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Aborigines | Early Colonization | 1820s-1901 | Timeline | Links Before 1788, Aborigines lived in all of mainland Australia and most of the remote islands near the coasts, including Tasmania. They have been known to live in arid deserts, tropical rainforest, coastal plains, in the mountains, and especially near rivers. "Aborigine" was not the name these people used to describe themselves. It was the name given to them by the Europeans because it means the original inhabitants of the escountry. Anthropologiststimate that before 1770 there were more than 300,000 Aborigines. They spoke variations of approximately 500 different languages.
During the years, Aboriginal people have had to change or adapt to environment changes because of climate or moving landmasses.
"Living off the land" is something all Aborigines were comfortable with. They knew the land well and the habits of the animals they hunted. They used insects as food, medicine, and part of their cultural beliefs. They talked about insects in myths, legends, and fables. Many fables often had morals and were helpful in explaining their physical surroundings.
The myths and legends the Aborigines shared about creation were known as Dreamtime. These stories sometimes talked about monsters, some real and some maybe not. Since records were not kept by the Aborigines, they passed knowledge and traditions orally from one generation to the next. Because oral traditions tend to change and become distorted over the years, many believe that some of these animals talked about may still have been living in Australia some two to three hundred years ago.
Later, when the English arrived in Australia, they caused violent disruption to the lives of the Aborigines. Europeans were known to mistreat the Aborigine people to acquire the land they wanted. They would often poison main watering holes and give the Aborigines flour and bran mixed with strychnine and arsenic. Aborigines fished with either spears or by scooping fish into nets or fish traps. Canoes were used by the Aborigines for travel between islands and the mainland. Canoes were made from bark tied together with sapling strips. After the canoes were woven together with kangaroo sinews, they were made watertight with gum and resin. Canoe trees can still be seen on some tours and are recognized because the shape of a canoe is seen missing from the skin of the trunk. In conclusion, Australian Aboriginal heritage is rapidly being lost. We need to study and learn from the past to help them.
Click here for information about the instrument called the didgeridoo.
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Early Colonization
Lieutenant James Cook was born on October 27, 1728 in the Yorkshire village of Marton. He was an officer in the Royal British Navy. James Cook founded Botany Bay in Australia as a penal, as given as punishment, colony.
Lt. Cook sailed aboard the Endeavor for his voyage to Australia or Terra Australis Incognita (which means Unknown Southern Land). He was accompanied by two companions that were botanists (botanists study plants), Daniel Solander and Joseph Banks. The Endeavor landed at Botany Bay in April 1770. As they stepped onto land, its first name was going to be Stingray Bay because of the animals in the water. Later the name was changed to Botany Bay because of all the plants the botanists gathered there. The botanists and Cook were a little confused because of the flowers they saw blooming in late autumn. In 1788 Britain sent prisoners to the Botany Bay penal colony.
The First Fleet carried eleven ships full of prisoners. The growing number of white prisoners caused problems for the native aborigines. The aborigines suffered from diseases that were brought from the white prisoners. In 1848 the governor of New South Wales did not accept anymore prisoners from Britain, but Western Australia, 1868, kept accepting. Soon the prisoners made most of population.Australia's It was hard for the prisoners at that time. The soil was not very suitable for farming therefore; the prisoners struggled for food. Prisoners were put to service and they also raised sheep.
The years of 1820-1850 were a time of growth for Australia. Wheat growing was becoming popular, and more important was the growth of the sheep industry. New settlements were being established. Victoria was founded in 1834, and separated from New South Wales in 1851, and in 1859 the colony of Queensland was created. In 1829 British jails were becoming overfilled, so Great Britain sent them to Australia. A couple years later gold was found in New South Wales, and Victoria. It attracted many prospectors. The gold rush had a major effect on Australia's government. Many of the prospectors got rich but many didn't have enough money to go back to their homes so many had to stay. As the population of Australia grew, so did the demand of self-government. In the 1850's, all colonies except Western Australia had a self government. In 1868, the British stopped sending prisoners to Australia. The commonwealth administrations started on January 1, 1901. In the same year all six colonies became a nation.
Timeline 1901- Present
Culture and Recreation
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