Editing History of Australia (section)

==== Accommodation and protection ====
[[File:Augustus Earle Portrait of Bungaree.jpg|thumb|Portrait of [[Bungaree]] at Sydney in 1826, by [[Augustus Earle]].]]

In the first two years of settlement the Aboriginal people of Sydney mostly avoided the newcomers.  In November 1790, [[Bennelong]] led the survivors of several clans into Sydney, 18 months after the smallpox epidemic that had devastated the Aboriginal population.<ref>Karskens, Grace (2013). "The early colonial presence, 1788–1822". In  ''The Cambridge History of Australia, Volume 1.'' pp. 106, 117–19</ref> [[Bungaree]], a Kuringgai man, joined Matthew Flinders in his circumnavigation of Australia from 1801 to 1803, playing an important role as emissary to the various Indigenous peoples they encountered.<ref>Broome, Richard. (2019). p. 33</ref>

Governor Macquarie attempted to assimilate Aboriginal people, providing land grants, establishing Aboriginal farms, and founding a Native Institution to provide education to Aboriginal children.<ref>Flood, Josephine (2019). pp. 69–70</ref> However, by the 1820s the Native Institution and Aboriginal farms had failed. Aboriginal people continued to live on vacant waterfront land and on the fringes of the Sydney settlement, adapting traditional practices to the new semi-urban environment.<ref name="Banivanua Mar-2013">Banivanua Mar, Tracey; Edmonds, Penelope (2013). "Indigenous and settler relations". ''The Cambridge History of Australia, Volume I''. p.&nbsp;344–45</ref><ref>Karskens, Grace (2013). "The early colonial presence, 1788–1822". In ''The Cambridge History of Australia, Volume 1.'' pp. 117–19</ref>

Following escalating frontier conflict, ''Protectors of Aborigines'' were appointed in South Australia and the Port Phillip District in 1839, and in Western Australia in 1840. The aim was to extend the protection of British law to Aboriginal people, to distribute rations, and to provide education, instruction in Christianity, and occupational training. However, by 1857 the protection offices had been closed due to their cost and failure to meets their goals.<ref>Broome, Richard (2019). pp. 52–53</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Nettelbeck|first=Amanda|date=2012|title='A Halo of Protection': Colonial Protectors and the Principle of Aboriginal Protection through Punishment|url=https://doi.org/10.1080/1031461X.2012.706621|journal=Australian Historical Studies|volume=43|issue=3|pages=396–411|doi=10.1080/1031461X.2012.706621|s2cid=143060019}}</ref>

[[File:Aboriginal farmers at Franklinford 1858.jpg|thumb|left|Aboriginal farmers at Loddon Aboriginal Protectorate Station at [[Franklinford, Victoria]], in 1858]]

In 1825, the New South Wales governor granted {{convert|10,000|acres|order=flip}} for an Aboriginal [[Christian mission]] at Lake Macquarie.<ref>Banivanua Mar, Tracey; Edmonds, Penelope (2013). "Indigenous and settler relations". ''The Cambridge History of Australia, Volume I''. p.&nbsp;345</ref> In the 1830s and early 1840s there were also missions in the Wellington Valley, Port Phillip and Moreton Bay. The settlement for Aboriginal Tasmanians on Flinders Island operated effectively as a mission under George Robinson from 1835 to 1838.<ref>Broome, Richard (2019). pp. 31–32,72</ref>

In New South Wales, 116 Aboriginal reserves were established between 1860 and 1894. Most reserves allowed Aboriginal people a degree of autonomy and freedom to enter and leave. In contrast, the ''Victorian Board for the Protection of Aborigines'' (created in 1869) had extensive power to regulate the employment, education and place of residence of Aboriginal Victorians, and closely managed the five reserves and missions established since self government in 1858. In 1886, the protection board gained the power to exclude "half caste" Aboriginal people from missions and stations. The Victorian legislation was the forerunner of the racial segregation policies of other Australian governments from the 1890s.<ref>Banivanua Mar, Tracey; Edmonds, Penelope (2013). "Indigenous and settler relations". ''The Cambridge History of Australia, Volume I''. p.&nbsp;355–58, 363–64</ref>

In more densely settled areas, most Aboriginal people who had lost control of their land lived on reserves and missions, or on the fringes of cities and towns. In pastoral districts the British [[Waste Land Act 1848]] gave traditional landowners limited rights to live, hunt and gather food on Crown land under pastoral leases. Many Aboriginal groups camped on pastoral stations where Aboriginal men were often employed as shepherds and stockmen. These groups were able to retain a connection with their lands and maintain aspects of their traditional culture.<ref>Banivanua Mar, Tracey; Edmonds, Penelope (2013). "Indigenous and settler relations". ''The Cambridge History of Australia, Volume I''. p.&nbsp;355–58, 358–60</ref>

Foreign pearlers moved into the Torres Strait Islands from 1868 bringing exotic diseases which halved the Indigenous population. In 1871, the London Missionary Society began operating in the islands and most Torres Strait Islanders converted to Christianity which they considered compatible with their beliefs. Queensland annexed the islands in 1879.<ref>Flood (2019) pp. 199–200</ref>