Australian Aboriginal History

"Australian history started with Captain Cook," is what a lot of people, even today, tell me when asked what they learned at school. Secondary history books, published this year, sometimes brush over Indigenous history in twelve pages only.

Until we get it right with the teaching of Aboriginal history, then I don't think that we can pretend to be Australians together.—Dr Jackie Huggins, Indigenous educator, author and activist [1].

When I studied history at the ANU in the 1970s there was still a widely held view, and I think it was the conventional view, that there was no Aboriginal history.—Marcia Langton, Aboriginal author [3].

Aboriginal history resources

How old is Aboriginal culture?

Aboriginal history is the only history that grows both ways - forward into the present and backwards into the past as new scientific methods indicate that archaeological sites are much older than originally thought.

The origin of the Aboriginal people of Australia is not entirely clear. Studies link Aboriginal people to the first African nomads or to Siberian ancestors [8].

One study determined that Aboriginal people descended from the first people to leave Africa up to 75,000 years ago, reaching Asia at least 24,000 years before other human migrants. Traversing into Australia "must have demanded exceptional survival skills and bravery," said one researcher [8].

Another study found that a primitive group of humans descended from the Neanderthals and migrated from Siberia to tropical parts of Asia [8]. They contributed DNA to Aboriginal people in Australia along with present-day New Guineans and an Aboriginal tribe of the Philippines. This mixing of genes was reported to have happened 44,000 years ago, before Australia separated from Papua New Guinea.

If it wasn't for the footprints…

If it wasn't for the footprints, we would not know about 'before',
And Australia's history we have today would not make sense anymore.

If it wasn't for the footsteps, which created the path we share,
Our survival in this landscape would lead us to nowhere.

If it wasn't for the footpaths still here from that long ago,
Our heritage in writing would only reflect our woes.

If it wasn't for the footprints which were made into the sand,
The ones left by ancestors, our Aboriginal clans;

If it wasn't for their footsteps which carved the land and lore,
Australians would not know about these footprints from 'before'.

Poem by Z Quakawoot [9]. Read more Aboriginal poetry.

History of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy in Canberra

Chicka Dixon is an award-winning campaigner for Indigenous rights and reconciliation. He remembers how the Aboriginal Tent Embassy came into existence in 1972 [2]:

"On 25 January 1972, a small group of us Kooris were protesting outside NSW Parliament House in Macquarie Street, Sydney, because the Liberal (Coalition) Party had come out in Canberra the previous night with its policy on land rights," he said. It did not include any admission that Aboriginal people had any rights to land and compensation.

"We disagreed with that and held a meeting in Lynne Craigie Thomson's place of abode in Burton Street, Surry Hills, just down the road from where the Deadly Vibe magazine offices are now.

"I moved that we take over Pinchgut Island in the centre of the Sydney Harbour because the American Indians had taken over Alcatraz just three weeks earlier. I was out-voted by one vote and the decision was not to recognise Australia and set up our own 'Embassy' in Canberra.

"The next morning, Monday 26 January, Canberra awoke to four young Aborigines—Billy Craigie, Tony Coorie, Michael ['Ghillar'] Anderson and Bert Williams—standing under a large beach umbrella [in front of Old Parliament House].

"I was a wharfie at the time and joined them on the Friday. The Member for the ACT, Kep Enderby, informed me that there was no legislation under the Federal Act to remove campers, so we put up eight tents and gave ourselves portfolios.

"A dear, kind lady from Canberra gave us a big blue tent which became the official 'Tent Embassy'.

"Like all embassies we needed a flag, so Harold Thomas, [designer of the Aboriginal flag] from Adelaide, gave us his flag to fly."

The Tent Embassy was busted by police on 20 July 1972 in "the most violent demonstration" Chicka Dixon had ever participated in. Chicka Dixon turned 81 in 2009.

Of the original founders, Tony Coorie went back to Sydney the next day. Bert Williams had to report in to the police in Melbourne two days after the erection; he died three months later of an overdose.

Other important people connected with the embassy are Gary Foley, a very intellectual and multi-faceted man, Chicka Dixon, a tribal elder responsible for the political leadership, Pearl Gibbs and Paul Coe [4].

Fact According to the last remaining founder and the first ambassador of the Aboriginal Embassy, Michael Anderson, the term 'tent embassy' was coined by the media and came into use only in 1992, 20 years after it was set up.

The fact that the Embassy has now been standing continually since 1992 is a testament to our determination to fight against all odds and the tyranny of the majority to gain that which is ours. —Michael Anderson, Aboriginal leader [7].

Related: Interview with Michael Anderson

The last mission in New South Wales

In July 2010 Warangesda Mission and Station received heritage listing. The station, just outside Darlington Point in the Riverina District of New South Wales, is located about 630 kms south-west of Sydney.

Warangesda Mission is the only mission left in NSW that still has a suite of original buildings. The heritage area includes the mission block and cemetery [6].

Warangesda is the last known location of an initiation ceremony for the local Aboriginal population and the site of a strike in 1883. At its peak it was home to more than 200 Aboriginal people.

Was Australia invaded or colonised?

Indigenous and non-Indigenous people have different views whether Australia was 'invaded' or 'colonised'. Here I start to collect quotes by both sides so you can make up your own mind.

If you found a good quote that could go here, shoot me an email!

We must now assert in the strongest possible way the message that Australia was indeed invaded by a military force under the control of the British Admiralty.—Michael Ghillar Anderson, Aboriginal elder [5].

Out of respect for Aboriginal culture I use Indigenous sources as much as possible.
[1] Koori Mail 390 (6/12/2006) p.14 [2] 'Looking back', Koori Mail 454 p.21 [3] 'First Australians delves into ignored Aboriginal history', Courier Mail, 19/12/2008 [4] personal email [5] 'Call to an Aboriginal summit in Canberra', press release by Michael Anderson, 12/12/2009 [6] 'Activism birthplace to receive listing', Koori Mail 480 p.35 [7] 'Michael Anderson: "Make 2012 the Year of the Last Stand for Justice"', press release, 22/11/2011 [8] 'Genetic studies claim to reveal our origins', Koori Mail 511 p.5 [9] 'If it wasn't for the footprints...', Koori Mail 516 p.23