White Settlers Vs Aboriginals

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Recommended: European settlement and its effect on indigenous Australians

The British discovery and settlement of Australia would be known as a major victory in their eyes, but the road to get there is filled with questionable motives and disgusting truths. Perhaps the most prominent example of these truths is the countless acts of violence and war between the aboriginals and white settlers. Back and forth they fought against each other as the British began to eradicate their existence from a once heavily aboriginal populated land. There is clear documented evidence of these battles and bloodshed between the two sides, but how and why did it get to this point? What sparked this mutual hatred amongst the two sides that erupted into the slaughter of the aboriginals? By identifying the key factors of characteristics …show more content…

Each of these factors would contribute to the next, elevating the tension between aboriginals and white settlers until violence was the necessary response that was …show more content…

According to numerous British observers, aboriginal ranked “far behind other savages,” “the lowest link in the connection of the human races,” “the lowest of the nations in the order of civilization.” (p.108) http://www.murschhauser.net/documents/australien/Banner_Landrecht.pdf) This speaks volumes to the disgust the British felt towards the aboriginals and human beings, and would allow them to not even consider them human beings. These feelings originated from numerous aspects of the aboriginal culture and lifestyle, including their looks, how and what they ate, and how they behaved. In comparison to the well clothed British, the aborigines were nearly naked in comparison. Arthur Phillip noted they had “not even to have made an attempt towards clothing themselves” (107http://www.murschhauser.net/documents/australien/Banner_Landrecht.pdf) This combined with their supposed “hideous” appearance, aided in the belief that these savages were the lowest link in the connection of the human races. There are numerous accounts of British colonies describing their distaste for the aboriginal looks and behavior, and although these are individual accounts, the mass of negative opinions and descriptions of these people began to

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