Ancestry
Aboriginals:
Aboriginals (or usually called Aborigines) are the native inhabitants of Australia. No one knows where they came from exactly, but many a scientist has been convinced that many of them came either from, or through South-East Asia. Whether it was Europeans or Africans coming through South-East Asia is not certain, all we know is that it took places many thousands of years ago.
The Aborigines lived in many tribes, scattered across Australia, although many lived close to the sea. All having their own ‘family’, they lived a life filled by finding food and maintaining a small community. They lived in multiple settlement between which they switched from time to time (following the seasons). They hunted, gathered edible fruits and plants and worked on their housing.
When the Europeans invaded, they often fought to preserve their territory, but were quickly pushed back or annihilated. Many were killed and in the later years (20th century) children were taken away and put into white families or mission schools to ‘breed out’ the Aboriginal culture.
Today the Aborigines are still not doing well. Many live on the outskirts of towns in terrible conditions. Many cases of alcoholism, depression, poverty, domestic violence and drug abuse are found within these communities and discrimination is still very present, often sparked by their living conditions.
Dreamtime:
Dreamtime is hard to explain, as every tribe and every person in a tribe explains and experiences it differently. In general it is the belief that everything in this world is part of a unchanging network of relationships. All that exists is linked by the great spirit ancestors of the Dreamtime. These spirit ancestors were half human, half animal or plant-like. This is where the totems such as Kangaroo, Shark and Snake come from. When the earth was still nothing, these ancestors broke through the earth’s crust and starting travelling across and living on the earth. They hunted, fought, travelled and created everything in the meantime: animals, plants, the sun, moon and starts and even their direct descendants; the humans.
When all this was done, some of the spirits turned into rock, tree, landscape or other natural environment. These places became sacred and were said to hold spiritual power and knowledge.
The Aborigines celebrate their ‘Dreaming’ through ceremonies, in which they tell the tales of old and connect with the ancestors through dancing, chanting and playing the didgeridoo. It presents the mythical history of the tribe.
Immigration:
Botany Bay:
Botany Bay is the bay in which the Britains first set foot into Australia and where the first settlement were built. This is where Lieutenant James Cook first landed in 1770. First called ‘Sting Ray Harbour’ because of the many stingray they caught there, it was later changed to ‘Botanist Botany Bay’. As James Cook wrote in his journal: ‘The great quantity of plants Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander found in this place occasioned my giving it the name of Botanist Botany Bay”.
In 1788, Governor Arthur Phillip landed here and set up the first official British colony in Australia. Although they later moved north because of a limited supply of fresh water, this was still the first place to welcome the British settlers.
Later on some of the Brits went back and today Botany Bay is the main seaport of Sydney, Australia’s most populous city.
British:
See ‘Botany Bay’ or the page ‘History’ for more information on the British settlements.
Irish:
The Irish were part of the first settlements of Australia. Being part of the British Isles, many of the convicts and settlers that were sent to Australia were Irish. Moreover, for a significantly long time, the Irish held a third of the total population. Together with the ‘Brits’ they are greatly responsible for making Australia what it is today.
After the first settlements there were a few major Irish migration periods. In 1851 the Australian gold rushes made their uproar. This caused many people, including Irish citizens, to look for wealth and a better life. Especially since Ireland was still trying to pick up the pieces after the Great Famine, many sought redemption in Australia.
In this same period 4.000 female orphans were sent to Australia as housemaids. Many stepped into marriage later on, building their own lives and families.
Gold rush:
The Australian gold rushes (1851 and on) were the cause of great migration floods into Australia. 3 years before, in 1848, the California Gold Rush had started. Meanwhile the New South Wales government had known of the existence of Australian gold in their area, but they kept it a secret.
After the quest for gold started in the US, the government decided to bring out the news, causing Australia to become a multicultural nation for the first time. The population tripled in just 20 years.
Italian:
The Italians are a special group within Australia. In the years 1840 through 1860, many middle class Italians came to Australia in search for freedom and a better life. This was caused by the Austrian rule over Northern Italy. These Italians fled in search for a place to work and live in peace.
Naturally, many Italians also followed thanks to the Gold Rush in 1851.
In 1880 a new group arrived, forced to leave Italy’s great economic crisis.
The Italians often worked on sugar cane plantations or did other agricultural work. That was what they knew and what they were very good at. From the start of the 1900s, many of the sugar plantations fell into the hands of the Italian, who were doing considerably well within the Australian society. They worked hard and under any circumstance, and were therefore loved and favoured by employers.
A lot of the Australian Worker Unions did not like this development. They felt threatened and said the Italians took away the jobs from the Australians. Hate towards the Italians grew.
During World War II a great number of Italians were arrested and put in camps as ‘enemy aliens’ and supporters of Italy’s alliance with Germany. Furthermore, 8000 prisoners of war were shipped from the UK to Australia. Yet, because the arrests of Italian-Australians caused a food shortage, many of these prisoners were forced to work the land, and many of them stayed here after the war.
After the war the Italian migration kept growing, as the sugar cane industry was booming. This stopped during the 1970s, when the Australian economy was falling down and the Italian was growing.
Asian:
The first great stream of Asian immigrations came during the start of the Gold Rush. These were mostly Chinese. However, the Chinese for not welcomed with open arms. The great successes of Chinese miners caused friction between them and the white miners. They worked differently, they looked different and they did often not speak the language. The Australians felt that the Chinese would eventually swarm the country and take over. In the end, this led to various riots and eventually to the White Australia Policy.
The White Australia Policy is a combining term for the many policies restricting the Asian immigrants. It started by restricting the Chinese immigration and levying taxes from the Chinese.
It got worse, though. In the 1870s and 1880s, trade unions started protesting against foreign labour. They stated that Asians and Chinese took jobs away by working for cheap wages and in worse conditions. This resulted in Chinese immigration being stopped between 1875 and 1888.
At the same time many Pacific Islanders worked on sugar cane plantations, which the unions hated as well.
In 1901, the Federal Parliament made all this official by installing the Immigration Restriction Act and the Pacific Island Labourers Act. With the statement that the Japanese and Chinese might be a threat to the new federation, they had to be kept away.
As the Attory General, Alfred Deakin, said: “It is not the bad qualities, but the good qualities of these alien races that make them so dangerous to us. It is their inexhaustible energy, their power of applying themselves to new tasks, their endurance and low standard of living that make them such competitors”
The Acts wanted to ban all Non-European migration to Australia, but Britain objected. Therefore they set up ‘dictation tests’, through which they could exclude unwanted immigrants. Officials could exclude any person who failed to pass the dictation test. Naturally, they were nearly impossible to pass.
The Pacific Island Labourers Act resulted in 7500 Pacific Islanders (Kanakas) being deported and the prohibition of all migration to Australia from the Pacific Islands.
Luckily, after the WWII, the Australian government opened the borders and non-Europeans were allowed in again. This happened in stages and was finally resolved in 1966-1973.
Today the Chinese have become a significant part of the Australian population. The Pacific Islanders never came back in great numbers.
