“We Are Sailing” - British Colonisation of Australia
Overview:This unit provides opportunities for students to explore issues related to Australia’s original inhabitants, explorers before the British and the British arrival and occupation of Australia. The unit focuses on the evaluation of viewpoints about the consequences of British colonisation for people, groups and the environment, and on formulating informed opinions.
Outcomes and Indicators
CCS2.1 Describes events and actions related to the British colonization of Australia and assesses changes and consequences. ü sequences significant events related to human occupation in Australia ü explains the roles played by significant people during the British colonisation of Australia as a penal colony ü describes some of the consequences of British invasion for Aboriginal peoples ü identifies the consequences of the assumption of terra nullius by the British Government ü describes the involvement of people and groups from other countries in Australia’s heritage, including European and Asian contact and exploration ü describes aspects of ways of life and achievements in the early colony for male and female convicts and exconvicts, the military and their families, officials and officers, Aboriginal people, free settlers ü refers to different viewpoints and perspectives on a significant historical event ü explains why terms such as ‘invasion’, ‘occupation’, ‘settlement’, ‘exploration’ and ‘discovery’ reflect different perspectives on the same event ü acquires and critically evaluates information from source material.
ENS2.6 Describes people’s interactions with environments and identifies responsible ways of interacting with environments. ü identifies the consequences of using features, sites and places in different ways ü identifies issues about the care of places in the community or places of importance to them.
Resources: The Board’s website (http://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au) lists current available resources such as some selected background information sheets, websites, texts and other material to support this unit. The teacher-librarian for available primary and secondary sources that present various perspectives — texts, CD-ROMs, documents, letters, novels, biographies, autobiographies, paintings. Encyclopedias such as The Encyclopedia of Aboriginal Australia (Horton (ed), 1994), Australians: A Historical Library (1987). CD-ROM databases that include information on the First Fleet. Extracts from videos and television programs that re-enact events of this time from various perspectives, eg Babakeiria. An excursion to the historic sites associated with prior occupation and early British occupation of Sydney. Aboriginal education consultant (government schools) or local Aboriginal Land Council, families of Aboriginal students, Aboriginal education workers, local Aboriginal Education Consultative Group (AECG).
Links to other KLA’s: English: The structure and language features of the text types students create and interpret (see above). Creative and Practical Arts: Collages, 3D modelling, drawings, murals.
Unit: # : Learning Experiences
Learning Sequence 1: Original Inhabitants – What Was Life Like for Aboriginal People Before British Colonisation? Note: Refer to Information Sheet 1: ‘The Eora’ at the end of this unit. ü Explain to students that the Australian continent has always been multicultural. Before 1788, there were approximately 500 different language groups or nations. Current scientific understandings indicate that Aboriginal occupation dates back to between 50 000 and possibly 100 000 years before present (BP). Many Aboriginal people believe that they have always been here. ü Construct a timeline to represent 100 000 years, where 1 cm = 200 years. Five metres will represent what may be 100 000 years of Aboriginal occupation. Indicate that the last centimetre on this timeline represents the 200+ years since British colonisation. ü Using an Aboriginal languages map, point out the diversity of Aboriginal cultures in Australia. Jointly locate the Aboriginal language group for your local community. Find the names of the Aboriginal peoples who came from the area now known as Sydney. ü Explain to students that, over thousands of years of careful observation, Aboriginal people acquired an intimate knowledge of physical features of the land, animals, plants and people, and their interconnectedness. They managed the environment according to ancient laws and customs that are recorded in Dreaming stories. These stories describe ways of caring for the land as well as changes to the continent that have occurred over thousands of years, such as climatic and sea-level changes, volcanic eruptions and megafauna. Locally developed practices, such as construction of fish traps in rivers and the use of fire to increase new growth, increased biodiversity and maintained the food supply for small and sustainable populations of Aboriginal peoples throughout Australia. ü Have students investigate Aboriginal place names and food sources in the local area.
Date
Evaluation
Learning Sequence 2: Explorers before the British ü Before commencing this sequence students will need to be aware of the context of European colonisation. During the 17th and 18th centuries, sea-going European countries were expanding their power and wealth through the creation of colonies. This process, called colonisation, created new markets and provided resources for European economies. Exploration, eg da Gama’s search for the Spice Islands, played an important role in colonisation. ü Have students, in groups, research early explorers of Australia and produce an information report on each, eg Jansz, Torres, Hartog, Thijssen, Tasman. I ü Using a map, have students indicate areas of Australia charted before Cook and have them use a string or tape to indicate from where these explorers journeyed. Discuss the evidence of this activity, eg trade relations between the Macassan people of Indonesia and Aboriginal peoples of the Gulf of Carpentaria and Arnhem Land, the Dauphin map. ü Refer to James Cook’s voyage and have students map his route. I ü Have students examine excerpts from James Cook’s diary and discuss his impressions of Australia’s peoples and land features. Jointly view drawings of flora and fauna observed on the voyage. ü Explain the concept of terra nullius in the context of British recognition of Aboriginal peoples at the time. (In 1770, the British Government sent Captain James Cook to look for the Great South Land that was believed to exist somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. His orders were that, if it was uninhabited, he should claim it, but if there were people living there he should take possession of those parts of the country that the inhabitants agreed to. Even though Cook had encountered Aboriginal people, he claimed the east coast of Australia as a British possession as if the country was uninhabited or terra nullius. This decision was based on a different understanding of land management. Because he saw no fences or other features that indicated land management in European terms, Cook assumed that the land was unused. As a result, Aboriginal peoples did not have the rights to which other conquered people were entitled to under European law at the time.)
Date
Evaluation
Learning Sequence 3: The British Arrival ü Jointly view videos, paintings or pictures that depict conditions in England before the First Fleet. Discuss why convicts were transported to Australia. ü Discuss and jointly map the journey of the First Fleet to Sydney Cove. What were conditions like for the various groups on board? What did they bring with them? ü Read the following extract, written by Watkin Tench on his arrival in Australia. ‘... even at the harbour’s mouth we had reason to conclude the country more populous than Mr Cook thought it, for on the Supply’s arrival in the Bay on the 18th of the month, there were assembled on the beach of the south shore, to the number not less than forty persons, shouting and making uncouth signs and gestures.’ Source: Tench, W, 1788: Comprising a Narrative of the Expedition to Botany Bay and a Complete Account of the Settlement of Port Jackson, T Flannery (ed), Text Publishing, Melbourne, 1996. Have students consider what Tench found surprising. ü Present other historical recounts to students concerning various aspects of colonisation. Prior to reading from the texts, have students suggest the problems that the various groups from the colony might have encountered (governors, convicts, soldiers, women, free settlers). Compare these suggestions with the indications from the recounts. Ask questions such as ‘Who wrote the text?’, ‘Is the author writing a first-hand (personally seen/experienced) or secondhand (conveyed by another person) account?’. ü Use a First Fleet database to acquire information about the first convicts, officers, soldiers and settlers that arrived in Australia. ü Have students independently research one of the convicts in preparation for an information report. A short factual recount could also be developed, including the reason the convict was transported, where they were sentenced, the length of their transportation, the ship they were transported on, their age and other statistics. Students could draw a picture of how this person may have looked and write a summary of the information gained, then locate this person on a class display of the ships of the First Fleet. I ü Brainstorm some questions that may arise as a result of the students’ research, eg Were there more men than women on the First Fleet? Were there special ships that did not have convicts? If so, what did they carry? What age were most of the convicts? What occupations did most of the convicts have before being transported? For what reasons were most convicts transported? Where did most of the convicts come from (England or Ireland? London or the provinces?)? Were there particular ships for the different sexes? ü Have students, in groups, find answers to the questions generated and reflect on the nature of the data. Have students develop information reports as oral presentations. I ü Explain to students that history is recorded through primary and secondary sources. Lead them to understand that many incidents regarding Aboriginal people are missing from official accounts of Australian history. Very few records remain of the words or views of Aboriginal people at the time of contact. Ask students to think of reasons why this might be so, eg Aboriginal deaths, a selective recording of events, the oral nature of Aboriginal history. (One of the least-known aspects of Australia’s history is the resistance of Aboriginal people to the British dispossession. Pemulwuy waged a guerilla war against the British for 15 years, yet, like many acts of Aboriginal resistance, his campaign was left out of official reports.) ü Ask students why they think there are few women’s voices from this time. ü Have students consider the colonisation ‘from the ship’ and ‘from the shore’. Discuss the following: Why do many Aboriginal people observe Australia Day as Survival Day? Do you think the British Government would have seen the establishment of the colony as an invasion? Have students consider the terms discovered and explorer. Do you think Aboriginal people would have used these terms to describe colonisation? How might they have seen it? I ü Explain to students that the British chose to establish their colony on the land belonging to the Cadigal clan of the Eora people, who called Sydney Harbour Tuhbowgule. Ask students to list changes to the environment that might have resulted from the construction of the colony, eg tree-felling, construction of buildings, roads and fences, depletion of local resources, introduced animals, land-clearing. As early as May 1788, food shortages among the Eora people were reported. Ask students to discuss and list the possible reasons for this. Explain that the Eora people were exposed to diseases against which they had no immunity. Coastal communities were decimated by smallpox epidemics. As the colony spread out from Sydney, Aboriginal peoples to the north and west of Sydney were forced to relocate away from their country. However, smallpox preceded the expansion of the colony and many Aboriginal people died before any contact with Europeans. ü Using the writings of the diarists at the time of colonisation, such as Cook, Phillip, Tench and Dawes, have students research the nature of contacts between Aboriginal people and the British (colonists, soldiers and convicts). Refer to Information Sheet 2: ‘Diary Extracts from the Time of Colonisation’ at the end of this unit. ü Have students, in groups, construct a matrix of the similarities and differences between the Eora people and the colonists. This might include food, housing, language, culture, belief systems, attitudes towards land, technology. ü Read the following extract by Surgeon White about a catch of fish that occurred in 1789. ‘While the people were employed on the shore, the natives came several times among them and behaved with a cautious friendship. One evening while the seine was hauling, some of them were present and expressed great surprise at what they saw, giving a shout of astonishment and joy when they perceived the quantity that was caught. No sooner were the fish out of the water when they began to lay hold of them as if they had a right to them, or that they were their own; upon which the officer of the boat, I think very properly, restrained them, giving however to each of them a part.’ Source: White, J (1790), Journal of a Voyage to New South Wales, Angus & Robertson in association with the Royal Australian Historical Society, 1962. ü Explore this account with students: Why do you think the Aboriginal people thought that the fish belonged to them? What does this tell you about the British and Eora people’s knowledge and understanding of each other’s laws? Ask students to suggest other things that each may not have known about the other.
Date
Evaluation
Learning Sequence 4: Consequences of British Colonisation for Aboriginal People ü Investigate the impact of British occupation on the Eora people of the Sydney region, and their response to it. Construct a consequence chart, eg: CONSEQUENCES OF BRITISH COLONISATION FOR THE EORA PEOPLE Loss of the land Imposition of colonial rule (the economic, social, cultural and spiritual base)
resistance loss of loss of food resources no access to sacred sites disease murder social disruption population decrease ü Ask students to consider how these events might affect Aboriginal people today. ü If possible, visit a site such as Old Sydney Town or The Rocks, or view picture sets, to provide students with an impression of what the British colony would have been like. ü Investigate key people from the various groups associated with the early British colonisation — governors, settlers, explorers, convicts, women, soldiers, Aboriginal people. Use case studies of particular people to compare their life with others in the colony, eg Arabanoo, Bennelong, Elizabeth Macarthur, Francis Greenway, James Ruse, Richard Johnson, Lachlan Macquarie, Mary Reiby, Pemulwuy. I ü Have students reflect on life in the colony and consider the positive and negative aspects of living in early Sydney for the different groups. They could then represent this visually, perhaps using computer technology. I ü Explain to students that the dispossession of Aboriginal people occurred all over Australia in different ways and at different times. Locate information about the initial contact between Aboriginal people and the colonists in your local area, including the name of the language group, the year and nature of initial contact (eg Wiradjuri people, 1815 in the Bathurst area). Students should be helped to understand that where it is difficult to find information, it is because it is missing and not because contact did not occur. Note: As an extension, teachers may wish students to examine the expansion of the colony, including the role of explorers such as Blaxland, Wentworth and Lawson, Hume and Hovell, Oxley, Sturt, Bass and Flinders.
Stage 2: Human Society and Its Environment.
“We Are Sailing” - British Colonisation of Australia
Outcomes and Indicators
Describes events and actions related to the British colonization of Australia and assesses changes and consequences.
ü sequences significant events related to human occupation in Australia
ü explains the roles played by significant people during the British colonisation of Australia as a penal colony
ü describes some of the consequences of British invasion for Aboriginal peoples
ü identifies the consequences of the assumption of terra nullius by the British Government
ü describes the involvement of people and groups from other countries in Australia’s heritage, including European and Asian contact and exploration
ü describes aspects of ways of life and achievements in the early colony for male and female convicts and exconvicts, the military and their families, officials and officers, Aboriginal people, free settlers
ü refers to different viewpoints and perspectives on a significant historical event
ü explains why terms such as ‘invasion’, ‘occupation’, ‘settlement’, ‘exploration’ and ‘discovery’ reflect different perspectives on the same event
ü acquires and critically evaluates information from source material.
Describes people’s interactions with environments and identifies responsible ways of interacting with environments.
ü identifies the consequences of using features, sites and places in different ways
ü identifies issues about the care of places in the community or places of importance to them.
The Board’s website (http://www.boardofstudies.nsw.edu.au) lists current available resources such as some selected background information sheets, websites, texts and other material to support this unit. The teacher-librarian for available primary and secondary sources that present various perspectives — texts, CD-ROMs,
documents, letters, novels, biographies, autobiographies, paintings.
Encyclopedias such as The Encyclopedia of Aboriginal Australia (Horton (ed), 1994), Australians: A Historical Library (1987).
CD-ROM databases that include information on the First Fleet.
Extracts from videos and television programs that re-enact events of this time from various perspectives, eg Babakeiria. An excursion to the historic sites associated with prior occupation and early British occupation of Sydney. Aboriginal education consultant (government schools) or local Aboriginal Land Council, families of Aboriginal students, Aboriginal education workers, local Aboriginal Education Consultative Group (AECG).
English: The structure and language features of the text types students create and interpret (see above).
Creative and Practical Arts: Collages, 3D modelling, drawings, murals.
Unit: # : Learning Experiences
What Was Life Like for Aboriginal People Before British Colonisation?
Note: Refer to Information Sheet 1: ‘The Eora’ at the end of this unit.
ü Explain to students that the Australian continent has always been multicultural. Before 1788, there were approximately 500 different language groups or nations. Current scientific understandings indicate that Aboriginal occupation dates back to between 50 000 and possibly 100 000 years before present (BP). Many Aboriginal people believe that they have always been here.
ü Construct a timeline to represent 100 000 years, where 1 cm = 200 years. Five metres will represent what may be 100 000 years of Aboriginal occupation. Indicate that the last centimetre on this timeline represents the 200+ years since British colonisation.
ü Using an Aboriginal languages map, point out the diversity of Aboriginal cultures in Australia. Jointly locate the Aboriginal language group for your local community. Find the names of the Aboriginal peoples who came from the area now known as Sydney.
ü Explain to students that, over thousands of years of careful observation, Aboriginal people acquired an intimate knowledge of physical features of the land, animals, plants and people, and their interconnectedness. They managed the environment according to ancient laws and customs that are recorded in Dreaming stories. These stories describe ways of caring for the land as well as changes to the continent that have occurred over thousands of years, such as climatic and sea-level changes, volcanic eruptions and megafauna. Locally developed practices, such as construction of fish traps in rivers and the use of fire to increase new growth, increased biodiversity and maintained the food supply for small and sustainable populations of Aboriginal peoples throughout Australia.
ü Have students investigate Aboriginal place names and food sources in the local area.
Date
Evaluation
ü Before commencing this sequence students will need to be aware of the context of European colonisation. During the 17th and 18th centuries, sea-going European countries were expanding their power and wealth through the creation of colonies. This process, called colonisation, created new markets and provided resources for European economies. Exploration, eg da Gama’s search for the Spice Islands, played an important role in colonisation.
ü Have students, in groups, research early explorers of Australia and produce an information report on each, eg Jansz, Torres, Hartog, Thijssen, Tasman. I
ü Using a map, have students indicate areas of Australia charted before Cook and have them use a string or tape to indicate from where these explorers journeyed. Discuss the evidence of this activity, eg trade relations between the Macassan people of Indonesia and Aboriginal peoples of the Gulf of Carpentaria and Arnhem Land, the Dauphin map.
ü Refer to James Cook’s voyage and have students map his route. I
ü Have students examine excerpts from James Cook’s diary and discuss his impressions of Australia’s peoples and land features. Jointly view drawings of flora and fauna observed on the voyage.
ü Explain the concept of terra nullius in the context of British recognition of Aboriginal peoples at the time. (In 1770, the British Government sent Captain James Cook to look for the Great South Land that was believed to exist somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. His orders were that, if it was uninhabited, he should claim it, but if there were people living there he should take possession of those parts of the country that the inhabitants agreed to. Even though Cook had encountered Aboriginal people, he claimed the east coast of Australia as a British possession as if the country was uninhabited or terra nullius. This decision was based on a different understanding of land management. Because he saw no fences or other features that indicated land management in European terms, Cook assumed that the land was unused. As a result, Aboriginal peoples did not have the rights to which other conquered people were entitled to under European law at the time.)
Date
ü Jointly view videos, paintings or pictures that depict conditions in England before the First Fleet. Discuss why convicts were transported to Australia.
ü Discuss and jointly map the journey of the First Fleet to Sydney Cove. What were conditions like for the various groups on board? What did they bring with them?
ü Read the following extract, written by Watkin Tench on his arrival in Australia. ‘... even at the harbour’s mouth we had reason to conclude the country more populous than Mr Cook thought it, for on the Supply’s arrival in the Bay on the 18th of the month, there were assembled on the beach of the south shore, to the number not less than forty persons, shouting and making uncouth signs and gestures.’ Source: Tench, W, 1788: Comprising a Narrative of the Expedition to Botany Bay and a Complete Account of the Settlement of Port Jackson, T Flannery (ed), Text Publishing, Melbourne, 1996. Have students consider what Tench found surprising.
ü Present other historical recounts to students concerning various aspects of colonisation. Prior to reading from the texts, have students suggest the problems that the various groups from the colony might have encountered (governors, convicts, soldiers, women, free settlers). Compare these suggestions with the indications from the recounts. Ask questions such as ‘Who wrote the text?’, ‘Is the author writing a first-hand (personally seen/experienced) or secondhand (conveyed by another person) account?’.
ü Use a First Fleet database to acquire information about the first convicts, officers, soldiers and settlers that arrived in Australia.
ü Have students independently research one of the convicts in preparation for an information report. A short factual recount could also be developed, including the reason the convict was transported, where they were sentenced, the length of their transportation, the ship they were transported on, their age and other statistics. Students could draw a picture of how this person may have looked and write a summary of the information gained, then locate this person on a class display of the ships of the First Fleet. I
ü Brainstorm some questions that may arise as a result of the students’ research, eg Were there more men than women on the First Fleet? Were there special ships that did not have convicts? If so, what did they carry? What age were most of the convicts? What occupations did most of the convicts have before being transported? For what reasons were most convicts transported? Where did most of the convicts come from (England or Ireland? London or the provinces?)? Were there particular ships for the different sexes?
ü Have students, in groups, find answers to the questions generated and reflect on the nature of the data. Have students develop information reports as oral presentations. I
ü Explain to students that history is recorded through primary and secondary sources. Lead them to understand that many incidents regarding Aboriginal people are missing from official accounts of Australian history. Very few records remain of the words or views of Aboriginal people at the time of contact. Ask students to think of reasons why this might be so, eg Aboriginal deaths, a selective recording of events, the oral nature of Aboriginal history. (One of the least-known aspects of Australia’s history is the resistance of Aboriginal people to the British dispossession. Pemulwuy waged a guerilla war against the British for 15 years, yet, like many acts of Aboriginal resistance, his campaign was left out of official reports.)
ü Ask students why they think there are few women’s voices from this time.
ü Have students consider the colonisation ‘from the ship’ and ‘from the shore’. Discuss the following: Why do many Aboriginal people observe Australia Day as Survival Day? Do you think the British Government would have seen the establishment of the colony as an invasion? Have students consider the terms discovered and explorer. Do you think Aboriginal people would have used these terms to describe colonisation? How might they have seen it? I
ü Explain to students that the British chose to establish their colony on the land belonging to the Cadigal clan of the Eora people, who called Sydney Harbour Tuhbowgule. Ask students to list changes to the environment that might have resulted from the construction of the colony, eg tree-felling, construction of buildings, roads and fences, depletion of local resources, introduced animals, land-clearing. As early as May 1788, food shortages among the Eora people were reported. Ask students to discuss and list the possible reasons for this. Explain that the Eora people were exposed to diseases against which they had no immunity. Coastal communities were decimated by smallpox epidemics. As the colony spread out from Sydney, Aboriginal peoples to the north and west of Sydney were forced to relocate away from their country. However, smallpox preceded the expansion of the colony and many Aboriginal people died before any contact with Europeans.
ü Using the writings of the diarists at the time of colonisation, such as Cook, Phillip, Tench and Dawes, have students research the nature of contacts between Aboriginal people and the British (colonists, soldiers and convicts). Refer to Information Sheet 2: ‘Diary Extracts from the Time of Colonisation’ at the end of this unit.
ü Have students, in groups, construct a matrix of the similarities and differences between the Eora people and the colonists. This might include food, housing, language, culture, belief systems, attitudes towards land, technology.
ü Read the following extract by Surgeon White about a catch of fish that occurred in 1789. ‘While the people were employed on the shore, the natives came several times among them and behaved with a cautious friendship. One evening while the seine was hauling, some of them were present and expressed great surprise at what they saw, giving a shout of astonishment and joy when they perceived the quantity that was caught. No sooner were the fish out of the water when they began to lay hold of them as if they had a right to them, or that they were their own; upon which the officer of the boat, I think very properly, restrained them, giving however to each of them a part.’ Source: White, J (1790), Journal of a Voyage to New South Wales, Angus & Robertson in association with the Royal Australian Historical Society, 1962.
ü Explore this account with students: Why do you think the Aboriginal people thought that the fish belonged to them? What does this tell you about the British and Eora people’s knowledge and understanding of each other’s laws? Ask students to suggest other things that each may not have known about the other.
Date
ü Investigate the impact of British occupation on the Eora people of the Sydney region, and their response to it. Construct a consequence chart, eg:
CONSEQUENCES OF BRITISH COLONISATION FOR THE EORA PEOPLE
Loss of the land Imposition of colonial rule
(the economic, social, cultural and spiritual base)
resistance loss of
loss of food resources
no access to sacred sites disease murder social disruption population decrease
ü Ask students to consider how these events might affect Aboriginal people today.
ü If possible, visit a site such as Old Sydney Town or The Rocks, or view picture sets, to provide students with an impression of what the British colony would have been like.
ü Investigate key people from the various groups associated with the early British colonisation — governors, settlers, explorers, convicts, women, soldiers, Aboriginal people. Use case studies of particular people to compare their life with others in the colony, eg Arabanoo, Bennelong, Elizabeth Macarthur, Francis Greenway, James Ruse, Richard Johnson, Lachlan Macquarie, Mary Reiby, Pemulwuy. I
ü Have students reflect on life in the colony and consider the positive and negative aspects of living in early Sydney for the different groups. They could then represent this visually, perhaps using computer technology. I
ü Explain to students that the dispossession of Aboriginal people occurred all over Australia in different ways and at different times. Locate information about the initial contact between Aboriginal people and the colonists in your local area, including the name of the language group, the year and nature of initial contact (eg Wiradjuri people, 1815 in the Bathurst area). Students should be helped to understand that where it is difficult to find information, it is because it is missing and not because contact did not occur.
Note: As an extension, teachers may wish students to examine the expansion of the colony, including the role of explorers such as Blaxland, Wentworth and Lawson, Hume and Hovell, Oxley, Sturt, Bass and Flinders.