YEAR 9 HISTORY EXAM REVISION

What was federation?

The process by which six British colonies united to form the Commonwealth of Australia in 1901. The colonies were New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia, Western Australia, and Tasmania.

What were the arguments FOR Federation?

• Need for National armed forces

• United immigration policy would strengthen borders against non-white foreigners

• Economic benefits - removes trade tariffs

• Connecting train lines between states promoted trade and travel.

What were the arguments AGAINST Federation

• Religious opposition

• Queensland government reluctant - feared being dominated

• Victoria and NSW didn’t want to share gold rush earnings

• Concern that Federation would prohibit importing Pacific Islander workers.

Who was included in the constitution?

Drafted by white settlers, the constitution did not recognise Indigenous people. They could not vote and were not counted in the population. Only some women could vote.

What is the constitution

The Commonwealth of Australia constitution act (“The Constitution”) came into effect Jan 1 1901

Established a federal government for the nation, being responsible for all of Australia. The states still kept their own systems of Government.

What was the Maternity Allowance Act 1912

Introduced on 10th October 1912. Married and single women who had given birth recieved 5 Pounds to cover medical care for themselves and their baby (equivalent to 2 weeks wages)

How did federation impact Women’s Suffrage.

The commonwealth act of 1902 granted Female British Subjects resident in Australia to vote and stand for federal office. Before this women could not stand for office anywhere in the world.

What was the Immigration Restriction Act? (White Australia policy)

Put in place in 1901. Compulsory dictation test for non-British immigrants - Biased and unfair. In place for 60 years

What was the Pacific Islander Labour Act 1901? (White Australia policy)

Ordered the Mass Deportation of around 10,000 Islanders. Families were not properly provided for.

The White colonisers often assumed the First Nations people were all the same. This is not true; some key ares of cultural diversity included:

• There were over 250 languages on the Australian continent pre-colonisation.

• Sustainable ways if living depended on the environment in which particular indigenous groups lived (Fishing, Hunting and gathering, aqua farming)

• Laws (differed across Australia)

• Art

• Spiritual belieefs

• trade and exchange

What was “Terra Nullius”?

A legal classification of the Australian continent as “belonging to no one”. Justification of colonial “ownership” of the land, under the guise that colonisers were more “civilised” than Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

When was “Terra Nullius” overturned?

in 1992 with the Mabo decision. This allows for First Nations people to apply for Native Title.

Impacts of Colonisation on Aboriginal people

• Land claimed for colonial farming, mining and Settlement.

• Disrupted traditional land management practices, water sources, food systems, and hunting grounds.

• Denied First Nations people legal ownership of land they had cared for for years

• sacred sites destroyed or desecrated, including burial grounds

• Disease

• Dispossession

• Frontier Violence

• Environemental impacts

Disease post-colonisation

• the first fleet brought new diseases such as smallpox, measles and influenza with it, killing up to 50 percent of the Aboriginal population around Sydney within the first year

• Disease had psychological impacts including grief, trauma, and loss of culture due to the high death toll.

• Reliance on European rations lead to malnutrition and illness

Dispossession of land post-colonisation

• forced Indigenous people into missions, reseves and unfamiliar territories

• Lead indigenous people to be unable to access food sources and land

• Dispossession meant a loss of connection to Country, which is central to the First Nations spirituality, identitiy, law, and way of life

• Aboriginal Reserves were established from the 1830’s onwards, often with poor living conditions and limited freedom.

• Protection acts gave governments control over where Aboriginal people could live, work and who they could marry.

John Batman Treaty

• in 1835 John Batman claimed to have signed a treaty with the Wurundjeri people in Victoria, offering goods for 600,000 acres. The British government voided the treaty, declaring land could only be acquired by the crown - upholding Terra Nullius, the idea that the land belonged to no one before colonisation.

Frontier violence after colonisation

• As settlers moved inland, violence erupted. Aboriginal resistance was often met with brutal force.

• Over 270 recorded massacres occurred across Australia up to 1901

• Violence was often in response to Aboriginal people defending land or taking livestock after beung denied traditional food sources

• In Tasmania, violence and disease reduced the Aboriginal population from an estimated 5000 in 1803 to fewer than 300 by the 1830s

Environmental impacts after colonisation

• colonists cleared land for sheep and cattle grazing, disrupting ecosystems and interfering with bush tucker and sacred sites

• introduction of fences, waterholes for livestock, and introduces species reduced native plant and animal populations

• Traditional firestick farming was stopped, leading to overgrowth and more intense bushfires

• Aboriignal people often banned from farmland

Aboriginal perspectives before federation

• loss of land and culture were deeply traumatic for First Nations people, who saw colonisation as an invasion and genocide

• Many Aboriginal people viewed Europeans as trespassers with no right to authority

• Pemulwuy, a Bidjigal warrior, led armed resistance from 1792 to 1802 in the Sydney area, raiding farms and attacking soldiers. He believed he was protecting his land, people and culture

• Oral histories preserve these perspectives

Aboriginal perspectives after federation

Federation in 1901 excluded Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people from the new nations vision of citizenship and rights.

• The Constitution stated that Aboriginal people would not be counted in the census, (Section 127) and that the commonwealth could not make laws for them (section 51 (xxvi))

• Many First Nations people felt abandoned, ignored, and erased by the new Australian nation.

What did Federation do for the rights of Indigenous people?

• lives controlled by Protection acts - Aboriginal people were not seen as self-governing (paternalism)

• state based protection boards had greater power post fed.

• restricted travel

• Assimilation policies to “absorb” Indigenous people into white society

• Stolen generations: Children forcibly removed from their parents (1910 - 1970) causing long term trauma

• eg. Cootamundra girls home - trained stolen children to work as servants in white households, separating them from family and identity

causes of World War 1 - long term

• militarism : Countries like Germany, Britain and France built up large armies and navies

• nations ready for war

• Alliances:

  • triple alliance : Germany, Austria-Hungary, Italy

  • Triple Entente: Britain, France, Russia.

• Imperialism: Tension, jealousy and competition to build empires between countries

• Nationalism : very strong pride in ones country. (desire for independence)

causes of World War 1 - short term

• Competition over who had the strongest navy between Britain and Germany

• Moroccan Crises (1905 & 1911)

  • Germany challenged France’s control of Morocco

• Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand

  • Heir to Austro-hungarian throne, killed by Serbian nationalist in Sarajevo on 28th June 1914

Chain of events to start WWI

• Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand - Heir to Austro-hungarian throne, killed by Serbian nationalist in Sarajevo on 28th June 1914

• Austria-Hungary declare war on Serbia

• Russia supported Serbia

• Germany declared war on Russia

• Germany attacked France and Invaded Belgium

• Britain declared war on Germany

Why did Australians Fight in WWI?

• Loyalty to Britain

• Sense of Adventure

• to help “Mother Country”

• national pride and identity

• peer pressure and honour

• steady pay and job security

Role of Australian Women during WWI

• Stepping into male dominated jobs when men left to fight

• nurses and ambulance drivers

• munitions factories

• red cross

• Challenge to traditional Gender Roles

28th June 1914

Assassination of Franz Ferdinand

4 August 1914

Britain and Australia enter the war

25th April 1915

Galipoli campaign begins

1917

USA joins war, raises morale, Russian revolution

11 November 1918

Peace treaty signed. Remembrance day.

Galipoli

see notes