CONTROL OF RESOURCES

The first phase of the battle between Aborigines and settlers for the control of resources was concerned with the widely ranging pastoral lands. The victory, apparently at least, has been with the settlers. Right across the south and east they occupied the country changing its character from open woodlands to pastured rangelands while the Aboriginal population was progressively being substantially eliminated by disease, by killings and by despair. In those areas, Aboriginal people survived as fringe dwellers, the fragments of once-vigorous societies on the outskirts of white society, their culture and coherence often destroved or seriously impaired. In the north, the outcome was slightly different. In the face of defeat Aborigines in effect offered a compromise: to share the right of occupation and to accept the role of an unpaid, but supported workforce.

This compromise enabled them to continue their traditional hunter-gatherer way of life for significant periods during the year and to continue their religious, ceremonial and cultural life relatively unhindered.