The arrival of European settlers substantially impacted the Aboriginal’s way of living. The European’s came to Australia assuming that the Aboriginal’s were inferior and their way of living was primitive. They had no understanding of Aboriginal culture, beliefs or customs and very few Europeans took the time to try and understand. Along with settlers and convicts, the Europeans brought with them foreign diseases which the Aboriginal’s had no immunity to; smallpox alone initially killed 50% of the Aboriginal population. Alcohol was also introduced; it had a considerable effect on the behaviour of the Aboriginals. The Aboriginals lost their land and hunting grounds and were forced to conform to the European way of life. To the Aboriginals, land was not to be bought, sold or exchanged; it was sacred. Whereas the European’s opinions differed; they believed that land was there to be cultivated and productive enough to earn them money. Along with this opinion the Europeans also believed that those who were cultivating the land had a right to own the land. This evidence shows the difference in the ‘European way’ and the ‘Aboriginal way’. The land was not only taken away from the Aboriginal’s, but essentially their whole livelihood was torn apart.
The Europeans were sometimes vicious and attacked the Aboriginal’s without just cause. In June 1838, twenty-eight Aboriginals were killed and burned by a group of Europeans at Myall Creek. Therry, who was the prosecutor for the case stated that these Aboriginals had been ‘behaving very well’. This evidence demonstrates that the Europeans were willing to attack the Aboriginals if it meant that they were teaching the Aboriginals where their loyalties were to lie. This is just one example of how the Europeans believed that they were more superior then the Aboriginals and how they exercised this belief by attacking without having prior provocation.
On the other hand, Aboriginal people were not just victims, they also fought back. On the 9th of December 1790, a group of European hunters came across a group of Aboriginals. McIntire (one of the Europeans) discarded his weapon, stepped forward and proceeded to speak to the Aboriginals in their native tongue. One of the Aboriginals, Pemulwuy, without warning, speared McIntire. This evidence shows that McIntire was considerate enough to learn the Aboriginal language and was attempting to form a positive relationship with the Aboriginals. His attempts were met with hostility. It also shows that the Europeans gave the Aboriginals the upper hand and the Aboriginals abused this power. Some Europeans made a constructive effort to relate with the Aboriginals but it was too little and too late.
The traditional Aboriginals respected the land that they lived on and had vast built up knowledge about it. They were exceptionally well adapted to it and treated it generously. The European settlers severely impacted the way in which the Aboriginals lived. The Europeans introduced diseases and alcohol which were foreign concepts to the Aboriginals. The opinions and beliefs of both the Aboriginals and Europeans differed so greatly that it caused major conflict between the races.
