Year
The Stolen Generations
Colonisation and Indigenous People

First photograph of colonists and indigenous peoples.

Photo by Henry Guttmann/Getty Images

First Australians - They have come to stay

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The opening episode of this landmark television series explores the first contact, meetings and relationships between the British and the first Australians.

First Australians - Classroom Resources.

Alinta the Flame - Women of the Sun series

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Colonisation of Australia - Impact on Aborigines - Links

Indigenous Australian Life pre Colonisation

WA Whadjuk Life Before Colonisation

Between 6,000 - 10,000 Noongar people lived in the south-west of WA prior to colonisation, with 315,000 to 750,000 people living in Australia at the time of first European contact but post-colonisation, the Indigenous populations were soon absorbed, depleted or forced from their land with conflicts between themselves and settlers. By the 1920s, the population was between 50,000 and 90,000, with many believing that the Indigenous Australians would soon die out.

WA Whadjuk people

Group portrait of Noongar men, women, and children, Fanny Balbuk seated on the right in the white dress. State Library of WA 253420PD

Colonisation of Perth and the Wadjack people

Fanny Balbuk; Whadjuk people displaced. (2012). ABC. 

Ideas that started the idea of The Stolen Generations

"In the early years of colonisation, the British newcomers and the local Noongars co-existed in a cautious accommodation of each other, though conflict gradually increased as a result of disputes over resources and access to land.  Ultimately, British force, together with the devastating spread of some introduced diseases, resulted in British conquest.  Surviving members of the older generation of Noongars remained angry at and kept their distance from the settlers. However, most Noongar survivors stayed on areas of their own country, keeping family connections and culture alive. Many camped and maintained traditional practices while working alongside European settlers and becoming valued employees due to their bush skills and knowledge of country.  Relationships developed between some Noongar and early farming families that were characterised by an interdependence and respect, still evident in the present day. 

Measles and flu epidemics caused widespread death around settled areas in the latter part of the nineteenth century.  A combination of increasing European encroachment and the decimation of parts of the Noongar population had a continuing impact upon Noongar culture and social organisation. 

By the late 1800s, with the influence of the racist doctrine of Social Darwinism, there was a commonly held belief that Aboriginal people across Australia were ‘a dying race’.  However, around the turn of the century, some 1,200 or more Noongars were still recorded as living across the South West, some in missions, some living in camps, many working for settlers, particularly on farms, and many maintaining traditional ways of life.  Many settlers continued to rely heavily on the Noongars' knowledge of their country; Noongars were employed as guides, to carry mail, to accompany explorers, and to search for missing livestock.  Occasionally, they helped search for missing children or escorted prisoners.  In addition, some people were called on as interpreters and in many regions police employed Aboriginal people as aides to maintain peace between Aboriginal groups. Others worked as wood cutters, charcoal burners and prospectors."  (Noongar History, WA Government. https://www.dpc.wa.gov.au/swnts/Noongar-Heritage-and-History/Pages/Noongar-History.aspx​ )

19th - 20th century documents show that the policy of removing mixed-race Aboriginal children from their families related to an assumption that the Indigenous population were dying off. After white contact, the Indigenous population decline suggested at the time, that the original population would become extinct. The person who was 'Chief Protector of Aborigines' for WA was A.O. Neville; up to 1930, he and others believed that removed children could be trained to work in white society, and over generations would marry white and be assimilated into white society (Neville, AO (1930). West Australian, 18 April). Cecil Cook, The Northern Territory Chief Protector of Aborigines, said that "everything necessary [must be done] to convert the half-caste into a white citizen." (The History: NT. Aust: Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission. Dec 2007.) The Victorian Aboriginal Protection Act 1869 included the first legislation to authorise child removal from parents. 

Working Conditions in Australia 1750 - 1918

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