Australia

By cmendoza3

  • 1788

    British occupation of Australia begins. Estimates put the Indigenous population at 750 000. Aboriginal resistance is immediate. Clashes are reported over next 10 years in Parramatta and Hawkesbury districts. The British Government's act of possession legislates Indigenous Australians as British subjects and marks the acquisition of sovereignty over Indigenous Australia.

  • 1804

    Two years after the British flag is raised in Van Die man's Land (Tasmania) settlers are authorized to shoot Indigenous Australians.

  • 1814

    Governor Macquarie's establishes the Native Institution at Parramatta. This school for local Indigenous Australians' children closes in 1820 when families withdraw children after they realize that the Institution's aim is to distance Indigenous children from families and communities.

  • 1816

    Governor Macquarie's proclamation gives some Indigenous Australians, with 'passes', the 'protection' of white law'. This same proclamation declares Martial Law against other Indigenous Australians who could then be shot on sight if armed with spears, or even unarmed, if they were within a certain distance of houses or settlements

  • 1824

    In Tasmania, settlers are authorized to shoot Indigenous Australians. Martial law is declared in Bratwurst NSW after Indigenous Australians becomes a serious threat to white settlement.

  • 1830

    Tasmanian Indigenous Australians are forcibly settled on Flinders Island. Conditions are appalling and many die. Later the community is moved to Cape Barren Island.

  • 1834

    Pinjarra massacre. Governor Stirling leads 25 mounted police against Indigenous Australians. Official records say 14 Pinjarra are killed. Pinjarra accounts suggest a whole tribe is wiped out in the attack.

  • 1835

    Non-indigenous citizens can be sent to gaol with hard labour for "lodging or wandering in company with any of the black natives of the colony". This clause appears in various legislation well into the following century including all Vagrancy Acts.

  • 1837

    A British Parliamentary Select Committee examines the treatment of Indigenous people in all British colonies. Australian colonies are particularly criticized for the practice of genocide and it is recommended that Protectors of Aborigines be appointed.

  • 1838

    Myall Creek massacre. Settlers shoot and burn twenty-eight Kamilaroi, mostly women and children. This is the first occasion in Australian history when perpetrators of a massacre of Indigenous Australians are punished under Australian law.