As Tom Dystra, an aborigine, states ‘we cultivated our land, but in a way different from the white man. We endeavored to live with the land; they seemed to live off it. I was taught to preserve, never to destroy.’ Land, to the aboriginal people, is not just dirt and rock, it is the fundamental key to the wellbeing of everyone and everything. Aboriginal people are excellent trackers, moving from one place to the next, finding resources, that’s how they’ve always lived (Korff, 2015).
An aboriginal life was a fulfilling life, something that they had always known, something they prayed would never change. That was until it did. In the early 1700’s European settlers ventured into Australia. Much like the history of the British and Indians in the U.S. Indigenous people were forced from place to place. They began taking land that was claimed by Aborigines. Dated as far back as the 1790’s, children began to be taken and put to labor (Film, …show more content…
“Providing” housing, stores, and schools. This idea comforted the people knowing something was being done about their land, but staying in one place was unappealing. Their land had been taken away from them, and they had been homeless for selfish reasons on behalf of the European settlers. Now they were getting land, but land that would make them stay stationary, creating even more complications with resources. History and culture fought to push the idea from the people’s minds. But how could they toss this “offer” aside? Finally something is done, but it would never be like before. Refusing the offer would only escalate to not getting any justice for Aboriginal heritage (Holz,