"I have another duty, equally sacred, a duty to myself " Dora: A Doll's House, Henrik Ibsen,1879
1. Welcome to Our Foremothers - "Here is one story ..."
2. First Owners
On this page:
KOORIE STORY: Pre 1863.
SOCIAL STORY: Melbourne 1863.
3. Sara and Sheyda Rimmer
On this page:
OUR STORY: Sarah Curry
KOORIE STORY: 1864 Corandarrk - Diaspora, the Start;
SOCIAL STORY: The Immigrants Home, 'The Fortunes of Mary Fortune'.
4. Smythesdale Goldfields
On this page:
SOCIAL STORY: Women on the goldfields - 'What a Woman on Ballaraat Can Do'; The Sandhurst Impersonator; the Sinking Cathedral.
5. The Egalitarian Idea
On this page:
KOORIE STORY: Resisting Oppression - Louisa Briggs;
SOCIAL STORY:
Enlightenment Thinking; Education; the Education Act. 1872.0's-80's - Free, Compulsary and Secular Education; Not Equal if you are Aboriginal
6. A Fair Go
On this Page:
OUR STORY: Sarah's 'Fair Go'.
KOORIE STORY: Struggles; Coranderrk Petition.
SOCIAL STORY: A Fair Go, the 1882 Tailoresses Strike, the Woman's Suffrage Society; the 'Mother of Womanhood Suffrage' - Louisa Lawson; Orphans & Institutions.
7. Going Backwards
On this Page:
KOORIE STORY:
the Half Caste Amendment Act oy Murphy; Coranderrk.
SOCIAL STORY - Reaction; 1890’s Economic Depression; Women's Paid Work.
8. Running Free
On this page:
OUR STORY: "NO DAUGHTER OF MINE ..."; Hard Yakka.
KOORIE STORY: Indigenous Exclusion.
9. Women Were Not Quiet
On this Page:
Social Story: The Hospital Run By Women For Women;The Victorian Lady Teachers' Association; The 1891 'Monster' Suffrage Petition - Vida Goldstein.
10. Building Peace at Home WW1
On this page:
OUR STORY
KOORIE STORY - Coranderrk Closure
SOCIAL STORY - Conscription; White Feathers; The Zurich Women's Peace Conference; Free Trade
11. A World Not Fit For Heroes
On this page:
OUR STORY
KOORIE STORY: Australian Aborigines League; Cummeraaginja; 26th January, Day of Mourning - Beryl Booth, Margaret Tucker.
SOCIAL STORY: Economic Depression; Making Do - Yvonne Smith.
12. Another War - WW2
On this page:
OUR STORY Our Family
KOORIE STORY: There's Work When We Need You - Nora Murray.
SOCIAL STORY: Pulling Together - Edith Morgan; After the War - Things Weren't All Rosy - Joyce Stevens.
13. Howard's Way - the 1950's
On this page:
OUR STORY
KOORIE STORY: Maralinga - Joan Wingfield, Gwen Rathman; More Protest - Warburton Ranges; Lake Tyers; More Protest;
SOCIAL STORY: Camp Pell; Conformity & Hidden Poverty; The Communist Party Dissolution Bill..
14. A Life Well Spent
On this page:
OUR STORY - Sad times
SOCIAL STORY: Hypocrisy; Hope
Our Foremothers is published by
Women's Web Inc.
Telephone: 03 9486 1808
www.womensweb.com.au
womensweb@iprimus.com.au
© Geraldine Robertson except for study,
social justice and feminist sharing.
Our Foremothers |
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2. FIRST OWNERS
On this page:
KOORIE STORY Pre 1863.
SOCIAL STORY: Melbourne 1863; Social Justice.
KOORIE STORY
1834
19 November – first landing of white settlers and stock at Portland Bay (Victoria). It was an illegal venture
transgressing both Aboriginal law and that of an
ineffectual colonial government.
The Gurnditch’mara, whose territory included Portland, had been in contact with whalers and sealers for at least thirty years (which) was damaging in terms of violence and introduced disease.
Aboriginal women fishing, Lake Tyers, David Syme 1835 SLV
1835
6 June John Batman signed a cynical treaty with members of the Dutigally taking title over vast areas of land for two hundred pounds worth of blankets and other goods and a promise of yearly rental worth the same amount.
1836
White settlement at Port Phillip (Melbourne) – by 1850 the settler population was 77,000. The Aborigines defended their land and it had to be taken by force.
The myth of peaceful annexation gave the excuse of tacit consent and thus no compensation.
1851
By now only areas in north-west Victoria and south-east Gippsland were not in white hands. Newspapers of the day attest the “shoot them dead” attitudes and actions of the settlers of this period.
Coranderrk Aboriginal Reserve, State Library of Victoria
Independence for Victoria.
Reserve system introduced. Schools were set up to educate Aboriginal children “away from the influence of their parents”.
The huge influx to the goldfields of the whites and shortage of labour gave some employment to the Aborigines but their condition continued to detiorate due to the practice of paying with rum.
Thus began the kidnapping of children from their natural parents.
1863
…Aboriginal population dwindled to fewer than 2,000 (from at least 11,500 - some claim 100,000).
Taking Time - A Women’s Historical Data Kit Ed. Yvonne Smith, Pub. Union of Australian Women
Aboriginal Protection Act 1869 (Vic) made Victoria the first Colony to enact a comprehensive scheme to regulate the lives of Aboriginal people.
This Act gave powers to the Board for the Protection of Aborigines which subsequently developed into an extraordinary level of control of people’s lives including regulation of residence, employment, marriage, social life and other aspects of life.
Documenting Democracy www.foundingdocs.gov.au
SOCIAL STORY - Melbourne 1863
Social Justice
Swanston Street, Melbourne SLV
Michael Cathcart:
Melbourne had a reputation of being egalitarian and democratic.
From the 1850’s to the 1870’s, Melbourne’s hard-nosed squatters, traders and labourers were joined by God-fearing artisans from … cities … from the north of England.
Heaven only knows, they had seen enough misery and inhumanity in industrial England and rural Ireland to cure them of any illusions that the hidden hand of the market was a benevolent force.
These two groups formed a kind of liberal-minded partnership, establishing churches, a library, a museum, mechanics institutes and a gracious university in just a few short decades.
It is as though they hoped to build a city in which the heartless exuberance of private enterprise was tempered by great civic institutions.
Michael Cathcart A New City: Photographs of Melbourne’s Land Boom Miegunyah Press 2003
Australia was leading the world in social justice at the time.
For example:
- The State Library was formed in 1854. It was free admission to anyone over 14 years, “even though he have no coat, as long as his hands be clean”. The Ballarat Free Library was also a magnificent structure and a tribute to the confidence of the time.
- At the Eureka Stockade it was voted that “it is the inalienable right of every citizen to have a voice in making the laws that he is called upon to obey – that taxation without representation is a tyranny”.
- Of some 120 men captured at the Eureka Stockade, only 13 were committed for trial. The State Treason Trials commenced in February 1855. Successive Melbourne juries refused to convict any of the defendants. Democratic reforms ensued, with peace being eventually restored on Victoria's goldfields.
- In 1856 a group of building workers won an 8 hour day for 6 days, 48 hour week, without reduction of pay. This was known as 8 hours work, 8 hours rest and 8 hours play (or recreation). It was also when Australia became known as a workingman’s paradise.
- In 1857 manhood suffrage, the secret ballot (first in the world) and the abolition of property qualifications for members of the Legislative Assembly were won. These measures democratized Parliament in a way not known before. They were followed by payment for politicians, which meant that men could stand for Parliament without an independent income.
On the other hand, people didn’t benefit equally:
- Aboriginal and Chinese men were not enfranchised.
- Neither were women.
- The Chinese Immigration Act 1855 (Vic) restricted the entry of Chinese people into the Colony. Many Chinese who came here didn’t want to settle and bring up families, but those who did were discouraged.
- Women, children, aboriginal and Chinese workers gained nothing from the eight hour day. They were not covered and commonly worked 12 to 16 hour days.
- Children who were seen to be neglected could be charged with vagrancy and sent to jail or other institutions.
But the gains were real - victories for a fair go!
Signing the oath at Eureka State Library of Victoria