impact of european settlement on aboriginals

European ships began sailing into southern Australian waters in the 18th century, and had an immediate impact on Aboriginal society by means of their economy and lifestyle.

Resistance took place right from the first ship of colonist how sailed into the Australian waters. While aborigines found it impossible to fight against disease and ecological change resulting from the introduction of feral and domestic animals, there was resistance to those settlers who tended flocks and herds. In most parts of Australia guerrilla wars were fought all along the expanding frontline of European Invasion. Resistance continued all over Australia for over another century, one of the last guerrilla fighters, Jandamarra, being killed in 1897 in the northwest.

As the settlements expanded, Aboriginal numbers declined, and their ways of life in many areas were destroyed, with survivors beginning to live within or on the fringes of the new European communities. In addition, diseases such as smallpox, ...