1816

1. Passports or certificates are issued to Aboriginal people “who conduct themselves in a suitable manner”, to show they are officially accepted by Europeans.

2. 4 May

   Macquarie announces a set of regulations controlling the movement of Aboriginal people. No Aboriginal person is to appear armed within a mile of any settlement and no more than six Aboriginal people are allowed to ‘lurk or loiter near farms’.

1822

1. There are a number of large scale killings as conflict over dispossession of land and erosion of hunting rights continues.

2. Windradyne leads Wiradjuri resistance that will last for two years along the Murray River.

1824

1. In Tasmania, Governor Arthur also proclaims martial law, in effect, a declaration of war. Soldiers have the right to arrest or shoot any Aboriginal person found in the settled district.

2. August Conflict

   Martial law is proclaimed in the Bathurst area when seven Europeans are killed by Aboriginal people led by Aboriginal man Windradyne, and conflict with them is seen as a serious threat. Soldiers, mounted police, settlers and stockmen frequently attack Aboriginal people. As many as 100 are killed in a massacre at Bathurst. Martial law stops in December. This conflict became known as the “Bathurst War”.

1829

1. A colony is set up in Perth, on the south-west coast of Australia.

1830

1. Aboriginal people in Tasmania are forcibly removed and settled on Flinders Island. The living conditions lead to many deaths. Later the community is moved to Cape Barren Island.

2. Port Phillip District Wars rage in Victoria (then administered by New South Wales and known as Port Phillip district) from 1830 to 1850. The Indigenous Koorie population resists the large influx of immigrants and settlers who bring large herds of sheep and cattle into the state.

3. October Dispossession

   Governor Arthur tries unsuccessfully to drive all the remaining Aboriginal people in eastern Australia on to the Tasman Peninsula. 2,200 settlers, military, police and convicts form a ‘Black Line’. It was the largest force assembled against Aboriginal people anywhere in Australia and cost 5,000 pounds (equivalent to about AUD 1.2 million in 2008) and only two Aboriginal people are caught – an old man and a young boy.

4. 24 November

   Bungaree dies. He came from the Broken Bay area and was a go-between in colonial Sydney where he was known because he liked to dress in military and naval uniforms given to him.

1831

1. Yagan leads Nyoongar resistance in Western Australia for three years.

1833

1. Yagan is killed. His head is cut off and pickled. It is then sent to England as a museum curiosity.

1834

1. October Conflict

   Governor Stirling leads a party of men to a site near present day Pinjarra, on the Swan River and attacks 80 Aboriginal people. One of Stirling’s men dies and many Aboriginal people are killed. Official reports put their number at 14 but Aboriginal accounts suggest a whole clan was wiped out in the attack. This became known as the ‘Battle of Pinjarra’. It was an attempt to punish Aboriginal people south of Perth, after conflict with settlers caused the death of a settler in April.

1835

1. The Dunghutti people of north coast NSW are now confined to 40 hectares of land on the Bellwood Reserve, near present day Kempsey. They previously owned 250,000 hectares.

2. Victoria has a so-called treaty with Wurundjeri people, covering land from Geelong to Melbourne. One of Melbourne's founders, John Batman, presents deeds which claim to have signed over the land in exchange for axes, flour and other European goods. But the agreement (now also called 'Batman's treaty') is almost immediately overturned by New South Wales Governor Sir Richard Bourke, as NSW was the overseeing colonial government of the area.^[1]

3. October Treaty

   John Batman attempts to make a ‘treaty’ with Aboriginal people for Port Phillip Bay, near present day Melbourne by ‘buying’ 243,000 hectares with 20 pairs of blankets, 30 tomahawks, various other articles and a yearly tribute. Governor Bourke does not recognise the ‘treaty’ and the purchase is voided. This is the only time colonists attempt to sign a treaty for land with Aboriginal owners.

1836

1. 9 February Conflict

   Triggered by accounts of the mistreatment of Aboriginal people by British colonists, the British House of Commons orders an inquiry and appoints a select committee to review the treatment of Aboriginal people by British subjects throughout the Empire.

2. 19 February Land & land rights

   King William IV recognises the continued rights to land for Aboriginal people in South Australia’s founding document, the Letters Patent. It was the first ever recognition of Aboriginal rights granted in Australia’s colonial history. But the promise of legal entitlement to the land was never kept.

3. June

   The colony of South Australia is founded. A “Protector” of Aboriginal people is appointed but the Kaurna people, near Adelaide, are unable to maintain life as a group because of the expanding settlement and loss of their land.

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References