The English sent over 162,000 convicts to Australia in 806 ships during the 1788 and 1850. The first eleven of these ships are today known as the First Fleet and contained the convicts and marines that are now acknowledged as the Founders of Australia.
An Englishman William Dampier visited Australia's North-West coast. He gave a more detailed version of Aboriginal people's life without other versions to compare to. Dampier's view became widely known and accepted. His lack of understanding led him to think the disgust of Aboriginal life.
When the First settlers came to Australia, they completely ignored the Aboriginal rights of the land and did not even treat them as humans.
The diary of Watkin Tench, an officer in the first fleet of this point of view of the Aboriginal life:
"It does not appear that these poor creatures have any fixed Habitation; sometimes sleeping in a Cavern of Rock, which they make as warm as a Oven by lighting a Fire in the middle of it, they will take up their abode here, for one Night perhaps, then in another the next Night. At other times (and we believe mostly in Summer) they take up their lodgings for a Day or two in a Miserable Wigwam, which they made from Bark of a Tree. There are dispersed about the woods near the water, 2, 3, 4 together; some Oyster, Cockle and Muscle (sic) Shells lie about the Entrance of them, but not in any Quantity to indicate they make these huts their constant Habitation. We met with some that seemed entirely deserted indeed it seems pretty evident that their Habitation, whether Caverns or Wigwams, are common to all, and Alternatively inhabited by different Tribes."
This diary shows that the Europeans did not genuinely understand the ways of how the Aborigines lived. Though the writer, Watkin Tench, wrote it in his point of view and this was only a part of his diary, it seem to be pitying them and not really respecting their way of life. He was being biased against the Aboriginals because they didn't live like the Europeans and if other Europeans think the same way, the respect for the Aboriginals was completely shattered even there was no respect for the Aboriginals in the first place. Europeans didn't value the aboriginal's way of life and this lead to conflict between Aborigines and Europeans which immediately begun after the first arrival of settlers in Cairns in October 1876.
(Era:1 Colonisation, Australians, 2015)
Diseases
When the settlers came to Australia, They also brought their diseases with them including Small pox, Tuberculosis, Influenza, Measles, Whooping cough and the common cold.
These diseases significantly reduced half of the Aboriginal population.
As the settlement in Australia continued to grow, so did the Indigenous people's contact to different diseases. The remaining people were shattered by the huge numbers of deaths in their communities.
Indigenous people tried to use their traditional medicines to fight the different diseases, but it was unsuccessful. Not only were the medicines were not strong enough but the European settlers had destroyed many of the resources, normally found on the land, that were used for illness relief.
(Disease, 2015).
An Englishman William Dampier visited Australia's North-West coast. He gave a more detailed version of Aboriginal people's life without other versions to compare to. Dampier's view became widely known and accepted. His lack of understanding led him to think the disgust of Aboriginal life.
When the First settlers came to Australia, they completely ignored the Aboriginal rights of the land and did not even treat them as humans.
The diary of Watkin Tench, an officer in the first fleet of this point of view of the Aboriginal life:
"It does not appear that these poor creatures have any fixed Habitation; sometimes sleeping in a Cavern of Rock, which they make as warm as a Oven by lighting a Fire in the middle of it, they will take up their abode here, for one Night perhaps, then in another the next Night. At other times (and we believe mostly in Summer) they take up their lodgings for a Day or two in a Miserable Wigwam, which they made from Bark of a Tree. There are dispersed about the woods near the water, 2, 3, 4 together; some Oyster, Cockle and Muscle (sic) Shells lie about the Entrance of them, but not in any Quantity to indicate they make these huts their constant Habitation. We met with some that seemed entirely deserted indeed it seems pretty evident that their Habitation, whether Caverns or Wigwams, are common to all, and Alternatively inhabited by different Tribes."
This diary shows that the Europeans did not genuinely understand the ways of how the Aborigines lived. Though the writer, Watkin Tench, wrote it in his point of view and this was only a part of his diary, it seem to be pitying them and not really respecting their way of life. He was being biased against the Aboriginals because they didn't live like the Europeans and if other Europeans think the same way, the respect for the Aboriginals was completely shattered even there was no respect for the Aboriginals in the first place. Europeans didn't value the aboriginal's way of life and this lead to conflict between Aborigines and Europeans which immediately begun after the first arrival of settlers in Cairns in October 1876.
(Era:1 Colonisation, Australians, 2015)
Diseases
When the settlers came to Australia, They also brought their diseases with them including Small pox, Tuberculosis, Influenza, Measles, Whooping cough and the common cold.
These diseases significantly reduced half of the Aboriginal population.
As the settlement in Australia continued to grow, so did the Indigenous people's contact to different diseases. The remaining people were shattered by the huge numbers of deaths in their communities.
Indigenous people tried to use their traditional medicines to fight the different diseases, but it was unsuccessful. Not only were the medicines were not strong enough but the European settlers had destroyed many of the resources, normally found on the land, that were used for illness relief.
(Disease, 2015).