Contact
and Colonisation: The Early Years
When developing units of work on this particular topic, the following
learnings need to be considered:
- Estimates of the Indigenous population in Victoria before 1834
vary quite considerably, but is believed to be approximately 100,000
people. By 1860 the number of Indigenous people living in Victoria
had fallen to less than 2,000.
- The dramatic decline in numbers and the destruction of clan groups
was caused by disease and killings during the early years of European
acts of invasion. Colonial expansion denied the use of Indigenous
languages, land use and culture transmission. Epidemics of imported
diseases such as smallpox, measles, and influenza carried by sailors
and convicts devastated many Indigenous populations.
- Dispossession and dispersal from traditional lands forced Indigenous
people to the fringes of European settlements, and they were without
a viable means of economic support.
- Indigenous people were forced to be dependent on European economic
systems and structures. These systems and structures took no account
of Koorie people's physical, social and spiritual needs. This led
to further deprivation and conflict.
- No treaties were made and no charter of rights was established
to ensure the survival of the life and social organisation of Indigenous
people. John Batman's questionable treaty was one exception, though
even this was later invalidated by European authorities.
- Access to sacred sites, and rights to certain associated ceremonies,
were denied to Indigenous people, and spiritual bonds and expressions
were undermined.
- By introducing stock, converting forests to farmland and destroying
native flora and fauna, Europeans caused the destruction of Indigenous
people's traditional ways of life.
- Conflict and violence were long and protracted. Indigenous people
did not cede their land passively or easily.
- In spite of heroic resistance by Indigenous groups, their numbers
were drastically reduced. European weaponry and the physical and
psychological effects of the culture clash made resistance difficult.
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