Introduction
The British colonization was a long, complicated, and severe process that has influenced and either positively or negatively changed the lives of thousands of people. During an extended period of time, the British Empire had its colonies in a significant number of countries, including Africa, America, and Australia. Unfortunately, the ways the colonial government and the English settlers treated the native people were horrible and inhuman. There was no respect, empathy, and brotherhood but only cruelty and the desire to destroy. Australia and its indigenous population were not an exception: while facing injustice, discrimination, and inequality, they became witnesses of various manifestations of racism from the British people. Precisely this colonial racism and genocide can be considered to be the cruelest in the history of the world and may have influenced the ideas and plans of Adolf Hitler, who got inspired by the destruction of the indigenous population.
Definition of Racism
Before discussing the impact of the British colonies on the indigenous Australians and racism in general, it is crucial to mention the definition of racism. It is defined as “prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against a person or people on the basis of their membership in a particular racial or ethnic group, typically one that is a minority or marginalized” (“Definition of racism in English,” n.d.). Thus, any negative thoughts, words, and actions towards a person that are based on the color of his or her skin are considered racism (Miles, 2004). In this particular paper, the English colonial settlers’ cruel actions against the indigenous Australians, including unnecessary killings, incidents of raping, human trafficking, and hunt for people, are referred to as racism.
Background Historical and Cultural Information
About the Indigenous Australians
The English colonial settlers arrived in Australia in 1788, but the continent has been occupied by indigenous Australians for more than 40000 years. Those people used to survive on wild foods while being gatherers and hunters: women collected honey, shellfish, insects, and vegetable foods, and men fished or hunted (Bultin, 1993). Depending on the availability of food and water resources, they used to constantly move and did not have permanent settlements or domestic animals (Kiernan, 2007). Men’s weapons included boomerangs, shields, throwing sticks or clubs, hunting spears, and stone axes, while women used digging sticks.
It is essential to notice that the indigenous Australians used to produce tools and goods for their own usage, satisfaction, or consumption, not for exchanging or selling them. The fact that they recognized more extensive kinship relations that were of vital importance to many of their economic and social practices makes it rather difficult to claim that these people were primitive, less-developed, and wild tribes (Bultin, 1993). On the contrary, they were quite civilized in the most simple and positive meaning of this word (Kiernan, 2007). What is more, these larger kin groups acknowledged property rights in land, ritual, and other assets. There were some conflict episodes and a limited trade beyond and within these groups.
A significant number of indigenous people used to live on the continent several centuries ago. When the English settlers arrived in Australia, there were between six and seven hundred cultural-linguistic groups (Bultin, 1993). Researchers estimated that “in 1788 there were between 300,000 and one million indigenous people inhabited in Australia;” however, some scientists tend to believe that the actual number was up to a million and a half (Jalata, 2013, p. 2). Unfortunately, in 1901, fewer than 100,000 indigenous Australians remained alive (Kiernan, 2007). The suggested reasons for this societal destruction are cruel killings, the withdrawal of resources, and severe disease episodes.
The truth is that the Australian population lacked immunological defenses, and European diseases that exposed them to destruction included tuberculosis, pneumonia, measles, influenza, venereal disease, and smallpox. Nevertheless, precisely cruel racism is considered the primary reason (Bourke, Edwards, Bourke, & Edwards, 1998). The English settlers and their descendants believed that they were exclusively worthy of life and wellness, unlike the people of the native population who were referred to as wild and primitive (Craig, 2011). The colonists expropriated the land by removing the Australians, taking them away from what they loved, cutting them from their valuable water and food resources. Finally, the English colonialists engaged themselves in horrible genocidal and racial massacres.
The History of the British Invasion
Before discussing the effect of the British colonization of Australia on racism, it is essential to describe the history of invasion. By the beginning of the eighteenth century, the west coast of Australia had already been explored and mapped by Dutch, English, and French sailors. However, at that time, no attempts were made to populate the territory (Kiernan, 2007). In 1770, James Cook’s British expedition explored and mapped the east coast of the continent, disembarking for the first time on April 29 at Botany Bay (Bourke et al., 1998). Many years later, on January 26, 1788, captain Arthur Phillip established a convict settlement in Sydney Cove, which later became the city of Sydney. Precisely this event marked the history of the British colony named New South Wales. The colony included not only Australia but also New Zealand. Later, in 1829, the settlers founded the Swan River Colony that became the nucleus of the future state of Western Australia. First, it was established as a free colony, but then, it also began to accept convicts due to an acute shortage of labor.
The colonization of Australia was accompanied by the establishment and expansion of settlements across the continent. Therefore, extended areas were cleared of forest and shrubbery and prepared for agricultural purposes. Unfortunately, this process started to destroy the lands, had a severe impact on the lifestyle of the Australian aborigines, and forced them to retreat from the coasts (Bourke et al., 1998). The British settlers were interested in their own prosperity, which meant that they had to get rid of all obstacles on the way to their purpose (Conklin & Fletcher, 1999). Thus, they systematically undermined the foundations of the lives of the indigenous population; in other words, they conquered their living space.
The British colonialists considered the Australian aborigines as primitive people who could not develop and were not worthy of life. Wild tribes were killed and exterminated by the settlers and convicts (Craig, 2011). However, the gentle and kind-hearted indigenous Australians were not so submissive, and after the farmers took their land from them, the natives took their spears and tried to resist the outsiders, who were armed with firearms (Jalata, 2013). Unfortunately, the forces were unequal, and the British organized a real hunt for the aborigines.
What was happening at those times, especially in Tasmania, was the real genocide. The evil created by the settlers and its consequences resulted from the rude and shameless behavior and a monstrous, unforgivable crime (Jalata, 2013). What seems even more horrible is that the indigenous Australians seemed to have only two choices – they could either fight and be murdered or give up and become parodies of themselves and their ancestors (Craig, 2011). In the late 1830s, looking at the indigenous Australians was horrifying: they were humiliated, depressed, confused, exhausted, and lost (Jalata, 2013). It was unbelievable how the living people and the natural masters of this land turned into the ghosts of the past.
The Ways of Manifestation of Racism
The extermination of the aboriginal Australians could be viewed as hunting or some kind of wild sport. The colonialists were proud of their actions, and killing a native was considered a success. It is well-known that the indigenous Australians were not the only ones who had to suffer from the cruelty and mercilessness of English people (Conklin & Fletcher, 1999). On the other part of the world, native Americans were also hunted, murdered, raped, and faced endless horror (Daunton, 1999). In Africa, native people faced extreme injustice and ha to either fight for their lands and die or give up and hope for the mercy of the settlers (Diamond, 1997). Therefore, such terrible behavior of the English people in Australia was not an exception but a rule (Huttenback, 1973). For some reason, to populate new lands, they decided to abandon the laws of conscience and morality and choose the path of violence and racism.
Negative Attitude
As mentioned above, there were many ways the English colonialists manifested racism and genocide. First, it was their utterly negative attitude to the aboriginal Australians. British people did not choose coming with peace, uniting with the natives, sharing their cultures, and building a robust mixed community (Huttenback, 1973). They did not even try to respect the fact that Australia belongs to them and leaving some parts of the land to the indigenous Australians. Instead, the settlers decided to choose the path of war and take what did not belong to them. The reason for acting like this was that British people did not consider the aboriginal Australians as people who are equal to them (Jalata, 2013). As mentioned above, they were seen as primitive, undeveloped, and ugly creatures. Precisely this attitude, as well as considering oneself higher and more worthy of living than another, is primarily referred to as racism.
Murder
Second, as already discussed in the paper, the settlers thought that they had the right to murder the indigenous Australians. They used to organize real hunts for people, chase the aborigines through the forest, make them feel like beasts who are hunted down, and enjoy this inhuman and cruel process (Nogueira, 2013). The colonialists used to kill men, women, and even children, destroying the whole families. In 1885, a new method of killing the aborigines emerged, which was considered quite sophisticated and amazing among the settlers and their workers. Frightened and desperate Indigenous Australians were given food, which they trustfully ate (Carey & McLisky, 2009). Some of them were invited by the colonialists to their place and fed with meat. However, it was not done with the best intentions, since all the food was half strychnine, which is why the natives who tasted it died in terrible agony (Carey & McLisky, 2009). The owner of the Long Lagoon colony, using this trick, destroyed more than a hundred natives. Despite this terrible crime, he was never punished or judged for his actions.
At the end of the nineteenth century, another innocent fun appeared in Queensland, located in northern Australia. The settlers amused themselves by driving the whole family (a husband, a wife, and all the children) into the water with the crocodiles. Murder, in any way, was considered the only correct treatment of the natives. One of the best ways, however, was to shoot them like wild or sick animals. To a modern person, such ideas will seem inhuman, bloody, and cruel actions that require immediate punishment, but in those days, it was the norm, a necessity, and a rigid principle (Hamerow, 1983). Some colonialists shot all the men they met in their pastures because they were considered cattle killers (Carey & McLisky, 2009). Women were killed because they gave birth to cattle-killers, and children –because they would inevitably become cattle-killers in the future.
Rape
Despite the fact that the aborigines were not considered human, the trade of native women flourished among Anglo-Australian farmers. The English settlers hunted them in whole groups, and those women who could be caught were waiting for terrible torment and slow death (Kociumbas, 2004). Their women were passed from farmer to farmer, and after a while, they were simply thrown out into the street, where they slowly died of the disease.
What is more, rape was also used as a unique terror mechanism that helped destroy indigenous Australians’ communities and families. Researchers note that “some settlers held indigenous women and small girls and used them for sexual gratification” (Jalata, 2013, p. 8). This attitude towards women of any race is not permissible and should be severely punished. However, the British colonialists did not care that they were violating all the laws of morality and conscience, and the government did not see it necessary to punish them either. The rape of indigenous women is a terrible, inhuman manifestation of racism.
Human Trafficking and Kidnapping
Unfortunately, those actions of the British settlers discussed above were not the only ones. Another way of manifestation of racism was human trafficking. Not only they captured aboriginal women, men, and children and sold them to other countries, but they also got “engaged in trade in body parts of indigenous people for scientific purposes” (Jalata, 2013, p. 9). Researchers note that European scientific societies and medical schools were rather interested in dead and living specimens (Kociumbas, 2004). Therefore, they made a deal with the English colonialists and purchased various parts of bodies, skulls, and skeletons.
In addition to raping women and slaughtering, massacring, and trafficking in men, children, and the aged, the English settlers also used to kidnap young girls and boys. They needed them to satisfy their demand for labor for harvesting and housework (Kociumbas, 2004). Fortunately, in Australia, there were no manufacturing industries and rich mines (Woollacott, 2015). That is why the colonialists “had never wanted much from Aboriginal people except their women and their land; for the labor, the settlers mainly depended on convict labor and imported coolies” (Kociumbas, 2004, p. 92). Therefore, they did not kidnap the indigenous people frequently; nevertheless, such crimes were committed, and the children had to work in the settlements and endure beatings and humiliations.
How Racism Was Supported and Encouraged
To understand why the colonialists were not prevented from these actions, it is necessary to explore how British authorities reacted to these terrible actions. For example, in Tasmania, the hunt for people was entirely sanctioned by the English government (Nogueira, 2013). Final extermination on a large scale could only be accomplished with the help of the authorities and the military. The soldiers drove the natives between two boulders, shot all the men, and then dragged the women and children out of the rock crevices to kill them too (Moorehead, 2000). What is more, all these measures were not kept secret. The murders, rapes, and violence were public because the more natives a settler kills or captures, the more respected he or she becomes (Carey & McLisky, 2009). The British government supported such a policy and did not consider it necessary to stop the settlers from being cruel.
For example, in the years when the aboriginal Australians were fed poisonous meat in New South Wales, it was useless to try to achieve justice. Those who invited the natives to their homes and gave them poisoned food to kill did not receive the punishment they deserved (Schwarz, 1996). Politicians, many academics, government, newspapers, and the colonial police fully supported any form of violence against the aborigines.
As mentioned above, the English colonialists used to sell body parts of the natives for scientific purposes. Precisely the fact that the aboriginal Australians were “so extensively dismembered and exhibited as scientific freaks made for a particularly virulent form of racism” (Jalata, 2013, p. 9). Unfortunately, this fact made it not only challenging but increasingly impossible for even an educated and model indigenous people to become and feel acceptable in settler society (Kociumbas, 2004). Although white colonial men continued to rape the native women as it was their right, the aboriginal men appeared to be extremely vulnerable to being found guilty of raping white women and capital conviction (Paradies, 2016). This fact proves the impunity of the settlers and the readiness to punish the indigenous Australians even for those crimes that they did not commit.
Scientists
A significant number of scientists used to come to Australia in order to become witnesses of the crimes and humiliations. Most of them were not terrified but amused by the actions of the English colonists (Schwarz, 1996). Those philosophers, writers, doctors, scientists, and politicians referred to the laws of evolution and argued that only the complete destruction of the aborigines would make the further development of the white race possible. In other words, they did not consider the aboriginal Australians as equal to them. Such horrific statements from authority figures encouraged the colonists, who continued to kill.
Government
As for the government, no authorities were interested in preventing the settlers from committing those inhuman crimes. It was meaningless to seek justice and ask the British government for help or support (Schwarz, 1996). The only purpose they wanted to achieve was the extension of lands and power of the British Empire, and the terrible and bloody price did not scare or confuse them.
Journalists and Newspapers
A number of journalists and newspapers also contributed to the increasing racism of the English colonists. Week by week, they used to print some scathing comments, rude remarks from colonists, and racist remarks from academics and politicians (Jalata, 2013). It is difficult to deny that reputable newspapers greatly influenced people since they were practically the only source of information. Not only the colonists and people in the British Empire but also the inhabitants of the whole world read them (Cabrera & Unruh, 2012). Therefore, most people became more and more confident in the legality of the actions of the English settlers and the insignificance of the lives of the Australian aborigines.
Uniqueness and Influence of Racism in Australia
Actually, it is rather disturbing to think about how one group of people decided to use modern legal means, technology, and education in order to hide severe, terrible, and unforgivable crimes against humanity. Racism and genocide in Australia may be considered unique but not because of its violence but due to the apparent modernity and legality. Precisely modern technology made the effectiveness and pace of the killing possible, and modern law “provided the judicial niceties that condoned it” (Jalata, 2013, p. 9). Not colonial ignorance but modern education took part in the creation of those conditions in which legally sanctioned cover-ups and official silence were able to prevail (Kociumbas, 2004). If not for these conditions, it would be easier to combat racism and genocide.
Justifications of the Racism
Nowadays, it is evident that racism and genocide are extraordinarily wrong and unforgivable crimes. All people are equal, and fortunately, this idea is recognized by most humans (Cabrera & Unruh, 2012). Though equality and justice are not achieved ultimately, and racism is not entirely destroyed, the modern world is closer to these goals than ever. The rules of morals, conscience, and laws usually do not let people discriminate each other. Currently, racism and genocide are less likely to happen than empathy, compassion, and support.
However, because of these ideas of the modern world, several questions arise. Why were English colonial settlers acting so cruelly and remorselessly? Why were they not stopped by the authorities, newspapers, governments, religion, or at least moral principles? Finally, what were the justifications that approved violence, trafficking in women and children, hunt for people, and a significant number of killings, rapes, and assaults? How did the English colonialists defend their actions, and why were they sure that there will be no punishment for these crimes?
To answer these questions, it is necessary to investigate some facts related to the ideas of the settlers and the reaction of the government. For example, when the aboriginal Australians acted rebelliously and tried to fight back, the English settlers believed that the only way from such a situation is to exterminate them completely (Rose, 2001). It was their justification for terrible actions; it is hard to disagree that when a person sees only one choice, he or she has to make it (Paradies, 2016). Those indigenous people who became captured were transported from the continent (Nogueira, 2013). On June 30, 1933, there were 80710 full-blooded and half-caste Aborigines (“Statement from the aborigines’ progressive association,” n.d.). Nowadays, there are about only 47,000 full-blooded Aborigines left in Australia.
The colonialists did not realize and did not even think that they were breaking any laws by killing or selling the natives. The main argument of the British people who killed twenty-eight peaceful natives in 1838 was that all the settlers were doing this, meaning that such actions were correct and necessary (Woollacott, 2015). Seven English settlers (from the lower classes) were hanged for such a crime that year. It can be assumed that the punishment for the murder of Aboriginal people was more the exception than the rule because before this terrible massacre at Myall Creek, all actions to exterminate Australia’s indigenous people remained unpunished.
Another common belief that could justify the genocide of the aboriginal Australians consisted of the attitude to them as creatures. The problem was that the colonists were ensured that the natives did not have souls (Jalata, 2013). In other words, they were worse than animals, just some empty shells that looked like people but actually were not them. For the religious British colonists, this fact completely changed their attitude towards the aborigines (Cabrera & Unruh, 2012). Since they do not have souls, it means that they can be killed, sold, and raped from the point of view of all existing rules and laws. This racist attitude was widespread not only in Australia but also in the colonies of America, Africa, and Asia.
The Attempts to Stop the Racist Settlers
Fortunately, especially in the early twentieth century, not all people supported the unjust and brutal killing of Australian aborigines. Moreover, in 1927, a serious attempt was made to punish those settlers who continued to commit crimes against the natives (Nadel, 2019). A year earlier, there was a massacre of the indigenous Australians, which finally attracted public attention. The conditions under which it happened were so egregious that they forced the government to take the necessary measures (Nadel, 2019). Thus, in 1927 “the “Royal Commission of Inquiry into Alleged Killing and Burning of Bodies of Aborigines in East Kimberley and into Police Methods When Effecting Arrests” was established (Nadel, 2019, para. 3). Its purpose was to find out how many natives were killed by the colonists and police at Forrest River. This official investigation was not successful, and the commission was fundamentally compromised. However, it was the first severe attempt to stop the killing of indigenous Australians.
What is more, Christian missionaries have also tried to end the killings and violence against Australian Aborigines. They challenged the notion of soullessness among Aboriginal people and saved the lives of many of Australia’s last indigenous people (Walls, 1997). However, the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Australia originally mandated that Aboriginal people be ignored when counting the population of individual states (Jalata, 2013). Thus, the aborigines were declared not people already at the constitutional level, which was difficult to prevent.
The Influence on the World’s Racism
It is hard to disagree that such a process of killing the aboriginal Australians had a significant impact on the history of the whole world. Some researchers believe that precisely this colonial racism and genocide may have influenced the ideas and plans of Adolf Hitler (Bernhard, 2017). He got inspired by the destruction of the indigenous population aimed at making more space for those who considered themselves better and more worthy of living. Moreover, the ideas of the unworthiness of the lives of the indigenous Australians reminds of Hitler’s beliefs (Bernhard, 2017). Just as the colonists were sure that the complete destruction of the aborigines would lead to the white people’s development and domination of the whole world, Hitler considered it necessary to get rid of all non-Nordic races. Therefore, the racism of the British colonization had an extremely significant effect on the racism of the world.
Nowadays, racism is not as strong as it used to be several centuries ago. However, the fact that it still exists makes it necessary to define the reasons for that and eliminate them as soon as possible. For example, Goodfellow (2019) suggests that one of the reasons the modern generation sometimes performs racist actions is that they do not know their country’s history.
The genocide of the indigenous Australians was an inhuman and terrible process, but it did happen, and nowadays, it is unforgivable to forget or keep silent about it. People cannot change the fact that it took place but can use this event in order to make sure that it will not happen again (Morris, 2020). The writer notices that “if we were all taught about colonial history in school, we would learn that many of the people who came here from colonies and former colonies did so as citizens” (Goodfellow, 2019, para 4). It is evident that the racism of the British colonists has negatively influenced the whole world. However, knowing and telling about this event can contribute to the elimination of racism in general.
Conclusion
To draw a conclusion, it is possible to say that the British colonists had used social organization and capitalist technology for being engaged in violent and cruel crimes against humanity in Asia, Africa, Australia, and America. In the Australian continent, the settlers perfected their racist acts of genocide and terrorism in order to benefit their Empire at the cost of the aboriginal Australians. The English colonists may be considered the global leaders in racist activities both in terms of a talent for innovation and overall efficiency. Their actions have significantly influenced the world’s racism and cannot be forgotten.
References
Bernhard, P. (2017). Colonial crossovers: Nazi Germany and its entanglements with other empires. Journal of Global History, 12(2), 206-227.
Bourke, C., Edwards, B., Bourke, E., & Edwards, W. H. (Eds.). (1998). Aboriginal Australia: An introductory reader in Aboriginal studies. New York, NY: Macmillan.
Bultin, N. G. (1993). Economics and the dreamtime: A hypothetical history. Melbourne, Australia: Cambridge University Press.
Cabrera, A., & Unruh, G. (2012). Being global: How to think, act, and lead in a transformed world. Boston, MA: Harvard Business Review Press.
Carey, J., & McLisky, C. (Eds.). (2009). Creating white Australia. Sydney, Australia: Sydney University Press.
Conklin, A. L., & Fletcher, I. C. (Eds.). (1999). European imperialism: 1830-1930. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company.
Craig, L. (2011). Australian history series: The Australian colonies. Perth, Australia: Ready-Ed Publications.
Daunton, M. (1999). Empire and others: British encounters with indigenous peoples, 1600-1850. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press.
Definition of racism in English. (n.d.). Web.
Diamond, J. (1997). Guns, germs, and steel: The fates of human society. New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company.
Goodfellow, M. (2019). Put our colonial history on the curriculum – Then we’ll understand who we really are. The Guardian. Web.
Hamerow, T. S. (1983). The birth of a New Europe: State and society in the nineteenth century. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press.
Huttenback, R. (1973). The British Empire as a “white man’s country” – Racial attitudes and immigration legislation in the colonies of white settlement. Journal of British Studies, 13(1), 108-137.
Jalata, A. (2013). The impacts of English colonial terrorism and genocide on indigenous/black Australians. SAGE, 3(3).
Kiernan, B. (2007). Blood and soil: A world history of genocide and extermination in from Sparta to Darfur. New Haven, CT: Yale University.
Kociumbas, J. (2004). Genocide and modernity in colonial Australia, 1788-1850. In A. Drik Moses (Ed.), Genocide and settler society: Frontier violence and stolen indigenous children in Australian history (pp. 77-102). New York, NY: Berghahn Books.
Miles, R. (2004). Racism. Abington, England: Routledge.
Moorehead, A. (2000). The fatal impact: An account of the invasion of the South Pacific 1767-1840. New York, NY: Penguin.
Morris, N. (2020). Children must learn about the British Empire at school to ‘combat racism and white privilege.’ Web.
Nadel, J. (2019). ‘Conspiracy of silence’: how sabotaged inquiries fed massacre denials. The Guardian. Web.
Nogueira, S. G. (2013). Ideology of white racial supremacy: Colonization and de-colonization processes. Psicologia & Sociedade, 25, 23-32.
Paradies, Y. (2016). Colonization, racism, and indigenous health. Journal of Population Research, 33, 83–96.
Rose, S. O. (2001). Race, Empire, and British wartime national identity, 1939-45. Institute of Historical Research, 74(184), 220-237.
Schwarz, B. (1996). Expansion of England. Race, ethnicity, and cultural history. London, England: Routledge.
Statement from the aborigines’ progressive association. (n.d.). Web.
Walls, A. (1997). The missionary movement in Christian history. Maryknoll, NY: Orbis Books.
Woollacott, A. (2015). Settler society in the Australian colonies: Self-government and imperial culture. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.