The European invasion of Australia in 1770 was the beginning of a series of events and imposed policies that would change the way of life for Aboriginal people forever. When settlers first arrived on the shores of what is now called Botany Bay, they failed to see a people of rich culture, with an intricate kinship system and highly developed system of customary law. Instead they set out to degrade Aboriginal cultures and deny the existence of custodial ownership of the land (Newbury, 1999, p. 25). Over the next two hundred years, the government would introduce a number of policies that would continue this destructive ideal and aim to control Indigenous people, including their culture, beliefs and movements across the country. Although these policies had a major effect on Indigenous people there are many stories of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people resisting the European invasion.
Captain James Cook landed on the east coast of Australia, specifically in Botany Bay, home of the Eora people and claimed possession under the doctrine of ‘terra nullius’. British law at the time stated that Britain could only take possession of another country if it was not inhabited or through negotiation or war. The British ignored these laws, invading and settling on Aboriginal land (NSW Education and Communities, 2013, para. 1). British settlers went about removing trees, reducing availability of food and other resources, brought in livestock which contaminated the waterways and forced the Indigenous peoples off their spiritual land. Many settlers also used violent force to eliminate the Indigenous population and dispossess them of their land. Settlement of Australia occurred at different rates. For example the Eora people took the brunt of the initial invasion while those communities further inland, such as those in Central Australia avoided settlement for many