From the introduction of merino sheep to the displacement of Indigenous communities, Scots settlers had a major impact on the Indigenous peoples, cultures, and lands of Australia.
Introduction to the colonisation of Australia
This document gives an introduction to the history of European settlement in Australia and will be useful for both teachers and students.
Lesson Plans and Videos
The Introduction of Merino Sheep to Australia
Many settlers believed that they were ‘civilising’ the lands they colonised by making them more like the Scotland they had left behind. One such example was the introduction of sheep to Australia, which made great fortunes for some settlers, but had catastrophic environmental consequences.
The possum skin cloak as evidence of colonization
Material culture is an important source for historians studying societies that were colonised. This lesson uses the example of a possum skin cloak to help learners understand how seemingly every day objects can have tremendous significance to both historians and the people who used them.
Memorialising Colonisers
Statues and memorials to settlers can be seen across Australia. This lesson focuses on the concept of historical interpretations and explores two different interpretations of Angus McMillan from Skye. It uses three memorials to McMillan to show how he has been memorialised as both an explorer-politician and a violent coloniser.
Racial attitudes and historical accounts
Settlers in Australia believed that white Europeans were racially superior to the Indigenous Australians that they encountered. This lesson uses a letter to a newspaper by Angus McMillan (see above) which describes a raid by Indigenous Australians. The letter can be read ‘against the grain’ as a justification for settler colonial violence.
James Dawson and Aboriginal People
James Dawson was born in Linlithgow in 1805 and moved to Australia in 1840. His 1881 book on Aboriginal life is a valuable source for historians which shows that attitudes we would now consider racist were present even among settlers who were broadly respectful towards Indigenous people .
Thomas Mitchell and the ‘encounter’ at Mt Dispersion
In May 1836, Scottish settler Thomas Mitchell encountered a group of Indigenous Australians. This lesson looks at Mitchell’s own account of the encounter and asks whether ‘encounter’ is really the right word to describe what occurred.