What did aboriginals live in before Colonisation?

They lived in caves in the south-west hinterland as well as sandstone rock shelters in close proximity to the ancient coastline. In the south-west, where the many river valleys were covered with low grassy herb fields, the people became specialised hunters of red-necked wallaby, wombat and platypus.

What was life like in Australia before the British arrived?

Australia was a harsh and unfamiliar environment, with its hot climate and weird animals. Then there was the brutal discipline of the convict colonies. The evidence suggests that Van Diemen’s Land was run more harshly than New South Wales.

How did European settlement impact Aboriginal culture?

European colonisation had a devastating impact on Aboriginal communities and cultures. Cultural practices were denied, and subsequently many were lost. For Aboriginal people, colonisation meant massacre, violence, disease and loss.

What was Australia like before it was colonized?

Prior to British settlement, more than 500 Indigenous groups inhabited the Australian continent, approximately 750,000 people in total. Their cultures developed over 60,000 years, making Indigenous Australians the custodians of the world’s most ancient living culture.

What happened to the Aboriginal after European settlement?

After European settlers arrived in 1788, thousand of aborigines died from diseases; colonists systematically killed many others. At first contact, there were over 250,000 aborigines in Australia. The massacres ended in the 1920 leaving no more than 60,000.

How many Aboriginal were in Australia before settlement?

At the time of first European contact, it is generally estimated that the pre-1788 population was 314,000, while recent archaeological finds suggest that a population of 500,000 to 750,000 could have been sustained, with some ecologists estimating that a population of up to a million or even two million people was …

What was Aboriginal life like before 1788?

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people lived in all parts of Australia before European settlement in 1788, in very different environments. We know that they learned how to use the environment wherever they were – in jungle, or desert, or river valleys, on coasts, or grasslands, or swamps.

What did the English settlers do to the Aboriginal?

The English settlers and their descendants expropriated native land and removed the indigenous people by cutting them from their food resources, and engaged in genocidal massacres.

How did Europeans view aboriginals?

They might instead see Aboriginal people as without agriculture, and hence without any system of government, and living a so-called “primitive” life. This negative view of Indigenous people tended to be more common, but as Captain Cook’s writing shows, it was not the only way to see things.

How many Aboriginal tribes were there before European settlement?

There were between 300,000 to 950,000 Aboriginal people living in Australia when the British arrived in 1788.3 At that time there were approximately 260 distinct language groups and 500 dialects. Land is fundamental to Indigenous people, both individually and collectively.

What was life like for Indigenous Australians before European settlement?

Before European settlement, Indigenous Australians lived in peace with the environment. The people and culture sustained Australia’s land. It is the essential part of all spirituality to them and they it holds great importance to all.

How did aboriginals live in the past?

They lived in small communities and survived by hunting and gathering. The men would hunt large animals for food and women and children would collect fruit, plants and berries. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island communities only used the land for things that they needed – shelter, water, food, weapons. They never overused it or damaged it.

Why are there so many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander tribes?

There are hundreds of different Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander tribes. Because of their knowledge of the land, they have been able to survive to be here today. Before European settlement, Indigenous Australians lived in peace with the environment. The people and culture sustained Australia’s land.

How did colonization affect the lifestyle of the indigenous people?

Lifestyle After Colonisation. European settlement had a severe and devastating impact on Indigenous people. Their dispossession of the land, exposure to new diseases and involvement in violent conflict, resulted in the death of a vast number of the Aboriginal peoples. The small percentage of Aboriginal people who did not die during these early…