Australia and New Zealand — colonisation and Indigenous experiences
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Flip to reveal answersWhat does 'terra nullius' mean and how was it used in Australia?
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All 12 Flashcards — Australia and New Zealand — colonisation and Indigenous experiences
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Question
What does 'terra nullius' mean and how was it used in Australia?
Answer
'Land belonging to no one' — Britain used this legal idea to claim Australia in 1770/1788 without recognising Aboriginal sovereignty or signing any treaty.
Question
When did British settlement of Australia begin, and how?
Answer
1788, with the First Fleet landing at Sydney Cove, carrying convicts, soldiers and officials — Australia began as a penal colony.
Question
What effect did the gold rushes (from 1851) have on Australia?
Answer
They triggered mass immigration — e.g. Victoria's population grew from about 77,000 (1851) to over 500,000 (1861) — overwhelming Aboriginal communities and land.
Question
Name two events of the Australian Frontier Wars.
Answer
Pemulwuy's resistance near Sydney (1790s–1802) and the Myall Creek massacre (1838), where at least 28 unarmed Aboriginal people were killed and several perpetrators were tried and hanged.
Question
What was the Black War in Tasmania?
Answer
Intense frontier violence in the 1820s–1832, including a government-ordered military operation ('Black Line'), that devastated the Palawa Aboriginal population.
Question
When and where was the Treaty of Waitangi signed, and by whom?
Answer
6 February 1840, New Zealand; signed by British officials and around 540 Māori rangatira (chiefs).
Question
Why did the Treaty of Waitangi cause lasting disputes?
Answer
The English text ceded full sovereignty to Britain, but the Māori text used 'kāwanatanga' (governance), which many rangatira understood as allowing administration while Māori kept authority (rangatiratanga) over their land.
Question
What were the New Zealand Wars, and roughly when were they fought?
Answer
A series of conflicts (1840s–1870s), mainly over land, including the Northern War, Taranaki Wars and Waikato War, fought between Māori and British/colonial forces.
Question
What was the Kīngitanga and why did it matter?
Answer
The Māori King Movement — it united multiple tribes to resist further land sales, giving Māori more collective political and military strength than Aboriginal groups had.
Question
What was 'raupatu' and roughly how much land did it involve?
Answer
The government confiscation of Māori land as punishment after the New Zealand Wars — around 1.2 million hectares, even from tribes that had stayed neutral.
Question
Compare the legal starting points for Indigenous rights claims in Australia and New Zealand.
Answer
Australia: no treaty, so terra nullius had to be overturned by a court case (Mabo, 1992). New Zealand: an existing (if breached) treaty, investigated by the Waitangi Tribunal (set up 1975).
Question
Give two reasons historians offer for why settler-Indigenous relations differed between Australia and New Zealand.
Answer
1) Legal factor — Waitangi gave Māori a treaty to invoke; Aboriginal peoples had none. 2) Power-balance factor — organised iwi, the Kīngitanga, and pā fortifications gave Māori more military and demographic leverage.
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Full study notes for Australia and New Zealand — colonisation and Indigenous experiences
Topic 12.4 hub
Indigenous societies and national identity in Australia and New Zealand (c.1770–2020)
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