History Mando Semester 1

Australia and WWII

Causes of WWII
 Treaty of Versailles
o Post WWI – Allies meet to decide Germany’s future
o Write ToV – extremely harsh
 German territory lost
 Demilitarisation
 Accept full guilt for the war
 Pay steep reparations
o Results
 Extreme poverty and economic recession
 Lack of faith in gov
 Resentment towards Allies and the West
 The Great Depression
o World hit with major economic recession in 1920s
o Value of German currency plummets to nothing (cheaper to use it as fire starter than money)
o Rise in unemployment, businesses close, trade reduced, banks collapse
o People turn towards gov and a strong political leader (Hitler)  promised to restore Germany
to former glory
 German Militarism
o Hitler and gov begin secretly rebuilding Germany’s military (despite terms of ToV)
o Britain and France knew – thought a strong Germany would prevent rise of Soviet
communism
o Military presence in German speaking parts of France, Austria, Czechoslovakia
o Alliances with Japan and Italy (axis powers)
 Failure of Appeasement
o Appeasement: agreeing to demands of another nation to avoid conflict
o 1930s – British and French believe ToV is unfair to Germany (policy of appeasement)
o Munich Agreement – sep 1938 – allow Germany to annex some parts of Czechoslovakia
o Germany invades Polane – 1st September 1939  Britain and France declare war
 Failure of League of Nations
o Intl. org set up in 1919 to keep world peace
o Intent was that all countries would be members – disputes settled through negation over force
o Not all countries join, no army to prevent aggression (e.g. Italy’s invasion of Ethiopia)
 Japan’s Militarism
o Hit badly by Great Depression, loss of faith in gov
o Turn to army for economic solution  need natural resources  invade China and ignore
league of nations, continued occupation of Korea and South East Asia
o US grows concerned, Japan bombs Pearl Harbour in 1941, begins WWII in Asia

Australia’s Involvement in WWII

 Reasons for enlistment
 o Prestige, adventure, glory
o Loyalty to the British Empire
o Community – obligation
o Proving Australia’s worth (‘new’ country)
o Propaganda, hatred of the enemy
o Women now able to participate
 Where did Australians fight?
o Europe – Crete, Greece, Germany, Britain
o North Africa – Morrocco, Egypt
o SE Asia and Pacific – sea battles, Burma, Borneo, Indonesia
o Middle East – Syria, Iraq Lebanon
o Home front – bombing of Darwin
 Role of women
o Women allowed to contribute – not fight on front lines though
o Nurses – AANS – volunteers travelled with army and set up battle hospitals
o Home front – sewed parachutes, operated radios, engineers
o Worked on farms to keep them running while men were away
o Exclusive – only white women
o Had to bring women in because the economy couldn’t function with all the men gone
o Postwar – step towards more rights, proof that women could work in traditionally male jobs
 Indigenous soldiers
o First nations soldiers could fight with other Australians
o Home front – skills on Country began to be recognised
o First all indigenous battalion in Torres Strait
o Still didn’t receive the vote and citizenship/equal pay for service until over 30 yrs later
 Enemy Aliens
o Residents from Germany, Japan, Italy detained and put into enemy alien camps
o Government scared they would spy and report info back to home country
o Stemmed from xenophobia and paranoia about confidentiality
 Conditions
o Desert warfare: extreme temps, dry, dehydration
o Jungle warfare: humid, infection, tropical diseases, poor water quality

The Pacific War

 Japan and US
o Japan had been steadily invading SE Asia throughout 1930s
o US imposes economic sanctions to attempt to stop this
o December 7, 1941 – Japan bombs Pearl Harbour, Hawaii – major US naval base
o No declaration of war (claimed they had sent it though but it hadn’t arrived)
o US defenceless and believed their relationship with Japan was stable
o US recovered far more quickly than Japan anticipated and entered WWII officially
 Fall of Singapore
o Japan captures British stronghold of Singapore
 Most important British military base in SE Asia – strategically placed between Paciric
and Indian oceans
o Resulted in largest British surrender in history
 o Realised full Japanese capabilities – they were outnumbered by British but had superior
tactics and experience
 Battle of the Coral Sea
o Pacific theatre – Coral Sea – between New Guinea and Australia
o Sea battle – could not see the enemy – sent out planes to locate but poor weather  poor
locating  could not find enemy
o Japanese empire are concluding their triumphant Pacific campaign
o Allies – defeated in Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore
o Allies destroy two of the largest Japanese Aircraft carriers – prevent advancement to Aus
o Stabilisation of SW pacific front and first tactical US Navy win
o Disorganised plans for Japanese invasion of Port Moresby and disrupts southward Naval
expansion
 Milne Bay
o Strategically important for Allies and Japanese
o Japan lands, encounters resistance from Aus forces
o Japan – logistical difficulties, Allies launch counteroffensive
o Japan forced to withdraw
o Milne bay turned into a major Allied base
 Kokoda Track
o Australia – trying to stop Japan from occupying Port Moresby
o Incredibly harsh conditions – over 2000 Australians killed/wounded
o Prevented Japanese advancement – stopped Japanese from moving across the Pacific
 Bombing of Darwin
o Japanese bomb Darwin – wanted to destroy northern defences
o  redirection of war to Asia Pacific
o  first time Australian home front is directly threatened
 Attack on Sydney Harbour
o 3 Japanese submarines penetrate defences of Sydney harbour
o Did not damage

The Holocaust
Antisemitism
 Antisemitism: anti-Jewish sentiment – hostility or prejudice, based on stereotypes that target Jewish
religion, appearance, and the Jewish State of Israel
o Occurred throughout history – Europe and Middle East – Jewish = Satan
o Christians – after Jesus, they believed that Christianity superseded Judaism as a religion
o Middle ages – institutionalized antisemitism (i.e. weren’t allowed to marry Christians)
o Forced out of Spain after Islamic conquest
o Blamed for the plague in the middle ages
o Germany – 1800s, believed Jews were trying to overthrow

Rise of Hitler and Nazi Policy

 Hitler’s Early Life
o Born in Branau, Austria in 1889
o Young age m- described as clever but arrogant and bad tempered
 o Dropped out of school to take entry test into Vienna Academy of Fine Arts
o Moved to Munich to avoid military service until WWI gave him a direction
o Praised as being a brave soldier, awarded Iron Cross after the war
 Beginning of Political Career
o Post WWI – became a German Military investigator
o Looked into German Worker’s Party, saw it as a vehicle for his won power and joined
o Talent for public speaking  became leader and renamed it National Socialist German
Worker’s Party (Nazis)
 Political Beliefs
o ‘National socialism’ – rise of socialism after WWI, needed to rebrand the right-wing worker’s
party (oxymoronic)
o Addition of ‘national’ to party name – believed in socialism, but only for pure blooded
Germans
o Confusing mixture – anti-communist but believe in land reform, supported by powerful
conservatives but message addressed to working class
 25 Points
o First Nazi Programme
 Published 1920, contained a set of suggested laws
o Abolition of ToV, anti-capitalist measures, creation of healthy middle class, land reform,
antisemitic laws that said no Jew could be German
 Munich Putsch
o 1923 – Hitler’s party tries to overthrow Bavarian govt., Hitler given 5 yr jail sentence
o Only served 9 months, wrote Mein Kampf
 Mein Kampf
o Main ideas: one supreme ruler (Fuhrer) because debate and democracy made people weak
o Antisemitism, expulsion of anyone not of the ideal Aryan race
o Expansion of German empire (lebensraum) – ‘living space’ – space for German empire to
expand and regain old power
o Social Darwinism: belief that certain people in society were more powerful and deserved to
survive and produce offspring because they were innately better  attempt to ‘breed out’
Jews from society
 Hierarchy of races – Aryans (master race), races of colour (e.g. Black people, Asian
people), Romani people, Jews (the ‘maggot of nations’)
o A self-sufficient and independent Germany
o War was a necessary part of living – those who did not want to fight did not deserve to live
o Methods: Propaganda, force, educational indoctrination, fitness
 Consolidation of power
o Appointed German chancellor during Great Depression – presented as a leader who would
solve Germany’s economic disaster
o Phase 10 – Hitler given absolute power to make his own laws – Enabling Act
 Nazis abolish trade unions and ban every other political army
 SA (Nazi private army) disagrees with some of Hitler’s ideas, so he has 400 of them
killed
o Fuhrer – President Von Hindenburg dies in 1934 and Hitler unites role of Pres. and Chancel.
o Absolute ruler of Germany – faced no opposition because he had banned any political
opponents and killed anyone in his party who opposed him
Growing Antisemitism
 Economic boycotts, book burnings
o 1933 – nationwide boycott of Jewish businesses
 Great depression – Jews more economically successful because they had centuries of
history of working in banks and money – blamed for the economic recession
 Not very successful – only 1 day, ignored by many
 Represented the beginning of campaign by Nazia against entire German-Jewish pop.,
first time they actively tried to destroy Jewish livelihood
 Star of David painted on shop windows, prevented customers from entering, protests
with anti-Jewish signs
 General population hadn’t been indoctrinated into systemic antisemitism fully yet
o Book burnings
 Blacklists of any Jewish, liberal or communist works
 Huge protests with bonfires where university library books and Jewish art were
thrown into the fires
 Nazis burnt books they claimed were un-German
 Confiscation of any material deemed dangerous
 Powerful symbol of Nazi intolerance and censorship – aimed to synchronise culture
with their ideology and policy
 Provoked international criticism, but no direct action
 Nuremburg Laws
o 15 September 1935 – Nazi Regime announces new laws related to race
o Wanted to enshrine Social Darwinism and racial hierarchy into law
o Law for the Protection of German Blood and German Honour
 Law against racial ‘defilement’ (racial mixing)
 Banned intermarriages between Germans and Jews
 Believed such relationships were dangerous because they led to mixed race children
 Undermined purity of German race
 Jews had to prove racial identity – strict classifications of who counted as a Jew
 Banned any signs of German nationalism by Jews (e.g. flag) or Jewish culture
 Department of Racial Hygiene established
o Law for the Protection of Hereditary Health
 Forced sterilisation of people with physical or mental disabilities, Romani, Black
people, ‘asocials’
 Prevented reproduction – believed it avoided passing on hereditary diseases
 Schizophrenics, epileptics, any other mental disorders
 Evolved into Nazi Euthanasia Program – systematic murder of people w/ disabilities
o Reich Citizenship Law
 Only racially pure Germans could hold citizenship
 Jews could not be citizens
 Had no political or legal rights – couldn’t vote, weren’t protected in law
o Jews banned from parks, swimming pools, restaurants, German schools and unis
o No longer allowed electrical equipment, bicycles, typewriters
o Passports for Jews restricted, Kosher slaughter banned
o Jewish children expelled from German schools
o Special identity cards issues to Jews, forced to add the name Sarah or Israel onto their own
 Kristallnacht
o 9th November 1938 – German embassy official shot by a Polish Jew in Paris
 o Nazis used this event to coordinate and encourage mass attacks on Jewish people, houses,
shops and synagogues
o 200 synagogues burnt, 8000 businesses destroyed, thousands of homes destroyed, hundreds
of Jews murdered or beaten
o Hitler Youth instructed to go onto the streets and destroy anything Jewish
o SS and SA – led destruction, looting, vandalism, fire
o Public – not many resisted, used to this behaviour, brainwashed to believe Jews were enemy
of New Germany
o Jews – many arrested for ‘causing’ the event and killed, Nazis carry out absolute brutality
o Incredibly violent and outright persecution
o Complete rejection of anything Jewish – went past boycotting – actively killing and
destroying anything Jewish
Promoting Nazi Racial Ideology
 Role of Education
o From 1935 Jews began to be banned from educational places
 Removed from German schools and universities
 Forbidden from any schooling with non-Jews
 Forbidden from practicing/learning about religion/culture
o Controlling education was a major tool used by Nazis to indoctrinate children into ideology
 Teachers swore an oath of allegiance to Hitler to teach in accordance with Nazi ideals
 Jewish teachers and any who refused to support Nazis dismissed
 Nazi party teachers wore uniform to school
 Hitler salute mandatory – start of day, beginning of lessons, end of day
 Nazi flag/Hitler portraits around classrooms
 Jewish children humiliated and bullied
o Curriculum
 Physically fit and perfectly obedient
 Textbooks rewritten to be passed by Nazi party
 National curriculum – PE, German history, Geo, Biology, Maths
 Subjects aimed to portray only Nazi racial ideology i.e. core part of Bio was
racial science
 Students taught to identify Jews – ‘race education’ classes
 Bodily proportions measured to test for Aryanism
 Role of Propaganda
o Joseph Goebbels – Propaganda minister
 Responsible for controlling minds through forms of media and school system
o Forms of Propaganda
 Newspapers: extremely antisemitic, stressed the Jewish threat, antisemitic caricatures
 Films: depicted Jewish people as evil and ugly, and non-Jews as heroic, beautiful
 Radios: sold very cheaply so that Germans would be able to head Nazi broadcasts
 Music: all Jewish composers, Jazz, ‘exotic’ music banned
 Posters: plastered around cities, aimed to blame Jews and Allies
o Told Germans what they wanted to hear:
 Jews responsible for Germany’s defeat in WWI and Great Depression
 Jews preferred communism as a system of gov.
 Jews made life in Germany difficult
o Youth Propaganda
  Hitler Youth – organisation developed to promote Nazi ideals to young people
 Other youth groups abolished
 More than 82% of eligible youth were part of it
 Military training and field trips for boys, girls learnt cooking, cleaning
 Depicted as beautiful, strong and obedient young people who were the perfect
Hitler loyalists
 Nationalism and showed Hitler as a paternal figure
 Manipulation of children’s innocence
o Childrens books ,
 One of the main forms of propaganda
 Aims: perpetuate Jewish stereotypes, brainwash children into believing Jews were
root of all problems
 The Poisonous Mushroom – Juluis Streicher
 Portrays Jews as a poisonous mushroom  avoid at all costs
 Teaches children how to ‘recognize’ Jews – criminals, Jewish nose
Increasing Persecution of the Jewish Population
 Ghettos
o Late 1930s – clear escalation in persecution of Jews and other minorities
o Origin of Ghettos traced back to medieval times – Jews separated from general population
o Nazis created over 1000 Ghettos across territory  segregated Jews
 Means of controlling, if Jews weren’t around general pop. then it was easier to
persecute them, dehumanises them
o Run by a Jewish council who took orders from party (council  treated better)
o Closed (i.e. no one could enter/exit) or open (still harsh restrictions about entry/exit)
o Issues: overcrowding, famine, disease, death, poverty
 Rations – one loaf of bread over several days
 Constant death  dehumanisation, couldn’t practice culture/religion, no hope
o 1 million Jews died in Ghettoes
o Some Ghettos used to help German army production, thousands used for forced labour
o Warsaw ghetto – largest, 500 000 population
o Ghettos made it easier to then transport to concentration/extermination camps
 Camps
o Over course of Nazi control >20 000 camps established across territory
o Aims: stop opposition, instil terror, forced labour, extermination of entire Jewish pop.
o Rounded up onto trains and packed into cattle cars, many crushed to death
o Concentration camps
 Auschwitz, Terezin
 Purpose: isolate and remove prisoners from general population, unjust imprisonment
 Kept in extremely harsh conditions, no rights, stopped opposition to Nazi control
 Allowed Final Solution  out of sight out of mind
 Medical experiments – conducted w/o their will and often lethal results
 E.g. how long could a German soldier survive in freezing water/reduced air
pressure, breeding twins to increase German pop.
 Claimed that concentration camps were ‘spa towns’ where elderly Jews could retire
 Terezin – propaganda film made there – made it seem like a happy, serene place
 In fact over 70 000 Jews held there were deported to extermination camps, and
33 000 died while imprisoned there
  Deceived Red Cross – deported large pop. to reduce overcrowding, built
swimming pool and gardens
o Prisoner of War camps
o Transit camps
 Temporary way stations before separating prisoners into labour/death
o Forced labour camps
 Prisoners made weapons, built train tracks
 Treated as temporary – inadequate food, shelter, medicine
 Worked from dawn to dusk, freezing winters, no shoes
 Could supply German war effort whilst continuing to carry out Final Solution
 E.g. Buchenwald, Mauthausen, Auschwitz III Monowitz
o Death camps
 Built only for extermination – gas chambers, crematoriums, etc.
 Auschwitz-Birkenau, Chelmno
 Gas chambers
 Large rooms – pretended to be showers – sealed and gas pumped in
 Mainly used Zyklon B gas
 Efficient, cheaper way of achieving Final Solution
  mobile gas vans (Einsatzgruppen)
 Average of 6000 Jews gassed each day at Auschwitz
 Arrived off trains, usually gassed within hours of arrival
 Made to look like transit camps, separated according to gender and told they would be
taken to the shower block
 The Final Solution
o Solution to the ‘Jewish Problem’ – Jews were the cause of everything wrong in Germany
o Last stage of the Holocaust, culmination of antisemitic measures implemented by Nazis
o Mass genocide – eliminate every single Jew in Europe
o Invasion of USSR in 1941, beganmass shooting in captured territories
o End of 1941 – mass extermination of Jews of Europe began
o Einsatzgruppen given responsibility to solve the Jewish Problem – led by Heinrich Himmler
o Ordered to execute any Jewish ‘prisoners of war’, within a month over 50 000 Russian Jews
murdered under these orders (first just men, then everyone), some killed by firing squad
o September 1941 – decision made to exterminate all European Jews
o 20 January 1942 – Wannsee Conference
 Confirmed the complete solution of the Jewish question
 Established procedures for rounding up & ‘resettlement’ of Europe’s 11 million Jews
 Actually meant extermination
o Facilitation of the Final Solution
 Killing centres and extermination camps
 One purpose: kill large numbers of Jews (+ other minorities) in gas chambers
 Deportation and removal from society
 Ghettos, concentration camps all a method to dehumanise Jews and allow the
population to be complicit in their extermination
 Systemic brainwashing of the population – reduce resistance
Resistance
 Nazi Party was able to control opposition on a large scale, still significant on a smaller scale
 Methods of Non-Jewish resistance
 o Hiding Jews in their homes e.g. Miep Gies hiding Anne Frank and her family in her home
 If they were discovered they would all be deported and probably killed
o Resistance groups – e.g. The White Rose – wanted to expose Nazi atrocities
o French resistance – transported documents throughout Europe against Nazi regime
 Sabotage and assaults on Nazi officials
o Strikes, sabotaging train lines, sneaking arms to Ghettos
o Organising the escape of Jewish children from Nazi occupied territory
 Organised papers, sent on trains, saved thousands of Childrens’ lives
 Jewish Resistance
o Assisting others in ghettos – soup kitchens, hospitals, orphanages
o Created secret schools
 Brought happiness, dreams, hope, curiosity
o Cultural and spiritual activities
 Spiritual escape  maintaining humanity
 Music – symphony orchestras and performance
 Struggle for dignity and morality
o Youth movements
 Led resistance against Nazis – Abba Kovner – led Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
 Called people to resistance – better to die fighting than to live at mercy of murderers
 Shaped future through education, spiritual weapons, morality
o Warsaw Ghetto Uprising
 Heard about ‘resettlement’ – disguise for extermination in the east
 Youth movement created underground organisations
 Knew they weren’t going to win against Nazis, willing to die fighting
 Smuggled small amount of weapons in, built underground bunkers
 Pesah 1943 – Germans entered Ghetto w/ thousands of soldiers, tanks – confronted by
a few hundred youth carrying improvised weapons, no military training
 Heisted Polish and Jewish flag above ghetto
 First time Germans killed in Warsaw
  attempts at resistance in over 100 other ghettos
 Small and large scale resistance
o Small scale – struggle for human dignity e.g. sharing food, community, practicing religio
o Large scale – fighting, uprisings
o Small scale resistance kept humanity alive in the most inhumane conditions – demonstration
of human resilience
o Large scale resistance cannot happen w/o small scale resistance
Death Marches and Liberation
 November 1944 – Himmler issued order to stop extermination of Jews and redirect efforts to use
labour for losing German war effort
o Cover up of horrors committed by Nazis – Russian army advancing towards Germany
 January 1945 – inmates evacuated from Auschwitz and sent on Death Marches – forced treks back
into Germany
o SS didn’t want prisoners to tell stories to Allied and Soviet liberators
o Prisoners needed to keep building weapons
o Believed they could use Jewish prisoners as hostages to bargain w/ Allies
 Prisoners already near death when the marches begun, thousands died
 Very young and old, or those believed too weak to march, left behind w/o food or water or shot
  Had to walk for 10 days without rest or adequate clothing in the freezing European winter
 Hundreds of km, too slow or fell over  shot
 Liberation
o Camps liberated by Allied troops – soldiers shocked by what they found
o En masse extermination, shot or burnt alive in final attempt to have no witnesses
o Discovered extermination facilities, crematoriums, mass graces
o Thousands of bodies lay unburied
o After liberation – tens of thousands still died of starvation
o Only after the war was the full scop of Nazi horrors revealed
 April 1945 – Hitler committed suicide in a bunker
Nuremburg Trials
 War ended 7 May 1945 w/ surrender of Nazi Germany to Allied powers
 Victors – believed the perpetrators of atrocities should not go unpunished
  decision to put the surviving Nazi leaders on trial for crimes against humanity
 Tribunal created in Nuremburg – October 1945-1946 – 177 Nazis tried
 12 sentenced to death, several life imprisonments
 Many claimed they had been following orders – judges ruled this wasn’t a legitimate defence
 Camp survivors gave testimonies at trials
 Majority of perpetrators never brought to justice – many returned to pre-war professions or escaped
 First time in history that state leaders held personally responsible for crimes by international tribunal
 Herman Goering
o ‘prisoner number one’ – military leader of Nazis party, Hitler’s heir
o Charming, confident, claimed everything was a result of German patriotism
o Maintained loyalty to Hitler until the end, sentenced to death
 Impact of trials
o Showed the world the extent of the atrocities committed by Nazis, insight into their mentality
o Set a precedent that from then on justice had to be served for such horrific actions
o First step towards justice for victims
o First international tribunal for accountability of state leaders who committed Crimes against
Humanity
o Model for future international tribunals, influenced UDHR and Geneva Convention

Rights and Freedoms

The UN and the UDHR
 Purpose – to maintain global peace, develop international relations, promote social progress, better
and uphold human rights
 1944 – delegations from the US, UK, USSR, and Republic of China (4 main allied powers) met to
discuss postwar world and discuss establishment of international org.  UN
 UN replaced the League of Nations, dissolved in 1946
 Structure and function of the UN
o General Assembly – every country is represented, convenes annually to vote & deliberate on
global issues
o Security council – 5 permanent members who have veto power, + 10 rotating positions
 Their resolutions are binding and enforced by UN Peacekeepers
o International Court of Justice – judicial organ, hears legal disputes between states
 UDHR
 o Developed largely as a response to the horrors of the Holocaust
o Affirms a list of universal rights that every human is born with
o Recognition of inherent dignity and rights of all members of humanity
o Common standard for every individual and group to keep in mind
o 30 articles – address freedom and equality, legal rights, education, right to information, social
and cultural rights, etc.
o Technically not legally binding – which is why violations of human rights still occur
o First time that these rights had been universal and applied to everyone – not just a select
group
Uluru Statement from the Heart
 2017 – over 250 Indigenous Australians met at a constitutional convention at the foot of Uluru
 Affirmed:
o The sovereignty of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples over Australia
 Never been ceded or extinguished, co-exists with that of the Crown
o Stolen generations and disproportional incarceration
o First Nations peoples existence on Australia for 60 000 years
o Continued strength of culture and connection to Country since time immemorial
 Called for:
o Constitutional reforms to empower people and take rightful place in their own Country
o Establishment of a First Nations Voice enshrined in the Constitution
o Treaty between government and First Nations peoples (Makarrata Commission)
o Truth of history told to both First Nations peoples and white Australians
 Called for a substantive reform of the constitution to accept, learn from and appreciate indigenous
culture and people
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander struggle for rights and freedoms
 Protectionism and paternalism
o The idea that First Nations peoples were unable to take care of themselves
o It was white people’s duty to ‘look after’ indigenous peoples
o Indigenous peoples subject to near total control – forced to live on reserves, excluded from
society, children removed, right to marriage and employment limited
 Gov. wanted to ‘breed out’ indigenous Australians from population
o Children made wards of the state
o Gov. made policies that gave them power to determine where Indigenous people could live,
marry, work, have children etc.
o Aborigines Protection Act 1909
 Excluded from voting, restricted movement, denied them any land rights
 Main governing legislation until 1960s
 Agreed that Aboriginal peoples who weren’t fully indigenous (i.e. had a white parent)
would be assimilated into society  stolen generations
 Expected to live like ‘white’ people – adopted European culture, language
 Forced removal of Indigenous children from families
 1940s – could apply for exceptions – required to revoke all Aboriginal ancestry, cease
contact with other Aboriginal peoples, carried certificate w/ them – gave them
entitlement to freedom of movement, right to drink alcohol, right to own land
 ‘Aboriginal problem’
 o 1st half of 20th century – Australian gov. wanted to create a white Australian culture
o Growing number of mixed race children (‘half castes’)
o Gov’s solution – discontinue policy of protectionism and introduce policy of assimilation
o Proposed that ‘full blood’ First Nations peoples should be allowed to die out through natural
elimination, whilst people of mixed race were encouraged to assimilate into white society
 ‘half caste’ would marry a white person, then their child would only be ¼ Indigenous
and so on
o Focused on assumption of black inferiority and white superiority
o Further suppressed/erased Indigenous culture and identity, justified Stolen Generations
o Forced to live on fringes of society – had to leave reserves but couldn’t find work in
towns/cities due to prevalent racism, refused access to services and venues  poverty
 Stolen Generations
o Assimilation policies focused primarily on children – considered more adaptable than adults
  forcible removal of First Nations children from their families
 Legacy of trauma and loss, continues to affect Indigenous communities & individuals
o Estimated that tens of thousands of Indigenous children taken
o For a child to be taken, a reserve manager just had to ‘consider it necessary’ – often targeted
children of mixed race
 Unprepared, unexpected, no planning
 Parents asked to sign a form that they could not read – made removal legal
 Records of removals not kept/destroyed, children told parents were dead/didn’t want
them
o Classic example of paternalism and assimilation – authorities believed Indigenous peoples
could not raise their children properly, so they had to be looked after by others – in a white
way that lost their Indigenous identity
o Trained to be farm workers/domestic servants – often sexually, emotionally and physically
abused
o Severe punishments, treated little better than slaves
o ‘rehomed’ from families – Cootamundra Girls school
 1938 Day of Mourning
o 26th January 1938 – many Australians celebrating 150th anniversary of British invasion
o Group of Aboriginal activists responded by holding an Aboriginal Day of Mourning to protest
violence and discrimination faced by Aboriginal peoples since 1788
o First national gathering of Indigenous peoples protesting against their treatment
o Event organisers wanted Aboriginal peoples to take part in a ‘re-enactment’ of the first fleet
arriving – they refused
o Mourned the loss of their Country, freedom, rights and deaths of Aboriginal peoples
o Argued Indigenous peoples should be given Australian citizenship, equal rights, education
o Significance
 Had been lobbying for more rights for years, but there had been very little change
 Chance to draw attention to injustices done to Aboriginal peoples since colonisation
 Became an annual event for Indigenous peoples
 First national gathering of Indigenous people protesting against discrimination they
faced daily
 Beginning of the contemporary First Nations political rights’ movement
 Had been building for some time – growing sense of despair
o Eventually evolved into NAIDOC Week – celebration of Indigenous culture