One prime example of genocide in Australia was the releasing of smallpox during the invasion of Australia in the First Fleet (1787). The British fought against the Aborigines and were in a ‘spot of trouble’. They had previously ordered ammunition and supplies prior to their departure and arrival to the coastland of Australia, but none of it actually arrived. The British were low on ammunition and supplies when the fighting began between them and the natives. The fighting started slowly, but then the locals found a strategy to make the British weapons prove useless. The canons that they were using took a very long time to reload and it was a long-range weapon. In addition, the cannonball travelled very slowly through the air, giving the Aborigines time to escape the impact zone. None of the British weapons were working effectively, they were low on supplies and they were outnumbered majorly, even though they had guns and swords. The next logical idea was to steal and drain out the Aborigines’ supplies and hope for the best, but this just increased the rate of fighting. With all of these problems being faced, the release of smallpox was ‘an act of military necessity’. (From Chris Warren’s extract). Most of the British were immune to smallpox, as they had been ‘exposed to the disease during their infancy.’ (Australia, Unknown). The smallpox was carried from Britain in small bottles and this was a key example of how genocide was committed in Australia. Another example of genocide being committed in Australia was the ‘Stolen Generation’. The Stolen Generation was the ‘forcible removal’ (Australians Together, Unknown) of Indigenous children due to laws from the Australian Government. The law was that children were taken from …show more content…
These examples are when the British/white people hunted the Aborigines as a sport, the huge number of diseases that attacked the Aborigines and the ‘press for land’ (ATI, Unknown) by the British as they were hungry to show there wealth by owning all the land that they could. Hunting was a very popular sport back in the 1800’s. The main reason that this sport actually began was for bounty hunting. A specific Indigenous leader may have committed a crime or even just been a threat to the land owners, so a price was put on his head for the man or woman who killed him. This often occurred as a free way for money for people. Eventually it got so extreme that 5 pounds were offered for every Aboriginal adult and 2 pounds for every child. It was complete slaughter and open season. The huge number of diseases that hit the Indigenous people wiped out a lot of their population. There was the smallpox released by the British and also other diseases, including cholera, typhus, measles and also the common flu and cold. After the wiping out of most of the Aborigines with the diseases, the British thought of Australia as a very easy place to colonise in. As they began to build their ‘empire’ in Australia, they were attacked by more Aboriginal’s and these people were also thrashed. These are some more reasons why and how genocide was committed in