The British Empire: Australia

Aboriginal people resisted as colonisation spread. They defended Country, law and kinship as violence against them escalated. In places such as Van Diemen’s Land and the Bathurst frontier, Aboriginal people were hunted down and shot.

They were forced off Country. Families were split apart. Water was polluted. Sacred sites were desecrated. Land was taken. Kinship was attacked. Violence spread with settler expansion. As settlers moved into Country, they drove people away, and seized control.

Imperial governments made this dispossession possible and Australian governments continued it. Law declared the land empty, denied Aboriginal sovereignty, and legalised settlement. When violence followed, it was rarely punished or stopped.

As colonisation deepened, control tightened; movement restricted, work regulated, and children were removed from their families.

In 2023, Australians were asked whether Aboriginal people should have a guaranteed say in decisions made about their lives. They voted no.

For Aboriginal people, the pain and loss did not end. It continues in decisions about land, recognition, and injustice today.

Where does primary responsibility lie for violent harm against Aboriginal peoples: Imperial and Australian authority or settler society?