Coranderrk
Coranderrk was an Aboriginal reserve established in 1863 in Victoria, Australia, designed to provide a space for Aboriginal Australians to govern themselves after being displaced by British colonization. The creation of Coranderrk was initiated by Aboriginal leaders, including "Uncle" Wonga and William Barak, who sought autonomy and a sustainable community. Under the management of John Green, the reserve flourished, developing modern amenities like a meat shop, schoolhouse, and bakery, which demonstrated the success of the community.
However, as Coranderrk prospered, the local government sought to relocate the inhabitants, claiming it was for their benefit. This led to a prolonged struggle by the residents to maintain their home, which continued for a decade until laws were enacted that restricted individuals of mixed ancestry from living on reservations, significantly depleting the population. By 1924, the government closed Coranderrk, but its cultural significance endured. In 1998, descendants of the original inhabitants reclaimed part of the land, which continues to hold importance for Aboriginal peoples today.
Coranderrk
Coranderrk was a reserve for Aboriginal Australians that would allow them to have their own government after being forced off their land by British settlers. The area was created at the request of Aboriginal leaders and administered by the governmental representative John Green.
The Aboriginal peoples living in Coranderrk were very successful, and the reserve grew into a large, prosperous village. This upset the local government, which ordered that Coranderrk be relocated elsewhere. The people of Coranderrk fought against moving their village through diplomatic envoys to the government for ten years. However, after the government made it illegal for any individual of mixed ancestry to live on a reservation, the population of Coranderrk began to quickly decline. This population decrease was used an excuse to close the reservation in 1924. However, in 1998, the descendants of the original inhabitants of Coranderrk purchased some of the land that their ancestors once lived on, maintaining it as a place of cultural significance.”
Brief History
Prior to the arrival of the British in Australia, more than 750,000 Aboriginal people from five hundred different groups lived on the continent. However, after James Cook claimed for the British a large portion of Australia, Britain decided to open penal colonies in the region. These penal colonies were designed to relocate British criminals overseas, reducing the crowding in overpopulated prisons. Over time, Britain opened more penal colonies in Australia, seeking to secure its claim of the land against other Western colonial powers.
Once they arrived in Australia, British colonists began seizing land from the local Aboriginal populations. They forced the Aboriginal Australians from their homes, making them live in areas with less plentiful resources. Additionally, the British introduced foreign diseases into the Aboriginal population to which they lacked immunity, resulting in countless deaths.
During the nineteenth century, British settlers’ practices in Australia continued to upset the Aboriginal peoples. European farming practices had drastically impacted the Aboriginal way of life by interfering with their traditional sources of food and shelter. Significant numbers of Aboriginal Australians were combatting exposure, starvation, and disease. In some areas, such as Tasmania, violent exchanges broke out between the Aboriginal peoples and the British colonists.
Overview
In 1863, Aboriginal leaders “Uncle” Wonga and William Barak petitioned the Australian government for a region where their people could settle without being disturbed. These leaders sought a place where they could be autonomous and manage their own affairs as they had before the arrival of the British colonists. The Aboriginal leaders gave gifts to Governor Henry Barkley, and then delivered a speech to plead their case.
Barkley was sympathetic to the Aboriginal Australian’s cause and thought that an autonomous region might reduce the tensions between the Aboriginal peoples and the British colonists. In June 1863, the governor granted 931 hectares of land to the Aboriginal peoples to create a reserve. Their reserve was named Coranderrk, after a white flowering plant that is native to the region. A man named John Green was appointed to manage the reservation as a representative of the British government.
Green believed that the Aboriginal population would be best served by self-governance. He thought they had a moral right to manage their own affairs on their own land. This meant that the Aboriginal Australians were able to keep their cultural practices, rather than have them destroyed like many other Aboriginal groups throughout Australia. The Aboriginal Australians could decide when and how they interacted with the British colonists.
By the 1870s, Coranderrk had grown from a small reservation to a much larger village, with many amenities that were considered modern at the time. These included a meat shop, a schoolhouse and a bakery. However, these facilities added value to Coranderrk. For this reason, the local government insisted that the village be moved, arguing that the move was in the best interest of the Aboriginal peoples.
The Aboriginal Australians living in Coranderrk immediately opposed this decision. They organised under William Barak, quickly mobilising to petition the government to recant its previous declaration. They sent representatives to Melbourne who insisted that the reservation was both firmly established and successful in its current location. Coranderrk residents argued that moving the reservation to a new location, likely one farther from their Australian neighbours, would be detrimental to the people who lived there.
The residents of Coranderrk fought the government’s plan to move the reservation for ten years. However, during this time, the government stopped providing the resources needed for the reservation’s upkeep. This caused a significant decline in living conditions throughout Coranderrk, resulting in waves of illnesses.
In 1883, the Government of Australia passed the Act to Provide for the Protection and Management of the Aboriginal Natives of Victoria. According to this new law, individuals of mixed descent, meaning anyone of both British and Aboriginal ancestry, could not live on a reservation. This forced the vast majority of young people who resided in Coranderrk to relocate. Without them, only elderly people lived in Coranderrk, causing it to decline. The government then used the declining population as a reason to close the reservation in 1924. Most residents were encouraged to move to Lake Tyers Mission. However, a portion of the residents refused to leave their land and lived on the land that was once Coranderrk for the remainder of their lives.
In 1998, the descendants of the original Coranderrk community worked with the Indigenous Land Corporation to buy back a small amount of land that had once been part of Coranderrk. The land was added to the Australian National Heritage List on 7 June 2011. In the twenty-first century, the area remained a place of special significance to many Aboriginal peoples.
Bibliography
“British Settlement Begins in Australia.” History.com, 2020, www.history.com/this-day-in-history/australia-day. Accessed 8 Dec. 2020.
“Colonial period, 1788–1901.” Australian War Memorial, 2020, www.awm.gov.au/articles/atwar/colonial#:~:text=British%20settlement%20of%20Australia%20began,colonies%20with%20little%20local%20assistance. Accessed 8 Dec. 2020.
“Coranderrk Mission.” ERGO, 2020, ergo.slv.vic.gov.au/explore-history/fight-rights/indigenous-rights/coranderrk-mission. Accessed 9 Dec. 2020.
“Coranderrk Station Is Founded.” Deadly Story, 2020, www.deadlystory.com/page/culture/history/Coranderrk. Accessed 9 Dec. 2020.
“Colonisation.” Australians Together, 2020, australianstogether.org.au/discover/australian-history/colonisation/. Accessed 8 Dec. 2020.
“First Australian Penal Colony Established.” History.com, 2020, www.history.com/this-day-in-history/first-australian-penal-colony-established. Accessed 8 Dec. 2020.
“National Heritage Places – Coranderrk.” Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Water, and the Environment, www.environment.gov.au/heritage/places/national/coranderrk. Accessed 9 Dec. 2020.
“The Coranderrk Inquiry.” Minutes of Evidence, www.minutesofevidence.com.au/the-coranderrk-story/. Accessed 9 Dec. 2020.