 he
past 8000 years Australia has been separated by seas from the rest of
the world. Still this continent wasn't completely isolated.
Archeological objects and certain customs prove that there has been
early contact between the people of Cape York and Papoea New Guinea.
Centuries before the coming of the Europeans, Indonesian fishermen
visited the northern coasts of Australia. In the 17th century the first
Europeans arrived. Spanish, Dutch, English and French explorers mapped
out the coastlines of Australia and went ashore on several places where
they had their first contact with the Aborigines and vice versa. These
meetings were very important for the Aborigines but the turning point in
their history would be the first English settlement at the Sydney Cove
in 1788. Prior to 1788 visitors would come and go, but now they stayed
...
In spite of the cultural
differences between the Aboriginal tribes of the Australian continent
they all had a few things in common. They all lived of hunting and
gathering, where the men did most of the hunting. The women however
where the main food suppliers. They gathered 70 to 80 percent of their
daily diet. The Aborigines lived in small familybands on small strokes
of land. These territories often had a special meaning for certain
members of the group, because for example they were born there.
Since the Aboriginals didn't
practice a form of agriculture and didn't have a permanent settlement
the Europeans assumed that the Aboriginal people didn't need the land
and could proceed their nomadic way of life someplace else, on less
fertile land. But the Aboriginals couldn't just leave because of their
traditional bonds and obligations to certain places and areas. So they
came in conflict with the European settlers. The Aboriginals first
thought that the colonists would only stay temporarily and return to
their own country. But they were there to stay leaving no other choice
for the Aboriginals than to try to drive them away. With no success.
It's estimated that there lived about 300.000 Aboriginals on the
continent in the pre-colonial era. After 140 years of colonization
their number was reduced to 60.000 in 1930. The ones that didn't die
of the diseases brought by the Europeans, were murdered or deported.
Like a lot of other native
people today the Aboriginals still fight for their rights that were
once taken away by the European settlers. They have booked several
successes in their struggle for their own lands and culture but the
fight still continues ...
|