History Yearly

Rights and Freedoms

Introduction
◦ Since European invasion in 1788, Indigenous Australians have struggled to retain their rights and
freedoms.
◦ State and Federal government policies have discriminated against them.
◦ Indigenous Australians have been politically active in demanding their rights.
◦ They have achieved some significant changes in their fight for equality.
The United Nations
◦ The League of Nations was created at the end of WW1.
◦ At the end of WW2, the winning nations created a new international organization, the United Nations.
◦ Goals: ensure peace and security and to protect human rights
◦ Created on 24th October 1945.
◦ 193 Member States
◦ Australia was one of the first 51 founding members, and helped draft the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights
◦ The UDHR is an important document that outlines basic human rights.
◦ Doc Evatt was an Australian who helped draft the UN charter.
◦ Doc Evatt encouraged smaller nations to join the UN.

Structure of the UN]

1) General Assembly:
➢ Representatives from all member states
➢ Discussion and policy making forum.
 2) The Security Council:
➢ Five permanent members (United States of America, China, Russia, France, Britain)
➢ Have veto power: Can stop any resolution from passing through.
➢ 10 members with two-year terms.

3) The Economic and social council:

4) The International Court of Justice: 15 independent judges, with 9-year term

5) The Secretariat: Does the administrative work. Led by the Secretary General

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

Doc Evatt played a A document that

Implemented in major role in outlines basic human
1948 drafting this rights that we all
document. have.

Nations that sign up

Became International to these, agree to
law uphold principles
protecting peoples
human rights.

Early Aboriginal Activism

Settlement or invasion
◦ Terra Nullius: Term used by Captain Cook in 1788 to claim Australia as British land.
◦ Meaning: ‘Land belonging to no one.’
◦ Argument over whether it was a settlement or invasion.
After 1788 – 150 years of injustice
White people Policies of
Loss of land- loss of believed they were ‘protection.’
British settlements food, water and superior- created segregated
on Indigenous lands sacred sites laws to show this Indigenous people
superiority from Australian
society

Forced to live on These policies were

reserves used to control all
(Government aspects of
institutions.) Indigenous life.
Aboriginal Responses

Aboriginal activists succeeded in pressuring the NSW government to allow

them control of 114 reserves by 1895.

In 1924, Fred Maynard established the Australian Aboriginal Progressive

Association.

led protests against the loss of reserves, separation of children, injustices

The AAPA, also fought for Aboriginal peoples right to an education and
self-determination

Aboriginal Day of Mourning

◦ 26th January 1938
◦ In 1937, the federal government introduced policy of assimilation (conform to the white way of life)
◦ a day to mourn the losses they experienced since 1978. (150 years)
◦ William Copper, William Ferguson, and John Pattern organized a ‘Day of Mourning.’
◦ Began with a protest march from Sydney Town Hall
◦ Failed in its main goals.
◦ However, it united Aboriginal people.
◦ Australia Day is now called ‘Invasion Day’ or ‘Survival Day.’

Protection and assimilation

 Outline the rights and freedoms denied to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples before 1965 and
the roles and policies of the Aboriginal Protection Board e.g., the control of wages and reserves.

Protection

Movements of Aboriginal people: permission was needed to Leisure and sporting activities: traditional customs and
enter or leave fenced missions were conditions were harsh celebrations were forbidden , recreational time was
and hard. closely watched with an emphasis on Christian worship as
the main community activity.

Work, earning and possessions of Aboriginal people: the

protector was the legal owner o all personal property Marriage and family life: they need to receive permission
including the wages received. They had to apply to spend to marry and children were separated from families.
money which was placed in a saving account.
Assimilation
Policy which forces people to conform to the attitudes, customs, and beliefs of the majority of the population.
• According to this policy Aboriginal people would lose their identity but have their ‘status’ raised.
• This policy was based on two notions:
• That the Aboriginal people would eventually die out.
• The Aboriginal people would benefit from being westernized.

Problems with this policy

 By 1951, all the Australian states had accepted the principles of assimilation but they had failed to deal
with the discrimination that remained in education, housing, employment and health.
 Aboriginal people continued to live on the fringes of white society amidst widespread racism.
Effect
 The Assimilation policy denied Aboriginal people their basic rights.

It prevented them from:

o Raising their own children
o From freely moving
o Marrying without permission
o Entering a restaurant

American Civil Rights Movement

The triangular slave trades.
• Did you know that African Americans originally came from Africa?
• They were sent as slaves to the America’s by the British
empire. (Africa was a colony of Britain)
• These people had no rights and were sold and bought as
if they were commodities.
• Life on the boats that transported these people across
the Atlantic was very hard, just as hard as life was when
they arrived to America’s main land.
• According to modern historian’s, at least 24 million
Africans were captured. Millions died from hunger and
disease before they even reached the coast.
• Three separate phases: First phase, merchant ships
brought European goods to Africa, traded these goods
for slaves. The Middle Passage-Slaves were then
transported to the Americas, where they were
exchanged for sugar, tobacco and cotton. On the last
leg, merchants carried these goods to Europe.
The United States constitution: The declaration of Independence
• One of the most important documents of all time. (July 4th, 1776)
• It was a statement adopted by the Continental delegates (thirteen colonies of the United States)
announcing their independence from Great Britain and no longer part of the British Empire.
• Thomas Jefferson was given the task of producing a draft of what became known as the declaration of
Independence.

Significance
As the first formal statement by a nations people asserting their rights to choose their own government, the
declaration of Independence became a significant landmark in the history of democracy.
• The most important lines are the following:
‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator
with certain unalienable rights, but among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.’

• This extract led the way for many civil rights activists fighting for the equality it promoted.
• Abraham Lincoln considered the declaration to be the foundation of his political philosophy.
• It became the blueprint for the equality that African Americans struggled for 200 years to fulfil.

American civil war

• Anti-slavery Republican Abraham Lincoln was elected as president in 1860. He aimed to stop slavery.
• The Southern States of America did not want to end slavery. The South was largely comprised of large
plantations (Farms) that grew crops such as cotton. These plantations required a large number of people
to work on them. SLAVES DO THE WORK FOR FREE.
• A civil war began.
• The northern states led by Abraham Lincoln won the civil war in 1865
• Emancipation Proclamation was issued in 1863: ‘all persons held as slaves within the rebellious states are
and henceforward shall be free.’
• He argued that the phrase ‘All men are created equal.’ applied to blacks and whites alike.
• He was assassinated in 1865.

Problems for African Americans

Social discrimination continued to take place in the Southern States of America.
• In fact, abuses against African Americans increased over the next 100 years.
• Laws were also implemented to discriminate against the African American population.
• Between 1887 and 1891, laws were created in every state that divided society into ‘white’ and
‘coloureds’ and were called the Jim Crow Laws.
Jim Crow Laws
• Named after a travelling white musician and actor called Thomas Dartmouth ‘Daddy’ Rice who created a
black character ‘Jim Crow’ that mocked the habits and looks of the African American population.
• THINK!!!! What does this tell us about the states that implemented these laws? Laws that were named
after a white man who is mocking an entire population. What key words come to your mind????

What did the laws mean?

• Races were to be segregated in all
forms of life.
• Many states could impose
punishments on people for
interacting with other members of
other races.
• African Americans were relegated to
the status of second class citizens.
• African Americans became victims of
mob rule and lynching.
• They were intimated into not
exercising their voting rights.

Ku Klux Klan
• Ku Klux Klan is the name of a number of past and present organisations in the United States that have
advocated white supremacy and anti-Semitism.
• They have committed extreme violence to achieve its goal of racial segregation and white supremacy.
• Murder, burning of homes and places of worship, mob violence.
Lynching
• Definition: A mob that kills someone, especially by hanging, for an offence with or without legal trial.
One of the most callous actions of the KKK was to capture African American men, tie a rope around their neck
and hang them from a tree as a warning to others to be silent and complaint.

Civil Disobedience
Montgomery Bus Boycott (1955-1956): The Montgomery Bus Boycott, sparked by Rosa Parks' refusal to give up
her seat to a white passenger on a city bus, was a groundbreaking example of civil disobedience. African
Americans in Montgomery, Alabama, boycotted the city's segregated bus system for over a year, walking or
carpooling instead. This protest ultimately led to the desegregation of the city's buses.

Sit-Ins: Sit-ins were a prominent form of civil disobedience in which African American activists would occupy
seats at racially segregated lunch counters, restaurants, and other public facilities. They would peacefully refuse
to leave until they were served or arrested. Notable sit-ins occurred in Greensboro, North Carolina, and Nashville,
Tennessee.
 Freedom Rides: The Freedom Rides were integrated bus journeys undertaken by civil rights activists to challenge
segregated interstate travel facilities. They intentionally violated Jim Crow laws and faced violence and arrests,
drawing attention to the need for desegregation in public transportation.

Marches and Demonstrations: Peaceful marches and demonstrations were central to the civil rights movement.
Events like the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom in 1963 and the Selma to Montgomery March in
1965 were powerful expressions of civil disobedience. They advocated for civil rights legislation and drew
national and international attention.

Voter Registration Drives: African Americans engaged in voter registration drives in the South, where
discriminatory practices like literacy tests and poll taxes effectively disenfranchised them. Civil rights activists
would sometimes engage in civil disobedience by attempting to register to vote, even when they knew they
would face harassment or violence.

Freedom Schools: Freedom Schools were established during the civil rights movement to provide African
Americans with education, as the traditional school system in the South was often segregated and inadequate.
These schools were an act of civil disobedience as they challenged the status quo of education and worked to
empower Black students.

Boycotts and Economic Protests: Civil rights leaders encouraged African Americans to boycott businesses that
practiced discrimination. The economic impact of these boycotts often prompted businesses to reconsider their
segregationist policies.

Nonviolent Resistance Training: Civil rights activists often underwent training in nonviolent resistance techniques
to ensure that their acts of civil disobedience were conducted in a disciplined and nonviolent manner.

Migration Timeline
1788-1868
 First fleet (British migrants arrive in Australia)
 Britain transported more than 160,000 convicts from it overcrowded prisons to the Australian colonies.
1793-1850
 Nearly 200,000 free settlers chose to migrate to Australia to start a new life
1850’s
 Thousands of Chinese people came to Australia during the Gold Rush. By 1901, Chinese were the third
largest migrant group in Australia after the British and Germans.
1901
 Federation- On 1 January, the Australian colonies united to become a nation. This is known as federation and
resulted in the creation of a federal parliament, with the colonies becoming Australia’s six states.
1901-1958
 White Australian policy- Migrants had to pass a dictation test in any European language in order to enter
Australia. 1901 Australia's newly formed Federal Parliament passed the Immigration Restriction Act.
 No Asian or African nationalities were allowed to migrate to Australia until the 1960s.
1940’s
 Migrants were expected to discard their culture and blend with Australia’s traditional British-based culture.
This was under the Assimilation policy.
Post WWII-1945
 Australia promoted immigration with the catch phrase ‘populate or perish.’ it negotiated agreements to
accept more than 2 million migrants and displaced people from Europe.
 Non- English-speaking migrants were called ‘new Australians’.
1975
 Racial Discrimination Act ends the white Australian policy.
1970’s
 Boat people arrive in Darwin, most fleeing from war and violence in their home countries. The Vietnamese
boat people/relaxed immigration restriction meant that most of the refugees were allowed to settle in
Australia.

1970’s
 Boat people arrive in Darwin, most fleeing from war and violence in their home countries. The Vietnamese
boat people/relaxed immigration restriction meant that most of the refugees were allowed to settle in
Australia.
1990’s
 Asylum seekers fleeing conflict in the Middle East have arrived in Australia by boat. How to deal with
Asylum seekers remains one of the most controversial issues in contemporary Australia.

Why would people want to come to Australia?

 Employment opportunities.
 Quality of life, low pollution levels, low population in a vast country of natural landscape.
 Education/Australia has a standard of education.
 Security/low crime rate/to flee war or persecution in their homeland.
 Climate
 Health system- Medicare, hospitals.

Migrant hostels and hardships

Hostels
Most migrants arrived to Australia by boat. They stayed in hostels throughout the rural regions until they found
employment. The first hostel was Bonegilla Reception and training Centre.
Experiences
• Hot and dry conditions of the Australian summer
• They were taught basic English language skills.
 Conditions in the Hostels

Refurbished The long huts Hot in summer, Conditions were

military barracks cold in winter basic

Shared People of many

Men and women bathrooms and Religious
were housed in kitchens. The denominations
seperate Barracks toliets were shared the same
usually deep - pit chapel for
latrines worship

Purpose of hostels

Temprary Housing

General Medical care & assessment

Basic provisions such as clothing

Interview & Assessmet for employment

Basic English Language Tuition

Instructions in the Australian way of life

Hardships faced by migrants.

They had to give up

Faced racism & their own heritage Forced to live in
discrmination Asimilation Policy and culture and hhostel and camps
adopt the culture of
Australians

Mnay were unskilled Those with

Missed their families Language barriers and forced to accept Qualifications were
hard jobs not recognised

Hardships faced by Migrants.

Enemy Aliens
• One of the oldest and largest non – English speaking immigrant
 Enemy Aliens

Expected to
Between 1947 They came in assimilate into
and 1976 about search of a Australian
360 000 better life society
Italians came to after the war betwwen
Australia 1950s and
1960s.

Hardships
• Racism
• Lived in hostels
• Missing their families
• Laguage barriers - difficult to communicate
• Many were unskilled and forced to accept hard jobs
• Those with qualification were nkt recognised
• Assimilation

Work
• Worked on the construction of the Snowy Mountain Hydro - Electric scheme. (Underground Work)
• Part Kembia steel works in Wollongong
• Migrants had to sign two year contracts in which they promised to work whenever they were sent

Refugees from Vietnam and Cambodia

Impacts of events in Indochina
• Two million people became refugees as a result of the Vietnam war.
• In 1975 the communist led forces of North Vietnam entered Saigon and
Conquered South Vietnam.
• Many western nations joined.
• Stop the spread of communism.
The boat people.

In 1975 the first boat people of From 1976 to 1981, 56 boats

carrying over 2000 refugees
modern times arrived in Australia reached Australia

Sea Voyagers
 life-threatening sea voyages
 overcrowded and flimsy boats
 Countless numbers perished.
 Australia’s Policy

had a major impact on Australia’s immigration policy

Then Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser allowed large numbers of Indo-Chinese refugees to settle in
Australia/ approximately 70,000 refugees.
Due to the legacy of the White Australia Policy, many Australians had had little to no interaction
with people from nearby Asian countries

Many of the new arrivals, had to deal with prejudice and discrimination.

Contributions of Migrants
Social/ Cultural developments
• Cultural diversity Multiculturalism
•
•
Economic Development
• Immigration provided the large and mobile workforce required for Australia ambitious post war
development plans.
• Improved Economy
• They worked on farms, factories, iron and steel industries, mines.
• Worked on the Snowy Mountain Hydro – Electric Scheme

Snowy Mountains Scheme

Background
Largest Engineering project undertaken in Australia.
It supplies vital water to the farming industries of inland New South Wales and Victoria.

The scheme consists of

16 Dams Seven Power Stations

A Pumping Station 225 kilometers of tunnels, pipelines and

aqueducts

Only 2% of the entire constructioms is visble

above the gound
Purpose of scheme
▪ Collect water from the melting snow and rain in the Snowy Mountains.
▪ Water is then diverted through tunnels in the mountains and stored in dams.
▪ The water is used for irrigation of farms in NSW, Victoria and South Australia.
▪ Some of the water is also used to create hydroelectricity.
▪ Flowing water creates energy that can be captured and turned into electricity.

Workers
• More than 100, 000 people from over 30 countries.
• 70% of worker were migrants.
• Work was difficult and the conditions were tough.
• More than 120 workers died during the project.

Hardships • Foreign animals and birds

• Many came from countries that had recently been at war and there was some pre –
existing hostilities.
• Communication

Diction test
The dictation test was one of the primary ways the Immigration
Restriction Act was implemented. Anyone failing to write the passage down
could be deported under the Immigration Restriction Act 1901. The test
could be given in any European language. The Immigration Restriction Act
1901 was a landmark law passed by the first parliament of the
Commonwealth of Australia. The Act provided the cornerstone of the
unofficial 'White Australia' policy. This policy, aimed at maintaining
Australia as a nation populated predominantly by white Europeans,
remained in place for many decades.