Aborigines in Australia

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Aborigines in Australia Aborigines are believed to have lived in Australia for between 60,000 and 40,000 years, their early ancestors coming from South-East Asia. Precise population details for the period before European colonization are unavailable, but it is estimated that there were between 300,000 and 1,000,000 Aborigines in Australia when European settlers first arrived in 1788. The relationship between the aboriginals and the settlers were an issue that would haunt history for more then two centuries. The process of colonization by European powers, as might be expected, has had a radical effect on Aboriginal culture, and return created a relationship between the natives and settlers. The settlers viewed the natives as barbarians, seizing tribal land and, in many cases, following a policy of pacification by force. Many others died of disease, starvation, cultural dislocation and neglect. Today, there are fewer than 230,000 Aborigines in Australia, less than 2% of the population. Some two centuries ago, Australia came under British rule. Possession of the land was justified under the astonishing legal fiction of "Terra Nullius" - the notion that Australia was effectively unoccupied before British colonization. The lack of indigenous systems of land ownership (in the European tradition of private land ownership) was used to give credence the idea of Terra Nullius, this itself gives insight to the relationship that maybe forecast from this predicament. The basic idea was that it was impossible to rob Aboriginal people of land, as they'd ... ... middle of paper ... ...a's High Court finally overturned the disgraceful legal myth of Terra Nullius, however, it is not all good news, as the current government still refuses an official apology to Aboriginal people. This, however does not stop it is a new beginning for everyone, from the ideals of racial supremacy, Australia, collectively has changed to the notion of multiculturism. Bibliography - Aboriginal Australians by Richard Broome - Macmillan by Mark Anderson, Paul Ashton. - Australian Aboriginal People http://library.trinity.wa.edu.au/aborigines/default.htm - Aboriginal Archives http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/other/IndigLRes/car - Indigenous Studies http://www.indigenous.unimelb.edu.au/subjectspage.html - Aboriginal & Torres Strait islanders http://www.uq.edu.au/ATSIS/resources/theses/unpublished-theses.html

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