rights and freedoms lesson 3 (copy)

What were the Frontiers in Aus history?

Borders of British control.

What did these frontiers lead to?

Many deaths and illnesses, difficulties hunting and gathering, banishment from campsites and difficulties performing traditional rituals and protecting sacred places.

How did the British colonisers see IA?

Non-humans and did not count killing them as murder.

What was the impact of the first generation of contact with Europeans?

there was an 85% reduction of IAs

What is genocide?

A deliberate and systemic attempt by one group to wipe out another.

When did the government start the practice of assimilation and why?

By the 1930s, it became clear that the Aboriginal people were not dying out and in 1951 the federal government started assimilation.

What was the belief that was behind assimilation?

That Aboriginal people should now be ‘absorbed’ into ‘mainstream’ Australian culture, and become more like white Australians.

Did assimilation give rights to Aboriginals?

No.

What were the consequences of trying to assimilate?

IA found it difficult to find work and equal pay because of racism, encountered resistance in public places, and they were denied access to public services. This resulted in many of them being placed in special housing/poor areas.

How was the belief of assimilation allowed?

Due to the belief that IAs should be bred out.

How was assimilation phased out?

Political organisations protested for IA civil rights.

When and what was the Day of Mourning and who were its organisers?

In 1938 William Cooper, Jack Patten and Bill Ferguson organised a group of 150+ IAs assembled to mourn the loss of their lands and to demand basic human rights.

What was handed out in the Day of Mourning meeting?

A manifesto handed out, Aborigines Claim Citizen Rights, introduced Australians to an alternative perspective of their history.

When and what caused regular meetings between the State and Commonwealth officers responsible for IA affairs?

Criticisms of the treatment of Aboriginal people led in 1936.

What was the Federal Council for the Advancement of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders and when was it formed?

Formed in 1958, began to define the demands of the Aboriginal people.

When was IA made AU citizens?

1949.

Who was Jack Patten and what did he do for IA activism?

He coordinated the first Day of Mourning and published the first Aboriginal newspaper, The Australian Abo Call in 1938. In 1939, they overturned a ban of IA in the armed forces and in 1940 gave them votes.

How many IA served in WWI?

500 despite it being illegal.

What was the importance of the Cummeragunja station school?

It allowed IA children to study there beyond the mandatory years and thus birthed many activists and was a major focus in the fight for Aboriginal rights.