At first the Aborigines were friendly towards the visitors but were very confused at the way white foreigners behaved, they could not understand:
When the Aborigines realised that the white men were not the spirits of their dead ancestors and that the settlers were taking more and more of their land and destroying the trees and wild life they began to fight back.
The Aborigines killed a number of the settlers and even wounded Captain Phillip in an attack. The settlers reacted by slaughtering and poisoning the aborigines and systematically destroying the land and wild animals they lived on.
Phillip also had to adopt a policy towards the Eora Aboriginal people, who lived around the waters of Sydney Harbour. Phillip ordered that they must be well-treated, and that anyone killing Aboriginal people would be hanged. Phillip befriended an Eora man called Bennelong, and later took him to England. On the beach at Manly, a misunderstanding arose and Phillip was speared in the shoulder: but he ordered his men not to retaliate. Phillip went some way towards winning the trust of the Eora, although the settlers were at all times treated extremely warily. Soon, a virulent disease, once thought to be smallpox but now believed to be chickenpox, and other European-introduced epidemics ravaged the Eora population.
MINI TASK
Students are to write an entry from the perspective of an Aboriginal. Whilst writing from this perspective, think about the above questions and incorporate them into your response. In partners you will interview each other with the Ipads and film your responses. These will be uploaded to the class page on Edmodo.
- Why did the foreigners walk on aborigine sacred sites and dig up aborigine graves?
- Why did they boss each other around and beat and hang people?
- Why did they chop down trees and take food without asking?
- Why were they mean and selfish towards each other and not sharing?
When the Aborigines realised that the white men were not the spirits of their dead ancestors and that the settlers were taking more and more of their land and destroying the trees and wild life they began to fight back.
The Aborigines killed a number of the settlers and even wounded Captain Phillip in an attack. The settlers reacted by slaughtering and poisoning the aborigines and systematically destroying the land and wild animals they lived on.
Phillip also had to adopt a policy towards the Eora Aboriginal people, who lived around the waters of Sydney Harbour. Phillip ordered that they must be well-treated, and that anyone killing Aboriginal people would be hanged. Phillip befriended an Eora man called Bennelong, and later took him to England. On the beach at Manly, a misunderstanding arose and Phillip was speared in the shoulder: but he ordered his men not to retaliate. Phillip went some way towards winning the trust of the Eora, although the settlers were at all times treated extremely warily. Soon, a virulent disease, once thought to be smallpox but now believed to be chickenpox, and other European-introduced epidemics ravaged the Eora population.
MINI TASK
Students are to write an entry from the perspective of an Aboriginal. Whilst writing from this perspective, think about the above questions and incorporate them into your response. In partners you will interview each other with the Ipads and film your responses. These will be uploaded to the class page on Edmodo.