Australia part 2Historyfacts taken from:

http://panique.com.au/trishansoz/aborigine/aborigin.htmlhttp://www.hht.net.au/discover/highlights/kids_fact_sheets/why_were_convicts_transported_to_australia

The first australiansThe first human inhabitants of Australia were the Aborigines. They arrived here around 50,000 years ago over a route that took them out of Africa, through India, Malaysia, Borneo and Papua New Guinea.

Inhabitants = innevånareAboriginies = aboriginerRoute = rutt

The aboriginies

The Aborigines were nomadic hunter-gathers. They went from place to place. They hunted animals using spears and boomerangs. They also gathered fruits, nuts and yams which they ate.

There were around 300,000 aborigines in about 250 tribal groups before the first white settlers arrived in Australia in 1776. Each group had its own territory, traditions, beliefs and language.

The Aborigines have one of the oldest civilizations in the world.

Nomadic = normadGathers = samlarSpears = spjutYams = jams ( en sorts sötpotatis)Tribal = stamSettlers = bosättareTerritory = territorium, områdeBeliefs = troCivilization = civilisation

First Encounter with White Settlers

The aborigine people had never seen white people until Captain James Cook landed in Botany Bay in 1770. They were shocked to see these white people in their strange clothes.

When the aborigines first saw the ships of the ”First Fleet”enter Botany Bay in 1778 with so many white skinned people they thought they were the spirits of their dead ancestors (after all they were so white). These were the first European settlers led by Captain Arthur Phillip.

Shocked = chockadeFleet = flottaSkinned = hyadSpirits = själarAncestor = förfäder

What happened?

At first the Aborigines were friendly towards the visitors but were very confused at the way white foreigners behaved:• Why did the foreigners walk on aborigine

sacred sites and dig up aborigine graves?• Why did they boss each other around and

beat and hang people?• Why did they chop down trees and take food

without asking?• Why were they mean and selfish towards

each other and not sharing?Picture:sharkbay.org

Visitors = besökareConfused = förvirradForeigners = utlänningarBehaved = uppfördeSacred sites = heliga platserDig up = gräva uppBoss each other around = kör med någonChop down = hugga nedMean = elakSharing = dela

Conflict

When the aborigines realised that the white men were not the spirits of their dead ancestors and that the settlers were taking more and more of their land and destroying the trees and wild life they began to fight back.

The aborigines killed a number of the settlers. The settlers reacted by slaughtering and poisoning the aborigines and bit by bit destroying the land and wild animals they lived on.

realised = insågdestroying = förstörwild life = djurlivreacted = reageradeslaughtering = slaktapoisoning = förgiftabit by bit = bit för bit

diseaseThe white

man’s curseWhite settlers brought diseases the aborigines had never had before (diseases which were quite common in Europe at the time).

Aborigines caught smallpox and even the common cold and died in large numbers. Within two years smallpox had killed almost half the aborigine population around Sydney

Photo:http://www.faithinterface.com.au/

diseases = sjukdomarcurse = förbannalsecommon = vanligacaught = ficksmallpox = smittkopparwhithin = inomcold = förkylning

A shameful past

The British colonists said that before their arrival all of the continent was uninhabited by humans. They used this fact for taking whatever they wanted.

When more and more white settlers moved in and took the fertile lands the aborigines were pushed further and further away into the harsh dry area. Their families were broken up, their children taken away from them and sent to be "civilised", their sacred sites destroyed and their wild animals hunted.

This continued well into the twentieth century. The aboriginal population went from 300,000 when the first white settlers arrived to only about 60,000 people.

Aborigines were second class citizens in their own land. They only got the right to vote in 1967.

This is a shameful part of Australian history.

uninhabited = obeboddhumans = människorfertile = bördigharsh = hårdcivilised = civiliserade (leva som de vita)well into = en bra bit in isecond class citisens = andra klassens medborgarevote = rösta

ApologyMuch have become better over the recent years. Where possible the government has been returning land to their traditional owners and encouraging Aborigines to rebuild their culture and lives.

On the 13th February 2008 the Prime Minister of Australia, Kevin Rudd, made a apology to the Aborigines for how they have been treated in the past.

They are the single most disadvantaged group of people in Australia.

There is still a long way to go!

recent years = senaste årengovernment = regeringreturning = återlämnatowners = ägareencouraging = uppmuntrarebuild = återuppbyggaapology = ursäkttreated = behandladedisadvantaged = missgynnade

Write and discuss

1. Name three things you did not know about the Aborigines!2.Whose fault was it that a conflict happened? Why?3. Why do you think that the British said that there were no humans in Australia before they arrived?4. Why do you think it was possible for the white to take the Aborigines land?5. Has this happened to any other people in any other country?