman et al., 2006). The British saw
themselves as the superior race and acted accordingly. They treated the Aboriginal people
with anger and violence. Robert Knox, as cited in Bowes & Grace (2010, p.101) encapsulates
this racial difference and competition when he wrote that fair, stronger races always
exterminated the black ones, which were weaker. As a result of this commonly held view,
that Aboriginal people were weaker and inferior, they were subject to abuse, mistreatment,
and in some cases slaughter; shoot those you cannot get at and hang those that you do catch
on the nearest tree as an example to the rest (Robert, 2009, p. 4). The Koorie Heritage Trust
site also presents the mistreatment and deaths of Aboriginal people on the newly colonised
land at the hands of the British. This site presents newspaper clippings on numerous
suspicious Indigenous Australians jail deaths, detailing that there have been 108 known cases
of Aboriginal men and women who have died while in custody. All of these facts point to the
racist mindset of the English settlers and the improper and unwarranted violence towards
Aboriginal people.
All of this new information and learning through this perspective of the narrative has
enabled me to see the other side of history. It has altered my perspective of Australian
settlement and changed my belief that it was a peaceful settlement. In previous years I was
only taught history from a white Australian's point of view; through HIST106 this semester I
have gained a greater understanding of both sides of the story.
The missions and reserves were seen as humanitarianism by the English settlers.
However upon a deeper examination of the conditions and treatment within the missions and
reserves it seems that they were just another measure of the settlers' control over the
Aboriginal people. Others began to speak out about his violence and mistreatment of the
native Indigenous Australians and began to bring these humanitarian ideas to the colony
creating a substantial voice of opposition (lecture week 5). They were set up to provide
medicine, food and blankets in an attempt to shield the remaining Koorie people (Koorie
Heritage Trust). However, they became another method of controlling the Aboriginal people.
The Aboriginal people were not given much choice in moving off their land, it was either
fight on the frontier or coming in - joining the settler society in some form. Missions were
intentionally isolated from Aboriginal peoples own land and European settlement in order to
limit and further control their culture, further attempting to convert them to Christianity and
remove their way of life. Within these protectorates, including the Port Phillip Protectorate,
Aboriginal people were expected to change their way of life, behaviour, speech, food and
ceremony (lecture week 5). At the Koorie Heritage Trust site, these missions and reserves

were seen as well-meaning but ill-conceived attempts to mitigate the suffering of Indigenous
people Koories were forced to give up families, traditions and beliefs. Even our languages
were forbidden (Koorie Heritage Trust). Richard Broome (2010) describes how this control
was exercised formally by Aboriginal Boards acting under special legislation, which
incarcerated people on reserves, managed their daily lives and world, fragmented families
and denied them civil rights (p.172). Broome (2010) also gives inmate Charlie Anthills
account of Moore River, saying it was:
no good, no good at all. Tucker very little, no meat, little bread, little
jamSaw Boss hit boy maybe twelve years old on head and knock him
downBoss put him in prison one day then tie him to a tree and have him
flogged (p. 174-175)
New legislation took this even further. It was illegal for Aboriginal people to have possession
of or drink any alcohol. All of these actions point towards the government seeking control
over the Aboriginal people and their desire to separate the two races any way possible. This
has reinforced my anger at the treatment Aboriginal people received during the British
colonisation and the continued prejudice and discrimination, and helped me better understand
Australian history.
The stolen generation is an especially difficult issue for Aboriginal people, and is an
ongoing issue today. Before HIST106 this year I didnt fully comprehend and understand the
trauma and the event as a whole. I had initially thought that Aboriginal child removal ended
hundreds of years ago, however I now know that integrating Aboriginal children into white
families and into modern society, with the intention of saving the children and to provide a
better living environment (lecture week 7) was still ongoing even as little as 50 years ago.
Under government regulations and Acts, Aboriginal children aged seven to eight years old,
later changed to infants when it was discovered these older children could remember where
they came from, were removed from their families and placed in a white Australian home
(Koorie Heritage Trust). During this time there was a persistence of racial prejudice and
discrimination towards aboriginal people. Aboriginal people who did not have both a mother
and father who were of Aboriginal heritage were labelled as half-caste by the British settler
and were treated with the same stigma. There are so many cases of Aboriginal children who
have never known their biological parents and have gone through their life missing a part of
themselves, part of their heritage and culture. A few cases detail their personal experiences
with these events. In one case, a girl named Sarah, a child of a family of 13, was taken from
her family at the age of 4 in 1947: the reason being that she was light-skinned and shouldn't
be allowed to mix with natives (Sarah, 2001). Another case is that is of a girl, Evie, who was
abused and saw other children abused. This is a segment of her recount of the experience:
The saddest times were the abuse. Not only the physical abuse, the sexual
abuse by the priests over there. And they were the saddest because if you
were to tell anyone, well, the priests threatened that they would actually
come and get you. Everyone could see what they were doing but were told
to keep quiet. And just every day you used to get hidings with the stockwhip. Doesn't matter what you did wrong, you'd get a hiding with the stockwhip. If you didn't want to go to church, well you got slapped about the

head. We had to go to church three times a day. I was actually relieved to

leave the Island.
At the Koorie heritage trust site visit there is a wall of some of the Aboriginal people
who were affected first-hand, being a child from the stolen generation, and their thoughts and
experiences. One mans experience really brought this home for me, and helped me
understand the pain these removed Aboriginal children experienced: I got told my
Aboriginality when I got whipped and theyd say, You Abo, you nigger. That was the only
time I got told of my Aboriginality (Koorie Heritage Trust). It was claimed that the reasons
behind this movement were that disconnection from Aboriginal cultures was seen to be in the
best interests of the child (lecture week 7). It was assumed that the children would be better
off under a non-Aboriginal family's care than they would have been under the care of their
biological families. In 1937 it was decided that assimilation would be adopted as the national
policy by the commonwealth, and the states held a joint conference on native welfare. They
stated: That this Conference believes that the destiny of the natives of aboriginal origin, but
not of the full blood, lies in their ultimate absorption by the people of the Commonwealth,
and it therefore recommends that all efforts be directed to that end (Johnston, 1937, p.2).
The British settlers were ignorant and prejudice towards the aboriginal people and their
capacity and knowledge. The Aboriginal people were believed to be nothing more than an
indolent race of people that could not be civilised (Chaves, 2007, p. 126). There was a
commonly accepted view that Aboriginal people were unable to live cohesively and be a
part of society (Chaves, 2008, p.129), and this was coupled with the growing belief that due
to their inferiority, the Aboriginal people were a dying race. In fact, the opposite was true,
and the Aboriginal populations were actually growing (lecture week 6). Because of these
attitudes and beliefs, children continued to be removed and placed into an institution, foster
family, or orphanage, with many children were moved from one to another or a
combination of all three. The Aboriginal children suffered terrible living conditions, including
sexual abuse by those who were appointed to protect them, physical maltreatment, and
emotional and psychological neglect.
This site visit has had a great impact on me. Seeing and hearing personal accounts,
putting faces to the event of the stolen generation, it has made it more real and caused a
greater impact on myself and my feelings towards the event. This personalisation has really
impacted my understanding of these key events in history and broadened my understanding
of these events and the suffering the Aboriginal people have suffered for hundreds of years.
Looking forward there have been much success in gaining equal rights for Aboriginal
people and their claim to the land, their culture and heritage. There was a protest by the
Koories from Coranderrk, the first ever protest of the frontier period that began in 1875 and
continued through to 1882, a group led by Elders (Koorie Heritage Trust). They wrote
petitions and letters complaining about the replacement of the previous manager John Green
who was sympathetic and fair, and to get the reserves kept open for longer. They succeeded in
their aims. Prior to 1967, Aboriginal people were treated as minors with separate legal, politic
and social status, and had to have guardianship. Overall they suffered the same restrictions as
children (Koorie heritage site). However from 1949 onwards the right to enrol and vote began
to be extended to indigenous people, first only those in the military, and then extended state

by state, by 1965, with Queensland the last state (lecture week 9). This discriminatory
legislation was lifted, and as a result in 1967 the greatest YES-vote ever recorded in a
referendum accepted Aboriginal people as Australian citizens with full legal and political
rights (Koorie Heritage Trust).
Another main focus at both the Koorie Heritage Trust site and of our HIST106
semester content was Kevin Rudds Apology. This was a major event for Aboriginal people as
the government was finally taking some responsibility for the past crimes against them. Rudd
said We reflect on their past mistreatment. We reflect in particular on the mistreatment of
those who were Stolen Generations - this blemished chapter in our nation's history. He took
responsibility, apologised, saying the words: we say sorry (Parliament of Australia, 2008).
In saying these words had a great impact on both Australians and Aboriginal people. Kevin
Rudd called up an Aboriginal man and got his feedback on the speech and he said he had
never felt like and Australian, he felt like an outsider in his own country but after the
apology he said that for the first time he felt like both an Australian and an Aboriginal
(Rudd, 2011).
Throughout this semester I have gained a greater understanding and appreciation of
Australias history. I have learned about the Aboriginal peoples way of life prior to the
British invasion of their land, how it changed because of white people. I have been shocked
and appalled at the suffering of the Aboriginal people at the hands of the white invaders; the
horrific emotional, physical and sexual abuse they endured. All of these things and recent
events occurring today have changed the way I view Aboriginal people and their affairs. I
have begun to fill the gaps in my knowledge of Australian history and believe that I am a
more, well rounded individual for having this knowledge.

References:
Aboriginal Welfare: Initial conference of commonwealth and state Aboriginal Authorities
Bob Randall. (2009, February 26). The Land Owned Us [video file]. Retrieved from
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w0sWIVR1hXw
Broome, R. (2010). Aboriginal Australians: A History Since 1788 (4th ed.) The Eora
Confront the British (pp.15-35). Crows Nest, NSW: Allen & Unwin.
Broome, R. (2010). Aboriginal Australians: A History Since 1788 (4th ed.) Controlled by
Boards and Caste Barriers (pp. 172-194). Crows Nest, NSW: Allen & Unwin.
Chaves, K. (2007). 'A solemn judicial farce, the mere mockery of a trial': The acquittal of
Lieutenant Lowe, 1827. Aboriginal History, 31,122-140.
Commonwealth of Australia. (1937). Aboriginal Welfare-Initial Conference of
Commonwealth and State Aboriginal Authorities, Held at Canberra, 21st to 23rd April,
1937. Johnston commonwealth government printer, Canberra.
Eckermann, A-K., Dowd,T., Chong, E., Nixon, L., Gray, R,. Johnson, S.M. (2006) Binan
Goonj: Bridging cultures in Aboriginal health (3rd ed.). Elsevier Health Sciences.
Evie. "Bringing Them Home Evie story. Australian Human Rights Commision. N.p., 02
Dec. 2001. Web. 10 June 2013. Retrieved from
http://www.humanrights.gov.au/publications/bringing-them-home-evie-story
Haynes, R. "Dreaming the Stars." Earthsong Journal, no. Spring (2009): 5-12.
http://ezproxy.acu.edu.au/login?
url=http://search.informit.com.au/documentSummary;dn=223093546488449;res=IELHSS
Parliament of Australia - Department of Parliamentary Services. (2008). Apology to
Australia's Indigenous Peoples. N.p. Retrieed from :http://australia.gov.au/aboutaustralia/our-country/our-people/apology-to-australias-indigenous-peoples
Roberts, T. (2009). The Brutal Truth: What happened in the gulf country. The Monthly, 42-51.
Rudd, K. National Indigenous apology anniversary. Indigenous Law Bulletin, v.7, no.23, MarApr 2011: 35. Retrieved from: http://ezproxy.acu.edu.au/login?
url=http://www.heinonline.org/HOL/Page?
handle=hein.journals/indibull7&id=711&collection=journals
Sarah. "Bringing Them Home Sarah story. Australian Human Rights Commision. N.p., 02
Dec. 2001. Web. 10 June 2013. Retrieved from
http://www.humanrights.gov.au/publications/bringing-them-home-sarah-story

Lecture week 2: 60,000 years +

Lecture week 4. The Myth of Peaceful Settlement
Lecture week 5. Humanitarianism or Control? Protection, Missions and Reserves
Lecture week 6. Assimilation, Suppressing and Controlling Aboriginal Australians.
Lecture week 7. Child Removal
Lecture week 8. Civil Rights 1 The Fight for Equality
Lecture week 9. Land Rights and Native Title