The British Empire: A source for good or evil? February 2014 | Page 27

The British took Aboriginal land
When Cook arrived in Australia, the British declared the land Terra Nullius, it means that
there were no one but indeed there were Aborigine. The British didn’t consider the
inhabitants of the colonised countries as humans. They were nomad so they didn’t think
they had any right to pretend on this land (for the Aborigines). That's why they thought they
could take all the land.
"Here is a contest between two equals about a country where both claim an undivided
right. I think it is allowed on all hands that the Natives have no rights at all." doc 1
"The Americans seem possessed with a species of mania for getting lands which has no
bounds. Their Congress, prudent, reasonable and wise in other matters, in this seems as
much infected as the people." doc 2
On 10 June 1838 a group of white
settlers murdered 28 Aboriginal
men, women and children near
Myall Creek Station in northern
New South Wales, near Bingara.
Seven of the killers were tried and
hanged.
doc3

The Myall Creek Massacre now serves as both a harrowing reminder of Australia’s colonial
violence towards Aboriginal people and an example of modern-day reconciliation.
When the Aborigines rebelled, the British soldiers slaughtered them and then took their
land.
Then some people came. It could be prisoners like in Australia. Some people were looking
for gold that’s why they chased native inhabitants and took their land because in1851 a
prospector found a gold nugget in Australia. Then a lot of people came to dig and they went
on Aboriginal land and took it. Or people who were looking for a better life.
“Complete mental madness appears to have seized almost every member of the community.
There
has
been
a
universal
rush
to
the
diggings.
Bathurst Free Press”