Terra Nullius
In Latin, the term terra nullius means "land belonging to nobody." It does not, however, seem to have been a Roman concept. Following the loss of the American Colonies after the American Revolutionary War 1775-1783, Great Britain needed to find alternative land for a new British colony. Australia was chosen for settlement, and colonisation began in 1788.
Colonial Atrocities (Myall Creek Massacre)
The Myall Creek massacre near Gwydir River, in the central New South Wales district of Namoi, involved the killing of up to 30 unarmed Indigenous Australians by ten white Europeans and one black African on 10 June 1838 at the Myall Creek near Bingara in northern New South Wales.
Assimilation Policy
The assimilation policy was a policy of absorbing Aboriginal people into white society through the process of removing children from their families. The ultimate intent of this policy was the destruction of Aboriginal society.
Missionary Camps
From the late 1700s, the spread of settlement across New South Wales by non-Indigenous people gradually pushed Aboriginal people off their land. NSW governments responded in many cases by setting aside parcels of land for the sole use of Aboriginal people. Across the state, Aboriginal reserves were created as a political response to the dispossession of Aboriginal people from their land.
White Australia Policy
The White Australia Policy was the name given to a number of laws that stopped non-Europeans from coming to live in Australia. These laws started in 1901, and were undone from the 1950s to 1970s.
Albert Namatjira
Albert Namatjira was the first indigenous artist to paint and exhibit professionally in Western style. He painted his country and was both prodigious and successful, producing approximately two thousand pictures and founding a school of painting that continues today.
Charles Perkins