Was Australia invaded or settled?

Essay by joelidern14Junior High, 9th gradeA-, May 2014

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Was Australia invaded or settled?

Settlement is to come and stay on a permanent basis whereas to invade is to enter as an enemy. If the Europeans had invasion in mind, they'd have killed all of the Indigenous people of Australia. It can be quite a fine line though; one could be mistaken for invading even though the mean no harm, only to settle. It all depends on the approach of the person/s. If someone was to arrive abruptly and rudely and they start placing orders, then that would be classified as invading. However, if they were to approach calmly and be friendly in their speech, that would be settling. One could find it difficult to decide whether Australia was invaded or settled by the Europeans, as even though they attacked, they meant no harm.

The Aboriginal peoples could have thought their land was being invaded because they knew no different other than what they had was theirs and not to be shared.

Causing them also to think their land was being invaded was the fact that the Europeans were attacking them. The Europeans were as scared as the indigenous peoples as they didn't not know who the other person was as they had not seen anything like them before. Also, the Indigenous people were classified as fauna and flora until late 1800's

The Europeans called their arrival in Australia a settlement as they knew Australia as 'terra nullius'; meaning No Man's Land. As Australia was declared terra nullius, the Europeans were not expecting any people to be here when they arrived. When they found the indigenous peoples lived here, they were caught by surprised and their only thought was to attack the foreigners. The Europeans then went ahead and declared the land of the indigenous as...