Australia: Changing Perspectives by Angélique Préau

People of England

THEN

Natives Aboriginals and Animals

THEN

People of England

NOW

Natives Aboriginals and Animals

NOW

About the author Angélique Préau was born in Western Australia and lives in Perth; she is currently a student in Year 6.

Angélique is a member of her school’s History Club and she was keen to do some research about the first settlements in Australia and the ‘Now’ and ‘Then’ perspectives of the people involved and enter her work in the National History Challenge about Changing Perspectives.

Angélique has chosen to present the results of her research on the ‘Now’ and ‘Then’ perspectives and the transitions in between on the topic of the first settlements in Australia by making a Museum Exhibit with spinning wheels that, when turned, show the two different perspectives of each of her categories. Her categories include People of England, People around the world, Women, Men, Convicts and Natives (Aboriginals and animals).

Angélique has also created a book with her information as well as an online view to complement her Museum Exhibit.

Women :

THEN

While men explored the world, women stayed home.

Women had no rights and no position of leadership or power.

Take Elizabeth Cook for example: she was married to James Cook for 17 years but they only spent 4 years together because of Cook’s travels.

Mathew Flinders almost got dismissed before his great voyage of discovery for smuggling his wife on board!

Elizabeth Cook World War I

Women :

NOW Now women have the right to do what they want from voting to holding the same position of power as men.

Take Dr Fiona Stanley for example: Dr Stanley is a medical science leader and plays a big part in the community.

Now women can choose any career they want and are not restricted to housework.

Women: THEN

by Angélique Préau

Women: NOW Business leader

by Angélique Préau Science leader

People around the world:

THEN Trying to discover the mysterious new land Terra Australis was not a secret.

The Dutch accidentally landed on Australia when sailing to their East Indies.

The Asians were already fishing Trepang in the North.

The Americans had just finished their War of Independence.

Finding the land became a race between the British and the French.

French Captain Jean François de la PÊrouse sailed into Botany Bay in January 1788, a few days after Captain Phillip. He left 3 weeks later and was never seen again.

People around the world:

NOW Nowadays Australia is well known.

We are the military allies of America.

We are also traders with Asian countries.

Australia is a famous tourist destination for people all around the world.

Other countries like Australia but only 2 tried to colonise her: the British and the French.

French Captain Jean François la Pérouse

Australia - a great place for tourism

People of England:

THEN The British Government needed a new place instead of America to send their convicts after the War of Independence.

Britain: a small country with a big idea.

King George III sent explorers to discover the land.

Botanists and artists came back with wonderful descriptions and drawings.

Some people were unsure.

Some said that Australia was a barren, dry and hot country which was unsuitable for their purpose (“…mostly barren heath…” *).

* Cook’s journal daily entries – 5th May 1770

Gold found in Victoria

Sheep farming

People of England:

NOW The British are proud that they are the ones who colonised Australia. Australia is viewed as a land of opportunities for them.

The British put their flag in the corner of the Australian flag.

The official language in Australia is English due to the colonisers.

Lots of British migrate to Australia. Australia is also a fantastic tourist destination for the British.

On the Endeavour Joseph Banks became so famous for his beautiful drawings that he had a plant named after him the Banksia.

THE BANKSIA

The British remind us that they colonised Australia.

Natives - Aboriginals and animals:

THEN The Aboriginals were scared of the First Settlers at first as they looked like ghosts because they had scurvy which made their gums bleed and they also used rice powder as sunscreen which made their skin white.

Animals and their spirits were not respected by the First Settlers. They killed the animals differently from the Aboriginals causing them more pain and they wasted their kill by not using all of it. The First Settlers even drove some species to extinction.

Opinion change - movie: The Rabbit Proof Fence

Stolen Generations

Natives - Aboriginals and animals:

NOW Nowadays Aboriginals are respected.

Some Aboriginals are famous like actor Ernie Dingo and inventor David Unaipon.

Though there is still sometimes civilisation conflicts (there were proportionally 15 times more Aboriginals in jail than non-Aboriginals in 2012 ), Aboriginals are part of our community.

Nowadays native animals are preserved not poisoned.

Wildlife parks have also been created to protect them.

The first settlers fought with the Aboriginals.

The first settlers had scurvy and the Aboriginals thought they were ghosts.

The first settlers did not respect the Aboriginals.

Wildlife parks have been created.

Men:

THEN All of the explorers were men.

In those days men explored by boat.

The first Englishman to land in Australia was William Dampier in 1688.

26 year old Joseph Banks made his reputation as botanist on Cook’s boat Endeavour.

James Cook sailed east in 1770 and landed on the east coast of Australia.

Arthur Phillip sailed from Portsmouth in May 1787 with 11 tiny ships with more than 1 400 people including 800 convicts that were to be delivered to Botany Bay.

New technologies

Not enough room on Earth

Men:

NOW Nowadays men are not the only ones who can explore.

Women have as much right as them to explore (e.g. Valentina Tereshkova, the first women to travel in space – Gleny Ambe from Brisbane will be the first Australian to go in space as a tourist).

We are running out of room on Earth due to population growth.

Technology has improved so boats have changed to aeroplanes and spacecrafts.

Explorers now explore space. For example, Neil Armstrong was the first person to walk on the moon and now robots explore Mars.

William Dampier

James Cook Chart of Voyage

Joseph Banks

Arthur Phillip

Men

by Angélique Préau

(C) Michael Collins, Command Module Pilot

Apollo 11 mission, first people to land on the moon (1969).

(L) Neil A. Armstrong, Commander

(R) Buzz Aldrin, Lunar Module Pilot

Mars Rover (2004)

Convicts:

THEN The youngest convict with the first fleet of convicts was John Hudson (9 years old).

John was convicted for theft.

The oldest convict with the first fleet of convicts was Dorothy Handland (82 years old), a dealer in rags and old clothes. Dorothy was convicted for perjury before being sentenced to a 7 year transportation.

Dorothy survived the journey but is believed to have hanged herself from a gum tree in Sydney Cove in 1789.

Between 1788 and 1868 around 157 000 convicts were transported to Australia.

University available

Crime drop

Convicts:

NOW Now England does not have enough convicts to send over to Australia and criminals are put in jail in England.

People are better educated so that they do not need to commit crimes to survive.

Australian convicts and their descendants became regular Australians.

Descendants from convicts are respected.

They are sometimes used in school as examples to teach students about the past.

John Hudson (youngest in the first fleet of convicts) sometimes worked as a chimney sweep.

University opportunities!

BIBLIOGRAPHY: Books: Chan, G. & al. (1999). Australia Through Time. Milsons Point, NSW: Random House Australia.

Cliff, P. & Noonuccal, O. (1989). The Spirit of Australia. Silverwater, NSW: Golden Press.

Flannery, T. (1994). Future Eaters. Frenchs Forest, NSW: Reed New Holland.

Hill, D. (2012). The Great Race. North Sydney, NSW: William Heinemann Australia.

Ingpen, R. (Illustrated by) (1993). Click go the Shears. Pymble, NSW: Angus & Robertson.

Internet Websites: ABC News - http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-06-16/fifty-years-ago2c-tereshkovabecame-first-woman-in-space/756804 Google Images - http://images.google.com.au NASA - http://www.nasa.gov Science Archive - http://www.sciencearchive.org.au/scientists/interviews/s/fs.html South Seas - http://southseas.nla.gov.au The Courier-Mail - www.couriermail.com.au/spacetourist The Stringer Independent News - http://thestringer.com.au/australian-bureau-ofstatistics-on-prison-rates Trove - http://www.trove.nla.gov.au

Acknowledgements I would like to thank all the people listed in my bibliography for sharing their work with everyone and giving me access to many useful resources for my research.

I am also very grateful to my History Club teacher, Mrs Robin McKean, for encouraging my love of learning and providing me with great feedback and advice throughout the development of my project.

I also thank my parents for nurturing my enthusiasm and creativity.

AngĂŠlique PrĂŠau July 2014