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Different experiences of people living in Australia over time
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Different experiences of people living in Australia over time
Free Settlers
Free Settlers
Who were they?
In the early years of the colony, very few settlers came to Australia.
Free settlers had to fund their own transport and were usually quite wealthy.
Why did they come to Australia?
Why did they come?
The few who made the journey to Australia did so mostly to make their fortune.
They were often given large land grants and convicts to work for them.
Some free settlers were not farmers, but doctors and military officers looking for a better way of life in Australia.
What were their challenges?
Challenges
The life of a free settler was often very harsh.
Farmers in particular had to endure droughts and floods, as well as resistance from the Indigenous peoples.
Their shelters were often very basic to begin with and food was low until the crops could be harvested. Few farms succeeded in the early years of the colony.
Who were they?
Indigenous Australians
Aboriginal people have been in Australia for more than
40 000 years. They came from the north, traveling he last 100-160 kms by boat.
Traditional Aboriginal Life
Traditional Aboriginal life
Aboriginal people lived in harmony with their environment. they believed that, like plants and animals, they belonged with the land; they were part of the land and it provided them with everything they needed.
They moved around in small groups to find what they needed like food and water.
Challenges
The first European who arrived in Australia seemed so strange and different that they were viewed with curiosity and interest.
But these new arrivals believed they could own the land because no one else did and they could do whatever with it.
The settlers shot a large number of kangaroos and other native fauna, clearing land and fencing off important sources of water, starving the Aboriginal people.
Convicts
Who were they?
They were forced to work 10 hours each day, from sunrise to sunset.
Some convicts worked for the governor, while others worked for freed convicts and free settlers.
The male convicts built roads, bridges, buildings, and cultivated crops while the female convicts often wove wool or washed laundry.
Convicts
Why did they come?
Why did they come to Australia?
In London in the 1700s, prisons were full of people who stole to survive. The city's population had exploded and mass poverty had led to a rise in crime.
England's laws were really, really harsh. Stealing something could land you with a death sentence. But they couldn't hang everyone. And with the prisons full there was the problem of what to do with all the criminals.
Challenges
What Challenges did they have?
Punishment:
The convicts who lived at the Barracks had to obey lots of rules – more than 200!
If they broke any of those rules they could be punished by order of the Superintendent.
There were also convicts who acted as ‘constables’, and their job was to keep the other convicts in line.
The Superintendent could have them locked in a small cell (called a solitary confinement cell), make them wear leg-irons or sentence them to spend time on the treadmill.
Rewards:
A well-behaved convict could be rewarded in different ways. Some of the official rewards were:
- Ticket of Leave – allowed convicts to work for themselves in a specific place, but they still had to follow rules and report to the authorities.
- Certificate of Freedom – given to convicts when they had served their sentence of seven or 14 years. This meant they were no longer a convict.
- Conditional Pardon – given to well-behaved convicts who had been transported for life. This allowed them freedom, but they were not to leave the colony.
- Absolute Pardon – gave very well-behaved convicts complete freedom; they could stay in the colony or to return home.
- Royal Pardon – granted only by the monarch of England, these were very rare; they gave a convict complete freedom, to stay in the colony or to return home.
Who were they?
The NSW
Corps
They played a very influential role in colonial life.
They supervised convicts and patrolled the frontiers of settlements to repel attacks from the Indigenous peoples.
Why did they come to Australia?
Why did they come?
In the begining, the colony struggled to establish and feed all the people within.
By 1792, the first signs of stability were appearing but Governor Phillip who began becoming sick returned to England, leaving the colony in the hands of military Lieutenant-Governors.
Challenges
The officers of the New South Wales "Rum" Corps began to create their own power acting in their own interests.
In particular, Bligh saw that the small, non-military farmers were being disriminated against by the Corps.
As Bligh attempted to assert his legitimate authority, the Corps officers clashed with the Governor over several issues including his support of small settlers and tensions grew.