Early european relationships

EARLY EUROPEAN RELATIONSHIPS

Two parts• Early Settlers• Relationships During Industrialisation.

What you should do….• As we go through each of the stories, keep in mind the

following.• How does this group perceive the land? Why do they think it is

important? What is there role?• What are the interactions? What are they doing?• What are the impacts of these interactions?

Early Settler

Who is he?• John Batman was a sheep farmer who originally settled in

in the north of Tasmania in the early 1800’s.• Leader of the first party to settle on the site that is now

Melbourne.

Why did he do this?• Hint – this will give us an indication of his perceptions –

how did he see the land? What was it for?

• Batman arrived in Port Phillip Bay in 1835 with the following mission:

• To ‘acquire’ 250,000 hectares of “the best grazing land in the world”

What did he do?• Was welcomed by local Wurundjeri people – communication

was difficult though.• Batman acknowledged that the land was occupied – English

common law acknowledged that if a land was built on and occupied, and there was no official title holder, then the occupier owned the land.

• Why is this significant?• Batman ‘purchased’ the land for $400 worth of blankets,

knives, axes, tomahawks, mirrors, clothing, scissors and flour.• Wurundjeri did not really understand the implications – they

did not have a concept of ownership.• They thought they were allowing the visitors to access the

land, not keep it.

Perceptions• Two main points:

• Terra Nullius?• Ownership of land• Land as a resource.

• If something is not yours, it is valuable in it’s own right.• If something is yours, it’s only value is that it can benefit

you.

Interactions• What would have happened after this?• Farms.• Buildings.• Resources required for city – further exploration.• Timber harvesting• Seal and whale blubber required.• Removal of indigenous population.

Impacts• Some initial impacts – I will let you figure it out!• Laid foundations for industrialisation in Victoria –

• Read on!

Industrialisation • What is it?

• Industrialisation describes the time in our history where our societies moved from being agrarian meaning living and working on the land, to being industrial where machines started to do the jobs that people used to do and many people were labourers to run these machines.

• Things became more centralised many people working for the profit of a few.

• People became consumers – we buy the things we need.

Main point

• We have lots of things!!!!!!!• Industrialisation means having lots of things and needing

lots of resources to run these things.• Sooooooo…..• Industrialisation is based on cheap energy. Machines

need energy to run.

What does it mean in Australia• Why did Europeans come to Australia?• At the time, industrialisation was starting back home.• Too many prisoners, not enough resources (they had

used all of their own!)• How would Europeans at the time have viewed

Australia’s natural resources (compare this to Aboriginal).

• Why do you think indigenous Australians would not have viewed natural resources in this way?

• Cheap energy – what do you think it was at the time?

(lights, heaters etc)

BLUBBER!• Did you go to Sealers Cove in Year 9?• Did you see any Seals there?• Why is it called Sealers Cove?

Perceptions• Matthew Flinders – 1798 – First known white man to visit

the cove.

• “The aspect of the country is agreeable only at a distance. From the use it may be of anyone coming here to seal…. There is plenty of fresh water and wood enough to boil down any quantity of blubber”

• What do you think he called the place?

• Sealers Cove!

Quote from the time• Politician in mid 1800’s

• “Even a small amount of tin is worth more than all of the animals in Australia”.

Interactions• In 1798 Matthew Flinders Noticed thousands of Fur Seals

Within Sealers Cove.• In 1804, an American Ship known as the union obtained

600,000 seal skins.• Think about it:

– a seal is about the size of a person. - 100,000 people can fit into the MCG- That’s 6 MCG’s!- 1643 every day!- - 68 every hour for a whole year!

- In 1804, one ship caught a seal every minute!

• By the 1940’s, sea elephants in Bass Straight were extinct.

• At this time there were about 100 fur seals left in Bass Straight.

• Since then, numbers have climbed to around 20,000.

• In 1804, more seals were killed by one ship than there are in the Bass Strait today.

Timbeeeeeeerrrrr..• In 1854, a timber mill was set up at Sealers Cove (run by

the Turnbulls Company, who are providing us with our transport to the Prom!)

• Most of Wilson’s Promontory in the Mid 1800’s – north of Darby River, and at Sealers Cove - was pastoral stations, used for grazing cattle, with varying degrees of success.

• HOW DO THESE INTERACTIONS RELFECT THE PERCEPTION THAT INDUSTRIALISTS HAD OF THE NATURAL ENVIRONMENT?

Interactions at Wilson’s Prom - Summary

• Sealing• Whaling• Tin Mining• Logging• Grazing

Impacts• Duh….. No more Seals!• 1996 productivity commission report of affects of farming

practices in Australia• Changing soil mineralisation (higher salinity and acidity)• Soil degradation.• Erosion• Plant and animal invasion• Clearing of native vegetation.

Wilson’s Prom Impacts• Grazing

• Local dingos attacked cattle.• Grazers killed dingos.• Dingos became extinct in local area.• Introduced pest species such as foxes filled niche left by dingos.

• Logging• Loss of old growth forests – gone forever.

Also….• During European settlement, forest in Australia has

reduced from 69 millions hectares to 43 million hectares.• Fishing – in 1992 the Eastern Gemfish industry collapsed

– overfishing, undersize fishing.• Scallop dredging in Port Phillip have destroyed sea grass

meadows – important spawning areas for fish.• Global – 85%of world fish stocks have been depleted.• Today;

• 185km2 of rainforest will be cut down• Between 40 and 250 species will become extinct• Human population will increase by 250,000