Culture Clash:Frontier Violence and Aboriginal

Resistance“Nothing better than dogs” Reverend W. Yate,

1837.

Introduction20,000 Aborigines and 2000 whites were killed

during fighting across Australia.In Victoria 1200 Aborigines were murdered

between 1835 and 1850, often in organised raids killing whole clans

There was not always violence, some families paid Aborigines for using their land with animals

Last lesson we saw that Europeans wanted land for farms and with the full backing of the law ‘Terra Nullius’ could drive Aborigines from the land. Europeans also saw the Aborigines as lowly animals to be exterminated

A Deadly Encounter by S. Calvert(1840)

Source 1

Source 2

Guerrilla (Hit & Run) ViolenceFar from the cities, Aborigines would attack

remote sheep and cattle stations, cause damage and then disappear into the bush before the owner could organise a counter attack.

The colonial governments, were short of soldiers and police to send into every rural area, so had to resort to extreme violence and oppression to try and put down Aboriginal resistance in small pockets. Sometimes they caught no Aborigines at all!!

PemulwoyIn 1790, Aborigine Pemulwoy and his followers

killed or wounded 17 Europeans settlers in the Sydney-Parramatta area.

Governor Phillip ordered his arrest, but couldn’t catch him.

Pemulwoy continued to burn houses and farms and speared settlers who tried to put out the flames.

He was finally lured into a trap in 1802 where he was shot dead

His head was cut off and sent to England for scientific research

Activities1. Do you agree with the view that Pemulwoy

was a freedom fighter? Why or why not?2. Look at sources 1 and 2. What was the main

advantage the Europeans had in warfare over the Aborigines

3. What stood in the way of Aborigines and Europeans living peacefully together?

4. What really caused the Europeans to use violence? Was it racist attitudes or economic factors. Find examples to back up both factors.