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The aborigines probably have lived in[| Australia] for between 60,000 and 40,000 years. We don’t know exactly where they came from, but many think they came from South-East [|Asia].
 * History**

40,000 years ago it was an [|ice age] with huge amounts of ice stretching out from the north and south poles. This caused the [|oceans] to be 400 to 600 feet lower than today, and the widest gap of water between Australia including[| New Guinea] and the other landmass of Asia was just 80 miles.

The historical Aborigines lived a nomadic life and traveled from place to place following the food and seasons. They lived in open camps or caves. With few simple tools and skills, they managed to have a good life in the harsh Australian outback.

In 1770 the British sea captain[| Arthur Phillip] came to Australia. Then the colonization started which meant that Australia would no longer be the Aboriginals' country. The English first tried to make a contract with the [|native] population, but it was impossible, because they didn’t have any central Aboriginal authority to deal with. The aboriginals were in many different [|tribes], with different languages. So the British declared Australia as a land belonging to no one, and gradually Australia became a British[| colony]. The reason why [|Arthur Philip] came to Australia was because the British [|Government] had decided to establish a [|penal colony]. The Europeans forced the Aboriginals to leave their homes, if they didn’t they would be killed. They said that they were being “protected”, but they just wanted to get rid of them. All the time more and more [|Europeans] came and after a while the Aborigines realized that their land was taken by the European and the relations became more hostile.

When the Europeans first came to Australia there were about 300.000 – 1000.000 aborigines, but after some time the amount began to decrease drastically. The aborigines were viewed as barbarians by the [|British]. Aboriginal children could not go to school, Aboriginals did not have a right to vote, they could not own any land and they were not counted in population censuses. And many Aborigines died of diseases they got from the Europeans, because the [|immune system] hadn’t been exposed to that kind of [|bacteria] or [|virus] before, so diseases that we don’t see as dangerous where deadly for the aborigines. Colonizers and soldiers hunted Aboriginals like[| kangaroos] for pleasure and fun. As you can se the aborigines have experienced many bad things and been discriminated, and they have struggled to get rights and freedom since the white settlement. // .............................................................................................................................................................................................................Aboriginals................................................................................ //

** The Stolen Generation ** One part of the Aboriginal history is called[| the stolen Generation.] A child with an aboriginal mother and a white father were called creamy or mixed. They weren’t black or white; they didn’t belong to no one. So they were taken from their parents by the police and brought up in [|orphanages], [|institutions] or white families. They wanted to make them into white. In the aboriginal community in New South Wales they took 10 000 Aboriginal children from their parents from1915 to as late as 1969. They lost their sense of identity, because they often weren’t allowed to contact their family or speak their traditional [|language]. The only language allowed was English. These children were stolen children, and that’s why they call it The Stolen Generation.

After a while it became better for the aborigines, there were more birth and better medical care. The English had hoped that the Aborigines were a dying species, so when the number started to grow the reservation politics were removed. But in 1962 they got the right to vote, and in 1967 they got included in population [|censuses], and 1968 Aboriginal farmers got the right of a [|minimum wage.]
 * Turning point**

//..........................................................................................................................................................................Children with one aboriginal parent who is beeing brought up in institutions//

The aborigines do not have a [|priest], but the oldest man in the tribe acts like the “priest”. A very important thing for the aborigines is the [|Dreamtime]. Dreamtime is when everything was created; the land, the sea and all living creatures. There are different stories about the Dreamtime, depending on which tribe it is. To take care of this tradition every boy must go through something called [|Initiation]. The initiation is a kind of school which in history could be several months long and its purpose is for boys to learn about hunting and about all the land that surrounds them. Threw rituals and ceremonies they manage to pass on their beliefs to the next generations.
 * Culture**

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.............Indigenous people................................................................................................Home......................................................................................................The aborigines today...........