Author: sutherlandn

River Trail Press

Volume 1:

Australian History Adapted from Jane Bingham’s Aboriginal Art and Culture

Australian Times

40,000 BCE: First evidence of Aboriginal people living in Australia

30,000 BCE: Aborigines spread all over Australia

1650 AD: Macassan fishers start to visit Australia

1770: James Cook lands in Australia and claims it for Britain

1788: The First Fleet arrives and sets up a penal colony in Sydney

1850: Gold Rush in Australia brings many immigrants to the land

Inside this issue:

Blinded by No Contacts?

Aboriginal History	1
British and Aboriginal History	2
Australia’s Gold Rush	3
Australia’s Role in WWI	3
Australia’s WWII Participation	5
A Unique Sense of Governing	6

Special Points to Note:
Any civilization that developed prior to written language is usually found within the time period Pre-Historic, which means-hint– before historic record.
Most ancient civilizations kept records of their history through oral tradition.
Oral traditions are stories told by word of mouth rather than print.
Some experts and scholars differentiate between oral history and oral traditions, but others do not.
The word aboriginal comes from the Latin ab origine, meaning “from the beginning.” It is now becoming much more common for the Aborigine to call themselves indigenous Australians.
When the British arrived, the British lawyers declared that Australia was terra nullius, Latin for “empty land.” Latin words are still very much used in law today.
Terra Nullius allowed settlers to claim the land and seize any of the land they wanted. It wasn’t officially overturned until 1992 by the Australian High Court.

Many archaeologists believe that evidence in Australia point to the idea that people have lived in Australia for more than 40,000 years. Although no one is certain how the first people in Australia came to be on the continent, paintings and other artifacts help shed light on the age of Aborigines in Australia. Some experts believe that ancestors of Aboriginal people traveled from Southeast Asia during the last Ice Age when water levels in the oceans were much lower than they are today. At that time, Asia and Australia were much larger than their present size, and a string of islands lay between the two vast continents.
Evidence that promotes this theory in clues Aboriginal paintings, songs, and stories include accounts of long ocean voyages undertaken by the ancestor spirits, and these stories of voyages may refer to the journeys of the earliest Australians to discover new lands. Though many still search for evidence and clues, the best theory remains that the indigenous people’s of Australia came from the nearby continent of Asia.
A Changing Land
Before the end of the Ice Age, Australia was covered in fertile plains with enormous lakes and lush forests. Huge prehistoric creatures roamed the land. If it is believed that people lived here at this time, they would have benefited from these characteristics how?
However, the landscape changed dramatically in about 10,000 BCE as the climate became warmer. Lakes and rivers dried up and barren deserts appeared, while many creatures became extinct. The coastal floods and volcanic eruptions that also took place are recorded in Aboriginal stories.
Have your ever heard of any other stories reminiscent of floods or volcanic eruptions in ancient times? Explain.
An Unchanging Lifestyle
For thousands of years, the Aboriginal people followed the same way of life. They lived in small family groups. They hunted wild animals, caught fish, and gathered food from plants. Each group belonged to a larger society. All members of a society spoke the same language and lived in the same territory, known to the Aboriginal people as a country. These areas could be very large, especially in the desert, where on society’s territory might cover thousands of square miles.
Knowledge of a society’s territory was passed down from one generation to the next through stories, songs, and ceremonies commemorating the Dreamtime. Within their territory, the family groups moved from place to place in search of food, setting up simple shelters wherever they went. Then another civilization arrived that would change these societies forever.
Pause and predict: Which group of people do you think were next to come and claim Australia?
Aboriginal people exchanged goods with Macassans from Indonesia and exchanged goods in return for objects like metal axes and spearheads, the Macassan people had significant impact on their artwork, which is still seen in their ancient paintings and songs. Aborigines also have a number of words that have come from Indonesia embedded within their languages.
Pause and Choose words that have been accepted into English from other cultures:
Then, when the British arrived even more changes took place. Aborigines statistics show more than 500 societies were scattered throughout Australia, speaking at least 200 different languages.

Page 2

Volume 1:

Create a Timeline for this page and the Next Page Here

Where Shall I Send Thee?

Captain James Cook landed in Australia and claimed the eastern part of the country for the British king, who was _________________ at the time. This was the same king whom the Americas were having a difficult time with because of his “harsh” (description is in the eye of the beholder) taxes and unfair treatment of the colonies.
Pause and Predict: Why do you think James Cook claimed the eastern part of Australia for England, and was this a wise decision? Why or why not?
Besides civil unrest in the Americas, the king of England had other problems: at that time, jails in England were becoming overcrowded. So in 1788, the first Fleet reached Sydney, including 6 ships filled with debtors and other convicts to settle and create an infrastructure within Australia.
Pause: Explain the definition of infrastructure and explain more simply what it means the prisoners were doing.
Other European settlers soon arrived and began seizing land, turning Australia into a colony governed by British officials. These colonists built towns and cities, while enormous stretches of land were covered by their farms.
Little positive contact occurred between the British and the Aborigines, and Aboriginal rock paintings display the European arrival with images of boats, wagons, horses, cattle, and sheep.

The British are Coming!

Soon after the British arrival, the Aborigines were driven from their land. Thousands died from European diseases like smallpox, measles, and influenza. Furthermore, the sheep and cattle of the settlers reeked havoc upon Aboriginal traditional watering holes.
Pause and Justify: How would you have responded to the European arrival of you were an Aborigine?
Many Aborigines fought the Europeans: they killed their sheep, burnt their crops, killed settlers. Brutal fatalities occurred for both parties; however, within 150 years 80% of the indigenous people were killed and entire societies were completely wiped out.
The Europeans created reservations for the indigenous people to live; however, these people did not have real rights, and they had to gain permission from the white reservation manager to marry, to work, or to even receive a letter.
What influences would have caused the British to believe that what they were doing was justified/okay?

How Long Must We Sing this Song?

It wasn’t until the 1930’s that Aborigines began to fight for their political rights. This struggle didn’t happen overnight: it was tedious and moved as slow as molasses.
Finally, in 1967 the Australian government recognized the indigenous people as full citizens; however, the indigenous people still fought for the rights to their land.
If you were an Aborigine, how would suggest/encourage the government to stand on your side? (List 4 ideas)
So in 1972, the indigenous Australians set up a Aboriginal Tent Embassy, pitching their tents on the stairs of Parliament House in Canberra. In the 1980s the Australian government passed a law to protect the Aboriginal cultures, and during the 1990s laws were passed to recognize Aboriginal land rights.
Many Aborigines today have decided to assimilate their culture with the British culture.
Use the definition of assimilate to explain what the phrase above means.
Others live together in settlements or more remote regions. Most no longer live off the land, some try to keep their culture alive through singing, painting, and performing dances.

Australian Times

Page #

Some People Live for Fortune by History Online Magazine

Australia’s gold rush of the 19th century is one of the most fascinating stories in Australia’s a. The gold rush not only shaped the economic and social developments of the country but nurtured the development of a great nation.
The gold rush began with the claim of discovery of gold by Edward Hargraves in 1851. Hargraves was a prospector who had just arrived from California where he had learnt the prospecting skills during California’s gold rush in 1849. He noticed the similarities between the geological features in California and Australia. It was at that very moment that he started a serious search for gold. Hargraves named the site in New South Wales where he discovered the first grain of gold in Australia as Ophir. Many other prospectors joined him in the search for gold.
Fever gold grew as more and more people went to the goldmines to search for fortune. The colonial authorities of the time resorted to appointing the commissioners of land who were meant to regulate the number of diggings made as well as collect license fees.
The population of Australia increased drastically as people moved into the country in search for gold and business; everybody wanted a piece of the precious stone. The population that was registered to be 430,000 in 1851 shot up to about 1.7 million by 1871.
The rush for the gold was characterized by democracy and multi-culturalism. Many say that this is what formed the very fabric of the spirit of Australia. Many people of various nationalities and backgrounds came into the country. They included the British, Americans, Italians, French, Germans, Polish, Hungarians and Chinese. By 1861, the Chinese formed a big part of the Australia population and this gave rise to racist sentiments. These sentiments were fueled by two realities: the dwindling goldmines and the hard working nature of the Chinese. This saw many Chinese return to China after 1861 but a majority remained to continue with their search for gold.
Pause and Explain: How did Australia become labeled as a “multi-cultural” place?
The gold rush led to the abolishment of transportation of convicts to Australia as was the tradition. This tradition was broken because the idea behind the transportation was to make the convicts work and with the discovery of gold in the country they would not work but rather look for gold and enrich themselves.
Economically, the gold rush led to the expansion and growth of the economy of Australia. A lot of gold was exported to other countries and this led to a huge inflow of imports. Many investors set up business in the country. With the influx of immigrants in the gold mines, the first railway in Australia was constructed to facilitate the transportation to and fro the fields. With the rapid growth of the economy the necessity for better modes of communication gave birth to the first telegraph operations in the country.
Also in the political developments of Australia, the discovery and exploration of gold had great importance. When the digger increased in the goldmines, the Australian authorities increased the license fee for every claim to a point where it was too much for the diggers. The diggers protested and the police had to use force to get the fee. The diggers lead a demonstration that lead to many deaths after which the diggers were listened to in front of a tribunal. The end result of this tension between the authorities and the diggers was call for political representation of the diggers and other secluded parties. This formed the very basics of a federal democracy in the nation.
Pause and Explain: How did the gold rush help lay the ground work for Australia’s government becoming a federal democracy?

Australia’s Independence by Natasha Sutherland

Australia’s six states became a nation under a single constitution on January 1, 1901. Today Australia is home to people from more than 200 countries.
This means that more immigrants live an Australia than the indigenous people who make up between 1-2% of the population today.
Like Canada, Australia gained its independence peacefully. After what occurred in 1776, the English recognized that they needed to treat their colonies differently if they didn’t want to have to fight other wars across the sea. So they gave their colonies more and more rights slowly over time.
Even after the revolutions in the Americas that took place, Canada and Australia kept close ties with the British Empire.
This encouraged their involvement in the wars of the 20th century under the British monarch.
Today, Australia has a federal, parliamentary democracy. They have their own parliament and their own prime minister. A governor general helps with ceremonial duties while the British constitutional monarch (a ruler without power to make the laws) remains over seas.
Because Australia is federal, different representatives from each of the different states and regions are able to participate and have a voice in the government by having representation.
Also, interestingly enough… in the 20th century, Australia enthusiastically embraced the idea of going into WWI because of a number of influential ideas: mainly nationalism and the idea of competing and becoming a significant player in the world as a country.
When Australia joined in World War I, they had been an official independent nation for 13 years.
Eager to show their new found pride and to show their British colonizers that they could also be victorious and find glory through wars, the Australians helped in World War I and World War II. Though some historians would call them major players, others would not.

Page 4

Volume 1:

Represent, Represent Australia by

The year 2004 marks the 90th anniversary of the onset of the First World War. Australia’s support of Great Britain as the Mother Country meant that this country was also at war.
The outbreak of war in August 1914 seemed to unleash a huge wave of enthusiastic support for Britain, and support for Australia’s part in the war. All major political parties, churches, community leaders and newspapers seemed to support Australia’s entry. It was seen as a moral and necessary commitment. There was a rush to the recruiting offices, and, at this stage, only the very fittest and healthiest men were accepted.
Pause and Predict: How do you think the number of volunteers or the types of volunteers would change as the war progressed? Why?
By 1917 and 1918, people were increasingly war-weary. The deaths and casualties mounted; there seemed to be no substantial victories; the war seemed to be at a stalemate; the economic costs of the war continued to hurt many in the community; recruits now only trickled in where they had flowed in 1915 and 1916.
“The Enemy Within”
This was the phrase often used to describe enemy aliens -- non-naturalised residents of Australia who had been born in countries that were now the enemy. The 1911 census showed that there were 33,381 German-born residents in Australia, most of whom lived in South Australia and Queensland. These German citizens had to register at local police stations.
However, the war caused many Australians to turn against their German neighbours, even though they may even have been naturalised and had sons fighting in the AIF. This hostile attitude was sometimes the result of jealousy, but was also encouraged by the crude official anti-German propaganda. Local authorities also often trampled on the human rights of these people with unjustified searches, surveillance and arrest. 4500 Germans were interned during the war, 700 of whom were naturalised and 70 Australian born. At the end of the war, 6150 Germans and other enemy alien nationals were deported.
However, the majority of German nationals living in Australia managed mostly to escape public notice and persecution.
Explain Australia’s reaction to people within their own country? Was this type of treatment of people merited? Justify.
The First World War had a devastating effect on Australia. There were less than 3 million men in 1914, yet almost 400,000 of them volunteered to fight in the war. An estimated 60,000 died and tens of thousands were wounded. In reaction to the grief, the 1920s was a whirlwind of new cars and cinemas, American jazz and movies and fervour for the British Empire.
Where do you believe the author of this text is most likely from? Justify your answer with evidence from the text above.

Australia in World War 2

Prince Henry’s Caravel– fastest ship of the exploration

During World War I, Australia mainly fought in Australia for the British Crown. The British were worried about the Suez Canal being lost, and they wanted control of it.
On 3 September 1939 Prime Minister Robert Gordon Menzies announced the beginning of Australia's involvement in the Second World War on every national and commercial radio station in Australia.
Pause and Predict: What countries do you think Australia was most responsible for fighting against during World War 2, and why?
Almost a million Australians, both men and women, served in the Second World War. They fought in campaigns against Germany and Italy in Europe, the Mediterranean and North Africa, as well as against Japan in south-east Asia and other parts of the Pacific.
The Australian mainland came under direct attack for the first time, as Japanese aircraft bombed towns in north-west Australia and Japanese midget submarines attacked Sydney harbour.
On 7 May 1945 the German High Command authorised the signing of an unconditional surrender on all fronts: the war in Europe was over. The surrender was to take effect at midnight on 8 9 May 1945. On 14 August 1945 Japan accepted of the Allied demand for unconditional surrender. For Australia it meant that the Second World War was finally over.