!! Final Edit; MHIS 204 Major Essay
- 1. 1 Student no: 42779006 Callum Craigie MHIS 204: The Origins of Modern Australia: Research Essay Assess the role of violence in the British ‘settlement’ of Australia. It will be highlighted violence was in the implementation and the defense of the enlightened society being created in the British settlement of Australia. There is abundant historical evidence of the role of violence in the British ‘settlement’ of Australia. It will be argued, the indigenous Aboriginals were perceived as the threat to the implementation and defense of the enlightened British settlement of Australia. The Aborigines resisted with violence in the process of settlement. Massacres occurred upon Aborigines, settlers and the colonial government did consider the violence or ‘massacres’ against aboriginals to be an illegitimate action and controversial in its’ reasoning in the process of British settlement. The process of the British settlement of Australia was the implementation of the enlightenment ideology, which highlights the reasoning of the role of violence or massacres against Aboriginals. Agriculture in the enlightened British settlement of Australia was is in the reasoning of the role of violence upon the Aborigines. There is naivety amongst scholars in the severity of the role violence upon Aborigines in the British settlement of Australia. Henry Reynolds in ‘The Other Side of the Frontier’ highlights in old scholarly research of Aborigines there are
- 2. 2 ignorant analyses arguing the population ‘faded away’ after settlement1. Bruce Elder admits there was violence upon aborigines in the process of settlement. However his argument was that aborigines made no attempts to resist British invasion, as they were passive victims2. Geoffrey Blainey in ‘Triumph of the Nomads’ suggests the reduction of the Aboriginal population was the inadvertent introduction of diseases3. Richard Broome in ‘Aboriginal Victorians’ argues whilst decease was partial, it was violence to have contributed considerably in the reduction of the aboriginal population, however Broome is ignorant as to the severity of its’ role in the British settlement. With the example of the Port Phillip settlement Broome suggests it was a mire class of colonialism and unfamiliar culture4. The role of violence however was considerably implemented upon Aborigines in the British settlement of Australia. The process of British settlement was the infliction of violence upon Aboriginals. Aborigines resisted with violence the British settlement of Australia. John Connor is of particular relevance in his analysis of Australian frontier warfare. Connor argues Aborigines respondedwith considerable resistance involving strategic warfare against British settlers. Aborigines used guerilla warfare tactics in the resistance to an invasion, no different to the indigenous people in New Zealand in their resistance to British settlement. Connor claims Aboriginals used 1 Reynolds. H, ‘The Other Side of the Frontier’, James Cook University, 1981, p. 50-104. 2 Elder. B, ‘Blood on the Wattle: Massacres and Maltreatment of Aboriginal Australians since 1788’, 3rd edition, New Holland Publishers, 2009, p. 14. 3 Blainey. G, ‘Triumph of the Nomads’, Macmillan Press, Melbourne, 1975, p. 101- 112. 4 Broom. R, ‘Aboriginal Victorians: A History Since 1800’, Allen and Unwin, 2005, p. 91-92.
- 3. 3 violent methods of resistance, however strategic in several small and effective isolated attacks. The most apparent was the destruction of farms including the burning crops, the spearing and consumption of livestock. Furthermore murderous ambushes were used upon lone stockmen; firearms were taken in the raiding and burning down of settler’s homes. Connor claims settlers in the severity of violent Aboriginal resistance settlers were forced to call upon military assistance5. It is apparent settlers and their farms were met with violent gorilla style warfare resistance, by the aboriginal population, furthermore no different to the New Zealand indigenous population. The process of British settlement was the infliction of violence upon Aboriginals. Ryan Lyndall in his analysis of violence in settlement describes military campaigns and garrisons been specifically for aborigines resisting British settlement. As early as the first frontier of the Hawkesbury River region in the 1790s, Lyndall describes the British garrison undertaking several military campaigns against Aborigines. Furthermore Lyndall argues British garrison units evolved into the 19th century from light infantry to mounted troopers to “hunt down their prey”, being the Aborigines6. Lyndall analyses Broome’s argument that was previously stated above, to be an understatement of violence upon Aborigines in the process of settlement. “Broome’s account of the dramatic population collapse has many important components, but it tends to overlook the possible impact of the phenomenon of settler massacre, that is the killing of 5 Connor. J, ‘The frontier that never was’, in Stockings. C, ‘Zombie Myths of Australian Military History’, Chapter 1, UNSW Press, 2010, p. 16. 6 Lyndall. R, ‘Untangling Aboriginal resistance and the settler punitive expedition: the Hawkesbury River frontier in the New South Wales: 1794-1810’, Routledge, Journal of Genocide Research, Vol. 15, No.2, 2013, p. 220.
- 4. 4 an undefended group of Aborigines in one action”7. Dirk Moses in ‘Genocide and settler society in Australian History’ is adamant of the process of settlement to have been in the massacre of the Aboriginal population. Settler massacres are argued to have been the norm in the expansion of British settlement up until the 1850s8. The process of British settlement is argued to have been the massacre of Aborigines, with specialist military units evolving for the purpose from the 18th to 19th century. Massacres of Aborigines are abundant throughout British settlement history. The Myral Creek massacre is an example of a large massacre of Aborigines by settlers. In 1838 a group of eleven stockmen murdered twenty-eight Aborigines at a station in Myral Creek. According to the station keeper George Anderson the stockmen were not of the station, however persisted in violent activities against the aborigines that were taking shelter on the station with knowledge of hostilities against Aborigines in the area9. “While Master was away, some men came on a Saturday, about 10; I cannot say how many days after master left; they came on horseback, armed with muskets and swords and pistols; all were armed… the blacks, when they saw the men coming, ran into our hut, and the men then, all of them, got off their horses; I asked what they were going to do with the blacks, and Russel said 'We are going to take them over the back of the 7 Lyndall. R, 2013, p. 258. 8 Moses. D. A, ‘Genocide and Settler Society in Australian History’, Berghahn Books, New York, 2004, p. 30-35. 9 Bottoms. T, ‘Conspiracy of Silence: Queensland’s frontier killing times’, Sydney: Allen and Unwin, 2013, p. 15 and 178.
- 5. 5 range, to frighten them”10. Lyndall argues by 1838 although it was illegal for murder of aboriginals it was impossible for the colonial authorities to bind the conduct of settler men. The incident of Myall Creek is argued to have been a legitimate force in the mindset of the stockman in the frustration Aboriginals11. Furthermore outside of New South Wales, Victoria depicts a similar history of massacres of Aborigines. According to Broome more than half of Aboriginals were killed in mass settler killings in the first half of the 19th century12. Furthermore Moses argues for every one settler killed between 1788 and 1930 at least ten Aborigines were killed13. Therefore massacres conducted by British settlers upon Aborigines were considerable in the settlements. The British settlement of Australia caused violence amongst the Aborigines. Michael Cannon in ‘Who Killed the Kooris?’ considers the role violence in the settlement of Port Phillip settlement upon the Aboriginal population. Cannon argues there was considerable violence amongst the Aboriginal population of the Murray district region in the 1840s, however more Aborigines died in tribal battles than by white men14. Beverly Blaskett in the study of Aboriginal response to white settlement between 1835 and 1850 considers Port Phillip to have consisted tribal warfare fatalities considerably, exceeding settler massacres 10 Stone. S. N, ‘4.5 George Anderson's eye-witness account’, Aborigines in White Australia: A documentary history of the attitudes affecting official policy and the Australian Aborigines, 1697–1973. Melbourne: Heinemann, 1974. 11 Lyndall. R, 2013, p. 42. 12 Broome. R, 2005, p. 91-92. 13 Moses. D. A, ‘Genocide and Settler Society in Australian History’, Berghahn Books, New York, 2004, p. 30-35. 14 Cannon. M, ‘Who Killed the Kooris?’ William Heinemann Australia, Port Melbourne, 1990, p. 231.
- 6. 6 upon Aboriginals15. Blaskett proves consistent with Cannon, however furthermore develops an argument as to reasoning in the intertribal warfare. Blaskett argues the reasoning in the violence of intertribal warfare was the result of the introduction of white settlers, which caused more intertribal mobility. The intertribal conflict was normally caused in a revenge killing as a result of all death within the tribe. Blaskett explains deaths were thought have occurred in the contact and at the hand of sorcery practiced by strange aborigines in other tribes16. Aborigines moved away from their traditional tribal boundary lines in the attraction to European settlements and in the loss of their own lands to white settlers17. Therefore Aboriginal tribes coming into more frequent contact with one another and trial warfare was the result of the introduction of British settlers. The role of violence amongst Aborigines was in their displacement caused by the British settlements. The violence upon Aboriginals within settler society proves to be controversial in its’ reasoning in the process of British settlement. Dirk Moses in ‘Genocide and Settler Society’ highlights within the eyes of British law; “Aboriginals were forbidden from testifying in legal proceedings when they were otherwise regarded as British subjects, equal before the law”18. Russel Ward and John Robertson describe early examples depicting Aboriginals been protected under the law, furthermore with violent punishment inflected upon convict 15 Blaskett. B, ‘The Aboriginal Response to White Settlement in Port Phillip District 1835-1850’, Thesis, University of Melbourne, 1979, p. 20. 16 Blaskett. B, 1979, p. 311. 17 Blaskett. B, 1979, p. 157. 18 Day. D, ‘Claiming a Continent: A New History of Australia’, Harper and Collins Australia, 1996, p. 130. Cited Moses. D. A, 2004, p. 7.
- 7. 7 perpetrators. In 1789 according to Captain Watkin Tench “the natives continued to complain of being robbed of spears, and fishing tackle. A convict was at length taken in the fact of stealing fishing tackle from Dar-in-ga, the wife of Colbee. The governor ordered that he should be severely flogged, in the presence of as many natives as could be assembled, to whom the cause of punishment could be explained”19. According to the theories of enlightenment by the first Governor Arthur Phillip Aborigines were civilizable and ordered they were to treated well, furthermore christian belief insisted Aborigines were children of god and human beings20. It would be controversial to argue violence was not alone to Aboriginals in the British Settlement of Australia. As the rule of law both recognized and protected Aboriginals, furthermore the theories of enlightenment and christianity cement violence upon Aboriginals were not easily permitted. Aboriginals in theory of the British settlement of Australia, would not have been subject to violence. According to Ford and Salter; “James Cook’s botanist, the celebrated Joseph Banks, assured colonial officials in London that Australia was relatively fertile and thinly inhabited by extremely uncivilized and timid Indigenous people who would recede before European settlement without treaty, cost or violence”21. Furthermore on these grounds in the British 19 Captain Watkin Tench, Ed. L. F. Fitzhardinge, ‘Sydney’s First Four Years, A Narrative of the Expedition to Botany Bay and A Complete Account of the Settlement at Port Jackson, Angus and Robertson, Sydney, 1961, p. 144. Cited Ward. R and Robertson. J, ‘Such Was Life: Select documents in Australian Social History’, Ure Smith Publishing, Sydney, London, 1969, p. 45. 20 D. Day, 1996, p. 130. Cited Moses. D. A, 2004, p. 7. 21 Banner. T, ‘Why Terra Nullius?’, Anthropology and Property Law, Law and History Review, Vol. 23, 2005, p. 95-132. Cited Ford. L and Salter. B, ‘From Pluralism to Territorial Sovereignty: the 1816 trial of Mow-watty in the Superior Court of New South Wales’, Indigenous Law Journal, Vol. 7, 2008, p. 73.
- 8. 8 settlement of Australia it can be assumed there were good intentions of treating Aborigines well. This is evident with the example previously stated above with 1789 flogging of convicts. Massacres or violence upon the aboriginals were recognized as an issue into the 19th century. The Colonial Office in London considered the Australian frontier expansion to be a considerable issue with the safety of Aboriginal population. In 1837 a select committee of Inquiry after researching the vitality of indigenous populations in the colonies urged government authorities to assume more moral responsibility. It was considered that the indigenous peoples could become extinct in South Africa, Australia and North America. It was not until 1838 that the law was enforced upon the murder of Aborigines as a capital offence22. The rationality of what role of violence or the massacres of Aborigines was is not recognized however. The term ‘massacre’ is a commonly discussed amongst scholars in the British settlement of Australia and aboriginal history. Ian Clark reviews aboriginal massacres of the 19th century. Clark defines a massacre to be “the unnecessary, indiscriminate killing of a number of human beings, as in barbarous warfare or persecution, or for revengeor plunder. In a wider sense, it is taken to refer to the general slaughter of human beings”23. As previously stated Aboriginals were recognized in enlightenment theory, Christianity and British Law, however contrary Aboriginals were subjected to violence in the British 22 Adams. F, ‘The Boomerang’. 1st of Feburary 1888. Cited Walker. D, ‘Anxious Nation: Australia and the Rise of Asia, 1850-1939’, University of Queensland Press, 1999, p. 40-41. 23 Clark. I, ‘Scars in the Landscape: A Register of Massacre Site in Western Victoria, 1803-1859, Canberra ACT, Aboriginal Studies Press, 1995, p. 7.
- 9. 9 settling of Australia. It is apparent a massacre was considered an illegitimate action and inhumane, however massacres are present upon aborigines in the British settlement. The process of the British settlement of Australia was the implementation of the enlightenment ideology, which highlights the reasoning of the role of violence or massacres against Aboriginals. The enlightenment in European thought allowed colonial Australia to be the new environment in which convicts once exposed to, could reform into model citizens. With the example of the colony of New South Wales it was believed exposure to a new undeveloped environment, the convict population would be turned into good and useful citizens24. Furthermore the main focus of development in the British settlement of Australia was agriculture. According to John Gascoigne in agriculture was the opportunity for convicts to earn their own land and become reformed useful members of the new enlightened society. “The language of agricultural improvement, for many, provided the most concrete illustration of the ways in which enlightenment based attitudes to reason and science could have practical and beneficial implications for the advancement of society”25. Agriculture or farming was the important to the British settlement of Australia as the colonization was the implementation of enlightenment ideals. 24 Gascoigne. J, ‘The Enlightenment and the Origins of European Australia, Cambridge University Press, Melbourne, 2002, p. 7. 25 Gascoigne. J, 2002, p. 10.
- 10. 10 Agriculture in the enlightened British settlement of Australia was is in the reasoning of the role of violence upon the Aborigines. As previously stated above the Aborigines destroyed farms including the burning crops, the spearing and consumption of livestock. Furthermore murderous ambushes were used upon lone stockmen; firearms were taken in the raiding and burning down of settler’s homes26. It is particularly evident under the Governor Lachlan Macquarie who is known for his contribution for the development of commerce and agriculture27. According to Grace Karskens Governor Macquarie was regarded as autocratic in his implementation of nation building by enlightenment ideals through the development of agriculture28. Governor Macquarie at first appeared to be fascinated and peaceful towards the Aborigines in his diary of the exploration of the Blue Mountains29. However six years after Governor Macquarie’s arriving in Australia he considered the Aborigines to be a threat to the enlightened society as they had proven to be in retaliation and destructive farmland. According to Ford and Salter in 1816 Macquarie issued two proclamations that permitted the use of violence against Aborigines. The first was no “Black Native or Body of Black Natives shall ever appear at or within one mile of any Town, Village or Farm occupied by or belonging to any British subject, armed”. Furthermore the second was that “no number of Natives exceeding in the whole six persons being entirely unarmed shall ever come to lurk or loiter about any farm in the 26 Connor. J, 2010, p. 16. 27 Karskens. G, ‘The Colony’, Melbourne University Press, Ch. 7, 2009, p. 189. 28 Karskens. Grace, 2009, p. 190-193. 29 Extracts from Lachlan Macquarie, ‘Journals of his Tours in New South Wales and Van Diemen’s Land 1810-1822’, Journeys in Time 1809-1822 project, Macquarie University Library, p. 1-3.
- 11. 11 Interior”30. The violation of any of the two proclamations would the offending Aborigines would be treated as enemies of the colony. Ford and Salter further argue “these provisions echoed earlier responses to Aboriginal violence in the colony by declaring war against Indigenous people31. In conclusion the role of violence in the British ‘settlement’ of Australia was primarily inflicted upon Aborigines, as they posed a threat to the implementation and the defense of the enlightened society. There is naivety amongst scholars in the severity of the role violence upon Aborigines. Aborigines resisted settlers and their farms with violent gorilla style warfare resistance. Massacres of Aborigines are abundant throughout British settlement history, with specialist military units evolving for the purpose from the 18th to 19th century and settler violence upon continuing into the 19th century beyond the bounds of law, with the example of Myral Creek massacre. Violence upon Aborigines was not a concerning issue by authorities until the 19th century with the law enforcing the murder of Aborigines to a capital offence. The settlement of Australia caused violence amongst the Aborigines with intertribal warfare as a result of their displacement caused by the British settlements. Violence upon Aboriginals within settler society proves was controversial as the rule of law, the enlightenment ideologies and christianity, both recognized and protected Aboriginals. Aboriginals in theory of the British settlement of Australia were not supposed to have been subject to violence. Aboriginals by Captain Cook’s 30 Ford. L and Salter. B, ‘From Pluralism to Territorial Sovereignty: the 1816 trial of Mow-watty in the Superior Court of New South Wales’, Indigenous Law Journal, Vol. 7, 2008, p. 78-79. 31 Ford. L and Salter. B, 2008, p. 79.
- 12. 12 excursion were considered extremely uncivilized and timid Indigenous people who would recede before European settlement without treaty, cost or violence. Agriculture or farming was the implementation of enlightenment ideals, however it conflicted with the indigenous population. The Governor Macquarie era with the introduction of two proclamations, marked the declaration of war upon the Aboriginal population, in defense of the enlightened society. Thus violence played a role upon Aborigines in the British ‘settlement’ of Australia, as they posed a threat to the implementation and the defense of the enlightened society.
- 13. 13 Bibliography: Articles: Banner. T, ‘Why Terra Nullius?’, Anthropology and Property Law, Law and History Review, Vol. 23, 2005. Ford. L and Salter. B, ‘From Pluralism to Territorial Sovereignty: the 1816 trial of Mow-watty in the Superior Court of New South Wales’, Indigenous Law Journal, Vol. 7, 2008. Lyndall. R, ‘Untangling Aboriginal resistance and the settler punitive expedition: the Hawkesbury River frontier in the New South Wales: 1794-1810’, Routledge, Journal of Genocide Research, Vol. 15, No.2, 2013. Books: Adams. F, ‘The Boomerang’. 1st of Feburary 1888. Cited Walker. D, ‘Anxious Nation: Australia and the Rise of Asia, 1850-1939’, University of Queensland Press, 1999. Blainey. G, ‘Triumph of the Nomads’, Macmillan Press, Melbourne, 1975, p. 101- 112. Bottoms. T, ‘Conspiracy of Silence: Queensland’s frontier killing times’, Sydney: Allen and Unwin, 2013.
- 14. 14 Broom. R, ‘Aboriginal Victorians: A History Since 1800’, Allen and Unwin, 2005, p. 91-92. Cannon. M, ‘Who Killed the Kooris?’, William Heinemann Australia, Port Melbourne, 1990. Clark. I, ‘Scars in the Landscape: A Register of Massacre Site in Western Victoria, 1803-1859, Canberra ACT, Aboriginal Studies Press, 1995. Connor. J, ‘The frontier that never was’, in Stockings. C, ‘Zombie Myths of Australian Military History’, Chapter 1, UNSW Press, 2010. Day. D, ‘Claiming a Continent: A New History of Australia’, Harper and Collins Australia, 1996. Elder. B, ‘Blood on the Wattle: Massacres and Maltreatment of Aboriginal Australians since 1788’, 3rd edition, New Holland Publishers, 2009. Gascoigne. J, ‘The Enlightenment and the Origins of European Australia, Cambridge University Press, Melbourne, 2002. Karskens. G, ‘The Colony’, Melbourne University Press, Ch. 7, 2009.
- 15. 15 Moses. D. A, ‘Genocide and Settler Society in Australian History’, Berghahn Books, New York, 2004. Reynolds. H, ‘The Other Side of the Frontier’, James Cook University, 1981. Ward. R and Robertson. J, ‘Such Was Life: Select documents in Australian Social History’, Ure Smith Publishing, Sydney, London, 1969. Other: Blaskett. B, ‘The Aboriginal Response to White Settlement in Port Phillip District 1835-1850’, Thesis, University of Melbourne, 1979. Captain Watkin Tench, Ed. L. F. Fitzhardinge, ‘Sydney’s First Four Years, A Narrative of the Expedition to Botany Bay and A Complete Account of the Settlement at Port Jackson, Angus and Robertson, Sydney, 1961. Extracts from Lachlan Macquarie, ‘Journals of his Tours in New South Wales and Van Diemen’s Land 1810-1822’, Journeys in Time 1809-1822 project, Macquarie University Library. Stone. S. N, ‘4.5 George Anderson's eye-witness account’, Aborigines in White Australia: A documentary history of the attitudes affecting official policy and the Australian Aborigines, 1697–1973. Melbourne: Heinemann, 1974.