This document provides background information on several topics relating to Australian Indigenous history, including: - Pre-arrival - Indigenous Australians lived across the continent in many communities prior to European arrival. - 1788 - The arrival of the First Fleet led to initial confusion and misunderstanding between Indigenous Australians and British settlers. - The Stolen Generations - Between 1910-1970, government policies led to many Indigenous children being forcibly removed from their families, causing lasting trauma. - The Mabo Decision - A 1992 High Court case that recognized Indigenous land rights, overturning the idea that Australia was terra nullius at colonization. - The Apology - In 2008, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd delivered a national apology to the St

1. DOUGY Background and Context

2. LEARNING OBJECTIVE
 To gain an understanding of Australian Indigenous history.
I can:
 Identify key information
 Apply knowledge to set viewing questions.
 Start to understand Australian Indigenous history.
SUCCESS CRITERIA

3. 2 MINUTE
BRAINSTORM
What do you already
know about Australian
Indigenous people?

4. The MANY Indigenous
groups across Australia
Disclaimer:
This map indicates only the
general location of larger
groupings of people.

5. The Torres Strait Islands are
made up of 18 inhabited
islands, around 100 uninhabited
islands and two mainland
communities located off the
northern tip of Australia.

6. GROUP ACTIVITY
In groups you are to research one of the following topics
relating to Indigenous Australians.
You will determine the WHO, WHAT, WHERE, WHEN, WHY
AND HOW and present your findings to the class.
1. Pre-arrival
2. 1788
3. Aboriginal Protection Act
4. The Stolen Generation
5. The Mabo Decision
6. The Apology

7. PRE-ARRIVAL
• Australia was populated only by the Indigenous people of Australia - Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islanders.
• Aboriginal people inhabited the whole of Australia.
• Torres Strait Islanders lived on the islands between Australia and Papua New Guinea, what
is now called the Torres Strait.
• There were many different Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities made up of
people who spoke different languages with various cultural beliefs, practices and
traditions.
• There were approximately 700 languages spoken throughout Australia with an estimated
population of 750,000 people.
• Australia was a largely unspoilt country where people respected the environment around
them and made sure animals and plants were never over hunted or over collected.
• To maintain the fragile environment and because of seasonal variations people would only
stay in an area for a certain time.
• Indigenous men hunted the large animals such as kangaroos, emus and turtles and the
women and children hunted smaller animals and collected fruits, berries and other plants.
• Indigenous people divided the land up into traditional lands using geographic boundaries
such as rivers, lakes and mountains.

8. 1788 – FIRST FLEET

9. VIEWING QUESTIONS
What did the Aboriginal people think of the ships on that first
night?
They thought they was the devil, when they landed first. They did not
know what to make of them, and they saw them going up the masts,
they thought they was possums. – Indigenous elder.
How did the first Australians feel when the British came ashore?
What are these people up to? Why are they here? How long are they
going to stay? Why did they come to my country? Why don’ they go
somewhere else? Are they spirits? Very strange. – Professor Marcia
Langton
What do you think about the Aboriginal people and the soldiers
dancing?

10. ABORIGINAL PROTECTION ACT 1869 (VIC)
• This document made Victoria the first Colony to enact a comprehensive scheme to regulate
the lives of Aboriginal people.
• The powers this Act gave to the Board for the Protection of Aborigines developed into
controls over where people could live, where they could work, what kinds of jobs they
could do, who they could associate with and who they could marry.
• In 1886 in a further Act, Victoria also initiated a policy of removing Aboriginal people of
mixed descent from the Aboriginal stations or reserves to merge into white society.
The 1915 amendments to the Aborigines Protection Act 1909 (NSW) gave the Aborigines
Protection Board the power to remove any Indigenous child at any time and for any reason.

11. THE STOLEN GENERATION
Between 1910-1970, many Indigenous children
were forcibly removed from their families as a
result of various government policies. The
generations of children removed under these policies
became known as the Stolen Generations. The
policies of child removal left a legacy of trauma
and loss that continues to affect Indigenous
communities, families and individuals.
A film was released in 2002 to highlight the plight
of the stolen generation, it is called Rabbit Proof
Fence. This is based off the novel we will be studying
in class.

12. WHAT HAPPENED AND WHY?
The forcible removal of Indigenous children from their
families was part of the policy of Assimilation.
Assimilation was based on the assumption of black
inferiority and white superiority, which proposed that
Indigenous people should be allowed to “die out” through a
process of natural elimination, or, where possible, should be
assimilated into the white community.
Children taken from their parents as part of the Stolen
Generation were taught to reject their Indigenous heritage,
and forced to adopt white culture. Their names were often
changed, and they were forbidden to speak their traditional
languages. Some children were adopted by white families,
and many were placed in institutions where abuse and
neglect were common.

13. WHAT HAPPENED AND WHY?
Assimilation policies focused on children, who were
considered more adaptable to white society than Indigenous
adults. “Half-caste” children (a term now considered
derogatory for people of Aboriginal and white parentage),
were particularly vulnerable to removal, because authorities
thought these children could be assimilated more easily into
the white community due to their lighter skin colour.
Assimilation, including child removal policies, failed its aim of
improving the lives of Indigenous Australians by absorbing
them into white society. This was primarily because white
society refused to accept Indigenous people as equals,
regardless of their efforts to live like white people.

14. WHY DOES THE
STOLEN
GENERATION
MATTER TODAY?
The forcible removal of Indigenous children from their families had a
profound impact that is still felt today.
For the children who were taken:
Many were psychologically, physically, and sexually abused while living in
state care or with their adoptive families.
Efforts to make stolen children reject their culture often caused them to feel
ashamed of their Indigenous heritage.
Many children were wrongly told that their parents had died or
abandoned them, and many never knew where they had been taken from
or who their biological families were.
Living conditions in the institutions were highly controlled, and children
were frequently punished harshly, were cold and hungry and received
minimal if any affection.
The children generally received a very low level of education, as they
were expected to work as manual labourers and domestic servants
(see Unfinished Business).
Medical experts have noted a high incidence of depression, anxiety, post
traumatic stress and suicide among the Stolen Generations [4]

15. THE MABO DECISION
The Mabo Case was a significant
legal case in Australia that
recognised the land rights of the
Meriam people, traditional owners of
the Murray Islands (which include the
islands of Mer, Dauer and Waier) in
the Torres Strait. The Mabo Case
challenged the existing Australian
legal system from two perspectives:
• On the assumption that Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander peoples
had no concept of land ownership
before the arrival of British
colonisers in 1788 (terra nullius).
• That sovereignty delivered
complete ownership of all land in
the new Colony to the Crown,
abolishing any existing rights that
may have existed previously.

16. THE MABO DECISION
Legal proceedings for the case
began on 20 May 1982, when a
group of Meriam men, Eddie Koiki
Mabo, Reverend David Passi, Celuia
Mapoo Salee, Sam Passi and James
Rice, brought an action against the
State of Queensland and the
Commonwealth of Australia, in the
High Court, claiming 'native title' to
the Murray Islands. The Supreme
Court judge hearing the case was
Justice Moynihan.
Justice Moynihan handed down his
determination of facts on 16
November 1990, which meant the
High Court could begin it’s hearing of
the legal issues in the case.

17. THE MABO DECISION
The case presented by Eddie Mabo
and the people of Mer successfully
proved that Meriam custom and laws
are fundamental to their traditional
system of ownership and underpin
their traditional rights and
obligations in relation to land.
On 3 June 1992, six of the seven
High Court judges upheld the claim
and ruled that the lands of this
continent were not terra nullius or
‘land belonging to no-one’ when
European settlement occurred, and
that the Meriam people were
'entitled as against the whole world
to possession, occupation, use and
enjoyment of (most of) the lands of
the Murray Islands'.

18. THE MABO DECISION
The High Court decision in the Mabo v. Queensland (No.2)
altered the foundation of land law in Australia and the
following year the Native Title Act 1993 (Cth), was passed
through the Australian Parliament. This opened the way for
claims by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to
their traditional rights to land and compensation. With
Eddie as the first named plaintiff, the case became known
as the ‘Mabo Case’.
Unfortunately, Eddie Koiki Mabo did not live to see the
fruits of his life-time commitment and passion. He passed
away from cancer aged fifty-six on 21 January 1992.

19. BRINGING THEM HOME REPORT
• In 1995, the Australian government launched an inquiry into the
policy of forced child removal. The report was delivered to
Parliament on the 26th May 1997.
• The report, Bringing Them Home, acknowledged the social values
and standards of the time, but concluded that the policies of child
removal breached fundamental human rights.
• The Keating government commissioned the inquiry into the Stolen
Generations, but the Howard government received the report.
Howard’s government was sceptical of the report’s findings, and
largely ignored its recommendations.

20. THE APOLOGY
When Kevin Rudd came to power in 2007 (after 11
years of the Howard Government), he promised to
deliver a national apology to the Stolen
Generations. This promise was fulfilled on the 13th
February 2008.
“For the pain, suffering and hurt of these Stolen
Generations, their descendants and for their families
left behind, we say sorry.”
– Hon. Kevin Rudd

22. REFLECTION TASK
1. Why do you think the government finally chose to apologise?
2. Describe how Indigenous people may have felt when the Prime
Minister was apologising.
3. Why is it considered one of the most important speeches in
Australian history?
4. It’s been described as an important part of the healing process.
Discuss.

23. BTN VIDEO
FROM 2008
Watch the video (remember it is from over 10 years
ago) and see if you can add to the reflection
questions,
http://www.abc.net.au/btn/story/s2219615.htm.
1. Why do you think the government finally chose to
apologise?
2. Describe how Indigenous people may have felt
when the Prime Minister was apologising.
3. Why is it considered one of the most important
speeches in Australian history?
4. It’s been described as an important part of the
healing process. Discuss.

24. ACTIVITY
Create a timeline of key events throughout the history of
Indigenous Australia since 1788.
• Your timeline should include dates and short explanations of events.
• Use your class notes to inform your timeline.
• It should take up a full page of your English book.
• Research and add The Freedom Rides and the Indigenous Right to Vote to
your timeline.

26. FREEDOM RIDES
In 1964, students at the University of Sydney formed
Student Action for Aborigines (SAFA), a group led by
Charles Perkins, a third year student and Arrente man
born in Alice Springs.
In 1965, SAFA organised the ‘Freedom Ride’, a bus tour
of western and coastal New South Wales towns which
sought to:
• raise public awareness about the poor state of
Aboriginal health, education and housing
• expose the socially discriminatory barriers that existed
between Aboriginal and white residents
• encourage and support Indigenous people to resist
discrimination

27. ABORIGINAL RIGHT TO VOTE
By the 1960s, the US Civil Rights
Movement led many Australians to
question the treatment of Indigenous
people in this country, including the
fact most were denied a say in
federal elections. In 1961, a
parliamentary committee set up to
investigate Indigenous voting rights
recommended all Indigenous
Australians be given the right to vote
at federal elections.
It was 1962 before all Indigenous
Australians gained the right to vote.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
peoples were finally given equal
voting rights in 1983 when the
Commonwealth Electoral Act was
amended to make it compulsory for all
Indigenous Australians to vote.