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Aborigines were the first Australians. They had been in Australia for at least 60,000 years before the first Europeans arrived. About 500 tribes lived on the continent, each with its own language and culture. They lived in small family groups of ten to 50 people who moved around Australia to look for food. It is believed that when the British came in 1788 about 300,000 to one million Aborigines lived on the continent. At first, the relationships between the settlers and the Aborigines were good, but not for long. The white farmers started to put up fences so that the Aborigines could no longer move around. The sheep and cattle destroyed the Aboriginal food plants, frightened smaller animals and muddied the waterholes. Tribes were sent away from their land, shot, poisoned and hunted. In Tasmania all Aborigines were killed. Many died of imported illnesses. 40 years after the Europeans had arrived in Australia, the population of the Aborigines had been reduced to 30,000 people. In the 20th century there was little change and the Australian government decided to train the Aborigines to be like Europeans and use them as workers, which led to even fewer rights for them. For example, parents had no rights over their children, who could be taken away if the church or government thought that their father might not be an Aborigine. The children were put into camps and given a European education. They were not allowed to speak their own language. This had been going on until the 1970s and it is thought that about 35,000 children were removed. These children are known as the ‘Stolen Generation’. A national Sorry Day is now celebrated in Australia every year, but the government has so far not yet apologized.
