History of Australia

The Aborigines of Australia The Maori of New Zealand

• 1 st humans arrived b/w 40,000-60,000 years ago.

• They traveled from Southeast Asia.

• They may have used boats or walked across land that once connected Australia to Asia.

First Route to Australia

• Europeans later called these people Aborigines, which means “from the very first”.

• Culturally and linguistically diverse

Aboriginal Australia

Hunters and Gatherers

• Early Aborigines were hunter-gatherers, • They used bones, wood, and stones, to construct tools and weapons for hunting.

• In the Outback, Aborigines used spears and boomerangs to hunt.

Aboriginal Artwork

European Exploration and Colonization

Captain James Cook • In 1770, an English explorer, Captain James Cook, arrived in Australia.

• Claimed it for Great Britain.

• Most early European visitors only stayed temporarily.

• Traded with the indigenous populations, but did not try to take their land.

Guns and Disease

• • • • Brought advanced weaponry Advanced weapons made wars between Aboriginal peoples deadlier than ever before.

European also brought diseases.

During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, European diseases killed thousands of Aborigines. • Does this remind you of any other "New World" situations?

The Prison Colony/ Penal Colony

• In late 1700’s, a new group of Europeans arrive.

• Unlike previous explorers, they came to stay • British sent settlers there and most were prisoners.

• Much like the settlement of Georgia!

Colonial Conflict • Australia’s usable land was limited.

• Colonists needed space to build prisons, farms, towns, etc. • Took the land they needed from the Aborigines.

• Hostility between the settlers and the Aborigines (Australia) and Maori (New Zealand) increased between 1840 and 1860.

• 1940 – Treaty of Waitangi (New Zealand) • Gave British control over N.Z. • Problem: 2 Different versions

Australian Independence • In 1931, Great Britain passed a law giving Australia the right to be an independent nation.

• Australia became an independent country in 1942 after it voted to accept the new law.

• Still had conflict b/w European descent and aborigines

Conflict Between Aborigines and People of European Descent

• • • •

The Stolen Generation

• 1909-1969 • • Forced assimilation Took mixed race children away from aborigines and gave to white families

Land Rights Act of 1976

• Gave Aborigines rights to land in Northern Territory

Mabo Case

• Court recognized that Aboriginal people had land rights before Europeans got there • Australians now fear they might have to pay Aborigines for land or have to give some of it back

Wik Case

• Court ruled that Aborigines can claim pastoral leases (renting land from government)

ANTARCTICA

Antarctica

is Earth's southernmost continent, underlying the South Pole.

About 98% of Antarctica is covered by ice is the coldest, driest, and windiest continent.

Antarctica is the coldest place on Earth. The coldest natural temperature ever recorded on Earth was −89.2 °C .

Topography hidden by a large sheet of ice

Only cold-adapted plants and animals survive there, including penguins, seals, many types of algae, and tundra vegetation.

• Antarctica remains unsettled • It is mostly used for scientific research • 18 countries have scientific research stations there • Could have vast resources located beneath the ice, but in 1991, 26 nations agreed to not mine there for 50 years.