Lucys Presentation Aborginal
Download as PPT, PDF2 likes1,871 views
The document summarizes the abuse of power suffered by Aboriginal people in Australia from the time of European colonization until the late 1960s. When Europeans first arrived, led by Captain James Cook, they claimed ownership of Australian lands despite the presence of Aboriginal peoples, disrupting their way of life. Over the following centuries, the Australian government and British imposed restrictive policies that displaced Aboriginals from their traditional lands and attempted to assimilate them through practices like forcibly removing children from families. This caused immense hardship and loss of culture for Aboriginal communities.
Lucys Presentation Aborginal
- 1. Abuse of Power The Story of the Aboriginal People
- 2. Introduction The situation of the Australian Aboriginal people illustrates a great abuse of power by the Australian government, Captain James Cook, the British government, the people arriving to Australia during the period of Colonization. When Europeans arrived in Australia the Aboriginal people suffered in a variety of ways including strict rules and regulations that took away their rights, lead to death and a feeling of misplacement. As a result of this the population of Aboriginal people dramatically decreased and the remaining Aboriginal people suffering the consequences of the arrival of the Europeans, especially the British. The topic of the Aboriginal people clearly shows abuse because when the Europeans came to Australia, they used the fact that they had more power to their advantage and did not take in to consideration the needs and life of the Aboriginal people. They used their power to manipulate and harm the Aboriginal people. Some Aboriginal people tried to stop the abuse but with no rights, being out-numbered and less technologically advanced their attempts were unsuccessful.
- 3. Cook and Colonization Event and Actions In 1770 Captain James Cook landed in Botany Bay and claimed Australia for the Europeans regardless of the fact that there were already people living in Australia. At this time Britain was under a policy of “terra nullis”. The policy meant that if land was not being farmed or developed in some way it could be used and claimed for settlement. Therefore Captain James Cook was able abuse his power to claim Australia when he was aware that the aboriginal people were already living there. Colonization soon followed Cook’s sighting of Australia.
- 4. View Points Both the British and the Aboriginals saw and experienced live differently and did not view land in the same way. The British saw it as something to farm when the Aboriginals used the land’s natural circle to live off. The British felt because they had more power over the Aboriginal people they could exploit them to benefit themselves. At the time of the abuse of power (1770-1969) the European settlers did not see the Aboriginals as humans.
- 5. How the Aboriginal people fought back at the abuse Actions During the time of colonization some Aboriginal people attempted to fight back. But their efforts were hopeless, the arriving European settlers were armed with guns and swords, the Aboriginal people only had ‘nulla nullas’ which were wooden weapons that came in many different shapes and sizes. In many cases before the Aboriginal people could reach the Europeans they had already been shot. An estimated 20,000 Aboriginal people died because of the conflict between the Aboriginal people and the non-Aboriginal people, of that 20,000, 18,000 were Aboriginal people.
- 6. Disease had an effect on generations to come. Europeans changed the circle in which the Aboriginal people got their food from. Europeans took away the little food the Aboriginal people learned to survive on before the food was ready. For thousands of years Aboriginal people had relied on the plant and agriculture to survive. They had only taken what they needed at the right time of the year to not be wasteful. By the Europeans who arrived in Australia took to much food before the food was ready to eat, therefore there was not enough for the Aboriginal people to eat, many died from starvation. The land that the Aboriginal people lived and survived on was taken away from them to be formed on and have homes for the Europeans. Discrimination against Aboriginal people Many people died during the conflict between the Aboriginal people and the settlers. When the Europeans arrived in Australia they brought with them foreign diseases, which without any immunity the Aboriginal people could not fight the diseases and many died. The Aboriginal people were treated like animals and hunted for sport by the arriving Europeans because their was no law protecting the Aboriginal people and they could be killed without reason in the early years of Colonization. Long term outcomes Short term outcomes
- 7. The Removal of Aboriginal children Event and Actions One of the most disturbing ways in which the arriving Europeans and the Australian government abused their power was the removal of the Aboriginal children from their families. This was partly so horrific because it continued until the late 1960’s. Between approximately 1900 to (officially) 1969 various policies made Aboriginal children wards of state and denying the rights for their parents to raise them or to have any contact with them. This happened to Aboriginal children of mixed descendents called half-casts. Full blooded Aboriginal children were allowed to remain in reserves with their families. The children were taken into special orphanages and some were adopted into families.
- 8. View Points The settlers wanted to remove the half castes (half Aboriginal, have European) from their families in order to assimilate the Aboriginal race and force them to adopt European ways. They wanted to eliminate to blood line of the Aboriginal people as they did not see them as an inferior race. The Aboriginal felt powerless over the state and were forced to give up their children against their will. The children that were taken felt they lost their culture and identity. “… I can’t even talk my own language …”(Muhammad Mckee, 1st Stolen Generation)
- 9. Resentment and feelings of grief towards the government. The children grow up into adulthood not knowing their heritage and culture. Language becomes less known Made to feel displaced, they don’t belong to white culture or Aboriginal culture. The trauma of being treated harshly and many were abused. “ We … were all in some form, shape or form, been abused by the so called cottage parents and … we still … a lot of us carry that scar today …” (Lizzie Moseley, 3 rd Generation). It has been shown that children taken away from their families are more likely to suffer from depression, suicide, alcohol and drug abuse Resentment and feelings of grief towards the government. Taught to feel ashamed of their background. Made to feel displaced, they don’t belong to white culture or Aboriginal culture. Grief of parents is almost as if they have died; they can’t see them and even if they came back they would find it very difficult to fit back into that way of life. Long term outcomes Short term outcomes
- 10. Reserves Events and Actions Between 1886-1911 the government abused their power by introducing laws to restrict the movement of the Aboriginal people and control every aspect of their lives including where they could work and who they could marry. These Reserves were small and were put in place so the Aboriginal people had to be dependent on the government. The residents of the reserves lived in poor make-shift homes. The people in the reserves either worked in sheep and cattle stations, if they were not working the lived on government rations. Some reserves were institutionalize with schools and health care, while other reserves did not have these advantages.
- 11. View Points The government wanted to have complete control and dominate the Aboriginal people’s lives to ‘protect them’ They thought of them as an inconvenience and felt the need to isolated from the non-Aboriginal people. The Aboriginal people felt frustrated by the government and trapped. They were forced to live their lives by what the government wanted and felt they had no choices.
- 12. Lack of experience because separated from society. Lack of control over own life; no autonomy. Lack of good education and health care . Long term Outcomes Short term Outcomes
- 13. Voting rights Events and Actions The events leading up to the full voting rights of the Aboriginal people was complicated and many people wrongly regarded 1967 as the year the Aboriginal people gained Constutional change on this issue . In the 1850’s some states allowed all men over 21 to vote and that included the Aboriginal men, but this was unknown to most people and therefore very few Aboriginal men voted. The commonwealth franchise act 1902 excluded the Aboriginal people. But loop holes allowed previously voting Aboriginal males to vote anyway. In the 1940’s further rights in favor of the Aboriginal people were not published, this is a clear abuse and violation of democratic rights allowing all people to have the right to vote, as a result the Aboriginal people were made unaware of their rights. The government abused their power by disinfranchising the Aborignal percentage of the population. The vote was given to all Aborignal people by the Menzies Liberal and Country Party government in 1962, the other states soon followed and every state by 1967 had given all Aborignal people the right to vote.
- 14. View points The government felt the Aborignal people of Austrlia were 2nd class citizens and weren’t entitled to the same rights as white people. The felt white people should be able to decide the government because they felt the Aborignal people were not equals. The Aborignal people felt they had no rights and could not do anything to make their situation better.
- 15. The government was not even attempting to meet the Aborignal’s specfic needs because they didn’t matter to the government as they were not voting. This caused a cycle of poverty. The non-Aborignal people felt superiority over the Aborginal people as they had more rights than them. Lack of representation in government therefore Aborignal interests and needs not meet Polticial frustration: Lost faith in the government Long term Outcomes Short term Outcomes
- 16. Poverty cyle The abuse of power by the Australian government resulted in a cycle of poverty. One of the effects of poverty is a higher birth rate but a decrease in life expectancy, as shown in the diagram in the right hand corner.
- 17. Short term and Long term outcomes on the world It gives examples of how to/ how not to (however the countries interrupted it) deal with the abuse of their own indigenous people. E.g NZ, Canada. At the time of the Europeans settling in Australia, some Europeans did not settle Austrlia because of the unrest between the Aboriginal people and the Europeans. Long term outcomes Short term outcomes
- 18. Australian map Where the abuse happened
- 19. Timeline Captain James Cook landed in Australia and claimed the land for Britain. 1770 Government creates laws putting Aboriginal in reserves in order to control the Aboriginal people 1886 1893 New Zealand women got the vote 1900 Half-cast children are taken with force from their parents to 1679 French revolution 1812 Napoleons retreat from Moscow 1914 1 st World War begins 1918 1 st World War ends 1941 Pearl harbor was bombed, America entered the war 1967 Aboriginal people gained the right to vote in all of Australia 1970 Beatles split up
- 20. Conclusion The abuse of power started from the time of colonization to very recent times and was done by a number of different parities and people; Captain James Cook, the British government, the people arriving to Australia during the period of Colonization, the Australian government and many Austrians in general. This affected Aboriginal people in numerous ways, ways that can still be felt in Australia today.