This course relates the collision of two worlds and the dawn of a new nation.
On their arrival, the British claimed the country as their own through the law of terra nullius (meaning land belonging to no-one) giving the local Indigenous people no rights to a treaty or any ownership of their land. By 1795 colonists had claimed the land of the Cadigal clan and neighbouring Aboriginal language groups, disrupting them from their own countries.
The history of Australia will be discussed through the relationship between the aboriginal people and the colonists, from the arrival of the first British in 1788 until the appointment of Linda Burney, the first Aboriginal woman elected to the House of Representatives in 2016.
The course will examine the first European encounters with Australia and its Indigenous people while colonization of the land by the British in the late eighteenth century reveals how the realities of a convict society shaped the nation’s development.
It will focus in particular on the role that indigenous people played in indigenous and settler societies, but also in the economy, education, women's emancipation and activism until the beginning of the 20th century, from colonization to independence.
Australia became a nation in its own right on January 1, 1901 with the creation of the Commonwealth's federal structure and a system of liberal democracy.
From the First World War onwards, Australian policy focused on social policy, industrial development and protectionism to protect local industries and maintain full employment.
During the 1980s, Australians enjoyed one of the highest standards of living in the world.
The fascinating diversity of Australian culture will also be introduced, with what has been reported as the transpacific imaginary, born from the gold-rush circuit.
We shall also examine the 1999 Referendum for the Republic of Australia and the victory of the no vote before addressing Kevin Rudd's speech in February 2008 and the context of the 2008-2009 global crisis.
In August 2016 - Linda Burney became the first Aboriginal woman to be elected to the House of Representatives.
- Teacher: Demaubus Thierry